What Is Physical Geography? Crash Course Geography #4

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

Social Studies

Grade(s)

7

Overview

Traditionally, geography is studied as two interconnected parts: physical geography and human geography. For the first half of this series, we will be focusing on physical geography, which is all about recognizing the characteristics of the environment and the processes that create, modify, and destroy those environments. But remember, human-environment interactions are fundamental to studying geography so we won't be ignoring human impact, it just won't be the primary lens we're using to view the world. Today, we'll explore erosional gullies in Madagascar as we discuss the world's dynamic landscape, the Great Barrier Reef as we introduce the four major earth system (the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere), and we'll finish with a deep dive into Iceland as we introduce the major realms of physical geography. (These are geographer specializations that you may have heard about like topography, geomorphology, pedology, hydrology, climatology, oceanography, meteorology, and biogeography.)

Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 7 - 7th Grade: Geography

SS10.7G.2

Determine how regions are used to describe the organization of Earth’s surface.

UP:SS10.7G.2

Vocabulary

  • regional geography
  • functional and perceptual regions
  • spatial process and regional change
  • regional interactions
  • culture
  • perception
  • globalization

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Geographic features can be organized into regions in order to understand activities and processes within and between places.
  • Formal, functional, and perceptional regions; land use, urban growth, natural disaster, commodity, Internet connectivity, globalization, sustainability, international cooperation.
  • Physical regions—landforms, climates, bodies of water, resources.
  • Human regions—language, religion, culture, economy, government.
  • Cultural influences characterizing regions—language, religion, ethnicity, iconography, symbology, stereotypes how to use regions for identification of related phenomena, interpretation of processes causing regional change, analysis of interactions among regions in terms of economic activities, migration, cultural diffusion, and evaluation of the impacts of globalization.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Construct various types of regions, determine regional boundaries or transitional boundary zones.
  • Read and analyze thematic maps that display information, such as climate, religion, international commodity flows, arranged by geographic regions.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Regions are a way of organizing spatial (geographic) information for specific social, economic, and political purposes.

CR Resource Type

Audio/Video

Resource Provider

Other

License Type

CUSTOM

Resource Provider other

CrashCourse

Accessibility

Video resources: includes closed captioning or subtitles
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