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-adjective1. of or pertaining to space. 2. existing or occurring in space;

having extension in space

still confused?

Spatial, spatial, spatial• OK, try this:

• Slap the desk of your neighbor.

• What happened in the room?

Say Hello to PLIRMThe 5 Themes of Geography

Place

Location

Interaction (Human/Environment)

Region

Movement

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

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?

Clear Falls High School• 29.5193716

degrees North

• 95.014818 degrees West

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Location:

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?

Five themes of geography

Formal? Functional? Perceptual?

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?

Five themes of geography

Worldwide Net Migration

P L I R M