Unit 1 Foundations of World Geography

Unit 1 – Foundations of World Geography

The purpose of the first two Parts is to establish a common experience with geographic inquiry at two very different scales. The first activity involves gathering information from a map in order to make a community-scale decision about where to locate a settlement. The second activity is a global-scale investigation of the geographic pattern of ancient cities. These two investigations are linked by an important principle: global patterns of population are the consequence of many people making personal decisions about where to live. The third and fourth Parts are like metacognition about the first two investigations – thinking about the use of geographic themes to guide inquiry, and about the ways in which human brains are structured to organize geographic information. These presentations and handouts are important teacher background – teachers should review them and think about how to introduce these ideas into their classes; we do not suggest using all of these presentations and handouts in 6th grade!

6th 1 Outline Unit 1
6th 1A What Is Geographic Inquiry

6th 1A Conditions and Connections basic    simple starter map for activity

6th 1A Conditions and Connections clickable map    customizable map

6th 1A Conditions and Connections presentation

6th 1B Geographic Tools and Techniques

6th 1B Ancient cities clickable map

6th 1B Ancient Cities presentation

6th 1C Themes of Geography   mostly background for teachers
6th 1D Asking Geographic Questions

6th 1D Michigan Snow Questions

6th 1D Spatial Reasoning Qs About a Place

6th 1D Spatial Reasoning Basics – Brain Networks

Here is an example of the kind of scaffold diagram that we use in planning lessons:

6th 1X Scaffold Ancient Cities clickable