Wailele a me Wailani

SOCIAL STUDIES-THE MOST HUMAN OF SUBJECTS

It’s true of all subjects, of course, but social studies can be especially boring or fascinating, depending on the teacher. Most history lessons begin with some sort of text, but it’s impossible for even good texts to cover everything with the depth of relevance, excitement, and fun we want our students to feel when they study history. For years, we have sent students to school and burdened them with the most tedious textbooks imaginable–deadly dull books written by one set of professors to be read by another set of professors, which completely sucked the life out of this most human of subjects.

Truth is not so cosmetically perfect. Our historical sense is frequently skewed by myths and misconceptions. Schools that package a tidy set of historical images are largely responsible for fostering these American myths. There is always a tendency to hide the less savory moments of our past. On top of that, the gaping chasms in our historical literacy have been reinforced from images of pop culture. For the most part, mainstream movies and mainstream television have magnified the myths and makeovers. It is important to understand that looking past these myths is revealing. The real picture is much more interesting than the historical tummy-tuck and truth is always more interesting than propaganda.

Someone will surely say, so what? Why bother with history anyways? What difference does it make that our kids know what the Declaration of Independence says or doesn’t say? Why does it matter that people think Watergate is just old news? The answer is simple. History is a consequence of our actions, large and small, and that has never been more apparent than the aftermath of September 11th, 2001. That event has changed many Americans appreciation of the past and what it has to do with the present. History can explain how we got where we are. We can use it to connect the dots from past to present. Take the Versailles Treaty—consider what this treaty, which supposedly settled World War I back in 1919 actually did. In a clear and obvious sense, it laid the groundwork for another World War twenty years later. But, look past that. You can draw a straight line from the Treaty of Versailles to the modern Middle East, Iran, Iraq, the Balkan countries of Europe and even Vietnam. All these hot spots of the past few decades were created in the aftermath of Versailles when the European powers carved up the world into colonies that they thought they could rule as they pleased.

I believe it my responsibility make important events of our past as interesting as possible for our students. This is what I intend to do this year. The only way to make history and politics interesting is to tell stories of real people doing real things. Traditionally, we have wanted our heroes to be pure and unsullied. But, the greatest heroes of the American epic are still people, often flawed people with deep contradictions. The simple views of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln as perfect heroes don’t always stand up to scrutiny. The American story is not that simple. There are moments in America’s past that can breathe cynicism and disgust, yet there are other moments that evoke pride and admiration. But, it is the humanity of these people and their great accomplishments, in spite of their flaws and contradictions, that make them so fascinating.

The history of this country is not a smooth continuum moving towards a perfectly realized republic. American remains shockingly divided among racial and economic lines. One can look at this rift and feel pessimism, but the optimist can point the distance America has come in a relatively brief period of time. Of course, that is a small consolation to those who have been on the short end of the stick. Perhaps what is important is the commitment and acknowledgement of the true American dream-the dream that Jefferson voiced more than two hundred years ago. Even though his vision his vision of “all men are created equal” is probably different from our modern understanding, it remains the noblest of dreams and the greatest of aspirations.
RATIONALE FOR NOT USING TEXTBOOK

First of all, in social studies I realized using a textbook is harmful to the development of critical thinking in our students. Textbooks do not make history interesting or informative and results in our students losing touch with their history, especially for minorities. Textbooks are predictable; every problem is solved, and leaves out the conflict, drama and suspense that makes history rich. Meaning is stifled without teaching causation and relevancy. Factoids are often false and unverifiable. Students need to look at the forest not just the trunk and branches. Textbooks make students think of history as facts, when in reality history is debate and controversy. By presenting everything in a full picture, students end up not asking questions. Furthermore, the bland optimism in textbooks implies that failure is because the victims fail and not because of circumstances. Thus, one can only conclude that when we teach from textbooks, the more stagnant the students become.

This year in social studies, emphasis was placed on multiple perspectives, causality, and continuity. Students were encouraged to draw on what they learned previously, make connections with other subjects, and learn how our history is relevant to our present.
Thursday, August 9th, 2007
Vocabulary Words
*preconception-opinion formed before finding evidence
*paradigm-a view on how things work in the world
*trivial-not very important, low value, ordinary
*digitization, digitize-changing data into 0 and 1 to send to
somewhere else

Paradigms
Example 1; Old Testament-Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth
(revenge is OK)
New Testament (Jesus Christ)-Turn the other
cheek (forgiveness)
Example 2: Everything revolved around the Earth because
we are God’s creation and we should be at the
center of the universe.
Galileo and Copernicus-we revolve around the
Sun.
Example 3: World is flat vs. world is round
Example 4: Hawaiians were on the base 4 system because
They held taro and fish between their fingers.
(laulima-literally means 400 hands).
We use base 10 system probably because we
have 10 digits on our hands.

Explained Base 10 with Base 10 Blocks
*Anything to the zero power is 1.
*Anything to the 1st power is itself.
*One dimension is a line.
*Two dimensions is a square.
*Three dimensions is a cube (l x w x h).

Example: flatland, lineland, spaceland

4th dimension-???????

4 to the zero power is 1
4 to the 1st power is 4
4 to the 2nd power is 16
4 to the 3rd power is 64.

5 to the zero power is 1.
5 to the 1st power is 5
5 to the 2nd power is 25.
5 to the 3rd power is 125.

Other civilizations had different number systems:

Mesopotamians had a base 60 system.
Mayans had a base 20 system.
Computers are on the binary system-base 2.

Digitalization

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.
As we travel faster, time slows down.

Friday, August 10, 2007
The importance of an Essential Question

*Our question for our 1st social studies unit:
*How did the world become so unequal?
*What are the roots of power in modern history?
*What separates the haves from the have-nots?

*Let’s look at roots of inequality

Why in ancient times did some societies progress faster than others?

Successful Societies-advanced technologies
-big population
-well-organized work force

How did this happen?

First let’s look at:
*conjecture, guess
*hypothesis
*theory
*law

We look at Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel Theory:

Jared goes back to a time in pre-history when humans were basically equal (13,000 years ago)

Middle East had bands of hunter-gatherers, small mobile groups.
-this was not a productive way to get food (takes time)
-gathering (barley, wheat)-better than hunting, but it still
doesn’t provide calories for a large population.

12,500 years ago-weather started changing and became
volatile (ice-age reversed itself for about 1,000 years).
The interesting thing is that during this time people survived and even prospered.

People started to form villages-how did they feed everyone?
People start growing own food, hung out around water and planted grain. People also started storing food (granary-wheat, barley).

Paradigm shift-instead of going out to nature, man started to bring nature to him (controlling nature).
Humans realize they can control their environment!

Monday, August 13th, 2007
Farmers started selecting, whether consciously or unconsciously, grains that were better tasting and easier to grow.

Everywhere there was a staple crop that could be stored and support a sizeable population, large civilizations followed.

Examples-China (rice)
-Africa (millet, yam)
-Central America-corn, squash, beans
-Middle East-wheat, barley

But, some places had farming but did not develop civilizations. Why not?
-Certain crops could not be stored for long periods of time.
-Some crops had to be planted one by one as opposed to
just scattering the seeds.
-Some crops did not have enough protein to support large
populations (Ex.-bananas could not sustain a big country)
*United States relies on wheat which is grown in large
quantities and is nutritious.

In 9,000 B.C., we see larger villages in the Middle East. We have evidence that there was another steady food source which came with animal domestication. Animals provide meat, milk, and clothing.

Domestication of animals and farming provide a powerful mix. Animals can graze on farms after crop has been reaped and in turn animal manure enhances the soil.

In addition, domesticated animals provide beasts of burden (muscle power)-horse, oxen.

What makes a good domesticated animal?
*They have to be plant-eating (if they were carnivores, we
would only have to raise more animals for them to eat).
*They have to be able to reproduce one to two years after
birth to be productive. (Elephants do not breed until they
are 15 years old so it would not make sense to raise them.
Instead, they are caught in the wild and trained as beasts
of burden.)
*These animals had to be social animals with social
hierarchies, thus making them easier to control.
*These animals have a good temperament and get along
with humans. (Zebras have never been domesticated
because they are too jumpy and nervous).

Out of 148 large plant-eating animals, only 14 have been domesticated.
13 out of the 14 come from the Middle East. Cows, pigs, sheep, and goats all come from the Fertile Crescent. Only the llama comes from South America.

Conclusion: It is no coincidence that the 1st human civilizations arose from the fertile crescent with its mix of domesticated animals and productive crops.

People started living in permanent dwellings and began to get the concept of home. People started decorating their buildings.

With a surplus of food, some people were freed from the burden of farming and could develop new technologies such as steel. Metal Specialists emerged.

Eventually, the lands of the Middle East became barren due to overexploitation of the land. (A good lesson for us!)
Luckily, because of the Eurasian land mass that went horizontally, crops and animals could easily be transferred to other lands. It is easy for people, animals and plants to be transplanted and spread quickly east/west because of similar climates latitudinally.

From these beginnings, the birth of a strong Europe emerged with their soldiers, artists, and inventors.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007
A Great Example of European Conquest of the New World

1532-New World/Old World clash
168 Spaniards (Francisco Pizzaro) massacred 7,000 Incas without loss of life to the conquerors.
Why was the balance of power so uneven?
What separates winners from losers-geography?

1530s
Incan Empire 2,500 miles from Ecuador to Chile
versus
Spain king controlled 1/3 of mainland Europe, just fought off the Moors after 700 years. It was still a rural society.

Questions
What was world of conquistadors? And what led to their power over Incas?
What was the pattern of European domination?
What were the roots of inequality?
Did farming give some societies an edge? Agriculture first developed in fertile crescent which then spread and triggered an explosion of civilization.

Livestock in Europe were all originally from fertile crescent-wool, meat, milk, horsepower (could increase productivity to grow more food, thus bigger societies).

New World farming was creative but only by hand, thus productivity was low.

Horses could be ridden. Allowed people to be mobile thus controlling land.

Peruvian capital was guarded by 80,000 soldiers.

Spaniards armed with best weapons in the war coming from the largest army in Europe. For 700 years Spaniards have been at war, thus creating an arms (weapons) race.

1530s-guns aim terrible, loaded slowly, but were loud
“shock and awe” 1532 style
gunpower was still in infancy

Steel-Spaniards; Incas-bronze tools

Fertile crescent beginning of metal technology; Europe adopted technology, eventually creating steel which was iron infused with carbon.

Spaniards had rapiers which were swords with an extra long blade.
Side note-during the Renaissance, the sword was associated with gentlemen; symbolized avarice

Wednesday, August 15th, 2007
Another Western advantage-books that recorded history and information.
Cortes conquered Aztecs 30 years previously
Cortes wrote down how he did this—gave Pizarro reference

Why didn’t Incas have a written language?

Few civilizations develop a written language-first known are Sumerians (cuniform)-every language was inspired by this writing form.

Europe-ultimate transmitter of knowledge-printing press

The Mayans who lived in the Yucatan Peninsula north of the Incas developed a system of writing 2500 years ago.

Why didn’t it spread to the Incas?
Could it be the shape of the American continent-which is long north to south as oppose to the Eurasian continent which is east-west (things are transferred easily east and west)-same day lengths, climate zones, vegetation.

American continent was hindered by north and south thus isolating the Incas.

Spaniards benefited by ideas that flowed easily-spread of Eurasian technology-steel, domestic animals, writing-all originated outside of Europe but spread quickly throughout Europe.

Thursday, August 16th, 2007
Infectious disease-native peoples had no protection from spread of disease.

First smallpox epidemic was in Central America-spread quickly throughout the native populations.

Why were the diseases so one-sided? Why didn’t the Incas give their diseases instead of the other way around.

Germs of domesticated animals evolved to humans:
Flu-pigs, chickens
Measles-cattles
Smallpox

Repeated epidemics made Europe more immune to diseases.

During epidemics, death tolls were dramatic.

Domesticated animals all from Eurasia-thus diseases of the Old World were potent.

95% succumbed to infectious diseases in New World

Eventually, 20 tons of gold and silver stolen from Incas.

Monday, August 20th, 2007

Into the Tropics-Another Example of Imperialism and Colonialism

Africa-birthplace of humanity, yet it now a poor continent
Home of a vast tropical civilization-what happened to them?

Essential Question
How did Europeans conquer most of the world, including Africa?
Europeans developed societies all over the world based on Europe.

Review of Roots of Inequality already covered
Geography
Most productive crops and animals aided in the development of guns, germs, and steel
Answer begins with farming
With farming, a huge advantage that allowed for cities.
Domesticated animals gave humans diseases, but Europeans developed resistance the diseases because of close proximity.

In the mid-1600s Europeans went to Southern Africa-1683
Because the Cape and Europe have similar temperatures (similar distance from the equator), Europeans were able to transfer their way of life.

In the 1830s-Dutch pioneers (Boers) went north for new lands
-Europeans had technology to develop weapons
-1838-reached 800 miles inland from Cape
-stopped by a mighty African nation

Zulu nation-sophisticated government and economy

Battle of Blood River-Dutch settlers defeated the Zulus (3,500 dead for Zulus vs. 3 injuries for Dutch).

Europeans experienced a Industrial Revolution
Railroads could transport supplies and people into interior
Invention of machine gun

Problem for Europeans
As Europeans went northward in Africa, animals started to die and crops died out
Settlers started to get sick (Europeans fell victim to terrible diseases-Europeans did not have history of exposure)
African cattle and Africans had developed resistance to tropical disease (anti-bodies against malaria)
Europeans built settlements near water where mosquitoes were
At 23 Degrees South, crossing The Tropic of Capricorn, leaving European climate, entering the tropics
Tropics operate by different rules from temperate zone; tropics have 2 seasons (dry/rainy)
Wheat, barley could not thrive.

Africa is very diverse
*Bantu language-originated tropical West Africa
*Africans developed a complex society with farming & trade
*Copper, diamond, gold

Europeans and Africa
Late 1800s-Belgians entered Congo and devastated Africa
Built railroads throughout Africa to extract tons of copper and mineral
Modern Africans are now dying of malaria because they are living in highly populated areas near rivers as Europeans are
Natural immunities are ineffective because of mutating strands of malaria.

Wednesday, August 22th, 2007
Imperialism
Colonialism Conquest
Racism

*Draw on prior knowledge of summer reading Boy at War
and Boy No More.
*Show a clip from “Pearl Harbor”

Question:
Why did Japan attack the United States-so deliberately and suddenly?

*Used a map to demonstrate how small Japan is compared
to the United States-another question would be why such
a small country would attack a large country?-seems
suicidal.

Ask students what their impression of Japan is:

Traditional
kimono, samurai, tea ceremony technology, Mt. Fuji, geisha, sushi
Modern-robots, anime/manga, cars, SONY, electronics

Japan is a country of contradictions, a country that mixes tradition with technology

How did Japan become a country of the old and the new?

How did Japan use this combination to be a successful nation?

Friday, August 24nd 2007
Colonialism
Imperialism
Racism

These words are beliefs that led to conquest.

What do these words in common? They all have “ism” in the words. What does this mean? An “ism” is a belief, a paradigm in which people based their actions.

In the future, you will learn more “isms”
Example: communism, socialism, progressivism…

Timeline
Timelines should be drawn with a ruler and intervals should be the same regardless how important the year.

*_____*_____*_____*_____*_____*_____*

1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920

*_____*_____*_____*

1930 1940 1950 1960

Most students in the class are 10 years old-show students how long 10 years old.
Mr. Chung is 45 years old-show interval.
Some students have grandparents or great-grandparents who are 90 years old.

Show them intervals to demonstrate a sense of time.

Point out 1941-the year the Japanese bombed Pearl harbor.

Japanese History
1853-this is a date in Japanese history which changed the country
-the “Black Ships” came-Commodore Perry
Pre-1853-Japan had a policy of isolationism; anyone who set foot on Japan was
instantly beheaded. If a Japanese left, he/she would be executed.
-Japan was ruled by samurai with the shogun as head of government.
-Japan was a feudal society

*When the “Black Ships” came, the Japanese didn’t know what to do. They just stood
there staring at the ships. The samurais could not protect the people.

From 1853-1941, there was 88 years. Impress upon the students how much change the Japanese changed-from a feudal country run by samurai to a country using modern technology to attack Pearl Harbor.

How did this happen? How did Japan change from a feudal society to a modern society in such a short span of time.

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

An essential understanding in social studies, particularly history, is chronology. In order for students to understand issues of continuity, change, and cause and effect, you must know what events occurred and the order in which those events occurred. Historically, culturally, and politically significant events can be examined through revolutions, inventions, and cause and effect.

Timelines can contain different types of information and span different lengths of time. We can create timelines with dates, pictures, and events.

Remind students that a timeline needs to be evenly spaced out.

Students were broken up into groups of 4 and were instructed to make extended timelines.

One timeline was from 3000 B.C.-2000 A.D.-emphasized were the Egyptian Empire, Greek Empire, Roman Empire and the Medieval Age.

Another timeline was created from 1500-2000 with the start of Western exploration and conquest.

Group leaders were assigned to store timelines for future use.

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

Review what chronology is and explain that “logy” at the end of a word means “the study of.”

Examples:
Biology-study of living organisms
Geology-study of rocks
Psychology-study of the mind
Technology
Astrology

Why is chronology important-if you do not know what and when events occurred, it would be impossible to determine causation (cause and effect) and observe continuity (how the past, present, and future are connected)

Draw the time line again from 1850-1950

1853-Black Ships (end of isolationism for Japan)
1968-End of Shogun Government and beginning of Meij Restoration (Japan embarks on
a period of massive modernization inviting experts from other countries and
ambassadors to other countries to learn Western ways, institutions, and
technology.
1895-Sino-Japanese War-Japan obtains Taiwan and Korea as colonies (spheres of
influence).
Japan is starting to play the imperialist game of the West
obtaining land through force
1905-Russo-Japanese War-Japan defeats Russia (first time a non-Western country is
defeated.

Turning point in Japanese mindset towards the world—During the Meiji Period, the Japanese admired and copy the West in order to become a strong nation and be considered equal to the other great powers of the time.

The prevailing paradigm of the time was that great powers (Example-another island nation England ruled half the world) built empires through strength and land acquisition. Japan embarked to do the same thing.

After defeating Russia, Japan expected more lands and reparation for the war that they won. The Western nations under the leadership of American President Theodore Roosevelt decided that Japan should receive no land and reparation from the Russia.

The Japanese were angry because they felt that they were treated as a defeated nation and came to the conclusion that the West believed in different rules for non-Western nation. Why could Western nations exert their influence in Asia but the reverse was not allowed? Was this racism?

From this point forward to 1941 (start of World War II), there was a series of events that reinforced this Japanese view that the West was racist.

Tuesday, September 5th, 2007
Events that led to war with the West
*1914-1918-World War I
The Allies defeated Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire.
At the Treaty of Versailles, the Allies carved up lands of the defeated into colonies that
they wanted to control.
-Even though Japan was on the Allied side, they received no territory. They did want
a racial equality clause in the treaty in which the Western powers rejected. If they did
adopt this clause, they would have lost their rationale for having colonies. They
believed some peoples were to “ruling” people and others were to be the “ruled”
people incapable of governing themselves in a civilized way.

AS A SIDE NOTE, THIS TREATY LED TO CONFLICTS THAT WE WERE INVOLVED IN THE PAST FEW DECADES. IN THIS TREATY, PEOPLES WERE COMBINED AND SEPARATED WITHOUT REGARD TO THEIR ETHNIC AND RACIAL ORIGINS. WE ARE PAYING FOR THIS NOW IN CONFLICTS OF THE PAST DECADES-THE BALKANS, IRAQ, THE MIDDLE EAST, AND EVEN VIETNAM.

*In 1922, there was the Washington Naval Treaty (5-5-3) in which the proportion of
ships of the great naval powers of Great Britain, the United States, and Japan were
assigned with Japan having the least proportion. (Example-If Great Britain had
500 battleships and the United States had 500 battleships, Japan would then be
assigned 300 battleships).
*In 1924, the United States enacted an Anti-Asian Immigration Act which prohibited
Asians from immigrating to the United States.

As these events occurred, it hardened Japan’s attitude that the West would always be unfair to non-Whites. Japan believed their only destiny was to go their own way and create their own empire without regard to Western opinion.

In 1933, Japan invaded Manchuria and during the 1930s attempted to conquer China.
In 1941, the Western powers protested implementing an embargo to force Japan to withdraw from China.

Japan having no natural resources realized their country could not survive with no oil, rubber and other natural resources. They felt they had no choice but to attack Pearl Harbor. On the same day, they attacked the Philippines and Southeast Asia to acquire land for their natural resources.

The importance of this mini-unit is to demonstrate multiple perspectives in history.

Friday, September 7th, 2007

Persuasive Writing

In life, you are always going to be persuading people and “selling” your ideas and opinions.

In high school and college, teachers don’t want you to just summarize what you learn. They want to know that you are thinking critically about the topic.

In a persuasive writing piece, you need to take a stand and state your opinion. This is a thesis-an intellectual proposition.

Examples of topics concerning students:
*Should Kamehameha students wear uniforms?

*Should students have more free time?

*Should we have homework over the weekend?

*Should students be able to express themselves with hair color?

*Is recess a right or privilege?

*Should students have longer recesses?

*Can teachers check student belongings without permission?

Persuasive Topics concerning the community?

*Should the SuperFerry go to Kauai?

*Should we have a rail system?

*Should we do more to protect the environment?

*Should we limit the amount of tourists coming to Hawaii?

*Should children have jobs under 15 years old?

Persuasive Topic Concerning the World

*Should we have gone to Iraq?

*Should we bring our troops home from Iraq?

*Should we use other forms of energy besides fossil fuels?

*Should we help the Third World countries?

*Should we develop our space program more?

Model for a Persuasive Essay

1. Introduction-State your thesis

-Grab the reader

2. Argument #1 that supports your thesis with details

3 . Argument #2 that supports your thesis with details

4. Argument #3 that supports your these with details

5. Counter-argument (optional)-anticipating opponent’s

thinking and countering it.

6. Conclusion

CONQUEST OF AMERICA
After Columbus came conquest–from all corners of the world, explorers reached the shores of the New World to reap untold riches, seek new routes to the Far East, and gain the most elusive glory of all–a place in history. These flawed heroes devoted their lives to unfulfilled quests, sometimes unaware of what they have found or that they have begun the conzuest of a continent far richer than anything in their wildest dreams, a continent of limitless natural resources and economic potential. And as as conquest paves the way for colonization, it will ultimately be farmers, artisans, and merchans who lay the slow, painstaking groundwork of building new lives in a new land.
We will study a sweeping saga of bravery, cruelty and pure folly, these are the stories of adventurers who stopped at nothing to conquer an unknown land and its peoples. Led by legendary cities of gold and mythical passages to China, foiled by international intrigue and mutiny on the high seas, men like Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, Henry Hudson, Jean Ribault, and Vitus Bering left an indelible mark on a vast new continent.

In 1492 the Italian explorer Christpher Columbus sailed west from Spain. Columbus was looking for a water route from Europe to the Indies. The Indies were part of Asia. They were rich in gold, spices, and other goods. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain paid for the expedition, or trip, across the Atlantic Ocean. The king and queen believed that Columbus could find a cheaper and quicker way to the Indies. Columbus did not find the Indies. Instead he landed in a part ot the Americas that became known as the Wes

5 Themes of Geography

January 25th, 2008 by anchung

Aloha Students,

Don’t ever think I never did you guys a favor.  The following are the 5 themes of geography.

Your kind, fearless leader

Place: To describe a place it is important to consider its features, the characteristics that make one place different from another.  Many places have distinct physical features such as landforms, bodies of water, climate, and natural resources.  Places often also contain human features, such as buildings, highways, and airports.  The number of people and their customs are also human features that help to describe a place.

Location: To determine where a place is, direction is often used.  The Cardinal Directions help determine where one place is in relation to another.  Latitude and longitude are used to find the exact location of a place.  Latitude lines extend from east to west, measuring how far a place is from the equator.  Longitude lines go from north to south and measure how fat a place is from the Prime Meridian.  Another means of determining location is the use of numbers and street names.  Landmarks also help to indicate the location of a place.

Human Environment Interactions:  People interact with the environment in several ways.  Sometimes people change their environment in several ways.  Sometimes people change their environment by clearing the land for construction or farming.  Other times, they help the environment by protecting land and animals and planting trees.  The physical environment also can affect people.  The physical environment of some places can make life more difficult, such as bad weather, but in other places the physical environment provides necessities like fresh water.

Movement: Movement describes how people, goods, and ideas get from place to place.  People travel and transport goods in a variety of ways: ships, trains, airplanes, cars, and trucks.  Ideas are often communicated by phones, computers, televisions, newspapers, and radios.  How, why, and where people move affects the way that places grow and change.  A sudden influx of people can result in the birth of cities in a region.  Also, the physical features of a place can affect the movement of people, ideas, and goods.  Rivers are a good means of transportation, while mountains inhibit travel.

Regions: Because it is very large, the earth is divided into regions to facilitate its study.  a region is an area with at least one common feature that makes it different from areas around it.  Regions can be based on similarities in physical features, human features, industries, culture, heritage, and government.