Term Papers on The Five Themes Of Geography

Term Paper Title	The Five Themes Of Geography
# of Words	1160
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.64

The Five Themes of Geography

        GY202  Geographic Thought
        September 6, 1995
        John Doe

     During the 1980's the United States showed unacceptably low test scores
on simple Geographic tests.  The point Committee on Geographic Education could
only attribute these results to Geographic Illiteracy,  not only on the part of
the students, but more importantly on the educators themselves.  By 1984 it had
become inexplicably clear that immediate action must take place to counteract
this ongoing problem in our educational institutions (Journal of Geography 89).
In response, the Joint Committee on Geographic Education produced a landmark
publication entitled "Guidelines for Geographic Education".  This  document
contained a scope and sequence in Geography with suggested learning results for
the nations primary and secondary school systems, as well as suggested
educational strategies for analysis on the part of the students and teachers.
Most importantly, this article provided the Five Fundamental Themes in Geography,
which have evolved to become an integral element of social studies education,
because they take the world of geographic study beyond the realm of basic
memorization, and into a new plane of analysis and implementation.   These five
themes include  location, place, human-environment interactions, movement,  and
regions.
     Location answers the question of "where?".  If you plan to meet someone
at a specific time, and a specific place, the question of "Where will you meet?"
must first be answered.  To resolve this situation, Geography employs Absolute
Location, and Relative Location.
     Absolute Location applies  a grid-matrix system to the earth's surface
in the form of coordinates.  These coordinates,  longitude and latitude, allow
geographers to pinpoint exact areas of the earth's surface, and other planetary
bodies as well.  If Geographers wish to apply satellite  technology to observe
an area of the earth's surface, coordinates are used to pinpoint an exact
location.
     Relative Location answers the simple question of where you would meet a
person.  For example:  "Let's meet at Martin Hall, the building next to the
Library."  But, relative location is much deeper than simple location.  It also
involves interdependence of a location based upon its resources, people, and
environment.
     If one wishes to build a ski resort, the location of that resort must be
relative with the environment of the location.  It would be illogical, and non-
profitable to build a ski resort in the Mojave desert.  However, it would be
logical to build a resort in the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains in
Colorado, Idaho, or Montana.
     Every area on the surface of the earth is defined by some type of
characteristic.  Siberia is known to be very cold, but also a part of the Soviet
Union, a formerly communist country.  Belize is known to be very warm, but it is
also an English speaking country which houses a tropical rain forest.  To define
these basic geographical characteristics, Geographers have placed them into
three categories under the heading of "place" - Physical, Human, and Observed
Characteristics.
     Physical Characteristics are those characteristics which define the
physical environment of a place .   This environment includes the climate,
physical terrain,  and plant and animal life.
     Human Characteristics are those things which people have done to an
environment to change them.  People construct buildings in which to live, shop,
work,  pray, and play.  People are also defined by their religion, race,
languages they speak, and philosophies and ideologies in which they live.
     Observed Characteristics are in part an overflow of human
characteristics.  People change their environment, this change can be observed
in everyday life;  the roads we use to get to work or school, the power lines
used to heat our homes, the pollution exuded from our factories to produce the
luxuries we crave, all of these represent change...

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