Geography Assessment Target Cards Answer Key
Diaspora
Definition: The movement of people from their original homeland to
another area, usually against their will. The people keep close ties with
their home culture.
Example: Because of persecution during the 1930s and 40s, millions of
Jewish people left their European homelands to settle in the United
States. They kept close ties with their cultural heritage.
Immigration
Definition: People moving into a new country to settle there.
Example: In 2009, more than 1.2 million people moved to the United
States to live there.
Emigration
Definition: Leaving your country to live somewhere else. Push factors
like wars and famines and pull factors like better jobs and education
encourage people to leave.
Example: In 2009, about 500,000 people left China to settle in other
countries. Many are seeking better educational opportunities in other
countries.
Culture
Definition: A people’s way of life. It is made up of their values, beliefs,
customs, art, and stories.
Example: In Asia, female friends may hold hands as they walk down the
street. In the United States, female friends do not usually do this.
Cultural Diffusion
Definition: The ideas and things one culture borrows from another.
Example: Sushi originated in Japan and is now popular in the United
States.
Cultural Assimilation
Definition: A person’s or group’s native culture starts to look like a new
culture.
Example: As Polish emigrants settled in the United States in the 20th
century, they began to speak English, eat American foods, and consider
themselves Americans instead of Poles.
Urban
Definition: An area with a high population density such as a city.
Example: About 35 million people live in and around Tokyo, Japan, the
world’s largest city.
Rural
Definition: An area located outside cities and towns.
Example: In the United States, 82 percent of the people live in urban
areas while the rest live in these areas.
Population Trends
Example: For the first time in human history, more people live in urban
rather than rural areas. Urban areas are expected to continue to
continue to have population increases.
Example: In US history, people moved west from the East Coast. Since
1900, Americans moved from rural to urban areas.
Nation
Definition: Political unit made of people sharing a common territory.
Example: The United States, Canada, Venezuela, and Mexico are
examples.
State
Definition: Part of a nation that has their own government.
Example: In the United States, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and
West Virginia are examples of this.
Sustainability
Definition: People using natural resources carefully so the resource is
not used up or damaged.
Example: To practice this, people use energy sources like the sun and
wind instead of fossil fuels which are in limited supply.
Natural Resources
Materials that are found in an environment such as land, minerals, and
forests.
Technology and the
Environment
Definition: Human’s use of machines and tools affects the environment.
Human Changes to the
Environment
Example: When people build houses on what was farmland, it changes
the ecosystem. Flooding may occur more easily and wildlife can lose
habitat.
Example: In West Virginia, mountaintop removal mining uses explosives
to blast off mountain tops to mine coal. The fill is then dumped back on
the ridge and compacted using heavy equipment.
Example: As more development occurs, communities work to create
green spaces and restore wetlands to help conserve wildlife habitats.
Place
Definition: The physical and human features of an area. Physical
features are things like mountains, beaches, or trees. Human features
are how the land is used (farming or city) and local culture.
Example: Chicago is a large city with skyscrapers and people from many
different cultures.
Region
Definition: An area of land with common features. The features may be
natural like climate and landscape or human features like culture.
Example: The Middle East and the American South are examples of this.
Cultural Diversity
Definition: Many cultures within a society.
Example: African Americans, Greek Americans, and Italian Americans
are some of the many groups living in the United States.
Natural Diversity
(Biodiversity)
Global Positioning
System (GPS)
Definition: The variety of plants and animals that live in a certain area.
Example: The Amazon rain forest contains 10 million different species of
animals, plants, and insects.
A system of satellites, computers, and receivers that locates exact
latitude and longitude. It is a geospatial technology.
Geographic
Information Systems
(GIS)
A software program that shows GPS and other geospatial data like
topographical and area maps. For example, it could be used to track
drought affected areas.
Latitude Lines
Definition: Imaginary lines on a map that show how far north or south
something is from the equator. “Latitude is like a ladder.”
Example:
Longitude Lines
Definition: Imaginary lines on a map that show how far east or west
something is from the Prime Meridian.
Example:
Prime Meridian
Equator
Imaginary line at zero degrees longitude, divides the earth in half creating
the Eastern and Western hemispheres
Imaginary line at zero degrees latitude, divides the earth in half (equal
distance from the North and South Poles) creating the Northern and
Southern hemispheres.