LOCATION
"Where are we?" is the question that the theme Location
answers. There are two types of location. Location may
be absolute or it may be relative. These locations,
whether relative or absolute, may be of people or
places.
An absolute location is an exact place on Earth.
Absolute location can be found in only two ways. One
way to find absolute location is by using an address.
An address provides an exact location because it
narrows down a location by using street names, street
numbers, cities, states, and zip codes. No two
addresses are the same. The second way to find an
absolute location is by using longitude and latitude.
Longitude and latitude are imaginary lines that
crisscross the Earth. By pinpointing the coordinates of
both longitude and latitude for a spot on Earth, it
creates a unique location that you cannot find anywhere
else.
Examples of Absolute Location:
Sobrato High School’s absolute location is:
401 Burnett Ave. Morgan Hill, CA 95037
The absolute location of Paris, France is:
48.51' North latitude and 2.20' East longitude
Relative locations provide an approximate location on
Earth. Relative locations are described by landmarks,
time, direction or distance from one place to another
and may associate a particular place with another.
Examples of Relative Location:
In-N-Out is next to Denny’s.
Live Oak High School is across town from Sobrato
High School.
My house is across the street from the Rec Center.
PLACE
The theme of Place takes the first theme, Location, one
step further. Location tells us where something is.
Place describes that location. It gives it
characteristics that set it apart from other locations.
Place brings up questions about a location like:
do you think of when you imagine China? Japan?
Russia? Saudi Arabia? California?
What
Places have both human and physical characteristics.
Physical characteristics include mountains, rivers,
weather, soil, beaches, wildlife, etc. These describe
what you see in nature. Places have human
characteristics also. These characteristics are
derived from the ideas and actions of people that
result in changes to the environment, such as
buildings, roads, clothing, and food habits.
The image people have of a place is based on their
experiences, both intellectual and emotional. People's
descriptions of a place reveal their values, attitudes,
and perceptions.
Examples of Place:
London, England:
Physical Characteristics—River Thames, mild
weather, humid, low-lying land, green hills,
etc.
Human Characteristics—Buckingham Palace, the
Royal Family, famous bridges, Big Ben, the
London “Eye,” St. Paul’s Cathedral, drinking
tea, etc.
Morgan Hill, CA:
Physical Characteristics—El Toro, hills,
valley, windy, hot summers, cold winters,
mushrooms, etc.
Human Characteristics—small population,
diverse, downtown Monterey St., Live Oak and
Sobrato High Schools, etc.
HUMAN/ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION
How do humans and the environment affect each other?
We change the environment and then sometimes Mother
Nature changes it back. Environment can change the way
people live, and people need the environment to
survive.
There are three key concepts to human/environmental
interaction:
Humans adapt to the environment.
Humans modify the environment.
Humans depend on the environment.
Humans adapt to the environment by changing the way
they live to survive in a particular place. For
instance, if you live in a cold place, like Alaska or
Russia, you would adapt to the cold weather by wearing
warm clothes, like furs. If you lived in a hot place,
you would want to drink lots of water and wear light
clothing.
Humans modify the environment by changing it. Pollution
is an example of modification. With the increase of
fuel burning cars and factories in the last 100 years,
humans have added air pollution to the environment
where it didn’t exist before. Humans can also change
the environment by planting new crops or creating
canals and dams for water use.
Humans depend on the environment for survival. We need
food to eat, water to drink, and air to breathe. We
also need resources for shelter, tools, and clothing.
MOVEMENT
There are three main things that move across Earth:
people, goods, and ideas.
People everywhere interact because of movement. They
travel from place to place and they communicate. We
live in a global village and global economy. When
people move it is called migration. An example of
migration is the movement of people from Europe to the
US in the 1800s, and from Latin America and Asia to the
US in the 1900s and 2000s.
People are not the only things moving on Earth. Ideas
move as well. When ideas move, we call this
communication. Ideas can move along with people, but
also because of technology. People can send information
by telephone, email, snail mail, etc. Examples of ideas
that move are religion, language, music, fashion, new
inventions and discoveries, the news, etc.
Finally, goods move around the world. When goods move
from one place to another we call it trade. We live in
a global market, where our clothes are made in other
countries and shipped to the US. The same goes for
food. We often eat foods that were grown or raised in
another part of the US or the world.
Think about what would happen if there was no movement.
What would the world be like?
REGIONS
A region is the basic unit of study in geography. A
region is an area that displays a coherent unity in
terms of the government, language, or possibly the
landforms and physical geography. Regions are human
ideas that we create to categorize the world. They can
be often be mapped and analyzed.
There are three basic types of regions.
Formal regions are those defined by governmental or
administrative boundaries (i.e., United States,
California, Brazil). These regional boundaries are not
open to dispute and often have formal boundaries.
Physical regions defined by permanent physical
landmarks also fall under this category (i.e., The
Rockies, the Great Lakes).
Functional regions are those defined by a function. For
instance, the postal service breaks communities into
smaller pieces for the delivery workers. These smaller
pieces are functional regions. One postal worker covers
a particular postal region. A school district works the
same way. The school district breaks down the city into
smaller regions to determine where students will go to
school. For instance, students living in one section of
Morgan Hill may be assigned to attend Nordstrom
Elementary, rather than El Toro Elementary.
Vernacular regions are those loosely defined by
people's ideas. Examples include New England or the
Middle East. The regions don’t have definite
boundaries. Instead, people often think of these places
as regions because they have some kind of unifying
factor. For example, the states of New England share a
common history of English settlement in the 1500-1700s.
The Middle East is defined by several countries that
mostly practice Islam and speak Arabic.
Most of this course will be defined by regions. For
instance we will study Europe, the Middle East, Africa,
etc. and determine what commonalities these regions
have within them.