Transcript Chapter 1 Notes_PowerPoint

Understanding Social Studies Concepts
Chapter 1 Section 1
What is Geography?
a study of the world, its people, and the landscapes they create.
Science
 Geographers have to think and act like
scientists.
 They look at data, or information, that
they gather about places.
 To gather data, they might have to crawl
deep into caves or climb tall mountains to
make observations and take
measurements.
 Other times, they study sets of images
collected by satellites orbiting high about
Earth.
Social Science
 Not everything that geographers study
can be measured in numbers.
 Some geographers study people and
their lives.
 For example, they may ask why countries
change their governments or why people
in a place speak a certain language.
 They visit places and talk to the people
who live there.
 Social Science is a field that studies
people and relationships among them.
Looking at the World
 To fully understand how the
world works, geographers
often look at places at
different levels: local,
regional, and global.
Local
• Local: How do people
in a town or community
live? What is the local
government like? How
do the people who live
there get around?
What do they eat?
Regional
• Regional: Geographers divide the world into regions
that have one or more common features that distinguish
it from surrounding areas. For example, mountain
ranges, climates or native plants. Other regions are
based on human characteristics
such as language, religion, or
history.
Global
• Global: Geographers study the world on a global level to
find relationships among people who live far apart.
They ask how events and ideas from one region of the
world affect people in other regions.
For example, they may examine the
products that a country exports to see
how those products are used in other
countries.
Geographer’s Tools
Globes
1. Advantage: spherical like the Earth so it can show the world
as it really is.
2. Disadvantage: expensive to make, only show location of
places and features
Maps
1. Advantage: easier to work with, able
to show more information, and able
to show small areas like cities
2. Disadvantage: flat and not possible
to show a spherical area perfectly on
a flat surface so details get distorted
or altered
Physical Map
Political Map
Info Map
Satellite Images
• Satellite Images: information
is in the form of images
gathered from satellites
orbiting above the Earth and
helps geographers make
accurate maps
Chapter 1, Section 2
“5 Themes of Geography”
Five Themes of Geography
Theme
Description
Example
Location
Describes where something is
using either absolute or relative
location.
Example: the White House is
located at 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave or Canada is north of the
United States
Place
Refers to an area’s landscape,
the features that make it
different from other places.
Examples; land, climate,
people
Region
Areas that share common
characteristics
Movement
HumanEnvironment
Interaction
Example: Mojave Desert is
defined by its distinctive
climate and plant life.
How and why people and things Example: Airports help
move.
people move around the
world.
How people and their physical
Example: clear forest to
environment (land, water, climate, plant crops, level fields to
plants, and animals) affect each build cities, and dam rivers to
other.
prevent floods or build houses
with thick walls and wear
heavy clothing to keep warm.
Give an example for your area
Examples = Earth, Texas, etc
Examples = Trees, Houses, etc.
Examples = Southwest, Latin
America
Examples = Goods, People,
Ideas, Trade, etc
Examples = air conditioning
Understanding Social Studies Concepts
Chapter 1 Section 3
Branches of Geography
Physical
 study of the world’s physical geographic
features – its landforms, bodies of water,
climates, solid, and plants
 Geographers study the physical world to
learn how it works.
 Studying the changes that take place on
our planet can help us prepare to live
with those changes.
Human
 Geographers study the world’s people,
past and present. Where do people live?
Help us
What jobs do they have?
understand  They may choose to study the
the world
landscapes where people live or
better
economies, politics or city life.
 This knowledge can help us understand
people in other cultures or help people
improve their landscapes or
situations.
Other branches of geography
1. Cartography – the science of making maps.
Computer mapping uses G.P.S. (global positioning
system) and G.I.S. (geographic information system).
Computers allow geographers to make maps quickly,
easily, and more accurately.
2. Hydrology – the study of water on
Earth.
3. Meteorology – the study
of weather and what causes it.