Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Thinking About: © 2009 Phil Gersmehl Michigan Geographic Alliance New York Center For Geographic Learning
Thinking About: © 2009 Phil Gersmehl Michigan Geographic Alliance New York Center For Geographic Learning
Thinking About: © 2009 Phil Gersmehl Michigan Geographic Alliance New York Center For Geographic Learning
1
Eight ways
of thinking about locations,
conditions, and connections
2
Location
- Where is it ?
- Why is it there ?
- Why is that important ?
3
Location
Place Movement
4
Location
Spatial
Place ThinkingMovement
5
Spatial
Comparison comparing this place
to another one
I already know
6
Spatial
Comparison
Which
Great Lake
is home to
the largest
urban
area?
8
Which is
bigger, the Comparison
Upper
Peninsula or
the Lower
Peninsula?
What is
another way
they are
different?
Which city on
average is
cooler Ann
Arbor or
Marquette?
9
How are places Comparison
similar or different?
10
Spatial
Aura finding places that
have an influence
over this place
11
Spatial
Aura
12
Aura
What kinds of
businesses might
grow up
around a big city?
14
Spatial
Region
15
Region
What human
regions are
evident?
Do language regions
coincide with country
boundaries?
What groups of
nearby places have
similar characteristics
or connections?
18
Spatial
Transition arranging places
in a sequence
19
Spatial
Transition
How do
conditions
change as
you travel
from one
place to
another?
21
Transition
24
Spatial
Hierarchy
Is a place a part
of something larger?
How are
smaller
places
related to
larger
ones?
26
Put the following
places in order
from inside to
outside.
Michigan
Ingham
County
Lansing
Midwest
hierarchy
27
hierarchy
How are
smaller entities
related to
larger ones?
How do rivers
and tributaries
help show
boundaries
of watersheds?
28
Spatial
Analogy identifying places
in similar positions
Traverse City
is to the Boardman River
and Grand Traverse Bay
as Saginaw
is to the Saginaw River
and the Saginaw Bay
29
Spatial
Analogy
30
Analogy
good places to
ation
Map
:Thi
s is
a
gene
raliz
ed
topo
grap
hic
map
of
Mic
higa
n. It
sho
ws
put sawmills in
elev
Escanaba
ation
tren
ds
acro
ss
the
state
.
Deta
iled
topo
grap
hic
map
Alpena
st
point
is
Lake
Erie
at
571
feet.
Ludington
Bay City
33
Spatial
Pattern
Is there a pattern to
the high areas of
Michigan?
Is the population
pattern in Michigan
spread out or
clustered?
36
Spatial
Association
noting features that
tend to occur together
(in the same places)
37
Spatial
Association
38
Association
Why do some
features usually
occur together
in the same
places?
39
Association Thats why we
call it Lake
Effect Snow.
Red areas have
abundant snowfall.
Are these areas
associated with the
Atlantic Ocean, the
Great Lakes or the
Mississippi River?
Why do
some
features
usually
occur
together in
the same
places?
41
We didnt just think up
those 8 ideas over lunch one day.
42
One important conclusion
from research in neuroscience
and developmental psychology:
43
shows that old ideas about
stages of development (Piaget)
cycles of learning (Kolb)
left brain, right brain (Edwards)
or frames of mind (Gardner)
47
Compare one place Identify Assess influences
with another. analogous that a place has
places. on nearby places.
Describe the
Discover
non-random Identify smaller correlations
arrangements sub-areas (features that
of features. within occur together).
larger areas.
49
Two more conclusions
from research in neuroscience
and developmental psychology:
52
Scientific conclusion :
54