5 Themes of Geography
There are five themes of geography that are often used as teaching tools to lay a ground work for this particular discipline. They are location, place, human environmental interactions, movement, and regions.
When discussing location, it is important to understand the basic layout of the continents and other aspects of the land masses found around the world. It is very interesting to find out where you actually reside in comparison to the rest of the world. It is thrilling to explain this concept to small children who, up to that point in time, haven’t considered the world to be any bigger than the town the live in.
The other concept that needs to be taught in relation to location is latitude and longitude. The geography lessons that relate to the Equator and the location of land masses and oceans in these terms are commonly learned in the 4th or 5th grade.
Place is very different from location because it has to do with what actually is found there. This covers the people, cultures, industry, climate, and physical characteristics of the land. Is it full of mountains or desert? The human environmental interactions deals with how the people of a given geographical location are able to interact with their environment. In most cases people embrace what is available and use it to meet their basic needs. In other instances though the abuse of the environment by humans leads to health concerns.
Movement in relation to geography has to do with the movement of goods and services. This can be in the context of imports and exports as well as business transactions completed online. Political events also have a geographical impact, especially when the involve leaders from different countries joining together.
A region is a specific geographical area that has been categorized based on its physical location. They can be easily identified on a map. There are different types of regions all over the world. A formal region is one that has been identified by governments. Functional regions are those that serve a specific purpose such as an air base. Vernacular regions are those loosely identified by society such as the term Bible Belt.
When discussing location, it is important to understand the basic layout of the continents and other aspects of the land masses found around the world. It is very interesting to find out where you actually reside in comparison to the rest of the world. It is thrilling to explain this concept to small children who, up to that point in time, haven’t considered the world to be any bigger than the town the live in.
The other concept that needs to be taught in relation to location is latitude and longitude. The geography lessons that relate to the Equator and the location of land masses and oceans in these terms are commonly learned in the 4th or 5th grade.
Place is very different from location because it has to do with what actually is found there. This covers the people, cultures, industry, climate, and physical characteristics of the land. Is it full of mountains or desert? The human environmental interactions deals with how the people of a given geographical location are able to interact with their environment. In most cases people embrace what is available and use it to meet their basic needs. In other instances though the abuse of the environment by humans leads to health concerns.
Movement in relation to geography has to do with the movement of goods and services. This can be in the context of imports and exports as well as business transactions completed online. Political events also have a geographical impact, especially when the involve leaders from different countries joining together.
A region is a specific geographical area that has been categorized based on its physical location. They can be easily identified on a map. There are different types of regions all over the world. A formal region is one that has been identified by governments. Functional regions are those that serve a specific purpose such as an air base. Vernacular regions are those loosely identified by society such as the term Bible Belt.
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