Methods of learning geography

Geography is a compulsory course for middle school students to understand geographical environment, form geographical skills and the concept of sustainable development. The overall goal of junior high school geography curriculum in China is: through the study of junior high school geography curriculum, to understand the basic knowledge about the earth and map, world geography, China geography and local geography, and to understand the environment and development issues; Get basic geography skills and geography learning ability; Enable students to have a preliminary geographical science literacy and humanistic literacy, cultivate patriotic feelings, and form a preliminary global awareness and sustainable development concept. Therefore, geography class is of great significance to improve the comprehensive quality of middle school students, and it is necessary to learn geography well.

Geography is a science that studies the geographical environment and the relationship between human activities and geographical environment. The research object of geography determines that it has two outstanding characteristics: First, it is comprehensive. Up to space, down to the interior of the earth, and the human society in which we live are all important components of the geographical environment and belong to the research category of geography. Therefore, we say that geography is a comprehensive science with the dual nature of natural science and social science. Second, regionality. The geographical environment in different regions is different. Geography studies the differences, distribution and causes of geographical environment.

In addition, geography is also very practical. Geography is closely related to people's lives. We can observe many interesting geographical phenomena in life and learn a lot of useful geographical knowledge in life. Conversely, we can also use the geographical theory we have learned to guide our practical activities.

Moreover, geography plays an important role in modern science and plays an important role in solving the problems of population, resources, environment and development faced by the world today. Since geography is so important, how can we learn it well? Some students think that geography is not difficult, the key is good memory, as long as you memorize it; Some students think geography class is boring, except rote learning. In fact, the development and changes of geographical environment are regular, and the relationship between human activities and geographical environment is also regular. Geography also has its own unique learning methods and skills. As long as we master these learning methods and skills, we will learn both simple and interesting.

First, cultivate the concept of space and learn to read and use pictures correctly.

A wide variety and a large number of maps are the outstanding characteristics that distinguish geography courses from other disciplines, so some people say, "Without maps, there would be no geography". As long as you master the correct method of reading maps, cultivate good habits of using maps and form basic geographical skills, you will master the most important tool for learning geography.

First, form a good habit of reading and using pictures. You should know that geographical knowledge exists not only in the text of textbooks, but also in maps. In geography study, we should draw from left to right, pay attention to using and consulting maps at any time, and be good at discovering geographical knowledge and looking for geographical laws from maps. If you persist for a long time, you can have words in your eyes and pictures in your heart, and words and images can be organically combined to form a correct spatial imagination.

Secondly, we should master the correct method of reading pictures. Pay attention to the order of pictures, first look at the picture name, legend, scale and direction, know the main content and scope of the picture, and then observe the specific content of the picture. Observe carefully and comprehensively, and don't miss every piece of information.

Example 1: The knowledge we observed on the "latitude and longitude network map" is as follows:

We can see that there are many lines in this picture, among which the line connecting the north and south poles is longitude and the line perpendicular to longitude is latitude.

② Features of latitude and longitude: All the latitudes are round and parallel to each other; The latitude circle is long and short, and the equator is the longest, which gradually shortens to the poles and finally becomes a point. All meridians are semicircles; Equal in length and intersecting at poles.

③ indicates the direction: longitude indicates the north-south direction and latitude indicates the east-west direction.

(4) The law of latitude and longitude changes as follows: East longitude 0, west longitude 0; From west to east, the east longitude gradually increases and the west longitude gradually decreases. Latitude is bounded by the equator, with north latitude in the north and south latitude in the south; From north to south, the degree of north latitude is from big to small, and the degree of south latitude is from small to big.

⑤ Latitude and longitude net: Determine the position of a point on the earth.

Example 2: The schematic diagram we learned in the course of forest resources is called "Schematic diagram of soil and water conservation of slope protection forest belt". Let's take this diagram as an example to discuss several main steps of reading the schematic diagram.

The first step is to obtain information and obtain all kinds of information displayed in the schematic diagram. In the Schematic Diagram of Soil and Water Conservation of Slope Protection Forest Belt, we can observe the hillside, two forest belts, precipitation and rivers, some arrows with different thickness, different colors and different directions, and the words "trace clear water enters the river" and "sediment runoff".

The second step is to analyze the map and the relationship between all kinds of information and content we get in the map. From top to bottom, we can see that the arrows representing surface runoff change from thick to thin, and the color changes from deep to light, and finally it becomes "a small amount of clear water enters the river". These indicate that during the process of falling from the air to the ground, atmospheric precipitation is blocked by branches and leaves of trees and litter layers, which promotes a large amount of rainwater infiltration and leads to the continuous reduction of surface runoff and sediment concentration. Slope protection forest reduces the degree of sediment loss and plays a role in maintaining soil and water on sloping land.

The third step is to explain the principle and clarify the principle explained in the schematic diagram. This Schematic Diagram of Soil and Water Conservation of Slope Protection Forest Belt shows that forests have hidden water sources and soil and water conservation functions.

Second, learn to read and master scientific reading methods.

Geography textbooks are an important way for us to acquire geography knowledge and improve geography literacy. How can we learn geography knowledge well in textbooks? We should pay attention to the following points:

1. Read the book.

To read a textbook, you must first understand what the book says. For example, when teaching materials introduce a certain geographical area, they are generally discussed from the geographical elements that constitute this area. Where is this area? What's the general situation of nature here? How is the economic development? What's the problem? etc

2. Reading out the knowledge network

The geographical environment is an organic whole, and the elements that constitute the geographical environment restrict and influence each other. Changes in any geographical element may affect changes in other elements. We should clarify the relationship between these geographical elements and form a knowledge network in this region in our minds.

Through the study of world geography, we know that the Antarctic continent is a special continent, and its geographical environment characteristics are unique. Strong winds, snowstorms and severe cold are the most remarkable climatic characteristics of the Antarctic continent. There is the largest continental glacier in the world, with few species of animals and plants, extreme day and night phenomena, beautiful aurora and so on. The key factor that forms these regional characteristics is that most of the Antarctic continent is located in the high latitude area south of the Antarctic circle, and many other geographical features are closely related to this factor.

3. Learn to organize knowledge

① The discussion of similar knowledge in textbooks is similar and regular.

The content of geography textbooks is characterized by a large amount of information, but the angles and methods of describing the same type of knowledge have great similarity and regularity.

For example, describing the climate characteristics of a country or region often needs to be explained from two aspects: temperature and precipitation. Temperature includes annual average temperature, annual temperature difference and temperature distribution. Precipitation is mainly composed of annual precipitation and its temporal and spatial distribution.

In addition, we can also compare and sort out countries or regions with obvious differences or similarities.

② Compare and sort out countries or regions with obvious differences or similarities.

There are obvious differences or similarities in geographical environment or geographical elements in different countries and regions. Based on this, we can learn from comparison, compare differences and find similarities. For example, we can adopt this method when studying India and Brazil, Japan and Britain, South and North China, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, Africa and South America.

For example, there are obvious differences in natural conditions, economic development and living habits between the north and the south of China. If we use comparative methods to summarize, then many differences between the north and the south will be clear at a glance.

food

Crop oil

Crop sugar

Mainly crops

Fruit-based

Energy, major metals and minerals, people

Staple food tradition

traffic

Tool movement

project

Wheat, peanuts, beets and apples in northern China.

Pear, coal, oil and iron pasta, carriage skating

ski

Rice, Rape, Sugarcane and Citrus in South China

Banana hydraulic non-ferrous metal rice boat swimming

Dragon Boat Racing

We should not only understand the differences between two regions or two countries, but also think about how these differences are formed. These differences between southern China and northern China are mainly due to different geographical locations, resulting in differences in natural environment.

We can find not only differences but also similarities through comparison. For example, although India and Brazil are located on different continents, they are similar in many ways. By means of comparison and induction, we can clearly sort out the main geographical characteristics of the two countries.

India and Brazil are both tropical coastal countries; The terrain is mainly plain and plateau; Rich in high-quality iron ore resources; They are all famous producers and exporters of tropical cash crops in the world; In recent years, the electronic industry and information industry have developed rapidly, which is a relatively developed country among the developing China countries.

Third, cultivate geographical thinking ability.

Cultivating geographical thinking ability is an important goal of junior high school geography curriculum, which is very important for middle school students to learn geography well.

The factors that constitute the geographical environment are interrelated and mutually causal. The occurrence and development of any geographical thing is not caused by a single factor, but by the interaction of many factors. However, among these geographical factors, one or two factors play a key role. We should learn to find out this key factor and use it as a clue to contact other factors, so as to correctly understand the internal relationship between geographical factors.

Junior high school geography is mainly the study of regional geography. Generally speaking, the most important factor affecting the geographical characteristics of a certain area is the geographical location of the area (that is, the location factor we often say), which has been clearly shown in the sequence of teaching materials. At the same time, in the discussion of each region, the first is the geographical location of the place, which hemisphere is it located in? What latitude? What is the land and sea position? What are the neighboring countries? Wait a minute. Therefore, when thinking about the problem, we should grasp the geographical position of the place and use it as a breakthrough to analyze the characteristics of other geographical elements.

Regarding the influence of geographical location on the natural environment, the most representative area is the northwest of China. Compared with other areas in China, Northwest China has many unique geographical features. For example, deserts are widely distributed and sparsely populated, the surface vegetation is dominated by grasslands and deserts, and rivers and lakes are mostly inland rivers and lakes, with obvious drought resistance characteristics of animals and plants. Agricultural production is dominated by animal husbandry and irrigated agriculture is developed ... The direct cause of these phenomena is that the continental climate here is remarkable and precipitation is scarce, and the fundamental reason for the scarcity of precipitation and climate drought is the geographical position of "living inland" here. Of course, "terrain occlusion" also plays an important role in the arid climate in northwest China.

Not all regional geographical features are mainly formed by geographical location, but other factors play a more important role in the formation of geographical features in some areas, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a typical example. Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China is a special region. Its uniqueness lies in the high altitude here. As we all know, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the highest plateau in the world. High altitude has brought unusually low temperature and strong sunshine here, which has led to a series of changes in other geographical factors.

Illustration: Because of its "high terrain" and cold climate, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has continuous snow peaks and wide distribution of snow glaciers, which is the birthplace of great rivers. Due to the cold climate, here are mainly cold-resistant meadows and grasslands; Agriculture is characterized by valley agriculture and alpine animal husbandry; The three major domestic animals widely distributed on the plateau are cold-resistant and anoxic Tibetan sheep, Tibetan goats and Tibetan yaks. Due to the bad weather, it is the least densely populated area in China, and the traffic is relatively backward. But solar energy and geothermal resources are abundant; The unique scenery and unique geographical environment of the snowy plateau make it a tourist attraction and scientific research base in China.

Fourth, learn scientific memory methods.

Many students reported that "geography is not difficult to learn, but not easy to remember". Indeed, there are many place names, data and products in the textbook, which is really not easy to remember. At this time, first of all, we should distinguish between the requirements of these geographical things in the curriculum standard, whether we must remember them, whether we can not remember them, or whether we just need to remember them after understanding them. After figuring out this problem, let's discuss the methods of memory.

1. Review in time and repeat memory.

How to remember quickly and accurately is everyone's concern. In fact, the best way to overcome forgetting and strengthen memory is repetition, which is also determined by human physiological structure. Review what you learned that day, once a week to 10 days or so, and review it again in two months, which is very effective in consolidating your memory. Students think about it, is this the same as the cycle of unit tests, mid-term or final exams arranged by teachers and schools?

2. Mobilize the senses and enhance memory

From the psychological point of view, learning activities involving multiple senses (sight, hearing, back, writing and thinking) have the best memory effect. These senses are eyes, ears, mouth, hands and brain. In learning, we should read, think, say and do as much as possible, and combining them is an effective memory method.

For example, when you look at a map, you can not only observe the map, but also sketch and smear it with colored pens as needed.

On the "Distribution Map of Climate Zones in Africa", you can color the tropical desert climate with a red pen, the tropical grassland climate with a yellow pen and the tropical rain forest climate with a green pen. Another example is to paint different colors on the "China Annual Precipitation Distribution Map" with different precipitation areas of > 1600 mm, 1600 ~ 800 mm, 800 ~ 400 mm, 400 ~ 200 mm and 200 ~ 50 mm, then the knowledge about the climate distribution characteristics in Africa and the annual precipitation distribution law in China will be deeply imprinted. This memory must be very deep.

3. Appropriate associations and interesting memories

When studying geography, students can not only repeat memory and sensory memory, but also give full play to their imagination and creativity, and enhance their memory through association and understanding.

For example, it is also an effective memory method to compile some geographical things that are not closely related internally into catchy phrases or sentences.

For example, eight countries in South Asia include:

Eight countries in South Asia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia are at sea,

Inland Sydney, no, near the sea, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan.

When learning the map of chinese administrative division and remembering the outlines of China provinces and districts, students can use their imagination to vividly remember that Heilongjiang is a beautiful swan, Guangdong is an elephant, and Taiwan Province Province is a boat sailing to the embrace of the motherland ... and so on. This way, the memory effect is better.

In addition, when learning geography, you can use your own experiences and feelings in life to learn and understand knowledge and strengthen your memory. For example, for the physical characteristics of the three major races, we can easily distinguish their skin color, hair, face shape and other characteristics according to our observation of people with different skin colors on TV and pictorial. Other things, such as the main reasons why a large number of rural people move to cities, and the social problems brought about by the rapid population growth, should not be memorized, but should be our experiences and feelings about life.

4. Grasp the connection and understand the memory

The factors of geographical environment influence and restrict each other, which determines that there is an inevitable internal connection between geographical knowledge. As long as we understand this connection between knowledge and grasp these connections, we will remember it clearly even if the knowledge is complicated. On the contrary, rote learning, on the one hand, can not integrate knowledge and use it flexibly; On the other hand, it is easy to forget the front and forget the back. Geographical knowledge is complicated. Learning to grasp the connection between knowledge and remember it is of great benefit to our study of geography.

For example, about Japan, there are many contents introduced in textbooks, so much knowledge can't be memorized by mechanical memory alone. We need to find the connection between knowledge and knowledge to remember, but what kind of connection is there between these rich and complicated contents, and can we remember according to these connections? Students in front of the TV can try it with me:

Japan is an archipelago country located in the eastern Pacific Ocean of Asia. This geographical location determines that Japan's climate is a maritime monsoon climate, with abundant precipitation, narrow territory, hilly terrain, short rivers and abundant water resources. In humid climate, there are vast forests in mountainous and hilly areas; Japan is poor in mineral resources, but it imports a lot of industrial raw materials and fuels by using its winding coastline, many excellent harbors and convenient maritime traffic. Due to the narrow domestic market, a large number of industrial products need to be exported, and industries are concentrated in the Pacific coast and the Seto Inland Sea coast with many excellent harbors. The waters around archipelagic countries are rich in fishery resources, and Japan's fishery is developed. Is it easier to remember?

5. Grasp similarities and differences and compare memories

Grasping the similarities and differences between geographical things is also an effective memory method. For example, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River are two famous rivers, and they are different in many ways. It is more appropriate to remember the knowledge about the Yangtze River and the Yellow River by comparison.

If you compare the Yangtze River with the Yellow River when studying or reviewing, it will definitely help your memory.

Example: Comparison of hydrological characteristics and development and utilization between the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.

The name and length of river basin system, the characteristics of flowing into the ocean through provinces and regions, and the development and utilization in flood season and ice age.

Yangtze river

Yellow river

Five, learning geography in life, learning geography is useful for life.

To learn geography well, we should not only learn book knowledge and master basic knowledge and skills, but also pay special attention to connecting with the reality of production and life, learning geography in life and learning geography useful to life. Applying the book knowledge we have learned to social production and practical activities will consolidate and deepen the knowledge used in practice, and at the same time enhance your interest in learning geography.

In students' daily life, there are many geographical problems; At the same time, many hot issues in today's society, such as population, resources, environment and sustainable development, are also closely related to the geographical environment. We should have a pair of observant eyes and a thinking mind, pay attention to geographical phenomena in life, be good at discovering geographical problems around us, guide real life with the geographical knowledge we have learned, and explain geographical phenomena in life; Explore the geographical problems in life, and you will learn more geographical knowledge.

1. Observe geographical phenomena in life and learn geographical knowledge.

Such as astronomical observation. As we know, the moon is sometimes like a disk and sometimes like a crescent moon. We can personally observe how the moon phase changes and what the law is; Of course, interested students can further explore the reasons for the change of the moon phase. On a clear night, we can also observe which constellations are in the sky. Where are the Big Dipper, Altair, Vega and Polaris? Where is the Milky Way? Are the constellations above us the same at 8: 09 pm and 10 pm?

Another example is meteorological observation. We can observe the shape of clouds. What is the difference between the clouds in the sky under the conditions of sunny, cloudy and cloudy weather mentioned in the textbook? What are the clouds like in rainy days? What kind of cloudy day will rain? What kind of clouds indicate sunny days?

Temperature observation: first, design a table to determine the observation time, and then record the temperature measured at these times.

Observation time is 2: 08: 14: 20: 00.

Temperature (℃)

daily average

temperature

Analyze the measured temperature value: What are the characteristics of the daily variation of temperature? What is the average daily temperature? Why didn't the highest temperature appear at noon? Do you think the lowest temperature in a day occurs at midnight? Is the temperature you measured consistent with the weather station broadcast? What factors influenced your observation?

2. Explain the phenomena in life with the learned geographical knowledge.

It's June. Shijiazhuang in June is the high temperature center in North China. The weather is dry and hot. Why? We know that the temperature drops by 0.6℃ every time the altitude rises 100 meters. On the contrary, the temperature rises by 0.6℃ every time the altitude drops 100 meters. Shijiazhuang is located in the North China Plain east of Taihang Mountain. The airflow from the northwest heats up during the sinking of the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, and the humidity is getting smaller and smaller, and the air is getting drier and drier, which makes Shijiazhuang, which heats up in early summer, even hotter.

Careful observation will also reveal that many people's living habits are closely related to the geographical environment.

Diet: sweet in the south and salty in the north, sour in the east and spicy in the west.

Clothing: Tibetan residents are used to wearing Tibetan clothes.

Dwellings: The houses in the north have thick walls, and there is a kang in the house. Southerners are used to sleeping in wooden beds or bamboo beds.

Also, the Japanese love to eat fish; Some countries in the Middle East have built hotels on the roofs. There are many excellent middle and long distance runners on the East African Plateau, all for geographical reasons.

In our daily life, there are many proverbs, idioms and poems closely related to geography.

As the saying goes:

The relationship between cumulonimbus clouds in the sky and rain-clouds and precipitation on the ground;

One autumn rain and one cold-the relationship between autumn precipitation and cold front;

Spring breeze and warmth-the relationship between spring precipitation and warm front;

Spring rain is as expensive as oil-the characteristic of less precipitation in China in spring.

Such as idioms:

Drip wears away the stone-erosion of running water

Sand and stones flying-the role of wind in desert areas

Things have changed-the earth's crust is constantly moving and changing.

There are also many poems related to geography in China's ancient poems.

It reflects that the water flow in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River is rapid and the water level difference is large;

Say goodbye to Bai Di,

Thousands of miles in Jiangling, one day.

Apes on both sides of the Taiwan Strait kept crying.

When my boat left behind ten thousand mountains.

The geographical phenomenon that China's topography is high in the west and low in the east, and rivers flow from west to east;

Ask how sad you can be,

Like a river flowing eastward.

Uneven population distribution, dense urban population and sparse rural population;

The city is crowded with thousands of people; There are only two Three Lamps District here, and it's free.

Many of the 24 solar terms we are familiar with are also closely related to geography.

Solstice in Winter and Solstice in Summer —— The lowest or highest noon sun in northern China.

The vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox are two days that are equally divided day and night in the world.

May 2 1 is a small man, as the saying goes: "a small man is full of rivers", which reflects the relationship between river flood season and solar terms. This solar term indicates that the rivers in China, especially those in the south, have begun to enter the flood season.

June 8 is the season of awning, and this solar term happens to be the best season for harvesting summer grain and sowing autumn grain in northern China.

Some events that have great influence in the world and China also have certain geographical background and reasons.

Timing of the Iraq War: The war started in March and basically ended in May (after June, the tropical desert region entered the hot season, and it was difficult for the American and British troops living in the temperate zone to adapt to the fighting under high temperature conditions-emphasizing geographical reasons)

Earthquakes in Japan, Philippines and Algeria: Where are these countries in the middle and late May? Why is there

Such frequent earthquakes? (Plate boundary zone, frequent crustal activity)

The extra long holiday gives us more time to contact with various media, and the time for watching TV, listening to the radio, surfing the Internet, reading books and reading newspapers has increased. Various media have broadened our horizons and enriched our knowledge. For example, some rich and interesting columns broadcast by central and local TV stations, such as Happy Dictionary, Lucky 52, Exploration and Discovery, Man and Nature, Global, Weather Forecast and Discovery Times, have brought us rich geographical knowledge.

Example 1: Arrange the following solar terms in chronological order: Cold Food, Double Ninth Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Lantern Festival, Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Example 2: "Qaidam" in minority languages means:

A. Desert B. Basin C. Salt water D. Oil

These two topics are what we saw in the recent column of Happy Dictionary. When reading these columns, we should not only entertain ourselves, but also contact the geographical knowledge we have learned and learn to explain some phenomena introduced in the columns with the geographical knowledge we have learned.

3. Activities and surveys

During this long vacation, students can also make up small productions and experiments that they want to do in their usual study but have no time to do, and also explore some geographical issues that they are interested in. For example:

1. Draw a latitude and longitude net on table tennis.

Through this production, we can more clearly understand the meaning of latitude and longitude, the relationship between latitude and longitude, the distribution law of latitude and longitude on the globe, and consolidate the knowledge in textbooks.

2. Draw the floor plan of the family, learn to design legends, mark notes, and choose appropriate proportions.

3. By drawing the plan of the community, you can get a deep understanding of the infrastructure of your community and the facilities that are most closely related to your daily life. What facilities do you think are insufficient in design, layout and management, what improvements should be made and what new facilities should be added? Wait a minute. And communicate your thoughts and suggestions with the management department of the community.

4. Experience the ways to tell the direction in life, such as crowns, annual rings and house orientation (houses in rural areas generally face south, and master bedrooms in northern cities are generally in the south).

5. Try to run a geographical tabloid.

Students can also use their spare time to edit their interested geographical knowledge and geographical events at home and abroad, as well as their experiences and experiences in learning geography, and publish a tabloid with the theme of geography. After school starts, students can communicate with each other and learn from each other.

6. Local geographical survey

Each of our classmates has deep feelings for his hometown and is familiar with everything in his hometown. Making use of our familiar environment to carry out geographical activities and carry out some social investigation activities in geography will not only help us understand our hometown, but also deepen our grasp and understanding of what we have learned.

For example, what changes have taken place in the water quality of rivers (or lakes and ponds) near my hometown in recent years? What are the reasons for these changes? What impact do these changes have on the surrounding environment? In order to protect the water quality of rivers (or lakes and ponds) and prevent pollution, I put forward my own suggestions and so on.

We can also do a lot of geographical surveys according to the actual situation of our family and hometown. Such as household water survey, household plastic bag use and abandonment survey, hometown population flow survey, hometown environment survey and so on.

There are many ways to learn geography. To learn geography well, we must be good at observation, diligent in thinking and brave in exploration. Only by observing geographical phenomena at ordinary times and mastering the development law of geographical phenomena can we accumulate relevant geographical knowledge continuously. Each of us lives on the earth, and the geographical environment around us is always changing, lively and interesting. Only by paying attention to the changes of the geographical environment around us, using our own geographical knowledge to explain the geographical phenomena around us, and discovering the laws of the occurrence and development of geographical things from the geographical phenomena around us, can we really learn geography that is useful for our own life and life development.