UNIT PLAN: Engaging the Five Themes of Geography for 7th Grade Social Science

[Joseph J. Wechman]

                                                                     

Literacy is of paramount concern in the United States. The objectives provided below and the ensuing vocabulary Vocabulary Template 1.jpg Vocabulary Template 2.jpg Vocabulary Template 3.1.jpg are meant to introduce the themes of geography and geographic literacy to a diversity of learners.

There is a variety of choices and learning styles with the option to do supplemental products Tee Shirt Template.doc  Country Seal Template.doc. Product choices and assessments are done in a Tic-Tac-Toe format based on a book written by Carolyn Coil. 

Students will do three out of nine projects in a Tic-Tac-Toe format. Products may be done three across, three down or three on a diagonal. Activities Criteria Card 1.jpg Criteria Card 2.jpg Criteria Card 3.jpg are designed to incorporate a variety of learning styles and difficulty ranges.


Geography Unit Objectives

Geography comprises approximately first half of the academic school year based on the current district curriculum. Separate daily lessons will be taught to familiarize students with the terms and concepts of geography. Those various lessons could be differentiated in a myriad of ways and will not be presented here. Rather, the goal is to have produced products that not only demonstrate mastery of terms and concepts, but of engaged learning.

The products presented in this unit may be used as a culminating set of activities for the geography segment of the course. A better process would be to “chunk” the unit into smaller mini-activities, allowing for student choice of 1 or 2 activities every two weeks. Students would have more time to work on engaging and imaginative products instead of cramming a semester worth of terms and concepts, leading to disengagement, frustration and poor products. Assessment Sample Rubric.jpg and feedback will be ongoing during each two week “chunk” so that students will have numerous opportunities to improve their overall products.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

1. Name the five themes of geography.

2. Explain the five themes of geography.

3. Location -- Where are things located? A location can be specific (for example, it can be stated as coordinates of longitude and latitude or as a distance from another place) or general (it's in the Northeast).

4. Place -- What makes a place different from other places? Differences might be defined in terms of climate, physical features, or the people who live there and their traditions.

5. Human-environment interaction -- What are the relationships among people and places? How have people changed the environment to better suit their needs?

6. Movement -- What are the patterns of movement of people, products, and information? A study of movement includes learning about major modes of transportation used by people, an area's major exports and imports, and ways in which people communicate (move ideas).

7. Regions -- How can Earth be divided into regions for study? Regions can be defined by a number of characteristics including area, language, political divisions, religions, and vegetation (for example, grassland, marshland, desert, rain forest).
Unit Key Terms

Key terms will be introduced separately during the weeks prior to the projects. Vocabulary will also be “chunked” based on the theme of the lesson depending on whether it is on movement, location, place, region or human-environment interaction.

Terms Used in Unit

Geography

Latitude Longitude
Location Region
Place Movement
Human interaction Environment interaction
Weather Climate
Population Demography
Migration Immigrants
Urban Rural
Producers Consumers
Developed nations Developing nations
Government Culture
Cultural landscape Society
Social class Social structure
Nuclear family Extended family
Natural resources Raw materials
Renewable resources Nonrenewable resources
Environment Pollution
Myth

Resources that may be used include, but are not limited to:

General Resource Sites

• ABCgenealogy: Maps 
  Arial"">Links to online map resources. Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"">
• About The Human Internet - Geography 
  Arial"">Weekly article about geography and maps, annotated links to map and
  geographical resources, and much more. Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"">
• Ancestor Search - Genealogy Surname Search Engines for Maps - US and Europe 
  
• Ancestry.com - Reference - Map Center 
• Books We Own - Atlases and Gazetteers 
  Arial"">Find a book from which you would like a lookup and click on the
  submitter's code at the end of the entry. Once you find the contact
  information for the submitter, write them a polite request for a lookup.
  Be sure to follow the Tips for making a
  request . See also the "HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/www\.rootsweb\.ancestry\.com\/~bwo\/bwocwp\.html\0022 \\t \0022_parent\0022""">Frequently Asked
  Questions about Copyright page and please also
  consider reading through: How to Contribute to
  Books We Own. mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"">
• Cartographic Images 
  Arial"">Ancient, Medieval & Renaissance Maps.
• Cartography Maps & GIS Resources  ~ Fairfax, Virginia
  Arial"">From George Mason University. mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"">
• CGRER Netsurfing: Maps and References 
  Arial"">Huge compilation of links from the University of Iowa.
• Find-our-Community.net - World Map, World Travel Guide and Community Web Sites 
  
• GBR-Maps-Online Mailing List 
  Arial"">For for the discussion and sharing of information regarding British
  maps and etchings, and their availability online.
• Genealogical Geography: Place Identification in the Map Library 
  Arial"">Article by William H. Lamble. mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"">
• Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names 
• GIS Datab 
  Arial"">List of online GIS data and resources from the John R. Borchert Map
  Library, Univ. of Minnesota. mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"">
• Global Gazetteer 
  Arial"">This is a directory of the world's cities and towns, sorted by
  country and linked to a map for each town. Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"">
• John Robertson's Genealogy & Maps 
  Arial"">Historical county lines; genealogy atlas "how-to" and
  more.
• Locations - Finding United States Locations Using On-Line Aerial Photos and Topographical
  Maps 
• Map Empire 
  Arial"">North American maps and related products. Road maps, atlases,
  travel guides, airline route maps, topographic maps, globes, marine
  charts, railroad maps, bicycle maps, map libraries.
• Map History / History of Cartography 
  Arial"">A tightly organized global overview of the history of cartography,
  aimed at surfers or scholars, spread over about 100 pages. The site
  provides reference information and lists activities, opportunities and
  resources. There are also leads to the collecting of early maps. 'Map
  History' is managed by the former Map Librarian of the British Library and
  forms part of the WWW-Virtual Library. Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"">
• Map Reference 
  Arial"">Compiled listing of non-printed reference material on the subject
  of historical maps & cartography. Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"">
• Map Related Web Sites 
• Map Societies Around the World 
  Arial"">From the Cleveland State University Library. A meta index of links
  to societies with a focus on cartography around the globe. Includes areas
  of interest for each society and contact information.
• Oddens's Bookmarks - The Fascinating World of Maps and Mapping 
  Arial"">Over 20,000 cartographic links. Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"">
• Same Place, Different Name 
  Arial"">Provides an example of how the modern county of Sullivan, Tennessee
  "wandered" between three different states over the course of its
  history.
• The US GeoGen Project™ 
  Arial"">The US GeoGen Project™ is a national project designed to combine
  the hobbies of genealogy and electronic orienteering.

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