Five Themes of Geography
Geographer’s Questions
Where are things located?
Why are they located
there?
Why care?
Location: What is it?
Absolute Location
 Latitude
 Longitude
Relative Location
 Where a place is located in
relationship to other places
Location: How is it used?
It answers the question
“Where are things
located?”
Regions: What is it?
Divides the world into areas
that have at least one common
characteristic that separates
it from the surrounding areas
Regions: How is it used?
 Used to make comparisons by dividing
the world into different region based on
political divisions, physical features,
cultural characteristics, or many other
types of characteristics
Climatic Region
Appalachian Region
Sonoran Desert
Region
Place: What is it?
Describes the physical and human
characteristics of a site
Place: How is it used?
 Used to describe the physical
characteristics as nature created
(mountains, rivers, soil, beaches)
 Used to describe the human
characteristics of the people who
live in an area (buildings, roads,
clothing, work people do)
Place
Your Community
 Physical Features
 Human Features
C ubs make the bleacher bums cheer, afternoons
Wrigley Field
at
H ot dogs on every corner from Bridgeport to Evanston
I
nland body of water called Lake Michigan
C onnects the city to the waters of the wide world
A ssembler, retailer, railroader, meatpacker, banker
G
reat buildings like the Sears Tower, Shedd Aquarium,
Hancock Center, Soldier Field
O riginally flowing into Lake Michigan, the Chicago River
now flows to the Mississippi River Basin
Movement: What is it?
The way people, goods, and
ideas travel from place to place
Movement: How is it used?
 Used to help geographers understand
the relationship among places
 Looks at all types of movement and the
effects they have on the people
Interaction: What is it?
Refers to the way the earth
appears as a result of how
humans have changed it
Interaction: What is it?
Humans adapt to the
environment
Humans modify the
environment
Humans depend on the
environment
Interaction: How is it used?
 Used to describe how humans
interact with the environment –
what changes have been made to
the environment because of
humans
 http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.p
hp?viewkey=0b6b55e6a27f3f200bb5
Mountain top Removal
Coal Mining
Palm Island - Djoubti
 Changes in Dubai
 Images of Dubai
Which Theme?
 Describes how people, goods, and ideas move from place to
place
 Refers to how people use their environment and how the
environment affects the lives of people
 is used to describe how an area has at least one common
characteristic
 describes where you are on a map using latitude and
longitude
 includes the physical features of an area andthe human
features of an area
 describes where a place is located in relationship to other
places
Match ‘Em Up
 _____ The Great Plains used to be a
wide open area with no settlements or
farms. Today towns and cities dot the
Great Plains, and much of the land is
used for farming.
 _____ Areas that receive very little
rainfall are called deserts.
 _____ Texas is south of Oklahoma.
Match ‘Em Up
 ____ Hawaii is made up of islands, and it
offers a variety of tourist attractions.
 _____ Goods are shipped in large
tractor-trailer trucks across interstate
highways.
 _____ Maine has many different
economic areas, including heavy forests
and tourist areas.
Match ‘Em Up
 _____ The country of Guam is at 13o N
latitude and 145o E longitude.
 _____ One way to communicate
information is to write letters to our
friends and relatives.
 _____ The building of new houses on
areas that had always been forests
frequently makes it difficult for animals
to find homes.
Match ‘Em Up
 _____ Swiss chalets and high mountains
called the Alps are two of the ways we
can identify the country of Switzerland.
Other things to remember:
Label the 7 continents and 4 oceans
What is located at 0o latitude?
What is located at 0o longitude?
What is the latitude of the North Pole?
South Pole?
 What is located at 180o longitude?
 What is the relative location of
Brandon?
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