tested Adirondack Curriculum Project - www.adkcurriculumproject.org
NYS Content Area Standard

ELA #1
Language for info & understanding

Social Studies #3
Geography


 Title: 5 Themes of Geography in the Adirondacks
Grade Level: 9th Grade/Global Studies

Author: P. Destito, K. Gavigan & K. Gradel, Utical Schools

Email: pdestito@uticaschools.org
kgradel@uticaschools.org
kgavigan@uticaschools.org
 Adirondack Curriculum Content Area
_X_ Natural History
_X_ Human History
___ Culture & the Arts
___ Government & Civics
___ Economy
___ Health, Recreation & Life Skills

Investigative Question or Issue: What features of the Adirondacks apply to the 5 Themes of Geography?

Challenge:  
In teams, each group will create a product around one of the assigned themes of geography.  These themes are location, place, human-environment interaction, region and movement.

Teacher directions:
1.  Using a variety of pictures, images, maps, etc. about or in the Adirondacks, begin to discuss the themes of geography with the students.

2. Drawing from a variety of sources, display images that can apply to the 5 themes and have the students decide which theme is being addressed.

3.  Break students into small groups (need 5 groups), assign each group  a theme of geography.  Each group must decide (or teacher may assign) individual roles for each member with 100% involvement.  Examples include; scribe, presenter, time manager, quality control, art director, etc.

4.  As a group, the students must prepare some product (i.e. poster, diorama, etc.) illustrating their theme.  They will need to present and explain to the class, their product.

5.  Optional- Can use one or more image for a Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS) session.  In this session, the facilitator (you or a student) will initiate the discussion with the approved VTS questioning method.  This could be concluded with an essay, if desired.

Student Handout

Quality Standards:

  • Product clearly illustrates the assigned theme with at least three examples (drawings, pictures, etc.) with captions explaining the relevance to the theme.
  • Product must contain a title, captions, team member names, and keys if applicable.
  • Presentations must include introduction of team, explanation of product, and question and answer session.
  • VTS session, if used, will be evaluated based on specifications of the individual conducting the session.
Examples of Student Work
Adapted for the Adirondack Curriculum Project from the work of Education By Design TM and Leading EDGE, LLC ©ACP 2002

   Product Quality
Checklist
Date: ________                                                                     Class Period: ________
Product Author(s):

 
 5 Themes of Geography in the Adirondacks
Evaluator Name(s)
 
 Observed Standard/Criteria
Possible
Points
Rating
   Product contains title, captions, team member names, key if applicable
 25
 
  Geography theme is communicated clearly by:
  • Location- 3 examples including relative location and absolute location examples
  • Place- 3 examples including human characteristics and physical characteristic examples
  • Human-Environment Interaction- 3 examples including human adaptation, human modification and human dependance examples
  • Movement- 3 examples including people, goods, and idea examples
  • Regions- 3 examples including formal, functional and vernacular examples
 25   
  Presentation introduces members, clarifies their assigned theme, and answers questions in an appropriate manner
 25
  
  Individuals will be evaluated on their performance of their role within the group, as observed by the instructor during the task
 		25
  




 
TOTALS
  100  

nyga Produced at the 2008 Adirondack Geography Institute
Comments: Please note, only the portion for assigned theme is counted into point total.
Teacher must circulate and make observations for individual part of grade (take notes). 
Sources for graphics could include but are not limited to personal photographs taken in the park, googlearth.com, google images, pictorial books of the Adirondacks like "Mount Marcy: The High Peak of New York" by Sandra Weber, "Fair Wilderness: American Paintings in the Collection of the Adirondack Museum" by Patricia C. F. Mandel, "The Ancient Adirondacks: The American Wilderness" by Time-Life Books, and "Santanoni: From Japanese Temple to Life at an Adirondack Great Camp" by R. Engel, H. Kirschenbaum, and P. Malo, maps, historical maps, political cartoons, etc.  For more information about the themes see "The Five Themes of Geography" website by Lisa Keys-Mathews http://www2.una.edu/geography/statedepted/themes.html 
*The following website contains additional ideas for products for students  http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson071.shtml
*Please note that these are only a small sample of resources available and please search your local sources as well as others on the web.
* VTS resource is http://visualthinkingstrategies.org
* It was recommended by another teacher that an evaluation form be created for the students to complete during presentations for another source of feedback.  We believe that each teacher would need to identify the factors they want peer evaluated.