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Overview:
A geographic perspective is a way of looking at and understanding the world. When you view the world through the lens of geography, you are asking who, what, where, and when people, places, and things are distributed across the surface of the earth, and why and how they got there. In other words, it means that you are analyzing something within its spatial, historical, cultural, political, and physical contexts. You can study anything that has some spatial component to it from this perspective. All things—whether they are rivers, cities, populations of people, or events—exist in a particular place and in a particular time for a set of specific reasons. For example, the Great Plains resulted from the retreat of a massive glacier nearly 14,000 years ago; and the United States is in part the consequence of a small group of people from England who immigrated to North America because of religious persecution and their interactions with the indigenous people who already lived here. Although these two events are separated in time by thousands of years, they are connected in that the descendents of those original colonists, as well as later immigrants, traversed the Great Plains; displaced indigenous populations; established cities, farms, and ranches; and disseminated their culture. Applying a geographic perspective will help students understand what things are, where they are located, why they are located where they are, how they came to be, and why they change.
In this lesson, students will explore United States regions using a geographic perspective. They will select a specific regional feature and apply a geographic perspective to learn about it within in a variety of contexts. Finally, students will predict how these features may change over time, what factors may precipitate this change, and the possible affects these changes may cause.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, science, social science, history
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 4: "The physical and human characteristics of places"
Standard 5: "That people create regions to interpret the earth’s complexity"
Standard 14: "How human actions modify the physical environment"
Standard 15: "How physical systems affect human systems"
Standard 17: "How to apply geography to interpret the past"
Standard 18: "How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future"
Time:
Four hours
Materials Required:
Objectives:
Students will
- learn about a geographic perspective and how to apply it to the study of regions in the United States;
- identify the geographic regions of the United States;
- describe the physical and cultural criteria used to define these regions;
- explain some of the processes that created these regions; and
- select a regional element, describe how and why it was created, and speculate how and why it may change over time.
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Guiding Questions: What are some of the processes that created a specific regional element, and how will these processes cause it to change over time?
Explain to students that a geographic perspective is a way to understand anything distributed across space. Whether studying people, places, things, or events, this perspective helps us gain insight into the spatial patterns and connections, past and present, natural or created by humans. Tell students that using this perspective is a process that involves asking and answering questions like who, what, where, when, how, and why, and that to answer these kinds of questions, they will use not one discipline but many—an interdisciplinary perspective. Explain to students that certain forces and processes, natural and cultural, are responsible for both creating and changing the earth’s features, and that understanding these processes can help them, both as individuals and as members of a society, to predict what might happen in the future and make responsible decisions.
Demonstrate how to use a geographic perspective by guiding students through a set of questions about the Statue of Liberty. Have students refer to either National Geographic Kids Magazine: The Light of Liberty or the National Park Service: Statue of Liberty to answer the following guided questions about its name, location, distribution, process, place, scale, pattern, and relationship:
- Does the statue have any other names or nicknames? (name) Answers may include Lady Liberty or Liberty Statue
- Where is the statue located? How is the location of the statue significant? (location) Answers may include the following: The Statue of Liberty is located in the New York Harbor. Its location is significant because people who arrive in the harbor can see it and recognize it as an American symbol of freedom and liberty.
- Describe some of the physical features of the statue and its surroundings. (place) Answers may include the following: It is very large (more than 150 feet tall from base to torch) and therefore a highly visible symbol. She wears a crown with seven rays in it, representing the seven seas and continents.
- How big is the statue? How does its size impact its message? (scale) Answers may include the following: It is very large (more than 150 feet tall from base to torch) and therefore a highly visible symbol.
- Are there any identical statues located anywhere else? (distribution) Answer: In 1889, the American community in Paris offered the French people a gift of a 35-foot-high bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty. It still stands now, on an island in the downstream of the Eiffel Tower.
- Is there a pattern to where cultural icons, such as the statue, are located? (pattern). Answer: They tend to be located in highly visible places, often in large or capital cities and along waterways or coasts.
- Who designed the statue? (process) Answer: French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi.
- Who gave this statue to the United States and why? (process) Answer: The people of France gave the statue to the people of the United States in recognition of the friendship established during the American Revolution. It has come to symbolize freedom and democracy, as well as this international friendship.
- When was it installed? (process) Answer: The statue arrived in the New York Harbor in June 1885 but was not fully reassembled and dedicated until October 1886.
- How has access to the statue been limited, and what caused those limits? (process) Answers may include the following: The statue was closed for restoration from 1985 to 1986, and then closed to the public again after 9/11 until August 2004, when the pedestal observation deck was reopened.
- What words are engraved on the base of the statue? Why are these words meaningful to Americans? (relationship) Answer: A poem by Emma Lazarus that contains the lines:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
The poem depicts the receptiveness of America to new immigrants.
- Why is the Statue of Liberty such an important cultural symbol? (relationship) Answers may include the following: It represents the values of freedom, liberty, and international friendship and stands in the harbor as a symbol of openness to new immigrants.
- What do you think would happen if the statue became the target of terrorists? (relationship) Answers will vary.
Development:
Divide your class into five groups, and assign each group a region of the United States; the Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, the Southwest, and the West. Tell students that they are going to apply a geographic perspective to the study of a specific region and then take a more in-depth look at one of the particular features of that region (as listed below). Note: You may have to guide students in identifying the boundaries for each of these regions.
The Northeast Region
The Appalachian Mountains
The Amish
The Southeast Region
The Okefenokee Swamp
The Cajuns
The Midwest Region
The Great Lakes
The Great Chicago Fire
The Southwest Region
The Grand Canyon
Tex-Mex cuisine
The West Region
Mount Kilauea
The Inuit of Alaska
Each group will investigate their region (some links have been provided in the Related Links section to get them started) to do the following:
- Draw a map of the region. Maps should include all states, capital cities, and major physical landforms.
- Describe the climate, natural resources, business and industry, and cultural characteristics that exist within the region.
After student groups have become familiar with the region, have them select one of the region’s features and study it through the lens of a geographic perspective. Have students use the Geographic Perspective Process Guide to guide them through this exercise. As a group, they should talk through the questions in the guide.
Then instruct them to develop an engaging presentation to make to the rest of the class. They might choose to draw maps and diagrams, create charts and tables, share pictures and photos, perform songs, or even cook food for the class.
Closing:
Have each group present their findings to the class. Their presentations should demonstrate their understanding of the location, distribution patterns, processes, place, relationships, scale, patterns, and connections they made regarding the feature they studied. After each group presents their project, open the room up for questions from the rest of the class. Encourage the audience to ask the presenting group questions using a geographic perspective.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Assessment can be based on how effectively students demonstrate their mastery of using a geographic perspective in their presentations. You may also have them apply what they have learned about using a geographic perspective by doing so with one of the following:
- Hurricane Katrina
- Hip-Hop Music
- The Fourth of July
Students should strive to provide information on location, distribution, patterns, processes, place, and relationship. They should also reflect on how the feature might change over time, what might cause this change, and how this change will affect humans in the region.
You may use a rubric to assess student understanding of a geographic perspective.
Extending the Lesson:
Inquiry Extension
Have students research the ghost town of Bodie, California, to see how access to resources contributes to the rise and fall of a region.
Cross-Curricular Extension for Further Explanation:
Have students research the physical processes that create tsunamis. (Science)
Try This at Home
Have students use a geographic perspective to look at and analyze themselves and their extended families. Students should use the same approach they did when examining the Statue of Liberty by offering analyses on the location, distribution patterns, processes, and place of their family.
Adaptations
Assign each member in the group a role: for example, cartographer, recorder, reader, and speaker.
Use large index cards to write relevant vocabulary words and post them in the classroom.
Place ELL learners in cooperative groups addressing topics for which the student may already have some background knowledge.
Use the audio presentation Volcano by the Sea for students who have below-grade-level reading abilities and are assigned Mount Kilauea as their regional feature.
Related Links:
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