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Overview:
In this lesson, students will be asked to consider the unique physical and human characteristics of their home region and to create guidebooks that describe these features to visitors to the region. In the process, they will gain an awareness of the human and environmental factors that make places unique.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, history, art
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 4: "The physical and human characteristics of places"
Standard 5: "That people create regions to interpret Earth's complexity"
Time:
Two hours
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access
- Regional guidebook or visitor brochures for any region in the United States
- Paper and writing/drawing materials
Objectives:
Students will
- list the things they think are important for other people to know about their home region;
- research and take notes on their region's physical and human characteristics; and
- Create visitors' guidebooks that describe their region's unique physical and human characteristics.
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Tell students that they are going to create guidebooks for visitors to their home region. You will first need to define "home region"—this definition can be as broad or as small as you feel appropriate. For example, if your students live in a large city, they might just focus on the metropolitan region. Suburban or rural students could focus on their region of the country, such as, in the U.S., the Midwest or Southeast. Just make sure that all students understand how their region will be defined for this activity.
Development:
Have students list the things that they think are important for other people to know about their region. They should list elements of the physical landscape, such as climate, landforms, plants, animals, and elements of the human landscape, such as work opportunities, economic activities, recreational activities, regional accents, and foods.
Have students find out more about their regions' physical and human characteristics by using Internet or print resources. Students with Internet access can search the Web for sites about the area and consult National Geographic's MapMachine to see a map of the region. Have students take notes on what they find.
Closing:
Discuss students' research findings as a class. What are the most interesting and unique features of their home region?
Suggested Student Assessment:
Have students create visitor guidebooks that describe the unique physical and human characteristics of their home region. The guidebooks should include pictures and should feature the things that they feel are special about their home regions. To get some ideas for the types of things to include, show students some regional guidebooks or visitor brochures for other regions.
Extending the Lesson:
Ask students to share their guidebooks with the class and compare what they have produced. Discuss the features of the region that students have left out of the guidebooks. Are there some things about their region that students omitted intentionally? Or did students tend to include the less-than-wonderful things along with the great things? What features did students think visitors should not know about? Discuss the reasons why they might have omitted certain things and their feelings about the imperfections of their region.
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