This post is going to address the driving question of “How the geography of the West shaped us”. This post will also include some of my experiences from the trip, my eBook, and photos from the trip, which support my answer to the driving question. The 5 themes of geography helped me to examine the driving question, the 5 themes being Location, Place, Human-Environment Interaction, Movement, and Regions (created in 1984 by the National Council for Geographic Education and the Association of American Geographers).
The 5 Themes of Geography
The five themes of geography gave us a way to understand geography by splitting it up into these five descriptors of this general concept. By looking at these 5 themes, I was able to get a better understanding of how the geography of the West shaped who we are.
Beginning with location as the first theme of geography, over the course of this project, I learned about the two types of location, Absolute and Relative. Absolute location is the exact location of a person, place, or thing on Earth. This is usually represented by either Longitude and Latitude, street addresses, GPS, or map coordinates. Latitudes are horizontal lines that measure distance north or south of the equator. Longitudes are vertical lines that measure east or west of the meridian in Greenwich, England. Relative location is the position of a place in relation to another place and uses descriptions to identify places on the earth. Some examples are landmarks, direction, time, and distance. When visiting Three Valley Gap on our trip, this was a good landmark to represent location.
Next, we go to place. Place is a description of the characteristics that make a certain location distinct. There are two different aspects to place; Physical characteristics and Cultural characteristics. Physical characteristics can include landforms, flora, fauna, climate, and resources. Cultural characteristics can include everyday life, land use, and political ideologies.
After that, we go on to Human-Environment Interaction. Human-Environment Interaction demonstrates relationships within place. Human-Environment Interaction explores the human use and modifications of the environment. Some examples are bridges, dams, mining, or any structures built by humans. When it comes to Human-Environment Interaction, there is usually one of three traits at play. Humans adapt to the environment, humans modify the environment, or humans depend on the environment. That is the meaning of Human-Environment Interaction.
As the 4th theme of geography, we have movement. Movement is the travel of people, goods, or ideas from one location to another’s. Some examples of people are planes, cars, and running, because these all get us where we want to go. Some examples of products are trains, trucks, and boats, because they all carry products to the desired location. Some examples of ideas are mail, the computer, and talking, because they all spread ideas. I chose a train for my photo because I intended it to show that this was used to move products and people, as well as ideas sometimes.
Last and probably least, we come to regions. There are three different types of regions. Formal regions, functional regions, and vernacular regions. Formal regions are defined by governmental boundaries and borders, functional regions are defined by a purpose or function, and vernacular regions are defined loosely by peoples perception.
My eBook
Welcome to Alberta Persistent. Past
My First PLP Trip Experience
There’s too much to say here to put into a paragraph or 2, so I’ll just highlight some of the fun parts of my trip (still a pretty big section).
(Quick Video First)
Driving to school early in the morning ?
Competency
This project, we had to ask a lot of questions. Questions about relations, history, and how everyone stayed sane the entire trip. We researched a lot and worked hard to make a sufficient eBook as well as craft our answer to the driving question. Speaking of the driving question…
Driving Question
”How has the geography of the West shaped who we are?”
The geography of the West shaped our rich history, influencing us to continue evolving our past accomplishments and learning from our mistakes.
At the start of this unit, I barely knew what geography was. Now, I know more than I need to, and that’s ok. It’s just been the first project of the year, but I already can’t wait to see what comes next!