Analyze the photo below by using a Photo Analysis Worksheet to record details about people, objects, and activities you see.
Based on your observations, where is this place located?
Absolute: latitude and longitude give the absolute location; in this case, the floating village of the Baujau Laut
Relative: where a place is located based on the things around it; in this case, in the Celebes Sea, squeezed between the nations of Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia in Southeast Asia.
Flip through these photos and ask yourself the same questions about these communities.
Geography is all about making sense of the spatial world in which humans exist.
What is where?
Why there?
Why care?
These questions will help us identify patterns and characteristics of our world and understand the opportunities and challenges we face in our future.
For example:
Think about our schoolyard and identify the geographical pattern of why students gather where they do.
What is where?
Why there?
Why care?
Here are some easily identified geographic patterns in Canada:
Complete Canada's Population: Why There? and Why Care? worksheet.