Five themes of geography

The five themes of geography are an American educational framework for teaching geography. Adopted in 1984 by the National Council for Geographic Education and the Association of American Geographers, the five themes were published in the NCGE/AAG publication Guidelines for Geographic Education, Elementary, and Secondary Schools. Most American geography and social studies classrooms have adopted the five themes in teaching practices.Shows the location and time ex.coordinates

The five-theme organizational approach was superseded by the National LessonPlanet">Ganzel, Karen. "Geography Lesson Plans Using Google Earth". Lesson Planet. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Text "http://www.lessonplanet.com/article/elementary-math/geography-lesson-plans-using-google-earth" ignored (help)</ref> Matt Rosenberg, The Five Themes of Geography, at About.com

Location

There are two definitions for ‘Location’: Absolute location, the exact latitude and longitude of a place, and Relative location, the place in relation to another place. For example, the absolute location of Panama is 9° N, 80° W. The relative location of Panama is in between Columbia and Costa Rica.

Place

Place is the human and physical characteristics of a location. Examples of human characteristics are population, population density, and culture, and example of physical are climate, land masses, and average height above sea level.

H-E-I

Interaction describes how people interact with the environment, and how the environment responds. Scientists currently are debating how much the environment has changed in response to how humans have emitted certain pollutants into the atmosphere. Examples of interaction are building bridges, building railroads, cutting down forests, and using dynamite to put a tunnel through a mountain. Each environment reacts in its own way if it reacts at all.

Movement

Movement is the travel of people, goods, and ideas to and from a place. Examples of movement include America's westward expansion, travel and immigration. New devices such as the airplane and the Internet allow physical and ideological goods to be transferred long distances in short time intervals. A person's travel from place to place, and the actions they perform there, are also considered movement. Movement in the old days was much harder than now because people would travel on wagons and the natural barriers would stop them.

Region

Everything that borders or surrounds the location, how they interact, and how they are alike. For example, Mexico and Canada are in the same region as the United States, and they are all in North America.