THE FIVE THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY 2003 SchoolMedia, Inc. TEACHER’S GUIDE

Learning Objectives make life more difficult, such as bad should select a speaker who will present the weather, but in other places the physical collage to the class and explain the theme and the 1) Know and understand the five themes of environment provides necessities like fresh meaning of the collage. geography: water. a) Place: To describe a place it is important to d) Movement: Movement describes how Current Events and Geography: During class consider its features, the characteristics that people, goods, and ideas get from place to time, or as a homework assignment, have make one place different from another. place. People travel and transport goods in a students look through news magazines or a Many places have distinct physical features variety of ways: ships, trains, airplanes, cars, newspaper for articles that pertain to one of the such as landforms, bodies of water, climate, and trucks. Ideas are often communicated by Five Themes of Geography. Students should be and natural resources. Places often also phones, computers, televisions, newspapers, prepared to discuss the article and its connection contain human features, such as buildings, and radios. How, why, and where people to a theme with a small group of students. highways, and airports. The number of move affects the way that places grow and people and their customs are also human change. A sudden influx of people can result features that help to describe a place. in the birth of cities in a region. Also, the Vocabulary b) Location: To determine where a place is, physical features of a place can affect the direction is often used. The Cardinal movement of people, ideas and goods. Climate — the average weather conditions of Directions help determine where one place Rivers are a good means of transportation, a region while mountains inhibit travel. is in relation to another. Latitude and Environment — the surroundings longitude are used to find the exact location e) Regions: Because it is very large, the earth is Goods — items that are bought and sold of a place. Latitude lines extend from east to divided into regions to facilitate its study. A Human Features — the people in a place, west, measuring how far a place is from the region is an area with at least one common equator. Longitude lines go from north to their customs, and the features they make, like feature that makes it different from areas highways, buildings, and airports south and measure how far a place is from around it. Regions can be based on the Prime Meridian. Another means of Natural Resource — something found in similarities in physical features, human nature that people use to help them live determining location is the use of numbers features, industries, culture, heritage, and and street names. Landmarks also help to government. Physical Feature — Geographical formations indicate the location of a place. like landforms and bodies of water formed by nature c) Human Environment Interactions: People interact with the environment in Suggested Activities several ways. Sometimes people change their Five Themes Collage: Divide the class into five environment by clearing the land for groups. Assign each group one theme of construction or farming. Other times, they geography to study. The groups should look help the environment by protecting land and through magazines and newspapers for clippings animals and planting trees. The physical that pertain to their assigned theme. The clippings environment also can affect people. The are glued to a piece of tagboard. Each group physical environment of some places can

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