5 Themes of

Geography
Unit 1: What does a Historian Do
 State Standards

7-G.1.2.2 Apply the skills of geographic inquiry (asking geographic questions

acquiring geographic information, organizing geographic information, analyzing
geographic information, and answering geographic questions) to analyze a
geographic problem or issue

7-G1.2.3 Use, interpret and create maps and graphs representing places and
regions in the era being studied

7-G1.2.4 Locate and use information from maps and GIS to answer geographic
questions on the era and region being studied
What is Geography?
What is Geography
The Study of the physical
features of the Earth and
how they affect the Humans
who call the planet home.
There are 5 Themes of Geography
Human/
Location Place Environment
Interaction

Movement Region
Theme
01
location
Where something is
Location
Where a place can be found on a map

● 2 Kinds of Location

○ Absolute Location

○ Relative Location
Relative Location
Where something is in relation to somewhere else

Absolute Location
The exact latitude and Longitude of a location.
Relative
Location
Describe how to get from
Catherine’s House to
school

Describe how to get from

Ariana’s House to the
park
Absolute
Location
Theme
02
Place
What a place is like
Place
● Describes what a location is like or its traits
○ Is it Hot or Cold?
○ Are their a lot of mountains or is it flat?
○ Is it wet or dry?
○ Are their a lot of open fields or is there
crowded neighborhoods?
What is Lansing like?
Table 1: Is it Hot or Cold?

Table 2: Are their a lot of mountains?

Table 3: Do we have Beaches?

Table 4: Is there a lot of farms?

Table 5: Are there any bodies of water

(rivers/lakes?)

Table 6: Is there a lot of big

buildings?
 Theme
03
Regions
How can this place be
divided into regions and
what regions does it
belong to
Region
Ways to organize the world into locations that share
common characteristics. You can do this in a lot of ways!

● Time Zones
● Borders
● Languages
● Physical Features
● & many more!
Regions of the United States
Regions of
Michigan
Stump the Teacher(s)
Come up with some parameters that can form a region (Time
Zone, Borders, Languages, Physical Features and more).
 Theme
04
Movement
How is a place connected
to other places
Movement
Why do humans move to new locations and what do
they do there?

How Do Things and Ideas move, and how do they

change the location they arrive at?
 Theme
05
Human/Environment
Interaction
How people interact with
the environment
Movement
● Human movement - cars,
trains, planes
● Information movement - phones, email,
internet
● Idea movement - fads/styles move
from place to place through TV,
magazines, newspapers
Human/Environment Interaction
How humans have impacted the environment
● How has a place changed as a result of humans
being there?
● How do people change as a result of the
environment?
● How do people use the environment?
Downtown Lansing (Then)
Downtown Lansing (Now)
People adapting to Earth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqBeQA_nBBE