Unit One: Lesson Eight

Review Geographic Questions How do Ideas Move? People and Goods: Highway Maps Ports and Shipping Railroads: Michigan Map, High Speed Railroad Invasive Species

 To study a place geographers ask the question: How is the place connected to other places?  To answer that question geographers study how people, goods and ideas move.  Geographers also study why people, goods, ideas and jobs move.  The Great Lakes are very important in moving goods within, to and out of Michigan.  Sometimes things move into an area that people don’t want like zebra mussels.

 Where is Michigan located?  What is Michigan like?  What are the important natural (physical) characteristics of Michigan?  What are the important human characteristics of Michigan?  How have people used the natural resources of Michigan?  How many people changed the environment of Michigan?  How many people adapted to the environment of Michigan?

Geographers believe that places are connected together by people, goods, and ideas moving from place to place.

the theme of geography that explains how and why people, goods and ideas move Example: The theme of movement helps us understand how places are connected to other places.

 Work with a partner to create a list of ways IDEAS currently move between people and places.

 Telephone  Radio  Mail  Fax machine  Books  Newspapers  Computers (internet) Internet has greatly increased the amount and speed of movement of IDEAS.

 Ships  Trains  Cars  Buses  Airplanes

ways of moving things and people from one place to another Example: Boats, trains and cars are methods of transportation. These methods of transportation, or ways of moving goods and people, connect Michigan not only to the rest of the United States, but also the world.

Special Purpose Map  Michigan has about 122,000 miles of highways.  Out of this, about 1,200 miles are interstate freeways.  These roads move goods and people in and out of Michigan, as well as within Michigan

Possible Answers: Travel, to visit people, to permanently change locations.

Why do goods move? Why don’t good just stay in the place where they are made? Because certain places make or grow certain kinds of goods but no place makes everything it needs. Therefore, good have to move from one place to another. For example, cars made in the Detroit area are moved to the Upper Peninsula where they are sold and lumber from the Upper Peninsula moves to the Lower Peninsula.

What does this map show?  The map shows interstate highways.  These are federal roads built and maintained by the national government.  The highways radiate out from Detroit creating a “hub.”  This shows how goods can be moved to and from Michigan.

a city where many roads and railroads meet Example: Detroit is a transportation hub in Michigan.

Ships are still an important way that people and goods move, especially goods.

a city on a body of water where ships load and unload Example: Detroit is an important Michigan port.

Michigan has 38 deep-water ports. All of these ports are connected to the Atlantic Ocean by way of the St. Lawrence Seaway system.

 This system provides transportation for an average of 168 million tons of freight per year.  Most freight is carried by Great Lakes freighters. These are larger than most ocean-going vessels. They are specially designed to carry large, heavy loads in the deep waters of the lakes.  The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway form a 2,000-mile water highway connecting the heart of North America with the Atlantic Ocean.

describes life on a freighter from the point of view of a father and daughter. Actual photos of the mailboat featured in the book can be found at the following website:. westcott/mailpailsouthdown.htm

Can you think of ways to describe the pattern of railroads in Michigan?  Most Lower Peninsula railroads radiate out from Detroit.  Other important Lower Peninsula railroad centers are Grand Rapids and Saginaw.  Escanaba is the main railroad center of the Upper Peninsula.  The Upper Peninsula has fewer railroads.  A railroad follows the Lake Huron shoreline along the eastern coast of Michigan.  Railroads connect Michigan with Canada, Chicago and Green Bay.

 This map shows the plan for a future railroad system.  Michigan is a part of this plan.  This system would allow a person to travel between Detroit and Chicago in just 2 hours, a trip that currently takes about 6 hours. How might this high speed system impact Michigan?

 Movement can have negative consequences as well.  Sometimes things move into Michigan that the people of Michigan do not want.  Sometimes insects or other animals move to Michigan and do damage here.  An example is the zebra mussel that has caused problems in the Great Lakes.

 Zebra mussels are believed to have traveled here in ballast water in ships. Ships take on ballast water from the sea to stabilize the ships weight when they have no cargo.  Ships dump ballast water in order to take on cargo, and sea creatures that are in the ballast water get into the Great Lakes.

 You will now be working with a partner or in a small group to learn more about zebra mussels.  Then you will share what they learned with the rest of the class.  You will work together to create a short presentation, including a visual, that will teach the information on your card to the rest of the group.