Julie Podorsek

Stage One: Identifying Desired Results

Title: Human VS Physical Geography
Grade: Sixth
Author: Julie Podorsek
Number of Class Periods: One
Essential Questions: How much influence does the environment have on the people and culture
that lives in that area? How do human and physical geography connect? Is it more important for
people to adapt to the environment or for the people to change the environment to fit their needs.
State of Michigan Content Standards (GLCES/HSCEs):
6 G2.1.1 Locate and describe the landforms, ecosystems, and the climate of the region under
study.
6 G2.1.2 Describe the basic patterns and processes of plate tectonics (e.g., plates, plate
boundaries, uplift, earthquakes, volcanos and the ring of fire).
6 G2.1.3 Describe the characteristics of major world climates (e.g., tropical wet and wet dry,
arid and semiarid, sub-tropical, continental, and arctic), and ecosystems (e.g., tropical forest,
savanna, grassland, desert, temperate forests, tundra, oceans and ice caps).
6 G2.2.1 Describe the human characteristics of the region under study (including languages,
religion, economic system, governmental system, cultural traditions).
6 G2.2.3 Explain how culture and experience influence peoples perception of places and
regions.
6 G2.2.4 Create population pyramids for different regions and interpret the graph discussing
birth and death rate, growth rate, and age structure.
Learning Objectives:
SWBATCreate an ideal house for a family to live in that would help them best live in their environment.
Evaluate the importance the environment has on people and that people have on the environment
Analyze climographs and population pyramids to gather a better understanding of Japan and
Chile
Apply basic human and physical information about a country to be able to understand the
challenges and resources it has.
Understand the different types of graphs and information in order to discuss with group
members.
Remember basic information in order to draw connections between the physical and human
geography of Japan and Chile.
Content Rational: Understanding the basic differences and connections between physical and
human geography is a skill that will allow a student to be able to have a well-rounded view of a
country. Looking at a country from many perspectives can help to reveal things about the people
and culture that may not be immediately visible. Knowing weather patterns and any sort of
natural disasters they are prone to can help a student understand why the people live a certain
way or developed a different culture. This is something that could help a student understand the
rational of why a country would go to war, it could be something as simple as they do not have
enough resources where they are at and expansion is the only way for them to grow. The two

countries I picked because it had to be nonwestern and they both face unique challenges because
of their locations.
Background and Context: This lesson would be in a true geography unit. I believe this would be
used in one of the earlier lessons in a geography unit since it is focusing on basic terms and I will
be introducing the different types of maps. I think that some information about the differences in
human and physical geography would already have to be covered. I would move on from my
lesson to continue to discuss human environment interaction, which is one of the five themes of
geography. This would be a nice intro into that since it is not a hard assignment but with the
ending think pair share allows students to really understand how important this relationship is for
any country, not just the two we discussed.
Stage 2: Determining Acceptable Evidence (Assessment)
Formative: Students will be filling out questions as they go through the lesson and learn about
their countries for either a physical or human perspective.
Summative: I would plan on quizzing my students on the differences between human and
physical geography and also on their ability to use the population pyramids and climographs.
Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences (Procedure)
Opener/Activator:
The learning objective will be on board (be able to understand the differences in physical and
human geography and how they interact as well has how they impact the people that live in
Japan and Chile). Start with a quick discussion on what the definition of human geography is,
and what physical geography is. This will be a way to kick start my class and give everyone an
introduction and quick review into what the lesson will center upon.
Activities:
Introduce Climographs and population pyramids. Pull up an example of each and show how to
read it.
Split the group into two groups of 3. One member will move to the other side of the table so that
they will be able to fully participate. Assign one group to be the physical group and the other
group to focus on human geography of a place. Hand out the worksheets and let each group work
through them. When the worksheets are done have each group member pair up with a member
from the other group. Have them share what they learned about their countries.
Once this is done have them come up with 3 examples of how the people in each country have
adapted to the environment or how they have adapted the environment to their way of life.
Once each group has done this have them share what they came up with, with the class.
Anticipated Student interactions/Questions:
Group work always is a struggle in keeping people focused and on task.
Make sure they are going into a high enough level of detail so they are able to come up with
good human environment interactions.
There may be questions on what time era to focus on, it will be the modern era.
Students may still struggle with understanding the different sorts of graphs. The groups are small
so giving personalized assistance is okay.
Closer/Summarizer:

The ending of the lesson will be bringing the beginning objective back up and hearing students
now educated opinion.
30 min time frame for whole lesson
Other Important Materials:

Learning Objective

Be able to understand the differences in physical and

human geography and how they interact as well has
how they impact the people that live in Japan and
Chile.

What is Human Geography?

The branch of geography dealing with how human
activity affects or is influenced by the earth's
surface.
What is Physical Geography?
The branch of geography dealing with natural
features and processes.
There are two types of graphs that are used

Physical Geography Questions

Here are 10 questions to answer. Make sure that you fill out these 10
questions for both Chile and Japan
1) Locate any major landforms:
2) Find a climograph for each country and write out in words what
the precipitation and temperature are like throughout the year.
3) Identify what climate types are present:
4) Are there any patterns and processes of plate tectonics (e.g., plates,
plate boundaries, uplift, earthquakes, volcanos and the ring of fire).
5) Any Bordering countries?
6) What are some advantages of this climate and location?
7) What are some disadvantages to this climate and location?
8) Name some of the natural resources found in this country and also
where the most fertile land is.
9) Draw a picture of what an ideal house for this environment would
look life and that would allow its residences to overcome any
challenges that their environment may pose.
10)
Analyze how the environments you looked into may impact
the people who live there.

Human Geography Questions

Here are 10 question to fill out. Make sure that you answer all 10 for
both Chile and Japan.
1) Find the most popular language.
2) Investigate what the economic system is as well as the
governmental system. Are these effective?
3) Find one cultural tradition.
4) What is the Gross Domestic Product, as well as the child mortality
and literacy rates. What might you be able to conclude from these
statistics
5) Look up a population pyramid for each of these countries. Are they
fast growing? Slow Growing? Or will the population stay the
same?
6) What is the Ethnic makeup of the country?
7) What is this countrys biggest export? Speculate on why this is.
8) How much of their GDP goes toward education?
9) Look up a typical house for this country and draw a picture of it.
10)
Think about how the environment that these people live in
and the impact it has on their society and culture.