Type:
Solution Manual
Contemporary Human Resource: Geography Edition:
5th Edition
Author(s):
James M. Rubenstein
Chapter 1: This is Geography
CHAPTER
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This is Geography Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, students should be able to: 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30
Compare and contrast geography and history in terms of what geographers and historians do. Summarize geography’s five most basic concepts. Trace the development of geography in the ancient world through the Middle Ages to the Age of Exploration. Identify contemporary analytic tools of geographers, including remote sensing, Global Positioning System (GPS), and Geographic Information System (GIS). Describe the role of volunteered geographic information (VGI) and mashups in contemporary geography. Explain three ways of representing scale on a map: ratio scales, written scales, and graphic scales. Discuss how map projections are used to solve the problem of distortion in flat maps. Define geographic grid. Compare and contrast the characteristics of both latitude lines and longitude lines. Explain how latitude and longitude are used to locate points on Earth’s surface. Explain how we use longitude to establish time zones. Summarize the historical search in England in the 1700s for a way to measure longitude accurately. Explain how geographers can use characteristics such as location, site, situation, and toponyms to describe the unique nature of place. Define cultural landscape. Classify regions as functional, formal, or vernacular. Explain how the process of globalization impacts the cultural landscape, local diversity, and access to communication. Cite examples of changes in economy and culture occurring at global and local scales. Explain how geographers use spatial association to study the relationships among features of a region. Define density, concentration, and pattern as properties of distribution across space. Describe how patterns can vary in time and space. Illustrate how distribution and patterns in space can vary according to gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. Discuss the impact of electronic communications in the context of the inequality between core and periphery and the problem of uneven development. Identify diffusion, hearth, and spatial interaction. State three ways in which cultural groups can change because of connections across space. Describe the role of networks, distance decay, and space–time compression in spatial interactions. Explain how the three aspects of sustainability are connected to each other. Identify the four spheres of the Earth system. Explain how the ecosystems that make up the biosphere interact with Earth’s abiotic systems. Compare and contrast environmental determinism and possibilism. Evaluate the sustainability and environmental modifications of ecosystems in the Netherlands and California.
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Chapter 1: This is Geography
Chapter Overview This chapter, titled “This Is Geography,” examines cornerstone concepts in geography. It defines geography, divides the discipline in two branches, and offers a quick explanation of the differences between history and geography. It also explains the purpose of geography and traces the early development of the discipline. The chapter goes on to discuss maps and their role in geography as well as the essential elements of a map, including scale and projection. Following up this is the discussion of the geographic grid and its locational and temporal function. The chapter also explains the role of contemporary geographic tools such as geographic information systems, the Global Positioning System, remote sensing, and mashups in geography. Central to the discussion is the unique nature of place. Location (the place that something occupies in space) and other features contribute to the uniqueness of a place. The chapter explores other factors that contribute to the uniqueness of a place, such as a region, as well as globalization. The process of globalization adds a human dimension and human diversity to the uniqueness of a place and creates unequal development and regional difference. The rest of this chapter examines the idea that cultural groups compete to organize space and human geographers follow several approaches to study this. The text examines the connection between places by describing how they are distributed in space, and how spatial interactions such as diffusion produce and keep these connections. The chapter introduces students to the concept of sustainability and its relationship to Earth’s physical systems. The chapter also explores the concept of environmental determinism and its role in geographic thought. Like all the other chapters in the book, Chapter 1 concludes with a review of key questions and vocabulary words. A Special Note about Chapter 1 One challenge in teaching Chapter 1 is that many of your students have little exposure to geography. Therefore, the time you spend on Chapter 1 will influence how well and how fast your students grasp the rest of the concepts in contemporary geography. Please note that there is no fixed rule to the teaching of geography, and the following are merely suggestions. For this chapter, focus on the added photos and maps to emphasize your point. You may want to assess this chapter on its own before continuing to others. Reteach the concepts that your students do not understand. Assign material from Mastering Geography Study area. 1.1: Welcome to Geography Section 1.1 explores the nature and significance of geography and compares the subject with history. It places geography broadly into two branches, human and physical, and introduces students to cornerstone concepts in the discipline. These concepts include place, region, space, scale, and connection, and geographers use these terms to explain the uniqueness and interrelatedness of place. Introduce your chapter by conducting a brief survey of your students on the first day of class to determine whether they have any background familiar with geography in their state or country of origin. Approach this as a spatial activity by giving your students a map of the United States or a world map, or you can locate their responses on a large classroom map if you have one. Segue into a discussion of the definition of geography, emphasizing the spatial nature of information that they provided for you, and introduce the branches of geography. Familiarize your students with the images in Figures 1.1.1 to 1.1.6 to emphasize concepts of place. An important assignment that should accompany this chapter is map that shows continents, oceans, world regions as well as some countries we find in each region of the world. You can find maps like this in Map Master 2.0 within the study area. 1.2: Contemporary Geographic Tools Section 1.2 focuses on the tools of geography such as maps and those associated with GIScience. It defines a map as a scale model of the real world made small enough to work on a desk or a computer and lists some of the many purposes of maps. The section also explores one of the most crucial elements of a map, scale, which is the relationship of a feature’s size on a map to its actual size on the ground that GIScience refers to the analysis of data about Earth, acquired from satellites and other electronic devices 2
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