The Five Themes of Geography Creating topic sentences from the Five Themes in the Media

Movement: Humans Interacting on Earth

Topic Sentence Humans are continually migrating from one place to another. Support Sentences People in different place also interact through travel. People share ideas and innovations through complex communications network. Goods that improve people’s lives are trade all over the world. Warfare has transformed people and culture.

Movement: Humans Interacting on Earth Application Sentences Impact of movement (Positive or negative) Today, rapid technological change in transportation and communication is making the world much more interdependent. Even without knowing it, people all over the world are increasingly sharing ideas, products, and ways of doing things.

Human-Environment Interaction

Human-Environmental Interaction Topic Sentences In order to meet their needs, humans alter natural settings or adapt to them in many ways. The changes humans make reflect their technology, their beliefs, their economic and political systems, and many other factors.

Human-Environmental Interaction Support Sentences Humans make use of local plants, animals, trees and mineral resources to create shelter and clothing appropriate to their climate. Developed cultures are able to modify their environment by building bridges across rivers to expedite travel.

Human-Environmental Interaction Application Sentences The population explosion has added to all sorts of environmental problems in many parts of the world. Huge advances in medicine have prevented many diseases and helped more people survive into old age. In modern societies, farm machinery makes it possible for one farmer to work much larger amounts of land alone.

Regions

Topic Sentences A region is any area people think of as a unit because of a common characteristic of set of characteristics. Regions can be defined in an almost limitless number of ways

Regions Support Sentences Regions are units of geographical study. Regions are areas unified in terms of any feature or set of features that people choose to study. The features defining a region may be found only in that area- for example, a language only spoken there, or a unique governmental unit of some sort.

Regions Application Sentences The old Soviet Union, for example, encompassed deserts, mountains, vast plains, forests, and frozen tundra. The Arab culture, the Islamic religion and the abundance of oil are some of the important characteristics that define the Middle East region.

Place: Physical and Human Characteristics

Place Topic Sentences Physical features helps to set off each place from all others. Human activities and ideas also help to shape the character of a place. The physical and human factors interact to change the character and meaning of a place over time.

Place Support Sentences Mountains, rivers, forests, lakes, soil, seacoast and other physical features combine in different ways to make each place on Earth unique. Technology, architecture, transportation and cultural attitudes can shape the identity of a place. Over time nature forces can alter the physical features of a place changing its unique identity.

Place Application Sentences North American tribes followed a pattern of clearing and farming small areas for a few years at a time, then moving on to clear and farm other small areas. After European settlers took over, land was cleared and farmed continuously. In 1989, communism in East Berlin, and all of Eastern Europe. came to an end.

Location: Position on Earth

Location Topic Sentences It is important to be able to find exact locations on earth’s surface. It is important to identify relative location or the location of one place relative to another. Thinking clearly about spatial patterns helps in understanding many historical trends and social issues.

Location Support Sentences Location means the position of a place on earth’s surface. Knowing how to read maps and globes enables people to pinpoint any location on earth’s surface precisely and measure its distance from other locations accurately. An understanding of location provides a sense of spatial patterns important to the place under consideration.

Location Application Sentences Charts and graphs can add to the understanding of relative location by displaying information about population, resources, farms, languages, religious groups and the spatial distribution of many other features. A safe distance between two enemy nations in an earlier age may no longer be safe in an age of airplanes or nuclear missiles.