The Five Themes of Geography: Location & Place

Active learning works especially well for location and place because these concepts are abstract until students physically manipulate maps, compare locations, and describe surroundings. Moving from textbook definitions to hands-on tasks helps students internalize that location is a coordinate or a reference point while place is the living, changing identity of that spot.

• 7th Grade
• Geography
• 4 activities
• 20 min–40 min

Learning Objectives

1. Compare and contrast the absolute and relative locations of two major global cities, citing specific geographic features or human settlements.
2. Analyze how the physical characteristics of a region, such as climate or landforms, influence its human characteristics, like settlement patterns or economic activities.
3. Differentiate between the physical and human characteristics that define a specific place, providing at least two examples for each.
4. Explain how a place's relative location has influenced its historical development or economic opportunities, using a specific global example.
5. Create a brief description of a familiar place, identifying both its physical and human characteristics.

Think-Pair-Share

⏱ 20 min·Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: Your School's Location vs. Place

Students first look up the absolute location of their school (latitude and longitude) and record it. They then independently list five characteristics that define its sense of place. Pairs compare lists, sort characteristics into physical vs. human categories, and discuss which characteristics would change if the school moved one mile away and which would stay the same.

Prepare & details

How does the concept of 'place' differ from the concept of 'location'?

Facilitation Tip: During the Think-Pair-Share, supply a large wall map so students can point to their school’s location while discussing its place characteristics.

Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor

Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Gallery Walk

⏱ 30 min·Small Groups

Gallery Walk: World Places

Stations feature photographs and brief descriptions of contrasting places: a high-altitude Andean village, a coastal megacity, a Great Plains farming town, a Saharan oasis settlement, and a Scandinavian fjord community. Groups identify physical and human characteristics at each station, sort them into location-based vs. place-based attributes, and discuss which characteristics would attract settlers and which would challenge them.

Prepare & details

Analyze how relative location influences a region's economic development.

Facilitation Tip: In the Gallery Walk, display printed images at eye level so students can stand back and observe both physical and human details before jotting notes.

Setup: Wall space or tables arranged around room perimeter

Materials: Large paper/poster boards, Markers, Sticky notes for feedback

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Jigsaw

⏱ 40 min·Small Groups

Jigsaw: Relative Location and Economic Development

Groups each research one historically significant trading city (Venice, Timbuktu, Singapore, Chicago, or New Orleans) with a focus on how relative location explains why it became economically important. Groups report back and the class constructs a generalization about how relative location and economic development connect.

Prepare & details

Differentiate between the physical and human characteristics that define a specific place.

Facilitation Tip: For the Jigsaw, assign each expert group a different region so relative location descriptions vary enough to spark classroom comparisons.

Setup: Flexible seating for regrouping

Materials: Expert group reading packets, Note-taking template, Summary graphic organizer

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Role Play

⏱ 25 min·Pairs

Role Play: The Place Description Challenge

Students take the role of a journalist writing a 60-second radio segment describing a city using only place characteristics but not the city's name or coordinates. Partners listen and try to identify the city, then give feedback on whether the description used physical and human characteristics accurately and distinctly.

Prepare & details

How does the concept of 'place' differ from the concept of 'location'?

Facilitation Tip: During the Role Play, give each student a simple prop (a hat, scarf, or tool) that matches their assigned place to make the human characteristics tangible.

Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging

Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Teaching This Topic

Teachers often begin with concrete examples students already know—their school or neighborhood—before moving to global examples. They avoid overloading students with too many place traits at once, focusing first on the clearest physical and human contrasts. Research shows that pairing verbal descriptions with visual evidence builds stronger mental models than either method alone.

What to Expect

By the end of these activities, students should confidently distinguish absolute location from relative location and list both physical and human characteristics that give a place its unique identity. They should also recognize that places change over time while absolute coordinates stay fixed.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During Think-Pair-Share, watch for students who swap location and place terms when describing their school, e.g., saying ‘Our school is near the river’ when they mean the school is next to the river but the river itself is a place characteristic.

What to Teach Instead

Prompt them to reread their notes and circle the word ‘near’ as their relative location phrase, then underline ‘river’ as a physical place characteristic to clarify the difference.

Common Misconception

During the Jigsaw, listen for groups claiming that absolute location alone determines economic success, ignoring relative advantages.

What to Teach Instead

Ask each group to trace shipping routes on their map and calculate distance to nearest ports, then revisit their claim about why the place boomed.

Common Misconception

During the Role Play, notice students describing a place as if its human features were fixed forever, e.g., ‘People here only speak French,’ when many cities are now multilingual.

What to Teach Instead

Prompt students to add a modern twist—for example, ‘Today a quarter of residents speak Spanish’—so they practice updating place identities.

Assessment Ideas

Exit Ticket

After the Think-Pair-Share, students write one absolute location sentence and one relative location sentence for their school on an index card before leaving class.

Discussion Prompt

During the Gallery Walk, ask pairs to present one physical and one human detail they noticed on a specific image, then lead a quick class vote on which image showed the most human-altered place.

Quick Check

After the Jigsaw, display the same map excerpt twice—once with absolute coordinates and once with relative labels—and ask students to identify which version better explains a city’s economic profile.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge early finishers to create a digital story comparing their school’s place in 1950 versus today using historic photos and census data.
• Scaffolding: For students who confuse location and place, provide a Venn diagram template with one circle labeled “Location” and the other “Place” and guide them to fill in two items for each.
• Deeper exploration: Have students interview a family member about a place they remember from childhood, then map how that place’s human characteristics have shifted while its absolute location stayed the same.

Key Vocabulary

Absolute Location	The precise position of a place on the Earth's surface, usually expressed in latitude and longitude coordinates.
Relative Location	The position of a place in relation to other places or features, described using terms like 'near,' 'north of,' or 'across from'.
Physical Characteristics	The natural features of a place, including landforms, climate, soil, vegetation, and bodies of water.
Human Characteristics	The features of a place that are the result of human activity, such as language, culture, architecture, population density, and economic systems.
Sense of Place	The subjective feelings, emotions, and personal meanings that people associate with a particular location.