Transcript Regions Presentatio​n

BIG IDEA: REGIONS
IN THE U. S.
WHERE and WHY?
Marty Mater and Phil Gersmehl
Michigan Geographic Alliance
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BIG IDEA: REGIONS
IN THE U. S.
Objectives: The student will
• Describe characteristics of natural
regions
• Divide United States into major regions
• Explain relationship between physical
characteristics and human activities
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BIG IDEA: REGIONS
IN THE U. S.
National Geography Standards
• The World in Spatial Terms: Use
maps…and spatial thinking to understand
and communicate information.
• Places and Regions: That people create
regions to interpret Earth’s complexity.
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BIG IDEA: REGIONS
IN THE U. S.
Region
A geographic “BIG IDEA”
that can help us organize
our knowledge about
the United States
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Definition: a region is a group of places
that are like each other
and close to each other
There are many kinds of
regional maps
Economic regions
Voting regions
Sports regions
Forest regions
Language regions
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Definition: a region is a group of places
that are like each other
and close to each other
There is no such thing as
“the”
regions of a state,
country, or continent.
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Definition: a region is a group of places
that are like each other
and close to each other
We will use
natural characteristics
to regionalize the US
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Work Map
Canada
Great Lakes
Atlantic
Ocean
Pacific
Ocean
Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
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Definition: a region is a group of places
that are like each other
and close to each other
Natural characteristics can make it
advantageous or disadvantageous to live in an area.
TERRAIN:
Mountains
Plains
WATER
BALANCE:
Enough water
to grow trees
GROWING
SEASON:
Number of
frost-free days9
Terrain:
Mountains, Plains
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Growing Season: Number of frost-free days
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Water balance: Enough water to grow trees
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Definition: a region is a group of places
that are like each other
and close to each other
If you draw a line around the places,
the result is a regional map.
Let’s look
at how to make
a simple regional map
to help us remember
the environments
in the United States.
Why do we make regional maps?
Because it is usually easier to remember
the general shape of a region,
rather than the locations
of many individual places.
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Terrain:
Mountains, Plains
The Western
Region of high
mountains and
deep valleys
The Eastern Region
of worn-down
mountains and
nearly flat plains
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Terrain:
Mountains, Plains
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CONSEQUENCES OF THE TERRAIN
Western Region or Eastern Region?
• Most of the land is more than a mile above sea level
• It is easier to build roads and railroads
• There are more big tunnels, steep slopes, and spectacular
views
• Most valuable metal mines are here
• Most deposits of fossil fuels are here
• Most of the good food-producing land is here
• Most of the major earthquakes and all of the active
volcanoes occur here
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Terrain:
Mountains, Plains
Valuable
mines
Earthquakes
and volcanoes
More than a mile
above sea level
Tunnels,
slopes, views
Fossil
fuels
Roads and
Railroads
Food
producers
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Definition: a region is a group of places
that are like each other
and close to each other
Our first line
was drawn
based on
TERRAIN.
Now we’ll use the idea of
GROWING SEASON
to divide the area into places
with enough frost-free days
to grow crops.
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Growing Season: Number of frost-free days
Very few
farms
Many
farms
Atlantic
Ocean
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Growing Season: Number of frost-free days
Very few
farms
Many
farms
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Growing Season: Number of frost-free days
Very few
farms
Many
farms
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Definition: a region is a group of places
that are like each other
and close to each other
Our first line
was drawn based
on TERRAIN
Our second
line used
GROWING
SEASON
Now we’ll use WATER BALANCE to
show the line that separates places that have
more precipitation than trees need
from places that have less
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Water balance: Enough water to grow trees
Semi-arid
Great
Plains
Rainy
East
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Water balance: Enough water to grow trees
Semi-arid
Great
Plains
Rainy
East
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CONSEQUENCES OF WATER BALANCE
Semi-Arid or Rainy East?
• People grow crops such as corn, soybeans, and vegetables.
• People grow short grasses like wheat and barley.
• People grow tree crops like apples, pears, cherries, and even
oranges and grapefruit.
• People are more likely to need to irrigate, if they have a water
source.
• There is always a danger of drought, which can kill the crops.
• Surplus water can make rivers or lakes.
• Rivers start in the mountains and actually get smaller as they
flow.
• Rivers tend to get larger as they flow toward the ocean.
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Water balance: Enough water to grow trees
Rivers
get
smaller
irrigate
drought
apples,
pears
Corn,
soybeans
short
grasses
rivers or
lakes
rivers
get
larger
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Definition: a region is a group of places
that are like each other
and close to each other
Our first line
was drawn based
on TERRAIN
Our second
line used
GROWING
SEASON
Our third
line used
WATER
BALANCE
Now we’ll use GROWING SEASON again
to show the line that separates places that have
more than 7 months of frost-free days.
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Growing Season: Number of frost-free days
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Growing Season: Number of frost-free days
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Terrain:
Mountains, Plains
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Terrain:
Mountains, Plains
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Growing Season: Number of frost-free days
4-7
Months
7+
months
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CONSEQUENCES OF FROST-FREE
MONTHS
• People spend more money for heating
• People spend more money for air-conditioning
• Dead leaves and roots decay slowly, making soil rich in
nutrients
• Dead leaves and roots decay quickly, making soil red or
orange in color, and unable to store water or fertilizer as well
• Trees grow faster, so there are many managed forests
• Glaciers left many scattered lakes and swamps
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Growing Season: Number of frost-free days
Rich
Soils
Scattered Lakes
and swamps
Soil
can’t
hold
water
High
Heating
Managed
Forests
Expensive Air
Conditioning
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Let’s Review and name our regions
Look at the lines on your map.
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Can you remember the lines and what they mean?..
Western
Mountain
Region
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Western Mountain Region
younger rocks, earthquakes, high mountains,
dry lowlands, rainy slopes with forests,
snow on the highest peaks, ski resorts,
metal mines, scattered cities, national parks
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Can you remember the lines and what they mean?..
Northern
Cold
Region
Western
Mountain
Region
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Northern cold region
older rocks, low hills or plains, many lakes,
dense forests of slow-growing needleleaf trees OR
treeless tundra in places with really short summers,
very few people, few roads, some mines, oil wells
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Can you remember the lines and what they mean?..
Northern
Cold
Region
Great
Plains
Grassland
Region
Western
Mountain
Region
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Great Plains Grassland Region
young rocks, flat plains or low hills, dry creeks,
grassland, bison (buffalo), cattle ranches,
some wheat fields, some irrigated areas,
scattered towns, oil wells, occasional tornadoes
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Can you remember the lines and what they mean?..
Northern
Cold
Region
Great
Plains
Grassland
Region
Western
Mountain
Region
Great Lakes
Farm/Forest
Region
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Great Lakes Forest/Farm/Factory Region
warm summers, cold winters, plains or low hills,
hardwood forest, corn fields, dairy cows,
cities on rivers or next to Great Lakes,
many small towns with factories
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Can you remember the lines and what they mean?..
Northern
Cold
Region
Great
Plains
Grassland
Region
Western
Mountain
Region
Great Lakes
Farm/Forest
Retion
Southern
Plantation/Pine
Region
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Southern Plantation / Pine Region
long summers, mild winters, fast-growing forest,
red soil, cotton plantations, slavery, Civil War,
sharecroppers, boll weevil, planted pines,
paper mills, some new factories (e.g., cars)
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Using regions to explain
human characteristics
Would knowing about the
physical characteristics of our regions
help you describe some requirements
for growing cotton, corn or wheat?
Using maps of the physical characteristics
of our regions, can you explain
why humans decided to use the land
for growing certain crops?
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REGIONS
IN THEIN
UNITED
REGIONS
THE STATES
US
1. Outline
the “region”
of crop
production in
the United
States.
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REGIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
2. Describe the area
you outlined by using
some of the following
words:
near, next to, inside,
west, east, south, north,
northeast, southeast,
northwest, southwest
Also use
some
place
names.
Bodies of
Water
Countries
States
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REGIONS
IN THEIN
UNITED
REGIONS
THE STATES
US
3. Describe terrain of your crop region.
4. Describe the water balance in your
crop region.
5. Describe the growing season of your
crop region.
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So What?
Putting it all together:
Knowing the approximate location of these four
lines can help us organize a lot of other knowledge
about environments in North America….
If we remember:
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Regions can help
us organize
knowledge…
Regional lines are
not “real.”
They are generalizations based on
measurements and human choices
about what criteria are important..
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Regionalization
The process of dividing
a large area into smaller areas
that consist of groups of places
that have important features
in common.
It can help us organize a lot of other
useful information about our country.
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Can you remember the lines and what they mean?..
Northern
Cold
Region
Great
Plains
Grassland
Region
Western
Mountain
Region
Great Lakes
Farm/Forest
Retion
Southern
Plantation/Pine
Region
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REGIONS
IN THEIN
UNITED
REGIONS
THE STATES
US
1. Choose at least one
of the human characteristics
on the following maps.
2. Write at least two questions
relating your crop
to a characteristic
shown on these maps.
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Markets for food crops: Symbols show largest urban areas.
Chicago
Los
Angeles
New
York
Markets: Clusters of dots show large urban areas.
Chicago
New
York
Los
Angeles
Interstate Highways and Markets (Largest urban areas)
Interstate Highways and Markets (Clusters of population)