Week 01 · Lesson 02 (Thursday)
Two pressures from the same population boom. Choose a case, then use the five geographic questions to build a checkable explanation.
The paired local systems frame
Today you will analyze one local issue, but you will also notice how it connects to the other issue. This is how geographers explain systems, not isolated facts.
Growth changes where people live, how they move, and how water moves across the land. Infrastructure and land use can lag behind growth, creating predictable stress points.
Choose your case for today
Select Case A or Case B. Choose the case you feel you can support with the clearest visible evidence.
Traffic on Highway 501 from Conway, SC to Myrtle Beach, SC is highly congested. Despite added lanes, population growth is increasing faster than infrastructure can keep up.
Evidence ideas: map screenshots of choke points, commute-time observations, nearby development patterns.Conway, SC has experienced increased flooding. Flood maps have been redrawn, housing continues in lowland areas, and long-term stress remains.
Evidence ideas: flood zone maps, elevation visuals, neighborhood photos, stormwater features.Warm-up checkpoint before the case
Quick opener: “What do you think geography is?” Write two sentences, then we will pair-share. The point of this exercise is not to be right, the point is to surface starting assumptions.
How work is evaluated
Thursday is the application day. Tuesday builds tools and concepts, then students practice with a controlled task. Thursday applies the tools to a real case and produces a short evidence artifact.
Tuesday builds the tool. Thursday applies the tool. Your job is to show visible evidence and explain why it supports your claim.
Claim (specific and checkable) · Support (visible) · Reasoning (because logic) · Uncertainty (what you still need)
Your explanation engine
These questions are the class’s explanation engine. Keep the phrasing verbatim all week, then reuse it all semester. You do not need definitions first, you need repeated use with evidence.
- Where is it? Location, spatial distribution, and scale. What is the pattern, and at what level (campus, city, county, region)?
- Why there? Site and situation, processes, constraints, and opportunities. What pushed or pulled it into that specific location?
- Why it matters? Impacts and trade-offs. Who benefits, who is burdened, and what changes if the pattern stays the same?
- How it connects? Flows, networks, diffusion, interdependence. What moves through this place (people, goods, money, ideas, water)?
- What changes? Time, trends, feedback loops, risk, and resilience. What is changing now, what might change next, and what signals would prove it?
We share observations, then we test how the same five questions work across Urban, Suburban, and Rural lenses.
Urban, Suburban, Rural lenses
Discuss how the same five questions apply across different settings. Start from what you can observe, then add explanation. Use sentence stems to keep discussion academic.
Build your notes
Each response should point toward evidence. If you do not have evidence yet, label it as uncertainty.
Course Evidence Card
Add relevant vocabulary to your working notebook
Vocabulary is part of evidence. It helps you name patterns precisely.
How to succeed today
Use the five questions verbatim. Produce visible evidence. Name uncertainty honestly.
Two supports you can point to, five-question notes, one evidence card, one uncertainty.
Add a data layer or map reference, include one counter-claim, explain why yours holds.
Exit check
Confirm you have a clear claim, visible supports, reasoning, and one uncertainty. Then write a short reflection.
Standing tools
Printed map, overlay, sticky notes, colored pencils, photo for submission.
Google My Maps pins, Google Slides screenshot plus marks, export as image or PDF.
ArcGIS Online, county GIS layers, approved spatial data sources.
Create a clean summary
Select Generate to compile your work into one organized document.
Pick your case, gather 2 to 3 visible supports, then write. Evidence first, words second.