Geography Skills for Understanding the Earth

1. Splash Screen

2. Chapter Introduction Section 1:Thinking Like a Geographer Section 2:The Earth in Space Summary Chapter Menu

3. Human-Environment Interaction The world is a large place. To better understand the Earth—its people, places, and environments—we must develop certain geography skills. Geography skills can help us decide where to live, how to predict the weather, and how to find solutions to environmental problems such as pollution and global warming. By understanding geography, we can better understand the complex relationships between people and the land. Why is it important to have geography skills? Chapter Intro 1

4. Section 1: Thinking Like a Geographer Geography is used to interpret the past, understand the present, and plan for the future. Geography is the study of the Earth. It is used to analyze the Earth’s physical and human features. People can use geographic information to plan, make decisions, and manage resources. Chapter Intro 2

5. Section 2: The Earth in Space Physical processes shape Earth’s surface. Earth has different seasons because of the way it tilts and the way it rotates around the sun. The warmth of the sun’s rays makes life on Earth possible. Chapter Intro 2

6. Chapter Intro-End

7. Geography is used to interpret the past, understand the present, and plan for the future. Section 1-Main Idea

8. Content Vocabulary • geography • absolute location • relative location • environment • decade • century • millennium • Global Positioning System (GPS) • Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Section 1-Key Terms

9. Academic Vocabulary • theme • physical Section 1-Key Terms

10. A B Do you agree that technology has played an important role in the study of geography? A. Agree B. Disagree Section 1-Polling Question

11. The foundation of today’s map-making is technology, but maps still require the human touch for accuracy. Map-checking teams include a car and driver, a passenger/checker, computers, global positioning systems, and video cameras. While the driver drives, the checker compares the most recent map to what actually exists. Physical changes, such as a new street, are entered into the computer and later added to the map. Section 1

12. The Five Themes of Geography Geographers use the Five Themes of Geography to help them study the Earth. Section 1

13. The Five Themes of Geography (cont.) • Geography is the study of the Earth and its people, and people who study geography are geographers. Section 1

14. The Five Themes of Geography (cont.) • Location is the position of a place on the Earth’s surface. • Absolute location is the exact spot on Earth where a geographic feature, such as a city or mountain, is found. • Relative location describes where that feature is in relation to the features around it. Section 1

15. The Five Themes of Geography (cont.) • Place describes the characteristics of a location that make it unique, or different. • A place can be defined by physical features, such as landforms, plants, animals, and weather patterns. • Other characteristics of a place, such as the language spoken there, describe the people. Section 1

16. The Five Themes of Geography (cont.) • Human-environment interaction describes how people affect or change their environment, or natural surroundings, to meet their needs, and how their environment affects them through conditions they cannot control. Section 1

17. The Five Themes of Geography (cont.) • Movement explains how and why people, ideas, and goods move from place to place. • Regions refers to areas of the Earth’s surface that have several common characteristics, such as land, natural resources, or population. Section 1

18. A B C D Which of the following is best defined by common characteristics? A.Place B.Region C.Location D.Human-environment interaction Section 1

19. A Geographer’s Tools Geographers use many different tools to help them study and analyze Earth’s people and places. Section 1

20. A Geographer’s Tools (cont.) • Physical geographers study Earth’s land areas, bodies of water, plant life, and other physical features. • They also study an area’s natural resources, such as water, forests, land, and wind, and help people decide how to manage the resources. Section 1

21. A Geographer’s Tools (cont.) • Human geographers look at people’s religions, languages, and ways of life; compare different places to see how they are similar and different; and help plan cities and aid in international business. • Similarly, studying history helps geographers understand how places appeared in the past and changed over time. Section 1

22. A Geographer’s Tools (cont.) • History is divided into blocks of time known as periods. • A period of 10 years is called a decade. • A period of 100 years is known as a century. • A period of 1,000 years is a millennium. Section 1

23. A Geographer’s Tools (cont.) • Satellites circling the Earth provide information for maps in the form of detailed digital images, photographs, and measurements of temperatures and the amount of pollution in the air or land. Section 1

24. A Geographer’s Tools (cont.) • Other satellites make up the Global Positioning System (GPS), or a system using radio signals to determine the exact location of every place on Earth. Section 1

25. A Geographer’s Tools (cont.) • Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computer hardware and software that gather, store, and analyze geographic information and then display it on a screen. • It can display maps and even show information such as types of soil and vegetation. Section 1

26. A Geographer’s Tools (cont.) • Governments at all levels hire geographers for different kinds of tasks, such as helping decide how land and resources might be used and for analyzing population trends. Section 1

27. A Geographer’s Tools (cont.) • In business, geographers often work as researchers and analysts, helping companies decide where to locate new buildings or providing information about other places and cultures where companies do business. • As more schools recognize the importance of geography education, the demand for geography teachers is expected to grow. Section 1

28. A B Do you agree that geography plays an important role in your everyday life? A.Agree B.Disagree Section 1

29. Section 1-End

30. Physical processes shape Earth’s surface. Section 2-Main Idea

31. Content Vocabulary • solar system • orbit • revolution • leap year • rotate • axis • atmosphere • summer solstice • winter solstice • equinox • Tropics Section 2-Key Terms

32. Academic Vocabulary • significant • reverse • identical Section 2-Key Terms

33. A B C D Which is your favorite season? A. Spring B. Summer C.Fall D. Winter Section 2-Polling Question

34. Leap years are the only years in which January 1 and December 31 of the same year do not fall on the same day of the week. In 2009, for example, both dates fall on Thursday. In 2010, both fall on Friday, and in 2011, they both fall on Saturday. But 2012 is a leap year; January 1 falls on Sunday, and December 31 falls on Monday. In 2013, the dates will again fall on the same day of the week. Section 2

35. The Solar System The Earth is one of eight planets in the solar system. It rotates on its axis every 24 hours and takes a year to orbit the sun. Section 2

36. The Solar System (cont.) • Earth, seven other major planets, thousands of smaller bodies, and the sun form our solar system. • The inner planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars—are relatively small and solid. • The outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—are larger and composed mostly or entirely of gases. Section 2

37. The Solar System (cont.) • Pluto was once considered a major planet, but an international group of scientists in 2006 decided to call it a minor planet. • Each planet follows its own path, or orbit, around the sun. The Solar System Section 2

38. The Solar System (cont.) • Earth takes almost 365¼ days, or one year, to make one revolution,or a complete circuit, around the sun. • Every four years, the extra fourths of a day are combined and added to the calendar as February 29th. • A year that contains one of these extra days is called a leap year. Section 2

39. The Solar System (cont.) • As Earth orbits the sun, it rotates, or spins, on its axis. • The axis is an imaginary line that passes through the center of Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole. • Earth rotates in an easterly direction, making one complete rotation every 24 hours. Section 2

40. The Solar System (cont.) • As Earth turns, different parts of the planet are in sunlight or in darkness. • The part facing the sun experiences daytime, and the part facing away has night. • We do not feel Earth moving as it rotates because the atmosphere, the layer of oxygen and gases that surrounds Earth, moves with it. Section 2

41. A B C D Which planet orbits the sun in the shortest period of time? A.Jupiter B.Neptune C.Earth D.Mercury Section 2

42. Sun and Seasons The tilt of Earth and its revolution around the sun lead to changing seasons during the year. Section 2

43. Sun and Seasons (cont.) • Because Earth is tilted 23½ degrees on its axis, seasons change as Earth makes its year-long orbit around the sun. • Sunlight falls directly on the northern or southern half of Earth at different times of the year. • Direct rays cause the warmth of summer in a hemisphere, and indirect rays allow the cold of winter. Section 2

44. Sun and Seasons (cont.) • Four days in the year are significant because of the position of the sun in relation to Earth. • These days mark the beginnings of the four seasons. The Sun and Earth’s Seasons Section 2

45. Sun and Seasons (cont.) • On or about June 21, the North Pole is tilted toward the sun. • On noon of this day, the sun appears directly overhead at the Tropic of Cancer. • In the Northern Hemisphere, this day is the summer solstice—the day with the most hours of sunlight and the beginning of summer. • In the Southern Hemisphere, that same day is the day with the fewest hours of sunlight and marks the beginning of winter. Section 2

46. Sun and Seasons (cont.) • Six months later—on or about December 22—the situation is reversed. The North Pole is tilted away from the sun. • At noon, the sun’s direct rays strike the Tropic of Capricorn. • In the Northern Hemisphere, this day is the winter solstice—the day with the fewest hours of sunlight and the beginning of winter. • This same day marks the beginning of summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Section 2

47. Sun and Seasons (cont.) • Spring and autumn each begin on a day that falls midway between the two solstices. • These days are the equinoxes, when day and night are of identical length in both hemispheres. The Sun and Earth’s Seasons Section 2

48. Sun and Seasons (cont.) • On or about March 21, the spring equinox occurs. • On or about September 23, the fall equinox occurs. • On both days, the noon sun shines directly over the Equator. The Sun and Earth’s Seasons Section 2

49. Sun and Seasons (cont.) • Earth’s temperatures also are affected by the sun. • The sun’s rays directly hit places in the Tropics, the low-latitude areas near the Equator between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. • As a result, temperatures in the Tropics tend to be very warm. The Sun and Earth’s Seasons Section 2

50. Sun and Seasons (cont.) • At the high latitudes near the North and South Poles, the sun’s rays hit indirectly, so temperatures in these regions are always cool or cold. The Sun and Earth’s Seasons Section 2