Transcript Geography - Valdosta State University

Geography
Tonja L. Root
Early Childhood and
Reading Education
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA 31698
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Geography Standards
Five themes
1. location
2. place
3. relationships within places
(human-environmental interaction)
4. relationships between
places (movement)
5. regions
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Parts of the Study of Geography
1. subject matter: essential
knowledge
2. skills: asking geographic questions,
acquiring, organizing & analyzing
geographic information, & answering
geographic questions
3. perspectives: spatial & ecological
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Geographic Skills
• Asking geographic
questions: Where? Why there?
• Acquiring geographic
information: from a variety of
sources & in a variety of ways
• Organizing geographic
information: to assist with analysis
& interpretation of data
4
Geographic Skills (cont.)
• Analyzing geographic
information: look for patterns,
relationships & connections
• Answering geographic
questions: develop
generalizations & conclusions based
on geographic knowledge
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Six Essential Elements
• World in spatial terms:
relationship between people, places &
environments through mapping
• Places and regions: how lives are
grounded in places & human constructs
called regions
• Physical systems: physical
processes shape surface & interact with
plants & animals to create, sustain &
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modify ecosystems
Six Essential Elements
• Human systems: population &
human activities from culture to
economices, to settlement, to conflict &
cooperation
• Environment & society:
intersection of physical & human systems
• Uses of geography: to understand
past, interpret present & plan for future
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World in Spatial Terms
• Books charted on a world
bulletin board
• Written descriptions of
continents posted
• Illustrations of books
displayed
• Mental maps drawn
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Places and Regions
• Region: area of Earth’s surface with
unifying geographic characteristics
which affect humans
• Expository writing frame:
The ___ Native Americans lived in ___.
Their homes were ___ made of ___. They
ate ___. They ___ and ___.
Organizes information, shows elements of
reports, serves to compare & contrast
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Physical Systems: Climate & Weather
Physical process categories
• atmosphere (climate & meteorology)
• lithosphere (plate tectonics, erosion &
soil formation)
• hydrosphere (circulation of oceans &
hydrologic cycle)
• biosphere (plant & animal communities
& ecosystems)
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Environment & Society: Protecting Earth
• How human actions modify
the physical environment
• Causes & implication of
different kinds of polution,
resource depletion & land
degradation
• Unit parts: endangered
species, endangered
environment & pollution
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Uses of Geography: Reflective decision-making
Steps to social action:
1 . Identify & define problem
2 . Identify value assumptions
3 . Identify alternatives
4 . Predict consequences
5 . Reach decisions & justify
decisions
6 . Realize tentativeness of decision
7 . Act on decision
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