Good Morning
AP Human
Geography
5 Themes of
Geography
what is geography?
• The study of spatial variation
• How and why things differ from place
to place on the surface of the earth
• The study of how observable spatial
patterns evolved through time
Spatial variation: predominant religion
Why spatial variation exists: earthquakes
Changes over time: deforestation
what is geography?
• Geography is a spatial science
• Spatial behavior of people
• Spatial relationships between
places
• Spatial processes that create or
maintain those behaviors and
relationships
Spatial behavior of people: population
Spatial relationships between places: trade
Spatial processes: urban commuting
Spatial, spatial, spatial
-adjective
1. of or pertaining to space.
2. existing or occurring in space;
having extension in space
Spatial, spatial, spatial
• OK, try this:
• Slap the desk of your neighbor.
• What happened in the room?
Say Hello to PLIRM
The 5 Themes of Geography
Place
Location
Interaction (Human/Environment)
Region
Movement
Five themes of geography
1) Place: the distinctive and distinguishing
physical and human characteristics of
locales
 Vocab : Physical geography and cultural
landscape, sense of place
 Skills: Description, compare and contrast
 Questions: What does ____ look like?
Why? How is it different from ____?
Five themes of geography
2) Location: the meaning of absolute and
relative position on the earth's surface
 Vocab : Global Positioning Systems (GPS),
scale, latitude and longitude, distance
 Skills: Map reading, identification
 Questions: Where is ____? Where is ____
relative to where I am?
Relative and absolute location
• Everyone Stand up!
• Tell the person next to you:
• Where you were born?
• Where you live?
(not exact address of course… creepers!)
• Where’s the most beautiful place
you’ve ever been?
Location:
Clear Falls High School
• 29.5193716
degrees
North
• 95.014818
degrees
West
Five themes of geography
3) Interaction (Human/Environment):
The relationships within places or the
development and consequences of
human-environment relationships
 Vocab : Ecosystems, resource,
environmental hazard, pollution
 Skills: Evaluation, analysis
 Questions: What human-environment
relationships are occurring? How do they
affect the place and its inhabitants?
Five themes of geography
4) Regions: how they form and change
– Formal Regions
• Regions defined by governmental or administrative boundaries
(States, Countries, Cities)
• Regions defined by similar characteristics
(Corn Belt, Rocky Mountain region, Chinatown).
– Functional Regions
• Regions defined area organized around a NODE or focal point
(newspaper service area, cell phone coverage area, subway, Chinatown).
– Vernacular/Perceptual Regions
• Regions defined by peoples perception of something existing based on
people’s cultural identity (middle east, the south, home, Chinatown.)


Skills: Synthesis, application
Questions: How has this spatial pattern
developed? Will it continue to change?
Formal? Functional? Perceptual?
Five themes of geography
5) Movement: patterns and change in
human spatial interaction on the earth
 Vocab: Migration, diffusion, globalization
 Skills: Explanation, prediction
 Questions: Why did people move from
one place to another? What does it
mean for the people and places
involved? What affect did their new ideas
have on the native population?
Worldwide Net Migration
PLIRM