The Five Themes Of Geography :: essays research papers fc

The Five Themes of Geography     During the 1980s the United States showed unacceptably low test scoreson simple Geographic tests. The point Committee on Geographic tuition couldonly attribute these results to Geographic Illiteracy, not only on the pop out ofthe students, but more importantly on the educators themselves. By 1984 it hadbecome inexplicably clear that immediate action must take place to counteractthis ongoing problem in our educational institutions (Journal of Geography 89).In response, the Joint Committee on Geographic Education produced a landmarkpublication entitled "Guidelines for Geographic Education". This documentcontained a scope and sequence in Geography with suggested learning results forthe nations primary and secondary school systems, as well as suggestededucational strategies for abridgment on the part of the students and teachers.Most importantly, this article provided the Five Fundamental Themes in Geography,which have ev olved to become an integral element of social studies education,because they take the world of geographic study beyond the realm of basicmemorization, and into a new plane of analysis and implementation. These fivethemes include location, place, human-environment interactions, movement, andregions.     Location answers the question of "where?". If you plan to meet mortalat a specific time, and a specific place, the question of "Where will you meet?"must first be answered. To resolve this situation, Geography employs AbsoluteLocation, and relation back Location.     Absolute Location applies a grid-matrix system to the hides surfacein the form of coordinates. These coordinates, longitude and latitude, allowgeographers to pinpoint exact areas of the earths surface, and other planetarybodies as well. If Geographers wish to engage satellite technology to observean area of the earths surface, coordinates are used to pinpoint an exactlocation.     Relative Location answers the simple question of where you would meet aperson. For lesson "Lets meet at Martin Hall, the signifiering next to theLibrary." But, relative location is much deeper than simple location. It alsoinvolves interdependence of a location based upon its resources, people, andenvironment.     If one wishes to build a ski resort, the location of that resort must berelative 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 belogical to build a resort in the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains inColorado, Idaho, or Montana.     Every area on the surface of the earth is defined by some type ofcharacteristic. Siberia is known to be very cold, but also a part of the SovietUnion, a formerly commie country. Belize is known to be very warm, but it is