Unit 1

Geographic Perspective

On a piece of paper, quick write what comes to your

mind when you think about “geographic

perspective”

What do you know about Geographic

Perspective?

In what ways are Humans and the

Earth connected to each other?

Diagram

How do perspectives help us analyze people, places and the environment?

Quick Write on Unit 1 Essential Question:

A geographic perspective is a way of looking at and understanding the world. When you view the world through the lens of geography, you are asking who, what, where, and when people, places, and things are distributed across the surface of the earth, and why and how they got there.

In other words, it means that you are analyzing something within its spatial, historical, cultural, political, and physical contexts. You can study anything that has some spatial component to it from this perspective. All things—whether they are rivers, cities, populations of people, or events—exist in a particular place and in a particular time for a set of specific reasons

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/05/g68/index.html

Maps, Globes, and Geographic Tools

SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE

BIG IDEA

How do spatial perspectives help us to analyze people, places

and environments?

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

I.  The Spatial Perspective     A.  Maps: the cartographic tradition has always been unique to geography.     B.  Scale         1.  Global/Regional/Local         2.  Interaction across scales     C.  Location         1.  Absolute Location: latitude and longitude coordinates         2.  Relative Location: location in relation to other places         3.  Site vs. Situation             a.  Site: actual place and its physical characteristics             b.  Situation: external reference or context of the place     D.  Distance         1.  Absolute Distance: measured in a standard metric         2.  Relative Distance:  measured in time or economics     E.  Direction         1.  Absolute Direction:  North, South, East, West         2.  Relative Direction:  more colloquial, i.e. "the deep south," or "the far east

II.  Insights of Geography     A.  Places have location, direction, and distance with respect to other places     B.  Scale is important--places may be large or small     C.  A place has both physical structure and cultural content     D.  The characteristics of places develop and change over time     E.  Places interact with other places     F.  The content of places is rationally structured     G.  Places may be generalized into regions of similarities and differences