Chapter Three:

Geography Basics

For my part I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.  I travel for travel’s sake.

The great affair is to move.                                           

Robert Louis Stevenson

Can you identify these places?

How much information could you tell a potential tourist- just from looking at these photos?

1.  Do penguins give you a clue?	2.  Does the boat give you a clue?	3.  Is this near the equator?  How would you know?
4.  Is this the Caribbean or the South Pacific?	5.  Is this the Caribbean or the South Pacific..or somewhere else?	Do you recognize this statue?  Where is this?

 

What in the World is Geography Anyway?

Picture this: You're gazing at a painting that allows you to peer into two back yards. Your vantage point is a window, perched above this setting. You notice that the yard on the left is very neat, with trimmed grass and a weeded garden. The yard on the right stands in stark contrast, with overgrown vegetation and a hammock that seems to invite relaxation.

As you contemplate why these yards are so very different—even though they share the same physical landscape and climate—you also ponder a geographic concept. Christopher Salter, chair of geography at the University of Missouri, Columbia, asks students to consider the yards in his lecture on cultural geography because it helps illustrate the meaning and significance of place. How these neighbors use the land in different ways reflects their sense of personal identity, explains Salter. "What's different are the cultural attitudes of the homeowners, who have very different mindsets about what their yards should be."

Understanding the physical and human characteristics of place is only one of the geographic concepts we need to grasp if we are to be "geographically informed." So say the creators of Geography for Life, National Geography Standards, 1994. The standards were written in response to the alarming lack of geographic knowledge among students in the United States. As defined in the Geography for Life Executive Summary, geographically informed persons are those who understand that "geography is the study of people, places, and environments from a spatial perspective. Geographically informed persons understand and appreciate the interdependent worlds in which they live."

Linking People to the Earth

Geography is about connections, about the relationship between human beings and their world. The Earth's physical features and systems influence how we live; likewise, decisions we make about how we live affect the Earth's surface.

Take the hydrologic cycle, for example. As water circulates through this system, it changes the Earth's surface in its wake. "Water shapes the planet," explains Kim Hulse, assistant director of the Geography Education Program at the National Geographic Society (NGS). "When water falls on the land, it erodes it. We have gullies because water carries the land away; we have canyons because rivers cut into the Earth."

When too much water falls on the Earth, however, those rivers can overflow, and people who live near these bodies of water may modify the landscape to control the resulting flooding.

Earth acts, humans react—that's geography, an interaction of physical processes and human responses to those processes. Geographers study this science from these two different points of view. Physical geographers, explains Salter, will talk, "almost incidentally" about the affect physical processes have on people, while cultural geographers are very interested in "how we perceive our environment and make decisions based upon those perceptions." For those decisions to be informed decisions, say experts, citizens must have a solid grounding in both physical and cultural geography, so they'll better understand the consequences of their actions.

Drop a stone in water and the water ripples. We must help students understand, says Hulse, why it's important not to just study the stone, but also to look at what happens over there with the ripples. "In an increasingly interdependent world, you can no longer live like you are the only person in the world," she explains. Students must understand that they are part of a system.

Students need to see that "the decisions we make do impact other parts of the world and that what happens in other countries impacts them," agrees Marianne Kenney, social studies specialist for the Colorado Department of Education. "Students need to see that we really are connected."

Borrowed from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
1703 N. Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311 USA

 

  

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Reading Assignment:

Read Chapter Three

  

Discussion Questions:

Use the websites (given) to answer the associated questions.  Your answers should be typed on your chapter three word document and submitted via e-mail to the instructor. 

 

Time Zones:

http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc

http://www3.shastacollege.edu/dscollon/images/time_zone_map.JPG

 

1. Once at this site, scroll down to Russia.  How many time zones does Russia have?
2. What time is it where you are right now?
3. What time is it in Hawaii right now?
4. How would you term the time difference?  For example, is Hawaii -12? Or +12?
5. Elapsed Flying Time:  If you left your location RIGHT to board a four hour flight to Hawaii- at what time would arrive in Hawaii (local time in Hawaii)?

 

World Climate:

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/climate.htm

 

1. What is climate?
2. How is “climate” different than “weather”?
3. What are the two most important factors that determine climate?

 

Global Wind Patterns:

 

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/wwhlpr/hurricane_globalwinds.rxml

1. Which direction do trade winds blow South of the Equator?

2. What are the “Westerlies”?

3. What do the “Westerlies” have to do with hurricanes?

4. List and describe the three basic climate groups.

 

Daylight Saving Time:  Is it really daylight until 10PM in Alaska (summer)?

http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html

 

1. What is the real reason people observe “Daylight Saving Time”?
2. Is it really daylight until 10PM in Alaska during the summer months?
3. Is it really dark most of the day in Alaska during the winter months?
4. Are the days longer and shorter at the equator?

 

Reading Latitude and Longitude:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/activity/latlong/

You will need to print the map (at the site above) in order to complete the following questions:

 

1. Do lines of latitude run east-west or north-south?
2. Name two states that extend below latitude 30 degrees N (in the contiguous US), and label them on the map.
3. Name one US state that is mostly east of longitude 70 degrees W, and label it on the map.
4. Name three US states (shown on this map) that extend west of longitude 120 degrees W, and label them on the map.
5. Is the location 45 degrees N latitude, 82 degrees W longitude on land or under water? On the map, mark it with a red X.
6. Name the state that is located entirely between 40-45 degrees N latitude and between 90-100 degrees W longitude, and label it on the map.

 

Activities:

 

Tourist Office Assignment

For this assignment, you will compare two different tourism offices (two different countries or states).  It is NOT necessary to place a phone call.  For this assignment, you can use the INTERNET to ask for and obtain an information packet.  You can use two different internet sites.  Either way, your job is to compare the two and answer the questions below:

 

1. Compare and Contrast:  What did you think of each state/country’s website?  What did you like?  dislike?
2. Which site did you find more interesting? Informative?
3. Did the site(s) give you a true "feel" for the destination? Why or why not?
4. Did the site(s) make you want to visit?
5. Did the site(s) advertise travel deals or specials?

 

      State or country #1: answer all four questions

      State or country #2: answer all four questions

 

2. Complete the map activity (see activity listed under Chapter Three Assignments).

 

 Answers to picture questions (above):

Antarctic, Hong Kong, Amazon, Caribbean, Maldives, Easter Island..(Did you get any of them correct?)