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Overview:
This lesson helps students figure out the answer to the question "What is geography?" by introducing them to the five themes of geography. Students will apply these themes to a National Geographic online feature and will create presentations showing how the geographic concepts described in the themes can be used to help solve environmental problems.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 18: "How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future"
Time:
Three to four hours
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access
- Drawing materials
- Blank Xpeditions outline maps, one for each student or group; choose a map based on the Web site you assign to the class
- Multimedia presentation program (optional)
Objectives:
Students will
- contribute their answers to the question "What is geography?";
- contribute examples to illustrate the five themes of geography;
- follow the directions to apply the five themes of geography to one of the nationalgeographic.com features; and
- create presentations showing how geographical concepts can be used to educate people about an environmental problem.
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Pose the question "What is geography?" to the class, and list their responses on the board. They might think about geography-related activities they have done in school or things they've read in National Geographic or other magazines or books.
Development:
List the five themes of geography on the board, and explain that these themes are one way to answer the question "What is geography?" Provide one or two examples to illustrate each theme (these examples can be taken from the Web page), and ask students to contribute their own examples.
Have students, either individually, in pairs, or in small groups, browse through one of the following National Geographic Web sites, or choose another Web site for students to use (every student should focus on the same feature).
Congo Trek: Fifteen Months in Untamed Africa
Alaska: The Great Land
Monterey Bay
Race to the End of the Earth (especially for kids)
Turtles in Trouble (especially for kids)
Have students do the following activities for the site they have looked at. Each of these activities is related to one of the five themes of geography:
Theme 1—Location:
Use a blank outline map (available at the Xpeditions atlas) to label the place or places described in this feature, and use an atlas to figure out the latitude and longitude of those places. List these coordinates next to the map or on another piece of paper. Then write a sentence explaining how your map and the coordinates help you to learn more about the topic.
Theme 2—Place:
List the physical and human characteristics of one or two of the places described in the feature. Then compare those characteristics to those of your home region. How similar or different are these two places?
Theme 3—Human/Environment Interaction:
List the ways that humans impact the environment in this place.
Theme 4—Movement:
Explain the patterns of movement you have read about at this feature. Who moves or migrates? How does their movement affect the environment or other animals or people in this place?
Theme 5—Region:
Figure out which of the Earth's bioregions (biomes) this feature is set in. Choose one or more of the six biomes at Biomes of the World. Then write a sentence explaining what makes this biome different from other regions near it.
Closing:
Discuss your students' lists and sentences as a class. Ask them to explain how the five themes of geography relate to different aspects of the Web site they have read.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Present students with the scenario below, filling in the blank depending on which site they have read for this lesson. Ask students, either individually, in pairs, or in small groups, to prepare reports or multimedia presentations that apply at least three of the five themes to this scenario.
The _______________ is facing some environmental threats from people. You have been asked to put together a presentation that convinces other people to help protect this place. Use examples from at least three of the five themes of geography to create your presentation.
For example, if students have looked at the Monterey Bay site, they can illustrate the maps they created earlier in this lesson to show some of the animals that are threatened by human activities. They could also write a paragraph (or even a poem) describing what the scenery of Monterey Bay looks like, both above and below the water, and explaining why they think this is a special place that is worthy of protection. Their presentations might also include their lists of human impacts on the environment of Monterey Bay, with an added paragraph explaining what people can do to improve these problems.
If time permits, you may choose to have students conduct additional Internet or library research to supplement their presentations.
Extending the Lesson:
Ask students to pretend they have been hired to work full-time on the environmental problem they have written about. Have them write one-page papers describing how they might use geography-related skills and knowledge to do this job.
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