Geography Skills
Course: Global Studies/US History
Theme: Geography Skills
Culminating Assignment:
Focus/Big Idea(s):
Culminating Assessment:
 Definition of Geography
 Critical Response
 Five Themes of Geography
 DBQ
 Comparison/contrast of physical/political
 Essay
 Maps
 Imaginative Writing
 Definition of geographical land and water forms
 Project
Enduring Understanding(s):
What is the impact of human
The student will: understand the five themes of geography within the context of the
study of history.
interaction on the environment
The student will: understand the impact of the environment in the geography and
in the City of Portland?
human development and vice-versa.
Formative/summative assessments:
This unit will examine the following:
 Critical Response to
The five themes of geography within the context of history and human development.
pictures/photographs
Students will learn about the types of information that maps provide such as land and
 Land/Water Forms Map
water forms, legends, compass rose, elevation, etc. Students will also learn about the
 Student-produced maps of their
changes that take place in an area based on human interaction with the environment.
school, neighborhood and city.
An additional component of the unit could include a survey of jobs/careers within the
 Test on land/water forms.
field of geography.
 Walking field trip in the
neighborhood.
Essential Question(s):
 What is geography?
 What are the five major themes of geography?
 How has human interaction (e.g., population density, population increases, commercial activity, etc.) produced the
changes toward the environment and, specifically, our region?
PPS Standards:
HS.08.1 Determine the causes, common characteristics, and impact, and lasting influence of political, economic, and
social developments in local history.
GEO.3.1 Locate and identify places, regions, and geographic features that have played prominent roles in historical or
contemporary issues and events.
GEO.4.1 Analyze changes in the physical and human characteristics of places and regions, and the effects of technology,
migration, and urbanization on them.
Academic Vocabulary: (Content to Know)
Five themes of geography: location, place, human/environment, movement,
and region.
Land Forms (e.g., plateau, mountain, peninsula, etc.)
Water Forms (e.g., delta, estuary, ocean, etc.)
Latitude, longitude, equator, meridians, hemisphere, etc.
Map Legend, Scale, Compass Rose
Projections (e.g., Mercator, Conic, etc.)
Census
Population Density
Demography
Time Frame: (in Hours) 8-10 hours
Bill Stack, Henise Telles-Ferreira 3/9/2016
(revised 8/24/07 - HTF)
Skills to learn:
The student will: locate and label specific
places on a map(s).
The student will: understand geography
within the greater context of history and
human development.
The student will: be able to
compare/contrast physical/political maps
within the study of history.
The student will: use their artistic skills to
draw, color and represent maps.
The students will: make oral presentations to
develop their public speaking skills and
technological abilities.
1
Draft
Geography Skills
Instructional Design: Outline of lessons, in step-by-step progression. Attach additional pages.
1. The five themes of geography:
Divide the class in five groups and provide the definition of each theme to each group. Students should
discuss the definitions, and make a poster including examples. Each group will then report back to the
whole class using their own words.
2. Land and water forms:
Distribute a map where students will write the land and water forms names they know. Using a projector
show the ones they don’t know. Provide the definitions or generate working definitions with the students.
Ask students to color their maps and later frame them. Post them on the wall.
Create a puzzle with land and water forms and definitions to assess understanding.
Or divide the class in two groups and play a game where one side provides a definition and the other
comes up with the land and form name.
3. Maps: uses, differences. Working with atlases.
Explain the basics on maps: scale, keys, etc.
Show the different types of maps in atlases. Ask students to generate questions that can be answered by
surveying the maps so that they understand what types of information maps can provide.
Trace the globe/the U.S./the State of Oregon on colored cardboard papers. Divide students in groups to
draw the longitudinal, latitudinal lines, tropics, etc on their assigned maps. Hang the maps on the walls.
4. Mapping the neighborhood/school: walking field trip.
Take the students around the neighborhood or the school with papers, and pencils to trace them on paper.
Ask the students:
Who uses this information? (Geographers, cartographers, city planners, developers, architects,
electricians, plumbers, technicians, sociologists, paramedics, firefighters, school administrators, retail
managers, tourists, etc.)
Evaluation:
Assign a research project about careers that use maps as tools. Students need to make a power point
presentation about that career.
Test on vocabulary of geographical terms.
Resources and materials: (Text, links, videos, speakers, etc.
Please note if available district-wide)
Web sites: www.newberry.org
Additional supports and extensions: (TAG, SPED, ESL, etc.)
TAG: Museum exhibit of a student’s neighborhood 75-100 years ago based
upon research (conducted over a two-week period of time).
www.nationalgeographic.com
ESL: Generate a vocabulary list to create a word bank that will be displayed on
the bulletin board in the classroom.
Careers: https://communicate.aag.org
Speaker(s): geographer
Group Activity: Making a clay model of water and landforms.
Film: “Mosquito Coast” (Show clip of the arrival of the main characters in
their new living area).
http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/WordSearchSetupF
orm.html
Bill Stack, Henise Telles-Ferreira 3/9/2016
(revised 8/24/07 - HTF)
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