Title: Five Themes Group Homework Assignment
Author: Lashale Pugh
Affiliation: YoungstownStateUniversity, Department of Geography
Contact: OneUniversityPlaza, Youngstown, OH44555, Ph. 330-941-3290
Background: I first wrote this as a graduate teaching assistant and have modified the assignment several times over the last 5-6 years.
Context: This assignment was designed to provide students a means of grasping the five themes of geography. By concentrating on one country students would be able to grasp the concepts and information discussed in an introductory human geography course.
Goals: Giving this as a group assignment when there are 150 to 175 students to grade each semester allows the instructor to gauge students understanding while grading fewer papers. Students are also provided the opportunity to develop cooperative skills that will be invaluable in the workplace.
A copy of the assignment as given to students is included along with a copy of the rubric used for grading papers. Three examples of student papers are also included. These papers were written individually and prior to giving this as a group assignment. I no longer accept electronic copies and do not have a digital version of a group paper.
Assignment as given to students:
GEOG 2640Five Themes Group Homework Assignment
This assignment is due April 19/20,10 points will be deducted for each day they are late.
Students may work in groups not to exceed five students. There is the option of working alone.
Write a 3-4 page typed (double spaced, 12 pt font) essay on the country of your choice which incorporates the five themes of geography. Include headings for each theme and include all pertinent information. This assignment is designed to help reinforce the material you have learned this semester by focusing on one country. Countries which are excluded: Canada, Italy, United States. Your paper should be written as a narrative rather than just listing information. Points will be deducted if you exceed 4 pages.
Location
In this section you will describe the absolute and relative location of your country.Give the absolute location as a range. Example: It extends from ##degreeseast, to ## degrees west, and from ##degrees north to ## degrees south. ______is to the north, ______is to the east, ______is to the west and ______is to the south. Use adjacent countries, significant bodies of water, or other natural features when describing relative location.
Place
Describe the distinct physical characteristics of the country including weather. Describe the physical and human characteristics that define your country. When discussing the culture of the country, describe the aspects of culture including: language, religion, economic activities, politics and any other pertinent information.
Human-environment relations
Discuss the consequences of human-environment interactions (human impacts on environment, plants, animals, water, soil, economic activities).
Movements
Discuss the geography of the population and patterns of change in human spatial interaction. What is the population? Where is it concentrated? How has the population changed over time?Discuss the movement of goods into/out of your country and forms of transportation required.
Regions
Describe regions located within the country or regions that the country may be considered a part of. You may include information on physical or climatic regions.
Poor grammar and/or spelling errors will cost you points. You must properly cite your sources with in-text citations. You should have a minimum of three sources.DO NOT CITE ENCYLOPEDIAS AS A SOURCE! ESPECIALLY WIKIPEDIA! Books including your textbook, journal articles and reputable websites are preferred. Contact me in advance regarding appropriate websites. The CIA world factbook is an example of an appropriate website.
Inappropriate sources: any encyclopedia, travel websites.
Example of grading rubric:
Name ______
Paper
Yes______
No______
Length
3-4 pages______
5 pages or more______
Citations
Works Cited page______
In-text citations______
Inappropriate Sources______
Font
Same Throughout______
Structure______
Grammar, Typos, Spelling______
Content______
Points from group______
Example #1 of Student Work
Location
Australia is 27 degrees south and 133 degrees east. It is considered an oceania because it is a continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. According to CIA fact book Australia has a cost line of 25,760 km.
Place
According to the CIA fact book Australia weather is “generally arid to semiarid, Temperate in south and east, tropical in the north.” As of 2005 according to the CIA fact book Australia has a population of about 20,090,437. It is up to a population growth of about 87%. There are three ethnic groups 92% is Caucasian, 7% Asian and 1% aboriginal and other. With a mixture like this comes many different languages. There is about 79% that speak English and 2.1% Chinese. Also there is 1.9% of the population that speaks Italian and 5.8% is unspecified. Like most other countries there is a verity of religions; 26% catholic , 20.5% Anglican, 20% Christian, 1.9% Buddhist, 1.5% Muslim 12% unspecified and 15% None.
Human-environment relations
Australia is made up of mostly plateau with deserts but is also has so plains in the southeast. Because Australia is make up with mostly deserts they are prone to having severe droughts and many forest fires which could have a major effect on This country is known for their natural resources such as coal, iron ore, copper, tin, gold, silver, nickel, mineral sand, lead, zinc, diamonds and natural gases. One area that you would find most of the animals is the rainforest. There are two types on dwellers that live in the rainforest, ground and tree dwellers. On the ground level lives larger birds such as scrub turkeys, lyrebirds and cassowaries. Also you could find some mammals such as dingo, wallabies and some reptiles.
In the canopies lives insects such as bees and butterflies, and birds such as cockatoos and wompoo pigeons, owls and wedge tailed eagles. As you walk through the rainforest you can find many different plants such as the strangler fig, and the bird Nest fern.
Just to give you a few fun facts about some of the items that you can find in the rainforest. The strangle fig is one of the best know plaint found in the rainforest. It gets its name by what it does. This plant will grow around another tree and will kill it by strangling it. A bird’s nest fern is another plant that attaches itself to a host (tree) but this plant does not kill the host they live together.
Movements
The population is up to 20,090,437 as of 2005 Australia continues to grow at a birth rate of about 87%. There are about 12 births to about 1,000 people and 8% deaths to about 1,000 people. Age as a lot to do with the population in Australia 19 % of the population is about the ages 0-14 years old. There is about 67% that are between the ages of 15 to 64 and 12% is of the ages of 65 and over. According to these facts it seems that more people might be moving to Australia for work or as a retirement place. Some of the concerns are that with the birth rate being so high and the death rate being so low they will become over populated. Most of Australia is desert land that no one can live on.
Work Citied
Example #2 of Student Work
China
Location
China is the largest and most politically powerful country in the Far East. It extends from 75 degrees east, to 132 degrees west, and from 51 degrees north to 20 degrees south. To the north of China are the countries of Kazakhstan and Mongolia, and also Russia. To the east of China is the North Pacific Ocean, and further out is Japan and North and South Korea. To its west are the countries of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and India. To the south is the Indian Ocean and also a few other small countries. Taiwan and the Philippians are a little further southwest of China into the Pacific Ocean.
Place
The climate of China varies greatly between the northern part of the country and southern part. The northern part has a subarctic climate. It is very cold almost all year around and lacks the change in seasons. The southern part of the country has a tropical climate. It almost resembles the climate of a tropical island, whereas it is mostly warm and sunny weather. There are many large mountain ranges with high plateaus in the western part of the country, where it is covered by a large amount of desert terrain. The highest mountain range in the world, the Himalayans, borders China. China is also home to the Ch’ang-pai Mountains. The largest rivers in China are the YangtseRiver, Yellow River, and Pearl River. China covers over 9 million square kilometers, and is home to more than 1 billion people. The main language spoken in China is Chinese. There are a few different forms of this language, which are spoken by about one fifth of all the people in the world. The most standard form of Chinese that is spoken is Standard Mandarin, which is based on the Beijing dialect. There are a wide variety of religions throughout the country of China. The two most popular religions are Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. While some do not consider these to be religions, but philosophies of life, they are the most prevalent when it comes to worship throughout the country. China is a very large country with also a very large resource base. That is what makes this country one of the largest economically infested areas in the entire world. China’s large labor force attracts hundreds of companies in the world-economy’s global division of labor. Besides the enormous labor force, the low daily wage has caused thousands of companies to move their manufacturing plants to China. Rather than the entire company moving to this country, just the manufacturing part is moved here because of the freakishly low cost of products and production.
Human-environment relations
As mentioned above, the country of China is being taken over by humans and being industrialized from border to border. Not only are Chinese companies covering the country, but also American and even other counties have started to increase their company base in China. Because of the lost cost of production and the very low wages in China it has become one of the most popular economic bases in the world. Although this is a huge benefit to other countries, and also for China because of the currency that it is producing, it is very bad for the environment and nature in the country. Little to no room has been left for the plants and animals of this country and the space for the natural environment is decreasing each day that passes by. Although the Chinese government has passed many laws with the hopes to decrease the pollution in the country, it has steadily been getting worse and worse every year. There are many rain forests in the southern part of China. The species that live here have gotten used to the tropical monsoon climate, and rely on it in order to survive and reproduce. Exploitation in China over the past several years has thrown a big blow to the rain forests in China. As the economic and industrialized areas of the country become larger, the endangered rain forests of the world become smaller. Cutting down trees for wood in these areas has led to soil erosion and the extinction of different species that lived in these parts of the country. The pollution in the area has began to cause acid rain to fall in the forests and has harmed the food chain, which is causing a harmful effect on many different types of species whether they are plants or animals. The main objective of not only China, but the world as a hole, is to preserve the biodiversity that our world provides us with. The industrialization of this country has already caused major harm on this idea, and if it is not controlled in the near future, could completely clear out the rain forests and all the species that inhabit them.
Movements
Most of the industrialization began on the coast of this country, with a very large eastern part of the country touching the Pacific Ocean. Many ports were a part of import and export trading. Today, China is pushing industrialization more and more into the interior of the country. The growth of China’s economy pushed and spread the wealth into the interior of the country, rather than just the coastal export-oriented areas. On the coast, Shanghai recently was named the world’s busiest port. The Chinese government’s new focus is on generating a greater economic activity in the interior or the country. This is what is causing the environment to decrease, because the entire country will in time be covered completely by industrialized land. A lot of China’s business is offshore, which means it is from countries or places outside of the country. This means that goods and supplies need to be imported and exported in and out of the country, which causes the ports and shores of the country to always be very busy. Also, with the expansion and increase of these sort of companies, it has forced the manufacturing plants to move further and further inland in the country. The population as mentioned before is over one billion people, which is the highest population in any country in the entire world. Most of these people are under paid and work long and hard hours, which make this place the best spot in the world to have products manufactured for businesses all over the world.
Regions
There are many different climactic regions that are prevalent over this country. In the northern part there is a large area covered by a subarctic climate. Deserts, and also the largest mountain range in the entire world, being the Himalayans, cover most of the west. Also, the eastern part of the country is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, which gives the country a very large beach, much like the state of California in the United States. The southern part of the country is covered by a tropical climate, much like most of the islands in the tropics. A large region of tropical rain forests covers this area. These areas in the world are under preservation and trying to be saved. Much like the rest of the world, industrialization is threatening this area of China and the industrialization is spreading further and further into the area. Besides causing a lot of pollution and affecting the air quality in the country, this industrialization is also causing the harming, killing, and even extinction of many species whether they are plants or animals. Two large districts that are also considered to be major regions of this country are the Northeast District and also the Shanghai and the Chang district, which was developed in and around the largest city in the country, Shanghai.
Works Cited
Col, Jeananda. Enchanted Learning. 2006. 24 Apr. 2007. <
Fries, Thomas R. August 1995 - May 1996. "History of the Far East A & B" (HIS 351 & HIS 352). Department of History, KutztownUniversity. Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
“World Factbook: China Geography”. Yahoo. 2005. Central Intelligence Agency. 24 Apr. 2007. <
Example #3 of Student Work
HW#3: Iran (Persia)
Location
Iran's absolute location extends from 44 degrees East through 63 degrees East, and 40 degrees North through 25 degrees North (“Google Earth”). Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia are countries that neighbor Iran to the north. Both the Caspian Sea and the AlborzMountains border Iran to the north. Iraq and the ZagrosMountain range border Iran to the west. Iran is completely bordered in the south by bodies of water including the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. To the east, Afghanistan and Pakistan comprise the border with the Luz desert being the natural boundary.
Place
Iran is considered to have an arid climate. There are mountains to the north and west. To the southeast there is mostly desert. A very small percentage of the land is arable and because of this, most food is imported. Iran's top export is oil which accounts for a very strong majority of its profits. Iran has a very strong history that includes at one point being the largest empire in the world. Because of this, traditions are based off of a very rich culture that includes art, architecture, language, and cuisine. The cuisine in Iran is quite unique compared to other cultures. Most meals are predominately based off a side of rice and the main course consists of a meat mixed with veggies. Iranian food is not spicy. The art is based off a very intricate detailed approach. In paintings much detail is focused on facial features of the characters. In rugs, the intricate weaving patterns are renowned for worldwide and Persian rugs are considered to be the highest quality in the world. The architecture has carried through the centuries and remains, like the art, focused on detail. Mosques and palaces stand out throughout the country with the ‘dome’ roof being the central focus. Finally the language of Iran has also been carried through many centuries. Starting with old Persian to current day Farsi, the Iranian language has been a defining characteristic of their culture. Poetry is just as important in Iran as the Quran is.