Monday, October 01, 2012

Homeschool Geography- 5 Themes of Geography


The Five Themes were developed by the National Council for Geographic Education to provide a framework for learning and presenting geography.  These can be easily adapted for homeschool geography study.

The Five Themes are:
  1. Location: Absolute and Relative-Position on the Earth's Surface. Geographic study still begins with the location of places on the earth. Places have absolute locations that pinpoint them on the earth, and relative locations that place each location in respect to other locations. 
  2. Place: Physical and Human Characteristics. Place have physical and human characteristics (who is living there). Modern geography examines both of these factors and how they work together.
  3. Human/Environment Interactions: Shaping the Landscape.  The geography of places is influenced by the degree to which humans have impacted their local environment. Humans in an industrial setting, for example, will differently impact than humans in an agricultural setting.
  4. Movement: Humans Interacting on the Earth. The postmodern world is one of great interaction between places. Movement can refer to communication between individuals or physical movement from place to place. 
  5. Regions: How They Form and Change. The essential geographic feature is the region. A region is any unit of space that is unified by the presence of some characteristic.  Different kinds of maps can feature a variety of regions, such as regions of drought in the United States in the Summer of 2012.
There are many lesson plans and other resources online to help you evaluate geography lessons in terms of the five themes.


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