Geography and Social Studies Skills

1. Geography and Social Studies Skills

2. Questions • How do historians (YOU) research the past? • What are primary and secondary sources?

3. Why We Study History • History and the other social sciences provide a framework and way to study human cultures • History is the branch of knowledge dealing with the past • A historian in an expert in history • Why is it important to study the past and cultures from the past?

4. The Other Social Sciences • Anthropology • the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind. • Economics • the science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, or the material welfare of humankind. • Geography • the study of the natural features of the earth's surface, including topography, climate, soil, vegetation, etc, and man's response to them

5. Social Sciences Cont. • Political Science • a social science dealing with political institutions and with the principles and conduct of government. • Psychology • the science of the mind or of mental states and processes. • Sociology • the science or study of the origin, development, organization, and functioning of human society

6. The Scientific Method • Since history is a part of the social SCIENCES, we can study it using the scientific method • The scientific method is • Identify the problem • Form a hypothesis • Design an experiment • Organize the results • Conclusion • How would we apply this to history? • Follow the steps of the scientific method to analyze the causes of the Civil War

7. The Five Themes of Geography • Location • Place • Human Environment Interaction • Movement • Region

8. Location • Where a place is • Exact • Latitude and Longitude • 43°18’N 73°34’W • Address • 131 Notre Dame Street, Hudson Falls, NY 12839 • Relative • Where a place is in relation to another • Hudson Falls is an hour north of Albany

9. Place • What is it like there? • You identify a place using • Landforms • Climate • Plants • Animals • Or people • As of the census of 2000, there were 6,927 people, 2,876 households, and 1,760 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,763.5 people per square mile (1,453.5/km²). There were 3,120 housing units at an average density of 1,695.1 per square mile (654.7/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 97.91% White, 0.45% African American, 0.22% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.16% from other races, and 1.02% from two or more races. 0.68% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.[1] • The village is on the east bank of the Hudson River at the west border of Washington County, New York. A village green lies in the center of the commercial district.

10. Human Environment Interaction • 2 parts • How an environment affects people • Eskimos use the ice around them to build igloos • Way people affect the environment • The feeder canal was built to bring water from the Hudson River to the Champlain Canal

11. Movement • Deals with the movement of people, goods, and ideas from place to place • Cars • Trains • Plains • Phones • Internet • Immigration • migration

12. Region • Areas that share common features • Can be defined by 2 things • Geography • The United States is in the Western Hemisphere • Culture • The U.S. is part of the “English Speaking” world

13. The World

14. The 7 Continents

15. The 5 Oceans

16. The World’s Hemispheres

17. North America

18. The United States

19. New York State

20. Counties

21. Washington County

22. Hudson Falls

23. Size and Location • Almost as large entire continent of Europe • Only Russia, China, and Canada are larger • The 48 contiguous states stretch about 3,000 miles east to west and 1,200 north to south • Entire northern border is with Canada • Southern border extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean and shares 1,900 miles with Mexico

24. US Regions • The United States can be broken into 8 geographic regions • New England • Middle Atlantic • Midwest • Southern • Southwest • Rocky Mountain • Pacific Coast • Alaska and Hawaii

25. US Climate • All 48 states on the mainland are in the temperate or middle latitudes • North of the Tropic of Cancer 23° 30’ • South of the Arctic Circle 66° 33’ • The climate varies greatly within the country

26. Natural Resources • The US was able to become a leading industrial nation because it has a lot of natural resources • Gold and silver was found in western states and Alaska • However the presence of other natural resources like petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, and coal was more important to its long term economic success

27. Location • Remember, that location is both absolute and relative • Absolute location is where a place is actually located. • Most precise way of finding absolute location is using latitude and longitude • Relative location is where a place is located in relation to other places • For example the United States is located south of Canada and north of Mexico • Relative location can change over time • For much of its history the US felt relatively isolated from Europe and Asia • Changes in technology made relative locations much closer over time

28. Latitude The latitude of a location is the distance of that place south or north of the equator Latitude is usually measured in degrees The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole is 90° north, and the South pole is 90° south. Each line of latitude is actually a circle and run parallel to the equator

29. Longitude • Longitude is a measurement that specifies the east or west position of a location on the earth’s surface • It is also measured in degrees • Longitude runs in lines running from the North Pole to the South Pole • Lines of longitude can also be called Meridians • The Prime Meridian is 0° longitude and passes through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England

30. Using Latitude and Longitude • To find a specific location using latitude and longitude, all you need to do is see what degrees of each a place is and then see where the two lines meet