Workshop Three

Three Strands of Meaning

Three Strands of Meaning

• Facts– Visual images, sounds, smells, other sensory

impressions, measurements of all kinds.

• Concepts– Theories to explain why particular features

occur in specific places.

• Values/Opinions– How particular features, ideas, and behaviors

fit in a specific place.

Three Strands of Meaning

• Geography isn’t well understood without all three strands of meaning.– Like trying to learn a language by memorizing

all of the words that start with the letter a, then all of the words that start with the letter b.

World Map

World Cities Map

World Climate Map

A Tropical Rainy

B Dry

B Dry

C Mild Humid

C Mild Humid

D Snowy Forests

D Snowy Forests

E Polar

E Polar

Equator

Simplified Climate Model

Using the Three Strands

• We can better understand phenomena using all three strands of meaning.– Houses for example…

• The term for a house means different things to different people around the world.

House on stilts in the AmazonAdobe house, New Mexico

A Frame house, Alps

Workshop Three Assignment• Use the physical South America map.• Plot five cities, your choice, one in each of the

climate zones of South America.– Make a list of those cities.

• Research your cities:– What climate zone are they in?– What type of trees grow there?– What type of shoes do people where there?

• Include in your list of cities the climate, trees, and shoes.

• Use pictures or drawings of each tree and shoe.• This assignment will require the use of a

computer or books in the library.

Resources

• Included in this PowerPoint are slides from the physical geography chapter on biomes which you may find helpful for your trees.

Forest Biomes

– 1. Low-Latitude Rainforest: Very diverse, containing large numbers of plant and animal species. Broadleaf evergreen trees dominate the vegetation cover. The rainforest climate is wet year round or has a short dry season.

– 2. Monsoon Forest: An open cover of deciduous trees that shed their leaves during the pronounced dry season. It is found in regions of wet-dry tropical climate and ranges from South America to Africa and southern Asia.

– 3. Subtropical Evergreen Forest: Includes both broadleaf and needleleaf evergreen trees and is found in moist subtropical climate regions of southeastern Asia. Most of this formation class has been lost to cultivation.

– 4. Midlatitude Deciduous Forest: Dominated by tall, broadleaf trees that provides a continuous and dense canopy during the summer but shed their leaves completely in the winter. These represent native forests of eastern North America and Western Europe.

– 5. Needle Leaf Forest: Refers to a forest composed largely of straight-trunked, cone shaped trees with relatively short branches and small, narrow, needlelike leaves. These trees are conifers.

– 6. Sclerophyll Forest: Dominated by low trees with thick, leathery leaves that are well-adapted to the long summer drought of the Mediterranean climate.

Low-Latitude Rainforest

Monsoon Forest

Subtropical Evergreen Forest

Midlatitude Deciduous Forest

Needle Leaf Forest

Sclerophyll Forest

Shoes

• This assignment is due on 2/23/12.

• You may turn in a paper copy of this assignment, or you may make it digital.

• A page has been created for you to post your assignment if you make it digital.