Transcript Slide 1
Chapter 1 Section 1 Thinking Like a Geographer Thinking Like a Geographer • Geography – Study of the earth in all its variety – More than just physical parts such as oceans, mountains, and rivers – Includes the study of people and how their environment influences them or human geography – There are also thinks like political geography and how different areas have different politics – 5 Major Themes – – – – – Location Place Human-Environment Interaction Movement Region Thinking Like a Geographer • Geographer’s View of Place – Physical Characteristics • • • • Look at Where things are located What is the place like What is similar or different compared to other places Identify Landforms – Individual features of the Land • Look at Water – Fresh water, or salt water, ocean, river, etc…. – How does the water affect what can be grown • Vegetation, soil, temperatures, and Resources – What are the types of vegetation, can crops be grown, minerals in the soil and are there other resources that can be used. Thinking Like a Geographer • Human Characteristics – Is a place highly or sparsely populated, what type of government, religions, work and languages do people have. • People and Places – Looks at how people interact with their environment – Today, people are less reliant on the physical place they live • Regions – Look at how places relate to other places. What do they have similar, what is different, i.e. common characteristics Thinking Like a Geographer • The Tools of Geography – Collecting Data for Mapping Earth • Many different methods – Taking aerial/satellite photographs – GPS (Global Positioning Systems) » Shows location based on Satellite information • Geographic Positioning Systems (GIS) – Collects different types of data on the same place then all that is put into a single system Thinking Like a Geographer • Uses of Geography – Why do we even need to study Geography? – Geographic information is used all over. Maps, government agencies for planning – Gives people the ability to make good decisions – Gives people the ability to manage resources Thinking Like a Geographer • Clues to Our Past – Written Records • Documents such as newspaper articles, letters, and legal documents give us clues to the past – Artifacts and Fossils • Because there was no written record in Pre-Historic times, we rely on artifacts to try to come up with a hypothesis about the past