Teacher Notes Europe
Big Idea - Complexity (of shape and resources)
Spatial Thinking Skill – Spatial Pattern (Shape)
Scaffold Outline:
3-5: The sample lessons focus on two different kinds of geographic patterns:
1. macro-patterns that involve the entire map – are things spread evenly throughout an area,
or are they biased to one side, bunched in the middle, pushed toward edges, etc.?
2. micro-patterns among nearby features – are things strung out in a line, or arranged
in a circle, a mirror image, a wave-like pattern, etc.?
One geographically important class of spatial patterns involves the arrangements of land and water – are
coastlines regular, or do they have indentations that might offer sheltered harbor, or do they form large
peninsulas that can serve as easily-defended homelands for groups of people who therefore can follow an
independent development path?
Resources: For general background, the *Multimedia Presentations folder has an animated unit about
settlement patterns on the West Bank in Israel (see also mini-Activities 6R and 10D). For specific
connections with the big idea about Europe, this folder has several versions of an activity about
peninsulas. The Big Idea Presentation and clickable Atlas also have segments about peninsular
shape and early economic and political development. The bottom line is that a lot of the world’s
shoreline is relatively straight and unprotected from wind and wave, and a few places are safe
harbors and defensible spaces. Europe is the poster-child example – even though it is barely a third
as big as Africa, it has more coastline than Africa, Australia, and South America put together.
Activities
Little Closets of
Europe
Michigan Content Expectations
3 – G1.0.:1: Use cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) to describe the
relative location of significant places (in the immediate environment).
4 – G1.0.2: Use cardinal and intermediate directions to describe the relative
location of significant places (in the United States.)
6-12: In this grade range, we can extend the idea of spatial patterns to include patterns of other features
(like mountains, rivers, geologic structures) that might influence human activity and thus the structures
people build. The center of this inquiry is a role-playing game about choosing a location for a fort in the
late 1600s. This is a difficult time in world history to teach, partly because of when it comes in the school
year and partly because of the complexity of the political history of Europe. The activity is supported by
several maps with different kinds of detail, a written-response form that can be an individual activity or
the culmination of a group discussion, and a presentation that can guide a whole-class discussion or
individual inquiry.
One worthwhile extension is to have students do the background research and develop a similar game
about a historic event in another world region (CAUTION: this takes a lot of time and highly motivated
students, but the payoff can be enormous, and with proper guidance it can meet a lot of Common Core
objectives about close reading and expository writing).
Another extension is to look at how the shape and location of European countries aided
- the process of overseas colonial expansion,
- the response of European rulers to worldwide revolutions,
- the events that led up to two European-led world wars, and
- the long-standing differences that still affect the success of the European Union.
Other Resources: The *Multimedia Presentations folder has a different version of the presentation, also
called “Locating a Fort.” Any good atlas of world or European history has maps of political alignments at
different time periods – the goal of this geography unit is to provide an organizing theme of shape to help
make those maps easier to study and remember.
Activity 4 puts the pattern question into a very different context by asking questions about how the
geographic pattern of factories changed as a result of changes in iron-making technology. A multimedia
presentation set in Europe features an interactive map where students compare costs by dragging iron ore
and coal to different factory locations. This question can be generalized by looking at different inventions,
e.g. by asking how the pattern of settlement and industry in the United States changed after the invention
of air-conditioning, satellite TV, or the internet.
Activities
Peninsulas
Locating a Fort
Changing Iron
Technology
Industrial
Location
Winners and
Losers
Michigan Content Expectations
7 – G1.2.1: Locate the major landforms, rivers and climate regions of the Eastern
Hemisphere.
7 – G4.3.2: Describe patterns of settlement by using historical and modern maps.
6 – G2.2.2: Explain that communities are affected positively or negatively by changes in
technology (also 7 – G2.2.2)
6 – G5.1.2: Describe how variations in technology affect human modifications of the
landscape
7 – G4.2.1: List and describe the advantages and disadvantages of different technologies
used to move people, products, and ideas throughout the world,
Capstone: Large individual-inquiry projects based in Europe could take many forms, depending on
which aspects of this region you wish to emphasize. The Fireworks diagram has a discussion question
about aging populations and changing roles in international commerce – certainly hot-button topics for
European political and business leaders today.
Resources: The Big Idea presentation and clickable Atlas can provide maps and background for
investigating consequences of peninsular shape and mid-latitude location. A “bonus” *multimedia
presentation about languages in Switzerland can complement language studies in Africa and South
America, with a uniquely European twist – Switzerland is a prosperous economy and one of the world’s
oldest democracies, despite having four official languages. It thus contradicts some popular opinions,
which say that language diversity leads inevitably to political instability and economic stagnation.
* Teaching Geography, 3rd edition, New York: Guilford Press, 2014, Phil Gersmehl
Curriculum Connections:
Activities
Hide-and-seek - "closets
and hallways"
Peninsulas, walls
enclosing territory
Site and situation in the
age of imperial marriages
Changing iron technology
and factory location
Winners and losers when
technology changes
Five Bottles: the Weber
theory of factory location
Approx
Grade
Related
Class
Common
Core
Spatial
Reasoning
P/E/M
Geog
Math
Shape
E/M
History
Reading
Shape
M/U
History
Reading
Cond / Conn
M/U
Econ
Hist
Econ
Hist
Econ
Hist
R/M
Movement
R/M
Movement
R/M
Movement
E/M/U
M/U
Keywords
gymnasium, closet, hide,
invade, raid, peninsula, bay
peninsula, bay, navy, colony,
trade, refuge, "doorway"
site, situation, strategic,
intervene, chokepoint
ore, coal, location theory,
transport cost, technology
resource, technology, invention,
optimal location
resource, market, weight
change, transport cost, process