Geography is the study of the shape of the world - the land, the seas, the mountains, the rivers, the canyons, the deserts, the forests, and more. Knowing WHERE is an important part of geography - where are the mountains and rivers ? Where are the continents and oceans ? Where are YOU on the earth ?

WHO is also a part of geography - who lives on the land ? How many people live in a town ? How many schools are in your county ?

WHAT and WHY are other parts of understanding geography. What forces effect the shape of the land and the seas ? What direction do rivers flow ? Why do some areas of the ocean support unique types of life ? Why is it warmer at the equator ?

Two Types of Geography

Physical geography - this is the where, the what, and the why of the location of physical land and water forms on the earth.

Cultural geography - this is the who lives where and why story that geography can help us understand.

Geography Tools

Maps - these are human or computer made documents that are images of the earth's shape - where the continents are, where islands are, how tall are the mountains, which areas are desert, how many people live in cities, for example. A map allows us to measure the distances between places, and to understand the differences in heights between different mountains and the ocean.

Compass - a compass is a magnetic directional tool that helps us locate true North, and from there, we can measure the direction of other locations and objects. With a compass, travelers are able to reach distant destinations, ships are able to sail across the open seas, and hikers can find their way through a forest even when there are no known landmarks to recognize.

GPS - a GPS unit is a Global Positioning System device, small enough to fit in your hand, which has an electronic position locator that beams your location up to a satellite orbiting around the earth. The satellite measures where you and your GPS unit are, and beams back down your coordinates to show you where you are now, and it can also suggest a path to where you next want to go. These devices can help scientists reach their remote expedition sites, they can help them track specific animals in the wild (whales in the sea, wolves in the backcountry) to see where they go and who they travel with. GPS are also used by everyday people to reach a destination in their car. And they are used by the military to locate enemy troops during times of war. The Camp program will be loaning GPS units out to the schools to help classrooms gather information about their own environment - how many oak trees are in your community, where the closest river is, and other studies your class can volunteer to participate in this year.

GIS - Geographic Information Systems are computer-based databases that show us information not in words and paragraphs, but by using maps to communicate information. Maps help us visualize information - help us see how tall a mountain is, how wide an oil spill has reached, how deep a cave is, how small a town is - or how big a city is. GIS also allows us to combine information on one map to better understand the relationships between locations and events on the earth. We can see not only where a river empties into the sea, we can also see where the factories are that dump pollutants into the river, and where those pollutants go when they reach the sea. Then we can also ask the computer to tell us what marine life lived in the sea before the factory began dumping pollutants, and what marine life lives there now since the pollutants began being dumped into the river and carried to the sea. A printed map, on paper, or a computer map that does not have a database of information behind it, and can not layer these combinations of information onto one map to see the relationship between locations and events. GIS is the tool that helps us understand geographic relationships, and then lets us also see human, plant, animal, industrial, and other relationships and how they effect the earth.

The Camp Expedition Supply Kit includes materials from ESRI, a well-known GIS company. There are printed materials that show you how other programs are using GIS in their geography studies. And we are also providing a CD ROM that will let you start experimenting with GIS on your own classroom computer. Later in the program, we will also invite you to gather data and submit it to the Camp's new GIS server to generate maps and compare your findings to other classrooms.

The Stars - long before we had GPS, or GIS, or even a simple compass, people were learning about the earth's geography using natural guidance systems - like the stars and the sun. The Polynesians sailed the vast stretches of the Pacific in tiny little reed or log boats and they used the stars and the sun to guide them on their way. Native traders in the Americas traveled from deep in Mexico with parrots from the rainforest, up into what is now Arizona and New Mexico, to trade for turquoise, following foot paths and watching the stars at night to make sure they stayed on course. What can you learn from watching the sun and the stars ?

Try this - with out a compass or a computer or a map.

With just your eyes, watch the path of the sun today. If it rises in the East and sets in the West, which direction is North ? And which is South ? What landmark can help you remember where North is ? and Where South is ? Make notes to yourself about the landmarks you can find - trees, buildings, mountains, roads, that help you establish where the cardinal directions are from your school or home. North, South, East, West. Then watch tomorrow to see if the sun rises in the same place and if you can find the four directions again using your landmark system. Then the next day, with your notes in hand, take your record home and at night, step out under the stars and try to find the four directions again. How can you do this when there is no sun in the sky ? Can you find the familiar landmarks you noted before ? Or do you need to find new landmarks during the day at home to help you get oriented? Take notes on what you discover.

The following morning, when you wake up, notice where the sun rises in relation to your house. Then, when you get home from school and if it is still light out, record landmarks again at home that help you know where the sun sets (West). You can then find a point between them that would be North and one that would be South. Once you have established these landmarks at home, now watch the night sky again. Pick a time of evening after the stars are out, and face the East. Study the stars until you see a pattern of a cluster of stars that you can remember. Draw that pattern of stars in your record. Note what time of night you found it on the Eastern horizon. For the next month, keep your eye on the eastern horizon several nights a week, and record what time the star group you identified becomes visible. The stars will come up later and later each week. What this shows us is that the sun and the stars can be used to give us directions to understand where we are on the earth. In our upcoming astronomy section we will undertake more detailed star-watching and seasonal celestial measurements.

Where Are YOU on the earth ? In the next lesson we will find out !