REGIONS: A HANDS-ON APPROACH
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Preview of Main Ideas
Regions are fundamental organizing units of geography. Geographers use regions to give order to the earth’s surface. We organize space into regions every day. Every time we refer to an area by saying, “I’m going downtown” or “down South,” or “I’d like to live in that neighborhood,” we are using the concept of regions. This lesson is designed to help students understand what regions are and how to define regional boundaries.
Connection With the Curriculum
All social studies curricula use the concept of regions to organize and analyze space. The process of defining regions, called regionalization, is essential when teaching students the characteristics of places in world geography and world history. In United States history this activity could help students define a region and determine that region’s historical significance. For example, it could be used to define and describe the South prior to a discussion of the Civil War. In government courses this activity could precede a discussion of regional voting behavior.
Teaching Level: Grades 6-12
Geography Standards
4. The physical and human characteristics of places
5. That people create regions to interpret the world’s complexity
6. How culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and regions
Geography Theme: Regions
Materials
One copy of an outline map of the United States for each student, and another copy for each group of three or four students
Two colored pens or pencils for each student
Reference maps or atlases
Objectives
Students are expected to
Define the term region and give examples
Understand the subjective nature of determining regional boundaries
Opening the Lesson
Begin by introducing the characteristics of a region. Ask: What do Southeast Asia, the Corn Belt, a rain forest, and (insert the name of a local, well-known region) all have in common? Explain that these areas are all regions. Tell students that they will be learning about regions—areas defined by certain unifying characteristics.
Have students (individually or in small groups) identify regions within your classroom, school, or community. Ask them to define the boundaries of those regions as specifically as possible, and to cite the unifying characteristics that define the regions. Give students four to five minutes to respond. Answers will vary. (Possible responses include: an area of the room where students hang their coats, a section of the cafeteria where the athletes congregate, or a neighborhood where wealthy people live.)
Develop the definition of a region. Ask students to list several examples of regions. Make sure students understand regions by offering the following examples:
Examples of physical regions include climates; vegetation zones; biomes; general physical areas, such as mountains; and specific physical areas, such as the Rocky Mountains.
Examples of cultural regions include Scandinavia, Latin America, and the Bible Belt.
Examples of global regions include areas with similar soil types, religions, climates, languages.
Examples of local regions include school districts, newspaper-circulation areas, and zip code and zoning areas.
Ask students to analyze their list of regions by looking for similarities and differences among the regions. Prompt students by asking:
How would you know you had left one region and entered another?
What characteristics make one region different from another?
How do you determine the boundaries of a region?
Before you continue, make sure students understand that all regions encompass a specific area and are different from other regions in a significant way. Regions can be any size.
Ask students to define regions in a complete sentence or two.
Developing the Lesson
Now that students have a better understanding of what regions are, introduce them to the concept of regionalization—the process of determining the boundaries of a region. Give each student a copy of an outline map of the United States and two colored pens or pencils. Ask students to draw boundaries on their maps for two regions commonly known and frequently used in popular speech and literature—the Midwest and the South. (Or you may wish to have students focus on two other regions.) Designate a separate color to outline the boundaries of each region. Students may need to consult reference maps or atlases for this exercise. Next, on a separate sheet of paper, have students explain why they drew the boundaries for each region where they did. Give students about five minutes to do this. Remind them that these regions can be defined differently by different people. Encourage students to think about their criteria for determining the regions when answering the boundary questions.
When students have finished, have them share their maps with other students. Briefly discuss the maps. Ask students:
Were you able to determine a precise boundary for each region? Why or why not?
What features do you think give these boundaries meaning? (Students will most likely respond that they were not able to determine these regions precisely, or that the boundaries varied, depending on the criteria or definitions used for each.)
Next, have students form groups of three or four. Distribute a new outline map of the United States to each. Ask each group to reach an agreement on boundaries for the same two regions by negotiating among group members. Have each group write down its criteria for selecting the boundaries. Then have one member of each group draw the agreed-upon boundaries on the map. This may take about ten minutes. You may wish to assign each group member a role: illustrator, writer, spokesperson.
When the groups have finished, collect the maps and display them so that each group can see what the other groups have done. Encourage students to compare maps. Then ask someone from each group to explain why the students drew the boundaries where they did, and what criteria they used to define each region. Keep a list on the chalkboard or overhead transparency of each group’s criteria for each region. Highlight differences and similarities among maps.
Concluding the Lesson
Summarize by pointing out that each group’s regions varied depending on the criteria. No group was more right than another; each was equally valid as long as the area within the region fit the definition of the region.
Give students an opportunity to refine their definition of regions, reiterating that regions are areas defined by certain unifying characteristics.
Extending the Lesson
As an exercise in regionalization—the process of determining regions—ask students to pick an aspect of popular culture easily defined by region. For example, students may choose professional sports affiliations, regional cuisines, ranges of political opinion, or areas of popular music preference. Using their understanding of regions, have students draw regional boundaries on a map. Have students label each region and justify their regional boundaries.
You may wish to localize this lesson by using state or local maps and information, such as agricultural statistics or census information to apply the concept of regions to your own state or community.
Assessing Student Learning
Have students draw the boundaries of a familiar region on an outline map, list the defining characteristics of the region, and in paragraph form, explain why they chose those characteristics.
Additional Reading
Garreau, Joel R. The Nine Nations of North America. New York: Avon, 1982.
Haggett, Peter. The Geographer’s Art. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1990.
This lesson from Directions in Geography: A Guide for Teachers, National Geographic Society, 1992.
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