The Five Themes of Geography

1. The Five Themes of Geography How Do We View the World Around Us?

2. What is Geography? Geography is the “study of the earth''s surface; includes people''s responses to topography and climate and soil and vegetation”. • What the Earth looks like. • How people interact with the environment

3. What are the Five Themes of Geography? The Five Themes of Geography are categories that scientists use to study Earth’s features: • Movement • Region • Human-Environmental Interaction • Location • Place ClipArt from Microsoft ClipArt Collection. 2007

4. Movement Humans interact with each other as well as many places and things almost every day. We travel from place to place; we communicate with each other in many different ways; and we depend on products, information, and ideas that come from outside our own environments. MOVEMENT explores where different resources are located, the people that use them, and how they are transported to locations all over the earth’s surface.  The theme of MOVEMENT helps us understand how we connect with, and depend on, other regions, cultures, and people in the world.

5. Movement cont… • People/Goods • Trucks/Cars • Planes • Trains/Buses • Boats • Information • Telephones • Computers (email, internet) • Mail • Ideas (How trends and fads move from place to place.) • Magazines/Books • Radio • Television How are people, goods, information and ideas moved from place to place??

6. Regions Scientists divide the Earth’s land into sections, called Regions, based on certain traits those sections share. • Regions may be created based on: • Same Climate (weather trends) • Location (where it is on a map) • Languages & Cultures of the people • Landforms (mountains or plains, wetlands or desert) • Examples: • North America/South America (based on location on the map) • Latin America (primarily Spanish speaking countries)

7. Regions cont. • Regional Map of the United States Col, Jeananda. Enchanted Learning. http://www.EnchantedLearning.com 2010

8. Human-Environmental Interactions How people interact with their surroundings. • People depend on their environment. • We depend on the land (soil) to grow food. • We depend on rivers and streams for drinking water & or transporting goods. • People modify (change) the environment. • We pave roads to travel on. • We clear land to build houses & buildings on. • People adapt to their environment. • We wear lighter clothing in the summer (warm/hot) and wear heavier clothing in the winter (cold).

9. Human-Environmental Interaction cont… There are consequences as well as benefits to the actions we take in interacting with our environment: Positive: • More interaction between people of different cultures Negative: • Faster use of the Earth’s natural resources. • Air pollution • Global warming

10. Location The theme of Locationanswers the question:“Where is it?” It describes where a place is on Earth. There are two kinds of location: Absolute location: • The exact location of a place on Earth. Relative location: • Location of a place when compared to other places.

11. Location cont. Absolute location: • The exact location of a place on Earth. • Examples: • Degrees of LATITUDE and LONGITUDE on a globe or map. • Address of a house or building. • The Latitude & Longitude of Michigan is: 44.3148443 N , 85.60236429999998 W - this is Michigan’s absolute location on a map of the Earth.

12. Location cont. Relative location: • The location of a place in relation to other places. • Usually described by: • Direction (North, South, East, West) • Landmarks that are nearby • Distance to or from another place • Examples: • Our school South of Highway 54 • His house is across from the fire station

13. Place The theme Placeanswers the question: “What is it like there?” • A place is often known by its own special characteristics. • Characteristics are special traits or qualities that a place can have. • Types of characteristics for Place: • Human • Physical

14. Place cont. Human Characteristics: • The main customs, languages, and beliefs of the people in a certain place. • Special traditions or holidays • Clothing styles • Political ideals • Architecture (how buildings are made)

15. Place cont. • Physical Characteristics: • Mountains, plains • Oceans, rivers, lakes • Climate (hot, cold, humid, dry) • Types of animals that live there • What types of plants grow there.

16. Conclusion Scientists use the Five Themes of Geography so that they can understand how the world works, and what people can do to make it better for all of us.

17. 5 Themes of Geography • On a half sheet of paper you need to write down two examples for each one of the Geography Themes. • 2 Examples Per Theme

18. References • World Atlas Online. Retrieved from Web 5 May 2013. http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/findlatlong.htm#.UYaCxcqhA08 • Sutcliffe, Andrea, The New York Public Library Amazing US Geography: A Book of Answers for Kids, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2001. • Education World: Five Times Five: Five Activities for Teaching Geography's Five Themes. 2009. Retrieved from Web on 5 May 2013. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson071.shtml • All ClipArt and Media Sounds courtesy of Microsoft ClipArt and Media Gallery. 2007.