Introduction
to
geography
Introduction to
geography
GEOGRAPHY
- study of the Earth
- physical and built environments
- relationships people
- have with the environment
- two main branches
• physical geography
• human geography
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
- study of the physical environment
- all living and non-living things (physical features) that
are found naturally; not altered by man
- natural processes that occur on the Earth
- four components that rely on each other; a change in
one will affect the others
• atmosphere
• hydrosphere
• lithosphere atmosphere
• biosphere
biosphere
lithosphere
atmosphere
- layer of gases and tiny particles that surround the
Earth
- including gases like oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide
- the condition of the atmosphere at a given time and
place is known as weather
• including temperature, humidity, rainfall and wind
hydrosphere
- all water found on and under the Earth’s surface and
in
The atmosphere
- including water in its solid, liquid and gaseous states
lithosphere
- solid layer of rock that forms the Earth’s surface
- processes shaping the Earth’s surface
biosphere
- all living things on Earth
- quantity and diversity of natural vegetation and living
systems
- including plant and animal life on land and in the sea
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
- study of human life in built environments
- created through human-made changes to the physical
environment
- has many aspects
• housing
• transport systems
housing
- structures or buildings
- developed by people to shelter themselves from the
elements
- can be temporary or permanent
- including tents in campsite, HDB flats and camper vans
transport systems
- equipment, infrastructure and networks
- support the movement of people and goods from one
location to another
- including public buses, Changi Airport and the Mass
Rapid Transport
GEOGRAPHICAL CONCEPTS
- understand the world
- four key geographical concepts
• space
• environment
• place
• scale
space
- physical area on Earth’s surface
- location is an idea that is closely related to space
• can be expressed using a set of coordinate, based on a
global system of imaginary horizontal and vertical lines
Known as latitude and longitude
> latitude is an angle which ranges from 0° at the
Equator to 90° N/S at the poles
> longitude is an angle which ranges from 0° at the
Prime Meridian to 180° E/W
> used to describe precise location of features on the
surface of the Earth
> helps us locate places
• locations of individual geographical features, such as
mountains or roads may be arranged across an area in
a particular way
> known as special pattern
> can be identified as linear, nucleated or dispersed
linear nucleated dispersed
place
- an area on the Earth’s surface that holds special
meaning for people
- developed memories or feelings towards it over time
environment
- physical and built environments
- processes that occur naturally or result from human
actions
- geographers are interested in studying the interactions
between humans and the physical or built environments
• minimise the negative impacts of humans on these
environments
scale
- level of detail at which something is studied
- three different types of scales
• map scale
> maps are diagrams that represent features of the
physical and built environments
> map scale is the relationship between a distance on
map and the actual distance on the ground
> can be expressed as a representative fraction or as
a statement
> for e.g. 500-metre-long road may be represented
as being 5 cm on the map and thus the map scale
would be “1:10,000” or “1 centimetre represents
100 metres”
map of Singapore
• time scale
> period of time during which something happen
> processes and changes in the physical and built
environments occur at a variety of time scales
• geographical scale
> spatial extent of something
> often divided into the local, national, regional and
global scale
global - a village or town
centre is considered
regional to be at the local scale
- national scale is the
whole country
national - regional scale is a
group of countries
that are located close
local to one another
- global scale is the
entire world
GEOGRAPHICAL INQUIRY
- approach to help understand the world better
- it involves
• posing geographical questions
• carrying out geographical investigations
posing geographical questions
- who, what, when, where, why, how
- can be used together with the four key geographical
concepts
- pose geographical questions about phenomenon and any
issue that it may cause
• phenomenon is a feature or situation that can be
observed to exist or happen in the physical built
environments
carrying out geographical investigations
- systematic study carried out to find possible answers to
geographical questions posed
- five different stages
framing the geographical investigation
- pose geographical questions to
1 decide on the focus of the
geographical investigation
collecting data
- decide what types ofprimary and
secondary data need to be collected
in order to answer the geographical
questions posed
2 - determine which methods will be
used to collect the required data to
ensure that it is accurate and reliable
analysing and presenting data
- organise the raw data collected ,
process and present them using
maps, field sketches and
3 Suitable graphical representations
such as tables and graphs
- make sense of the data by
identifying patterns or relationships
drawing conclusions
- provide evidence-based responses to
the geographical questions posed at
4 the start
reflecting and taking action
- reflect on how stages 1-4 were
carried out and evaluate the data
collection methods
- suggest ways to improve the
investigation
5 - propose ways to improve the
relationship between the
phenomenon and people
