Social Studies is…
“the integrated study of the
social sciences and humanities
to promote civic competence.”
……what?
Let’s try that again.
 Social Studies is the study of society and civilizations
through history
 Civilizations are large, complex societies
based around a common culture
In the end…
 Social Studies is the study of people through history.
Bruce Lee
Shakespeare
Adolf Hitler
 It is the study of what people do
Abe Lincoln
Einstein
Mike Tyson
Moses
To study people…
 First we need to study their environment
 This class is the study of locations around the world
and how they effect civilization
 This is called…
Five themes of Geography
Location
Place
Human-environment
interaction
Movement (migration)
Region
Location
 Where a place is
 Absolute location: a specific location
 Ex: Street address (225 High St, Randolph
MA)
 Relative location: describes a location by its
surroundings, landmarks, or distance from
one place to another
 Ex: The library is next to the cafe
Place
 Characteristics of a location – what is
there
 Human: Things built by people
 Cities, roads, towns
 Language, religions, customs
 Physical: Natural features
 Mountains, rivers, beaches
Human-environment interaction
 How people effect and change
the environment they live in
 Depend on it: things we need
from the environment to
survive (ex: water from lakes
& rivers)
 Modify it: People changing
the environment for our
benefit (ex: building a dam
across a river)
 Adapt to it: Adapting our
lifestyles to fit the
environment (ex: different
clothes for different seasons)
Movement
 The movement and
migrations of civilizations
 Human Movement: the
movement of people
around the globe
 Information Movement:
the spread of
information by phone,
email, and “snail mail”
 Idea movement: the
spread of religions,
beliefs, and cultures
Regions
 Dividing the world into separate areas
 Formal Regions
“Named” regions that have clearly defined areas
 Ex.: the State of Massachusetts, the Rocky
Mountains

 Functional regions
Regions defined by a function
 Ex.: Cell phone coverage, oil fields

 Vernacular Regions
Regions defined by people
 Ex.: Middle East, Deep South
