| Home |
Culture |
History |
5 Themes |
Sources |

Location |

Place |

Movement |

Region |

H.E.I. |

Five Geographic Themes

(Some words used in this web page are in the Hawaiian langauge)

An animated graphic image of a spinning globe.

The Five Geographic Themes help us to understand the geography of a place. In 1984, when a survey found that one in five young people couldn't locate the United States on a map, the Joint Committee on Geographic Education of the National Council for Geographic Education and the American Association of Geographers developed five specific themes to help focus teacher and student thinking when it comes to geography. To understand what those five themes are, click on the links in the navigation bar below to see explanations of the different themes:

Location
Place
Movement
Region
H.E.I.

Location

A graphic image of a world globe with the seven continents visible..

This theme asks the question "Where are we?" Location can be both absolute and relative. The absolute location involves either the global location (latitude and longitude on Earth), or the local location ( the street address). The relative location usually involves landmarks of some kind that help pinpoint where you are in relation to that landmark.
Back to Top

Place

A graphic image of the eight major Hawaiian Islands.

This theme asks the question "What is this place like?" A places can have both physical and human characteristics. Physical characteristics include such things as mountains, rivers, bays, valleys, beaches and wildlife. Human characteristics come from the people's ideas and actions of that particular place. Clothing, langauge and food habits are typical human characteristics.
Back to Top

Movement

A graphic image of a yellow arow pointing to the right.

This theme asks the question "How do people, goods and ideas get transported from place to place?" This involves, communication and transportation. There are many modes of communication and transportation ofpeople, goods and ideas,... how does this place handle them.
Back to Top

Region

A graphic image of a green palm tree.

This theme asks the question "How is this place unified as a region?" Three basic type of regions are:

1. Formal regions - defined by government, or by physical attributes

2. Functional regions - defined by a particular function of the area

3. Vernacular regions - defined by people's perception
Back to Top

Human Environment-Interaction

A graphic image of a factory.

This theme asks the question "How do humans and the environment affect each other?" There are 3 key concepts to human-environment-interaction:

1. Humans adapt the environment

2. Humans modify the environment

3. Humans depend on the environment.
Back to Top