🌍 McGraw-Hill Networks Teacher's Edition • W1D5 (Pages 32–33)
🏠 Portal ◀ Day 4 TG (p.31) 📖 Student Edition
📄 Teacher's PDF

Five Themes and Six Essential Elements of Geography

GUIDING QUESTION

How do geographers use the five themes and six essential elements of geography?

To understand how our world is connected, some geographers have broken the study of geography into five themes or six essential elements.

Five Themes of Geography

The Five Themes of Geography are (1) location, (2) place, (3) human-environment interaction, (4) movement, and (5) regions. You will see these themes highlighted in the geography skills questions throughout the book.

Six Essential Elements

Recently, geographers have begun to divide the study of geography into Six Essential Elements. Understanding these elements will help you build your knowledge of geography.

The World in Spatial Terms What do geographers do when studying a certain place? They first take a look at where the place is located. Location is a useful starting point. By asking “Where is it?” you begin to develop an awareness of the world around you.

Places and Regions Place has a special meaning in geography. It refers to more than where a place is. It also describes what a place is like. It might describe physical characteristics such as landforms, climate, and plant or animal life. Or it might describe human characteristics, such as language and way of life.

To help organize their study, geographers often group places into regions. Regions are united by one or more common characteristics.

Physical Systems When geographers study places and regions, they analyze how physical systems—such as hurricanes, volcanoes, and glaciers—shape the Earth’s surface. They also look at the communities of livings things. The populations of plants and animals depend upon one another and their surroundings for survival.

📚 Reading HELPDESK • Academic Vocabulary
theme

a topic that is studied or a special quality that connects ideas

awareness

the state of having understanding or knowledge

🎓 Teacher's Pedagogical Guide • Page 32 Facilitation Core Themes
C1 Critical Thinking: Making Connections (GIS/GPS)

Ask students to read the sidebar on GIS/GPS systems. Ask:

  • Where do we commonly find a GPS system these days?
    👉 (Many cars have onboard GPS systems. Smart phones also include GPS features.)
  • How is a GPS system in a car able to tell the driver where to go?
    👉 (It is receiving information about the landscape from a satellite in orbit.)
C2 Critical Thinking: Identifying Scope of Geography

Ask students to describe or identify what they think geographers study. Explain that geography deals with much more than just location: geographers describe how people, plants, animals, physical forces, and the environment interact with one another. AL

W Writing Skills: Geographic Awareness Interviews

Have students think about the term awareness as it relates to geography. Have students interview one another about ways they might improve their awareness of their physical world (e.g. nature walks, local maps, satellite imagery). Summarize into a written paragraph or blog entry.

32 Teacher's Edition • Lesson 1 Facilitation

Human Systems Geographers are interested in human systems. Human systems refer to how people have shaped our world. Geographers look at how borders are decided and why people settle in certain places and not in others. A basic theme in geography is the movement of people, ideas, and goods.

Environment and Society How does the relationship between people and their natural surroundings influence the way we live? The theme of human-environment interaction investigates this. It also shows how people use the environment and how their actions affect the environment.

The Uses of Geography Geography helps us understand the relationships among people, places, and environments. Mastering the tools and technology used for studying geography can also help us in our daily lives.

☑ PROGRESS CHECK (p. 33)

Identifying: Which Essential Elements of Geography might be involved in the study of an area’s landforms and how they affect people living there?

✅ OFFICIAL TEACHER ANSWER (p. 33 Progress Check)

Answer: Places and Regions would be involved in the description of the landforms. Environment and Society could be involved in studying how people have changed the landforms and adapted to them. The Uses of Geography could address the impact on the landforms over time.

Central Park in New York

Central Park in New York covers 843 acres of open land. People use the park for recreation. A yearlong study recorded about 35 million visits by people from the city and from around the world.

Mount St. Helens Volcano Landscape

The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state removed the top 1,314 feet (400 meters) of the volcano’s peak and leveled nearly 230 square miles (595 square km) of surrounding forest. The destruction happened in a matter of minutes.

▶ CRITICAL THINKING (Analyzing Photo)

Analyzing: What does this photo suggest about the wildlife living in the region?

✅ OFFICIAL TEACHER ANSWER (Critical Thinking, p. 33)

Answer: The area around Mount St. Helens is not populated, perhaps because of the volcano, which has scarred the landscape. There would be little food for wildlife.

🎓 Teacher's Pedagogical Guide • Page 33 Facilitation Advanced Application
C1 Critical Thinking: Evaluating Human Changes

Have students brainstorm ways in which humans change the physical environment (5 minutes). Ask them to consider whether each change is "positive" or "negative", and justify why.

R Reading Skills: Locating Quantitative Facts
  • How many acres of land does Central Park cover?
    👉 (843 acres)
  • How many square miles of forest were destroyed when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980?
    👉 (230 square miles) AL
C2 Critical Thinking: Mental Map Activity

Have students draw from memory a simple map from their homes to the school. Then ask them to write down what tools of geography would make their map easier to create and more accurate.

Ready