5 Themes Of Geography 07

5 Themes of Geography

Mr. J

Definition of Geography

ge·og·ra·phy1 : a science that deals with the description, distribution, and interaction of the diverse physical, biological, and cultural features of the earth's surfaceSource-Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary

In plain English

Geography is the study of the earth and everything on it.

The Five Themes of Geography

Location

Place

Interaction

Movement

Region

Five themes of geography in our room

Your friends are over and one needs to use the bathroom. How might you explain where the bathroom is at home?

How would you explain where your desk is using Location?

Master bedroom

office

Master

bath

bedroom

bedroom

bathroom

Bedroom

stairs

“Up the stairs, second door on the left”

Location

Where something is on the globe. uses latitude and longitude lines and we use directions North, South, East and West

EXACT spot on the planet.• Latitude lines run sideways

• Longitude lines run north and south

Your desk could be “ Wall side, third row, second desk.”

Importance of Location

The placement of a given spot on the globe will affect its climate, amount of sunlight it gets, vegetation, animal life etcThese will in turn have an impact on the people who live there

Do Eskimos dress the same way as people in Hawaii?

40

30

20

50

60

70

80

See Google Earth

Place

Where something is in relation to its surroundings

Describe your desk in terms of “place”

How would you describe Philadelphia, using “place?”

See Google Earth

Importance of Place

Our surroundings will impact on the development of society.

Denver is high up in the mountains – how will that affect the way people live?Philadelphia is at the confluence of 2 major rivers, with easy access to the ocean – how will that affect the way we live?Britain is an island – how will that affect the way people there live?

1

2

3

4

5

Interaction

How people use the “stuff” around them or how their geography causes people to change to adapt to it.

Pennsylvania has the Appalachian mountains in it. These mountains have vast amounts of coal. Therefore, Pennsylvania does a great deal of coal mining. We INTERACT with the geography.We also CHANGE our geography. We strip the mountains apart to get to the coal. We level mountains and fill in ravines and low ground

• Leningrad in Russia – its built on a swamp• Philadelphia airport – used to be part of the Delaware River!

MovementHow geography affects the movement of people, things and ideas

Geography can help OR hinder this movementHOW????

• Give an example of how geography can HELP the movement of people, things and ideas

• Give an example of how geography can HINDER the movement of people, things and ideas

How does the geography of this room help or hinder movement

• Need two volunteers for this one

Region

An area with unifying characteristics Geographical

Political

Economic

Cultural

What characteristics define the region we live in?