5 fields of social studies historygeographyeconomicsgovernmentculture

• The study of the past.• Why study history?

–History Helps Us Understand•People and Societies •Understand change•How our society came to be

“How can we know who we are and where we are going if we don’t know anything about where we have come from and what we have been through, the courage shown, the costs paid, to be where we are?” – David McCullough, Historian

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• The study of people, places, and the environment.

• 5 themes of geography (we’ll look at these in just a minute)

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• The study of how people manage their resources by producing, exchanging, and using goods and services.

• 3 essential questions…– What will be produced? – How will it be produced? – For whom will it be produced?

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• The people and groups of people that have the power to make laws and see that they are obeyed.

• Kinds of government– Limited – everyone obeys the law

• Democracy• republics

– Unlimited – government does not have to obey the law• totalitarianism

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• The beliefs, customs, and ways of living that a group of people share.

• What shared factors make up a culture? – Beliefs, customs, laws, art, ways of living

• Culture trait– Each kind of food, clothing, technology, each

belief, language, or tool shared by a culture

Culture traits

food

clothing

Language and traditions

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HEI

Movement Place

Region

Location

5Themes of Geography

• Where is it located?– Absolute location

• The exact spot on Earth where a place is found

– Latitude– Longitude

– Relative location• The location of a place in relation to other

places

Absolute Location

The exact

place of a place

on Earth

The absolute location of Lesotho is

29 S 29 E

Do you remember other terms we use to describe absolute location?

• Meridians• Prime meridians• Parallels• Equator• Hemispheres• Compass rose• Latitude• Longitude • Grid system

Longitudes:

•Meridians

• Run N to S

• Measure East and West of prime meridian

•Starts at Prime Meridian 0 and ends at the International Date line 180

Latitudes:

•Parallels

•Runs E to W

•Measure North and South of the equator

•Starts at Equator 0 and ends at the Poles at 90

Absolute location

Lake Victoria is east of

The Congo River Basin

The Nile River is

south of the Mediterrane

an Sea

Relative Location

The pink house is next to the igloo.

The tree is to the right of the grass

hut.

A place’s location in relation to another place.

How can we get even more general or specific?

Solar SystemEarth

HemisphereContinentCountry

StateCounty

NeighborhoodStreetHouse

General

Specific

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/

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• What is it like?– Characteristics of place…

• Climate• Landforms• Bodies of water• Plant and animal life• Features that humans have created

– Cities, government, cultural traditions

What is it like?

•Animal life

•Plant life

•Landforms

•Climate

Nairobi, KenyaWhat features have humans

created?

•Cities

•Governments

•Cultural traditions

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• A group of places that have common physical features and/or human characteristics.

• What is common?– Physical features

– Human characteristics

Human Characteristics

•Language

•Culture

•beliefs

Natural regionsa region that has its own unique combination of plant

and animal life and climate

The Himalayas

A rainforest

Language regions

Another example of how regions might be divided.

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• How do people, goods, and ideas move from one place to another?–How do they move?

–Why do they move?

Bantu migration – largest human migration in history

How did

they move?

Why did they move?

People migrating

Movement of goods

Movement of ideas

Can you think of any ideas that have spread globally?

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• How do humans and the environment interact?–Humans depend on, adapt to, and modify the world around them.

How do humans adapt to their environment?

occupation

clothing

houses

Humans may help or hurt the environment.

desertificationdeforestation

pollution

The Swiss Family Robinson

1. How do the Robinsons adapt to their environment?

2. How are they to find food, clothes, shelter?

3. How does their environ. change as they create a home?

4. Where in the world must people adapt to a harsh environment to survive?

The environment may help or hurt humans.

Hurricanes

Volcanoes

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•Go back and add to your notes

•Share your notes with a partner to ensure you have everything!

Look at the following pictures in terms of geography, using the

following answers as a GUIDE…

• What can we assume about the location? (relative)

• What is the place like? (physical features, human characteristics, community, etc.)

• How have humans interacted with their environment? Negative? Positive?

• How has the environment had an impact on humans? Negative? Positive?

Hong Kong

Africa