What is Geography?

Created by David Palmer and Hollie King

Eaglecrest High School

Geography HumorCanada-US Border Dispute

For generations, a woman's family lived on a farm in Manitoba on the border with North Dakota in an area that was in dispute between Canada and the U.S. One day her grown kids came in and told her that the dispute had been settled, the international boundary line ran right through their farm, and the family could choose whether to be Canadians or Americans.

After some thought, the woman declared that they should become Americans. Her reason was that she couldn't stand another Canadian winter!

Definitions - Use CornellLiteral Definition: a description of the earth

Emmanuel Kant: “History looks at change across time. Geography looks at change across space.”

Hartshorn: “Geography is the discipline that seeks to describe and interpret the variable character from place to place of the earth as the world of man.”

Greenland: “Geography is the study of the distribution and interrelationships of the elements of the human environment and the relationships between humans and the physical environment.”

Your Definition:

Geographic Investigation Process

Level 1 Questions - What? Where? When?

Level 2 - Pattern Identification

Level 3 Questions- Why? How? Brainstorm

Field Investigation

Level 4 So What? What if?

Method vs PerspectiveGeographic Method: using geographic information to describe the earth

Geographic Perspective: a geographic grid through which information is interpreted

Oral Hygiene exampleBackground Hygiene

Tooth Decay US- not actual data

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High % Tooth decay

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Low % Tooth decay

Effectiveness of Measures to Reduce Oral Disease

Proven preventive measures (e.g., water fluoridation, dental sealants, smoking prevention programs) can reduce oral and dental diseases. However, these measures are often unavailable to those who need them most. 

Community water fluoridation prevents cavities and saves money, both for families and the health care system. In fact, for large communities of more than 20,000 people where it costs about 50¢ per person to fluoridate the water, every $1 invested in this preventive measure yields $38 savings in dental treatment costs. 

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/aag/aag_oh.htm#1Richard H. Carmona, MD, MPH, FACSurgeon General U.S. Public Health Service

Current Flouride MapSmall Group

Fast Food Patterns- Quincy and Buckley- Local Scale

April 24, 2002

E. Quincy

Buckley Road

April 24, 2002

E. Quincy

Buckley Road

m

cERCS

KS

A

KFC

SW

Q

T

Sub

N

thaibar

For sale

Lowe’s

GT

PE

BJ

Geographic Investigation Process

Level 1 Questions - What? Where? When?

Level 2 Pattern Identification

Level 3 Questions- Why? How? Brainstorm

Field Investigation

Level 4 So What? What if?

April 24, 2002

April 24, 2002

m

sc

subjuicSB

Apple

VI

chile

oldch

KTH

CS

Foxfield Town Center

KS

Earth at Night - Global Scale

A little more humorIt's wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.

-- Vice President Dan Quayle, 4/30/91

I love California; I practically grew up in Phoenix.

-- Vice President Dan Quayle