During the 1980's the United States showed unacceptably low test scores on simple
Geographic tests. The point Committee on Geographic Education could only attribute these
results to Geographic Illiteracy, not only on the part of the students, but more
importantly on the educators themselves. By 1984 it had become inexplicably clear that
immediate action must take place to counteract this ongoing problem in our educational
institutions (Journal of Geography 89). In response, the Joint Committee on Geographic
Education produced a landmark publication entitled "Guidelines for Geographic Education".
This document contained a scope and sequence in Geography with suggested learning
results for the nations primary and secondary school systems, as well as suggested
educational strategies for analysis on the part of the students and teachers. Most
importantly, this article provided the Five Fundamental Themes in Geography, which have
evolved to become an integral element of social studies education, because they take the
world of geographic study beyond the realm of basic memorization, and into a new plane of
analysis and implementation. These five themes include location, place,
human-environment interactions, movement, and regions.
Location answers the question of "where?". If you plan to meet someone at a specific
time, and a specific place, the question of "Where will you meet?" must first be
answered. To resolve this situation, Geography employs Absolute Location, and Relative
Location.
Absolute Location applies a grid-matrix system to the earth's surface in the form of
coordinates. These coordinates, longitude and latitude, allow geographers to pinpoint
exact areas of the earth's surface, and other planetary bodies as well. If Geographers
wish to apply satellite technology to observe an area of the earth's surface,
coordinates are used to pinpoint an exact location.
Relative Location answers the simple question of where you would meet a person. For
example: "Let's meet at Martin Hall, the building next to the Library." But, relative
location is much deeper than simple location. It also involves interdependence of a
location based upon its resources, people, and environment.
If one wishes to build a ski resort, the location of that resort must be relative with
the environment of the location. It would be illogical, and non-profitable to build a
ski resort in the Mojave desert. However, it would be logical to build a resort in the
higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Idaho, or Montana.
Every area on the surface of the earth is defined by some type of characteristic.
Siberia is known to be very cold, but also a part of the Soviet Union, a formerly
communist country. Belize is known to be very warm, but it is also an English speaking
country which houses a tropical rain forest. To define these basic geographical
characteristics, Geographers have placed them into three categories under the heading of
"place" - Physical, Human, and Observed Characteristics.
Physical Characteristics are those characteristics which define the physical environment
of a place . This environment includes the climate, physical terrain, and plant and
animal life.
Human Characteristics are those things which people have done to an environment to
change them. People construct buildings in which to live, shop, work, pray, and play.
People are also defined by their religion, race, languages they speak, and philosophies
and ideologies in which they live.
Observed Characteristics are in part an overflow of human characteristics. People
change their environment, this change can be observed in everyday life; the roads we use
to get to work or school, the power lines used to heat our homes, the pollution exuded
from our factories to produce the luxuries we crave, all of these represent changes to
our environment. These physical changes represent the observed characteristics of a
place.
Human- Environment interactions are the way people react with their environment
(Guidelines for Geographic Education). Living with the environment is not a one way
street, we can not continually expect to take from mother earth without giving something
in return. We take for granted the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we
consume, and the houses in which we live. The important thing to remember is where did
these amenities come from?
The human population continues to pour thousands of tons of combustion emissions into
the atmosphere every day, these emissions include not only carbon dioxide, but
chloroflourocarbons from refrigerants as well, which escalates the depletion of the ozone
(O3) layer exponentially (film - Geography tutor). Only recently did our governments
pass a law banning the use of chloroflorocarbons. Sadly, humans continue to deplete one
of earth's greatest natural resources which could aid in the natural repair of the ozone
layer, our rain forests. The list of violations people incur upon the environment
everyday is endless, but it is the most important of the five themes in geography -
Human/Environment interactions - and the reason is very simple. If our population
continues to rape the environment in the fashion in which it has over the last two
hundred years, very soon, there will be no environment left. Mother nature is very
forgiving, but her resources are being pulled out from under her at a rate in which she
can not repair herself. If she dies, we all shall surely perish as well.
Movement is simply the migration of people, products, information, and ideas within or
between regions (Journal of Geography 1990). People on earth are now linked in virtually
every way via transportation, communication, and technological networks which allow for
the sharing of ideas, philosophies, goods, and services within virtually every corner of
the globe.
The last of the five themes of geography consists of the idea of regions. A region is
not only a place where a group of people of similar nationality, race, or religious
belief reside. A region can also be a defining physical characteristic of a place. The
Sahara and Sahel of Africa is a desert region. Defined by its consistently hot and dry
climate. Great Britain of old encompassed one of the greatest regional empires of the
world, which extended from Australia, to Belize, to the North American Continent, and
finally to her own islands. A region simply put, is a place which has a unique physical,
racial, cultural, or environmental characteristic which defines it separately form other
regions.
The five fundamental themes of geography offer educators a new and unique perspective on
the world of geography. This perspective breaks down the vast array of knowledge
contained in the world of geography into its simplest simplest form, allowing teachers to
convey the basic concepts of geography. These basic concepts are the key to
understanding. Once the student learns the five basic themes, he or she can then apply
the themes to virtually every aspect of our physical and cultural environment. Which in
the end will provide a much deeper understanding of geography, as well as eliminating the
problem of geographic illiteracy in our schools. After all, education is not
memorization, education is understanding.
Bibliography
1. "The Four Traditions of Geography", The Journal of Geography, May 1964, pg. 211 -
213, William D. Pattison
2. "The New School Geography: A Critique", The Journal of Geography, February 1990, pg.
27 - 30, Robert Harper
3. "An Elaboration of the Fundamental Themes in Geography", Social Education, May 1994,
pg. 211 - 213, Richard G. Boehm and James F. Petersen.
4. "Guidelines for Geographic Education", National Council for Geographic Education and
Association of American Geographers., 1984.
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