Learning objectives

2. A. Copy the Essential Question from the board into your notebook now. B. Copy the Learning Objectives on this page into your notebook. >Click When Ready< Learning objectives • Learn how to organize data into categories and then use those data to produce a thematic map. • Ways to analyze a thematic map.

3. Situation: After completing Lesson I you should have a better idea of some of the difficulties involved in getting to a doctor, especially if private auto transport is unavailable. Alex and Chris were surprised and wondered whether reaching a doctor varied across the whole of Sussex County. They decided to explore this question geographically, using a Geographic Information System (GIS) approach. You take the role of Alex and Chris again and follow in their footsteps. Read the following passage. >Click When Ready<

4. Open and read the following passage. >Click When Ready< Go to the folder marked “Geography Resources” and open the file named “What is a GIS?”. Once you have read the passage, move on to Step 2.

5. Take out the map of Sussex County you made of the location of the ten doctors in Lesson I.  Then look at a longer list of doctors compiled from the Yellow Pages*.  This time the list contains all the doctors who practice family medicine or who are internists (doctors who deal with all aspects of the body). They are the doctors people are most likely to visit on a regular basis. Using this list, add dots for each doctor’s location to your map. Read the following instructions. This is a checklist item! This is Step 2 (Map) on your checklist. >Click When Ready< *Open the folder marked “Geography Resources” on your desktop and open the file titled “Yellow Pages 2”

6. Examine the pattern of dots on your map. 1.What can you conclude about the distribution of doctors in Sussex County?  2. What additional information is needed to see whether everyone in Sussex County has equal access to a doctor?  3. Write a list in your research notebook of what other types of map layers you would like to see. Answer the following questions in your notebook. This is a checklist item! This is Step 2 (Questions) on your checklist. >Click When Ready<

7. Take out your blank outline map of Sussex County zip code areas and a list of the number of people in each zip code at the time of the 2000 Census*.  Notice that the data have been arranged from the largest to the smallest population.  • Divide the data into five groups and give each group a different color.  • Then color the corresponding zip code area on your map. Read and complete the following task on your Sussex County Zip Code Map. This is a checklist item! This is Step 3 (Map) on your checklist. >Click When Ready< *Open the folder marked “Geography Resources” on your desktop and open the file titled “Sussex Zip Code Population Chart”

8. Now you have two map layers, one of doctors and one of population. Compare the two layers and you are doing GIS analysis. Are doctors evenly distributed among the population so that everyone has equal access to medical care? Are there some areas that are better served than others? Some areas that are not as well served? Write your answers to these questions in your research notebook. Based on your zip code map, answer the following questions. This is a checklist item! This is Step 3 (Q) on your checklist. >Click When Ready<

9. One of the advantages of using a GIS is the ability to measure the information being mapped because it is stored digitally.  Let’s see how this might help our analysis.  We have prepared another version of the maps you just made.  This time, we have used our GIS to lay the distribution of doctors over the zip code areas of population, and we have classified the population into ten instead of just five categories*. Read the following instructions >Click When Ready< *Open the folder marked “Geography Resources” on your desktop and open the file titled “Sussex docs with population”

10. Review the responses you wrote in your notebook to the questions you answered in step three. 1. Do you wish to change or enlarge on any observations you made? Now let’s explore another aspect of our analysis.  2. Who are the people in Sussex county who have to travel the farthest to reach a doctor?  To answer #2, we can use the measuring ability of our GIS to produce a map that shows how far each zip code area is away from a doctor*. 3. Write your answer to this question in your research notebook. Based on the maps provided, answer the following questions. This is a checklist item! This is Step 4 (Q) on your checklist. >Click When Ready< *Open the folder marked “Geography Resources” on your desktop and open the file titled “Sussex distance to doctors”

11. Read this slide. >Click When Ready< Finally, let’s take our GIS analysis one step farther.  What would you like to know about the people who have better or worse ability to get to a doctor in the county?  Go to the next slide.

12. One question we could pose is whether it is the people who are poorer who have to travel farthest to reach a doctor.  To do this, we need a layer showing the percentage of the population in each zip code area that are below the poverty level.* • What are your conclusions?  • Are the areas that have the higher rates of poverty also the ones who have to travel the farthest for doctors?  • Write your answers in your research notebook. Based on the map provided, answer the following questions. This is a checklist item! This is Step 5 (List) on your checklist. >Click When Ready< *Open the folder marked “Geography Resources” on your desktop and open the file titled “Sussex poverty and doctors”

13. This is an assessment for lessons one and two. Complete this on your own on a separate sheet of paper. This is NOT a notebook item. Give this to your teacher when finished. >Click When Ready< Assignment: Write a letter to the local newspaper, with your opinion of an article the newspaper published recently with the headline: “GETTING TO THE DOC. TOUGHER FOR THE POOR”  Use the information you have gathered from your research to justify the position you take in your letter.