Unit 1 · Introduction to Geography · Lesson 1.4 Five Themes · one idea at a time
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Five Themes
Geographers do not start with a pile of random facts. They start with five questions. Those questions are the five themes: location, place, human-environmental interaction, movement, and region. This page is the lesson overview. The next study, Location, is the first theme in full.
Name the five themes of geography in order.
Match each theme to the question it answers.
Preview the key terms this lesson will use: absolute and relative location, push and pull factors, chain migration, and the three kinds of region.
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If you want it
A running start
The last lesson was maps. This one is how geographers decide what to ask. Open this if 'theme' still sounds like a party.
Not sure about the basics underneath this lesson?
A theme here is a question you always ask about a place. Location is where. Place is what it is like. Then people and land, movement, and how areas get grouped.
When this makes sense, hide it and go back to the lesson.
You can skip this and come back. Next goes into the lesson.
Lesson 1.4.0 p11 of 3 in this idea
Where on Earth is this?
The lesson opens with a picture of bleak, sandy terrain. It is not another planet. It is one of the largest and most distinct areas on Earth, and that sandy stretch is clearly visible from space.
Lesson 1.4.0 p12 of 3 in this idea
Where on Earth is this?
The picture is supposed to make you ask questions. Where on Earth is it? What goes on there? How could people live there? Does it resemble any other place? Why would anyone go there?
Lesson 1.4.0 p13 of 3 in this idea
Where on Earth is this?
Those are the questions geographers start with. The five themes are built from them.
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The photo is a hook. The real job of this page is the five questions, then the five names.
Lesson 1.4.0 p11 of 3 in this idea
The five themes
The five themes of geography, in the lesson's order:
Lesson 1.4.0 p12 of 3 in this idea
The five themes
1. Location — Where is it? 2. Place — What is it like? 3. Human-environmental interaction — How do people and the land affect each other? 4. Movement — How do people, goods, and ideas move? Why leave, and why go there? 5. Region — How is this area grouped with others?
Lesson 1.4.0 p13 of 3 in this idea
The five themes
In this lesson you will identify the five themes, describe specific locations using them, and analyze geographic problems by combining them. Location is the first full study (1.4.1). The others follow.
The five themes and the question each one answers. Location is today's study.
Click a diagram to open it bigger.
If a quiz asks you to list the five, use this order: location, place, human-environmental interaction, movement, region.
Not sure about this bit?
Five names. Five questions.
1
Where / what
Location = where is it? Place = what is it like?
2
The other three
People and land. Movement of people, goods, ideas. Region as a grouping.
Quick check — answer out loud before you peek
Which theme is 1.4.1?
Location. Where is it?
When this makes sense, hide it and go back to the lesson.
Lesson 1.4.0 key terms1 of 4 in this idea
Words this lesson will keep using
The overview already hands you the vocabulary for later studies. You do not need every one today, but Location uses the first pair immediately.
Lesson 1.4.0 key terms2 of 4 in this idea
Words this lesson will keep using
Absolute location — the exact spot on the planet. Relative location — one place defined in terms of another.
Lesson 1.4.0 key terms3 of 4 in this idea
Words this lesson will keep using
Movement later: push factors (reasons for leaving), pull factors (reasons for going), chain migration (first arrivals bring family and neighbors to the same place).
Lesson 1.4.0 key terms4 of 4 in this idea
Words this lesson will keep using
Region later: formal regions (a shared human property, like language or government), functional regions (a focal point and its connections, like suburbs around a city), perceptual regions (based on attitude, like 'Southern California').
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Today's pair is absolute vs relative. The rest of the list is so later studies do not feel like a new language.
That's the lesson
Before you quiz yourself
Check the ones that make sense now. This list is saved in this browser. The other tools (name that term, flashcards, practice quiz) are up top whenever you want them.
Built from Apex 1.4.0 Five Themes (1 page) and its key-term list. The opening photo is a sandy landscape visible from space; the file does not name the desert.
