Rachel's Human Geo Blog

Today in class we talked about lines of longitude. Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. Lines of longitude are measured by imaginary lines circling the Earth and running through the poles. The spot on the Earth starting lines of longitude at 0 is called the Prime Meridian. The Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich, England. Longitude runs in a North-South direction. All of the lines are equal in length and never touch. These lines are farthest from the equator. For the first time this year, we turned the lights in class. I didn't like the lights on and don't think that we should turn them on again.

Today in class we talked more about maps. We learned that the definition of geography is the study of where things are on Earth's surface and the reason for their location. Geographers use maps to answer two questions. Where are people and activities found on Earth? The second question is "Why are they found there?" A map is a two-dimensional or a flat scale model of the Earth's surface or a portion of it. Cartography is the art and science of mapmaking. Maps have two purposes, as a reference tool to identify an object's absolute and relative location and as a communication tool to convey the distribution of human activity or physical features. Absolute location is the position as expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude and longitude. Relative location is the regional position or situation of a place relative to the position of other places. We also learned about latitude and longitude lines. Latitude lines are a geographic coordinate of imaginary l...

Today in class we learned about situation. Situation is the location of a place relative to other places. Situation also help people find unfamiliar places. Giving someone specific directions to a place that they are looking for is giving them the situation of that place. The situation can also be why something is important in the world. Many places are are important because they are accessible to other places. If a place is close to water, its situation will cause it to be a big place for importing goods. Singapore is an example of a place that is changed because of its situation. Singapore is near the Strait of Malacca so it has become a main place for trade and distributing goods. We also talked about why it is easier to design different objects such as computers or notebooks in the U.S. and sending the design to be developed and made in different parts of the world. This is because the people in different parts of the world have a lower wage than the people working in the United ...

Toady in class we learned about sites on maps. Site is the character of a place. Some examples are climate, water, vegetation, latitude and elevation. Some people choose to live at high or low elevations because of certain aspects of life that come with that elevation. Some people have chosen to live near water so that they can easily have communication with other people in different parts of the world. We also talked about how humans have the ability to change the characteristics of a site. People all over the world can change the way their state is. In New Orleans there are people that live 50 feet below sea level. This can be very dangerous, especially when they have hurricanes. The people just rebuild their houses and land until the next hurricane comes and then repeat the process every time they have a flood. Another example of people changing the sites is Manhattan, New York. There are a lot of big, manmade buildings. These buildings allow thousands of people to live there, mak...

Central America and North America Screenshot South America Screenshot

Today in class, we got our tests back. I got a 90 percent, better than what I thought I would get. Most of the questions that I got wrong on the test I knew that I got wrong before I got the test back. I really liked the topics for the essay questions and thought that I could write a lot about them. The average test grade in our class was a 86.4 percent. We had an essay question on the test about Socrates' trial and if we would vote him guilty or not guilty. In our class of 21, 16 people said not guilty and 5 said guilty. I thought that it was interesting to see everyone's different opinions on his position in trial. One of my friends, Cici, got a 102 percent. During the test, I remembered most of the information but some of the information I couldn't remember at all. This told me that I need to read over my notes more before the test. I now know how to study for Mr. Schick's tests so that I retain the information and show up prepared on the test day.

Today in class we researched the difference between a Mercator map and a Peter's world map. A Mercator map is a map that is typically used for navigation charts because the lines on the map enables a navigator to plot a straight line course. It was introduced in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator. It was used since then and is in most classrooms today. A Peter's World Map is a map that maps all areas so that they have the correct sizes relative to each other, also called an equal- area projection. It distorts most shapes because of the distance accuracy, which is why a lot of the states or continents look as if they are stretched out. The map was introduced by James Gall and Arno Peters and named after the two men. A Peter's World Map is the more accurate than a Mercator map.