D2.Geo.10.6-8: How Culture and Environment Vary in Polynesia, the Arctic and the Caribbean
In plain English: D2.Geo.10.6-8 is the C3 Framework geography indicator for grades 6-8 that asks students to analyze how cultural and environmental characteristics vary among regions of the world. Students compare climate data and primary sources from three regions, then explain the ways food, land, family life and work differ and what connects them to each place.
Analyze the ways in which cultural and environmental characteristics vary among various regions of the world.
C3 Framework for Social Studies (NCSS) · Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools · Discipline: Geography · Global Interconnections: Changing Spatial Patterns · Official standard
D2.Geo.10.6-8 asks students to analyze the ways cultural characteristics (a group's shared ways of life: food, language, family roles, land customs, work and celebrations) and environmental characteristics (climate, landforms, water, plants and animals) vary among regions of the world. A region is an area that shares some characteristics, such as Polynesia, a large group of Pacific islands. To analyze is to break a comparison into parts and look for patterns in what differs and why.
Students compare three world regions through places where the National Park Service works with local communities: American Samoa in Polynesia, Northwest Alaska in the Arctic and the island of St. John in the Caribbean. They read NOAA climate normals, a temperature graph and a location diagram, then read a National Park Service source about each region's people. A region profile and a comparison matrix help them describe how the regions differ and which differences connect culture to environment.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Tell cultural characteristics from environmental characteristics, with examples from three world regions.
Use climate data, a graph and latitude to describe how environments vary among Polynesia, the Arctic and the Caribbean.
Describe how food, land customs, family and community life, and work vary among the three regions, using primary sources.
Analyze which cultural differences are connected to environmental differences, and which are not explained by the environment alone.
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Explaining what makes places similar and different D2.Geo.5.6-8
Citing specific evidence from a primary source RH.6-8.1
"Think of a meal your family eats on a special day. Which part of it comes from your region's land, water or weather, and which part comes from your family's traditions?"
Draw a T-chart on the board labeled environmental and cultural. Sort three or four student answers into it. Point out that many answers belong in both columns: rice, fish or corn grows because of the environment, but the recipe and the celebration are culture. Today students compare three regions of the world in the same way.
Direct Instruction15 minutes
Part 1: Three regions. Show Diagram 2. Polynesia is a region of thousands of Pacific islands; American Samoa lies in it, south of the equator. The Arctic is the region around the North Pole; Kotzebue, Alaska, is just north of the Arctic Circle on the Chukchi Sea. The Caribbean is the region of islands and coasts around the Caribbean Sea; St. John and St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, lie in it. Each region includes places in several countries, so the examples here show one part of each region, not all of it.
Part 2: Reading climate normals. A climate normal is the average of 30 years of weather, here 1991-2020, published by NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Precipitation is rain plus melted snow. Latitude is distance north or south of the equator, in degrees.
Table 1. Climate normals, 1991-2020 (real data: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals). St. John's station at Coral Bay records precipitation only, so temperatures come from the airport on St. Thomas, about 17 miles west.
Weather station
Region
Latitude
Average yearly temperature
Yearly precipitation
Yearly snowfall
Pago Pago airport, American Samoa
Polynesia
14.33° S
82.2 °F
128.34 inches
0 inches
Kotzebue airport, Alaska
Arctic
66.89° N
24.0 °F
11.36 inches
64.2 inches
Charlotte Amalie airport, St. Thomas
Caribbean
18.34° N
81.9 °F
41.45 inches
not reported
Coral Bay, St. John
Caribbean
18.35° N
not measured
45.86 inches
0 inches
Cultural or environmental?
Sort these: snowfall in Kotzebue, land owned by a whole extended family in Samoa, coral reefs, summer fish camps, a tropical forest on a hillside.
Result: Environmental: snowfall, coral reefs, the tropical forest (nature made them). Cultural: land owned by an extended family and summer fish camps (ways of life people share and pass down).
Comparing temperature ranges
Use Diagram 1. Kotzebue's warmest month averages 55.3 °F and its coldest -1.9 °F. Pago Pago's warmest averages 83.3 °F and its coldest 80.9 °F. Find each range.
Result: Kotzebue: 55.3 - (-1.9) = 57.2 °F. Pago Pago: 83.3 - 80.9 = 2.4 °F. Kotzebue has strong seasons; Pago Pago is warm all year.
Comparing precipitation
Use Table 1. About how many times as much precipitation falls in a year at Pago Pago as at Kotzebue?
Result: 128.34 ÷ 11.36 ≈ 11.3, so about 11 times as much. One region is a rainforest island; the other is a dry, cold coast where much of the precipitation falls as snow.
Connecting culture to environment
Source 2 says families spend summers at camps "taking advantage of the long hours of sunlight." Which environmental characteristic does this cultural practice depend on?
Result: The Arctic's very long summer days, caused by its high latitude (Diagram 2). The timing of the camps is cultural, but it fits the environment's seasons.
Guided Practice15 minutes
Read Sources 1 and 2 together. Both come from National Park Service pages written for parks in American Samoa and Northwest Alaska. Words to know: indigenous (descended from the first people of a place), fa’asamoa (the Samoan way of life), aiga (the extended family in Samoa), subsistence (gathering food and materials from the land and water to use, not to sell), Iñupiat (the Indigenous people of northern and northwest Alaska) and Iñupiaq (one Iñupiat person, their language, or the word used to describe their culture), tundra (treeless Arctic land with frozen ground below the surface).
1The people of American Samoa are deeply rooted in Polynesian heritage, tracing their lineage back over 3,000 years. Nearly all inhabitants are indigenous Samoans, making this archipelago one of the most tradition-oriented places in the Pacific. Samoans follow a way of life called fa’asamoa, which emphasizes family, respect for elders, and community collaboration, principles that have been upheld for centuries and continue to guide their daily lives today.
[...]
2Communal living is also a key aspect of fa’asamoa. The concept of sharing resources, responsibilities, and labor is central to Samoan life. Whether fishing, farming, or preparing food, these activities are often done collectively, strengthening bonds within the village and ensuring that all members contribute to and benefit from the community’s success.
[...]
3For Samoans, the land is more than a resource—it is a part of their identity. Land in Samoa is communally owned by the aiga, and this connection to the land has been preserved through centuries of tradition. The land cannot be sold or transferred outside the family, reinforcing the belief that the land is to be cared for and passed down to future generations.
4This deep respect for the land is reflected in how Samoans manage their natural resources. Traditional subsistence practices, such as fishing and farming, are done with an eye toward sustainability, ensuring that the land continues to provide for the community while maintaining its ecological balance.
National Park Service, National Park of American Samoa, The Heart of American Samoa: Its People and Culture (Source 1) (2025). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
1Though much has changed since Otto von Kotzebue first sailed along the coast of Cape Krusenstern in 1816, subsistence – noncommercial, customary and traditional use of wild resources – remains an important part of Iñupiaq culture today. Wild salmon, whitefish, seal, and caribou are staples for many Iñupiat living along the Chukchi Sea, just as they have been for many generations.
[...]
2Subsistence defines the seasons as much as the weather in Northwest Alaska. Whitefish season gives way to salmon season, just as sure as summer is followed by fall, and people organize their lives accordingly. Many families leave their homes in the nearby villages and spend their summers at subsistence camps in the Monument, taking advantage of the long hours of sunlight to set nets for salmon and whitefish, and to pick wild greens and berries on the tundra. Visitors to Cape Krusenstern National Monument need to be sensitive to these activities and not interfere with the age-old subsistence harvests taking place in the monument, especially during the key seasons of summer and fall.
[...]
3For the people of the Chukchi coast, subsistence is the lifeline of family, culture, conservation, diet, and more. Stores are often under stocked, and the food they do sell is expensive. Most families obtain 65-90% of their food through subsistence practices. The food provided by the sea, rivers, and tundra fulfills physical, spiritual, and cultural needs. Alterations due to climate change, coastal erosion, and development are felt by the coastal communities as they notice of changes to their environment, seasons, and are forced to alter their thousand-year-old subsistence practices.
National Park Service, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Cape Krusenstern National Monument: Subsistence (Source 2) (2023). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
Highlight in two colors. Students mark environmental characteristics in one color and cultural characteristics in another.
Start the region profiles. For Polynesia and the Arctic, fill in five rows: environment, main foods, who owns or uses the land, family and community, and how the seasons shape life.
Compare one row. Ask: how do the two regions differ in the way people get food? Which differences come from the environment, and which come from tradition?
Check with data. Ask: which line on Diagram 1 helps explain why Source 2 talks about seasons so much more than Source 1 does?
Independent Practice15-20 minutes
Read Source 3 and finish the third profile. Source 3 comes from Virgin Islands National Park on St. John. It describes how enslaved Africans and their descendants used the land of a small Caribbean island with little fresh water, during slavery and after emancipation (freedom) in 1848. Words to know: diaspora (a people spread far from their homeland), provisioning grounds (small plots where enslaved people grew their own food), marooning (escaping slavery to live in hidden places) and emancipation (being freed from slavery).
1Fresh water and edible wild foods were least abundant here on St. John compared to the other large islands of the chain.The owners of enslaved people on St. John expected the enslaved people under their ownership to provide food for themselves. The owners of the island's estates allowed the enslaved people to use the least productive plots of land to provide for themselves. These plots, call provisioning grounds, provided enslaved people on St. John the opportunity to develop their own economy.
[...]
2Resistance took many forms, but the most common was marooning. Marooning is a practice in which enslaved people escaped from the plantation into thick vegetation of the hillsides. These escaped enslaved people often spent months to years living in the dense thickets of the tropical forests on St. John and St. Thomas.
3In 1834, abolition came to the British Virgin Islands. After 1834, many enslaved people attempted to escape to the freedom of the British Islands. After emancipation in the Danish West Indies on July 3rd, 1848, the formerly enslaved people of St. John abandoned life on the plantations. They chose instead to forge their own paths. Turning to the networks and skills they had developed on the provisioning grounds, they developed new industries such as the production of bay rum oil and charcoal.
National Park Service, Virgin Islands National Park, African Diaspora in the Virgin Islands (Source 3) (2022). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
Table 2. Comparison matrix for the three regions (students complete it from Sources 1-3, Table 1 and Diagrams 1-2)
Characteristic
Polynesia (American Samoa)
Arctic (Northwest Alaska)
Caribbean (St. John)
Climate (temperature, rain, snow)
Land and water features named in the source
Ways of getting food
Who uses or controls the land
One change the source describes
After filling the matrix, students write two sentences: one naming the biggest environmental difference among the regions and one naming a cultural difference that the environment does not explain.
Closure10 minutes
Exit ticket. "Pick two of the three regions. Name one way their environments vary and one way their cultures vary, and say whether the two differences are connected."
Teacher note. Source 3 describes slavery in the Danish West Indies, now the U.S. Virgin Islands. Present slavery plainly as documented history. Use the source's language (“enslaved people,” “enslavers”) rather than “slaves” or “masters,” and keep the focus where the source puts it: how enslaved people used the land, built their own economy, resisted by marooning and chose their own paths after emancipation. The excerpt has no graphic descriptions; it leaves out a paragraph on how enslavers tried to control enslaved people. Tell students before reading that the source is about slavery, give them a chance to ask questions, and remember that some students may have family histories tied to slavery or to the Caribbean. Do not use role-play or simulations of slavery. The examples show one community in each region; avoid suggesting that everyone in Polynesia, the Arctic or the Caribbean lives the same way.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a word bank sorted into environmental and cultural words from the three sources.
Provide the region profile with the environment row already filled from Table 1.
Read each source aloud once, pausing after each paragraph to ask "What is nature here? What is people's way of life?"
For Advanced Students
Add a fourth region from a different continent, using NOAA climate normals and a National Park Service or other government source, and extend the matrix.
Explain why Pago Pago's warmest months come at a different time of year from Charlotte Amalie's (Diagram 1 and Diagram 2).
Write a paragraph on which region's culture seems most closely tied to its environment, with evidence from two sources.
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Strong answers keep environmental and cultural characteristics separate, use numbers from Table 1 or Diagram 1 accurately, and describe at least two ways culture varies among the regions with evidence from the sources. The best answers also explain which cultural differences fit the environment and which come from history or tradition. Watch for students who describe a whole region from one community, or who treat a cultural practice as caused by climate alone.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Region Profile Jigsaw
20 minGroups of 3 (expert groups, then home groups)
Each student becomes the expert on one region. Experts from the same region meet, read their source together and fill in a region profile. Then each home group of three (one expert per region) shares profiles and builds one comparison.
Region Profile (one per expert)
Where is the region? (Use Diagram 2.)
Two environmental characteristics, with one number from Table 1.
Two cultural characteristics, with a short quotation from your source.
One way the environment and the culture are connected.
One thing the source says has changed over time.
Home Group Task
Each expert teaches the profile in two minutes. Then the group completes the sentence: "The three regions vary most in ___, because ___." The group must use one fact from each region.
Teacher Check
Listen for experts who mix up environmental and cultural characteristics, and ask: "Did people make or choose that, or did nature?" Accept any "vary most" answer that uses accurate facts from all three regions.
2
Climate Graph Lab
15 minPairs
Pairs graph a year of precipitation for three stations and describe how the pattern of wet and dry months varies among the regions.
Monthly Precipitation Normals, January to December, inches (real data: NOAA 1991-2020)
Coral Bay, St. John: 2.95, 1.62, 1.92, 2.27, 3.24, 2.61, 3.79, 3.59, 5.89, 6.34, 7.17, 4.47.
Tasks
Draw a bar graph for each station on the same scale (0 to 16 inches).
Circle each station's wettest and driest month.
Find the difference between the wettest and driest month at each station.
Write two sentences comparing when each region gets most of its rain or snow.
Answer Key
2-3. Pago Pago: wettest January (15.25), driest June (6.37), difference 8.88 inches. Kotzebue: wettest August (2.13), driest May (0.44), difference 1.69 inches. Coral Bay: wettest November (7.17), driest February (1.62), difference 5.55 inches. 4. Sample: Pago Pago is wet in every month, even its driest. Kotzebue gets little precipitation in any month, with the most in late summer. Coral Bay is driest in late winter and wettest in the fall.
3
Same Need, Different Ways
15 minSmall groups, then gallery walk
Post four chart papers, one for each human need: food, land and shelter, family and community, work. Groups rotate and add one example from each region to each chart, with the source number.
Gallery Walk Questions
On which chart do the three regions look most different?
Find one example that the environment helps explain and one that history or tradition explains.
Is there any need that all three regions meet in a similar way?
What to Listen For
Students should see that the same need is met in very different ways and that both the environment and people's choices shape the answer. Push for evidence: every sticky note needs a source number.
Variation: Add Your Region
Add a fifth chart for the students' own region and have each group add one example per need, so students compare a familiar place with the three regions.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: Average Monthly Temperature at Three Weather Stations
Real data: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly average temperature at Pago Pago airport (American Samoa), Charlotte Amalie airport (St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands) and Kotzebue airport (Alaska). The dashed line marks 32 °F, the freezing point of water.
Diagram 2: Where the Three Regions' Weather Stations Are
Station points: NOAA Global Historical Climatology Network station list (Pago Pago WSO AP, Kotzebue Ralph Wien AP, Charlotte Amalie AP and Coral Bay). Gray outlines: U.S. Census Bureau 2023 cartographic boundary file of states (1:20,000,000), for reference. The Arctic Circle, Tropic of Cancer and Equator are drawn at their latitudes. Equirectangular grid, not to an equal-area scale.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
D2.Geo.10.6-8 Homework: The Dunlow Highlands and the Brannoch Coast
Directions: The Dunlow Highlands and the Brannoch Coast are invented regions, made up for this homework; their facts and data are invented. Compare them with each other and with the three regions from class (Sources 1-3, Table 1 and Diagrams 1-2).
Dunlow Highlands (invented): average yearly temperature 45 °F; precipitation 60 inches; snowfall 90 inches. Families herd sheep on high summer pastures and bring them down to valley villages each fall, when the whole village holds a homecoming festival. Many families weave wool blankets to sell. Each family's pasture rights are passed from parents to children. Brannoch Coast (invented): average yearly temperature 75 °F; precipitation 8 inches; no snow. Towns grow up around springs, where farmers tend date palms. Homes have thick clay walls and small windows. Many people fish at night in summer, and the main market opens after sunset. Wells are shared by neighborhoods, and a council of elders decides how the water is divided.
Part 1: Sort and Compare (Problems 1-3)
Sort at least ten facts about the two invented regions into environmental characteristics and cultural characteristics.
About how many times as much precipitation falls at Pago Pago (Table 1) as on the Brannoch Coast? How many degrees warmer is the Dunlow Highlands' average yearly temperature than Kotzebue's? Show your work.
Add the two invented regions as new columns to your comparison matrix (Table 2) and fill in every row you can.
Part 2: Analyze (Problems 4-6)
Choose one cultural characteristic of each invented region that is connected to its environment and explain the connection.
Choose one cultural characteristic from the invented regions or from Sources 1-3 that the environment does not explain, and explain why.
Write a paragraph of 5-7 sentences: "In what ways do cultural and environmental characteristics vary among these five regions?" Use at least one number and evidence from two class sources.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
Sorts Characteristics
Ten or more facts sorted correctly
Most facts sorted correctly
Uses Data Accurately
Both calculations correct and used in the comparison
One calculation wrong or not used
Analyzes Variation
Explains connected and unconnected differences with evidence from two sources
Lists differences without explaining connections
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 3, 4, 15 and 19 use Source 1, and questions 5-7, 15, 19 and 20 use Source 2 (both in Guided Practice). Questions 8-10, 16 and 18 use Source 3 in Independent Practice. Questions 11-14, 17 and 20 use Table 1 and Diagrams 1-2. Choose the best answer, then check it.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these is a cultural characteristic of a region?
Answer: B
Passing land down within a family is a custom people share, so it is cultural. Rainfall (A), reef fish (C) and daylight (D) come from nature, so they are environmental.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these is an environmental characteristic of a region?
Answer: C
Snow is part of the climate, so it is environmental. The festival (A), the council (B) and the market hours (D) are ways of life people choose, so they are cultural, even when they respond to the environment.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 3, who owns land in Samoa?
Answer: C
Source 1 says: "Land in Samoa is communally owned by the aiga" and "cannot be sold or transferred outside the family." Choice B contradicts this. Choices A and D are not stated in the excerpt.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 2, how are fishing, farming and preparing food often done in Samoa?
Answer: A
Source 1 says these activities "are often done collectively, strengthening bonds within the village." Choice C is the opposite. Choices B and D are not in the source.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
How does Source 2, paragraph 1, define subsistence?
Answer: B
Source 2 defines subsistence as "noncommercial, customary and traditional use of wild resources." Noncommercial means not for sale, so choice A is wrong. Choices C and D describe farming and shopping.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 2, paragraph 3, about how much of their food do most families on the Chukchi coast get through subsistence?
Answer: D
Source 2 says "Most families obtain 65-90% of their food through subsistence practices." The same paragraph says stores exist but are "often under stocked," so choice C is too strong.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 2, paragraph 2, what season gives way to salmon season?
Answer: D
Source 2 says "Whitefish season gives way to salmon season, just as sure as summer is followed by fall." Berries (B), caribou (A) and seals (C) are other foods named in the source, but not in that sentence.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which environmental characteristic of St. John does Source 3, paragraph 1, describe?
Answer: A
Source 3 says "Fresh water and edible wild foods were least abundant here on St. John compared to the other large islands of the chain." Choice B is the opposite, choice C is impossible for the climate in Table 1, and choice D contradicts paragraph 2's "tropical forests."
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 3, paragraph 2, where did people go when they practiced marooning?
Answer: B
Source 3 says people "escaped from the plantation into thick vegetation of the hillsides" and lived "in the dense thickets of the tropical forests on St. John and St. Thomas." The other places are not in the source.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 3, paragraph 3, what new industries did formerly enslaved people develop after emancipation?
Answer: C
Source 3 says they "developed new industries such as the production of bay rum oil and charcoal," using skills from the provisioning grounds. Tourism (B) is a much later industry, and choices A and D are not in the source.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Diagram 1. In how many months is Kotzebue's average temperature below 32 °F?
Answer: D
January (-1.9), February (1.4), March (1.5), April (16.3), October (26.9), November (10.8) and December (2.4) are below 32 °F: 7 months. May (33.1) is just above freezing, so counting it gives 8 (choice C). Leaving out April and October gives 5 (choice A).
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Diagram 1. Charlotte Amalie's warmest month averages 84.7 °F and its coldest 78.8 °F. What is its yearly temperature range?
Answer: A
84.7 - 78.8 = 5.9 °F. Choice B (2.4) is Pago Pago's range and choice C (57.2) is Kotzebue's. Choice D adds the two temperatures instead of subtracting.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Table 1. How many more inches of precipitation fall in a year at Coral Bay, St. John, than at Kotzebue?
Answer: B
45.86 - 11.36 = 34.50 inches. Choice A adds the two amounts, choice C is the gap between Pago Pago and Coral Bay (128.34 - 45.86), and choice D is how many times as much (45.86 ÷ 11.36), not how many more inches.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Diagrams 1 and 2. Why is Pago Pago warmest from January to April, while Charlotte Amalie is warmest from July to September?
Answer: C
Diagram 2 shows Pago Pago south of the equator. In the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are the reverse of the Northern Hemisphere's, so the warmest months come around January to April. Choice A is true, but rain does not set the timing of the seasons. Choice B is wrong: at 18° N, Charlotte Amalie lies south of the Tropic of Cancer (23.4° N), inside the tropics. Choice D is not shown by either diagram, and mountains would not flip the timing of the seasons.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Compare how people get food in Northwest Alaska (Source 2) and American Samoa (Source 1). Explain one way each region's environment is connected to its food.
Model answer: In Northwest Alaska, most families get much of their food from wild resources: salmon, whitefish, seal and caribou, plus greens and berries from the tundra (Source 2). In American Samoa, people fish and farm, often working together as a village (Source 1). The Arctic coast's sea, rivers and tundra provide the Iñupiat foods, while Samoa's warm, wet climate (Table 1) supports farming as well as fishing. Full credit: one food practice from each source and one environmental link for each.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Source 3, paragraph 1, describes provisioning grounds on St. John. Explain how an environmental characteristic and a human decision together shaped how enslaved people got food.
Model answer: St. John had little fresh water and few wild foods (environmental). Owners made enslaved people grow their own food and gave them "the least productive plots of land" (a human decision). Together these meant people had to farm poor plots on an island with little fresh water, and Source 3 says the plots let them "develop their own economy." Full credit: names both the environmental characteristic and the human decision, with evidence.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Use Table 1 and Diagram 1 to describe two ways the environment of the Arctic (Kotzebue) varies from that of the Caribbean (St. Thomas and St. John).
Model answer: First, temperature: Kotzebue averages 24.0 °F for the year and falls below freezing in many months, while Charlotte Amalie averages 81.9 °F and stays warm all year (Diagram 1). Second, precipitation: Kotzebue gets 11.36 inches a year, much of it as snow (64.2 inches of snowfall), while Coral Bay gets 45.86 inches of rain and no snow. Full credit: two accurate comparisons with numbers.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
Name one cultural characteristic in Sources 1-3 that the environment does not explain, and explain why.
Model answer: In Samoa, land belongs to the extended family and stays within it (Source 1). Many places with warm, wet climates have very different land customs, so this rule comes from Samoan tradition, not from the climate. (Another strong answer: slavery on St. John was imposed by people, not by the island's environment, Source 3.) Full credit: a cultural characteristic with a clear reason it does not come from the environment.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Sources 1 and 2 both describe a strong bond between people and the land or water. Compare the two, using a quotation from each.
Model answer: Source 1 says that for Samoans, "the land is more than a resource" and is "a part of their identity," and that it is passed down to future generations. Source 2 says that for the people of the Chukchi coast, food from "the sea, rivers, and tundra fulfills physical, spiritual, and cultural needs." Both treat the environment as part of who people are, but Samoa's bond centers on family land, while the Arctic bond centers on wild foods gathered across sea, rivers and tundra. Full credit: two accurate quotations and one similarity and one difference.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Analyze: which of the three regions do you think varies most from the other two? Use data from Table 1 or Diagram 1 and evidence from at least two sources.
Model answer (other choices can earn full credit): The Arctic varies most. Its average yearly temperature (24.0 °F) is far below Pago Pago's (82.2 °F) and Charlotte Amalie's (81.9 °F), it has 64.2 inches of snow, and its seasons are extreme (Diagram 1). Its culture is organized around the seasons, with families moving to summer camps and gathering 65-90 percent of their food (Source 2), while Samoa's way of life centers on village and family land (Source 1). Full credit: a clear choice, accurate data and evidence from two sources.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does D2.Geo.10.6-8 mean?
D2.Geo.10.6-8 asks middle school students to analyze how cultures and environments differ from one world region to another. Students compare regions such as the Arctic, Polynesia or the Caribbean, describe how climate, landforms, food, land customs and community life vary, and look for which differences are connected.
What is the difference between cultural and environmental characteristics?
Environmental characteristics come from nature, and cultural characteristics are ways of life people share. Climate, landforms, water, soils, plants and animals are environmental. Language, food customs, family roles, land ownership, work and celebrations are cultural.
What is a world region?
A world region is a large area whose places share certain characteristics. Some regions are defined by environment, such as the Arctic; others by culture and history, such as Polynesia. A region usually crosses the borders of several countries.
How is D2.Geo.10.6-8 different from D2.Geo.5.6-8?
D2.Geo.5.6-8 compares particular places and asks what makes them similar and different; D2.Geo.10.6-8 works at a larger scale, comparing regions of the world. In practice, a D2.Geo.10.6-8 lesson uses places as windows into whole regions and looks for patterns across them.
Does the environment decide a region's culture?
No. The environment shapes what is possible, such as which foods can be grown or caught, but people make choices about how to live. Land customs, family structure and many other ways of life come from culture and history, not from the environment.
Where does the climate data in this lesson come from?
It comes from NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991-2020, the official 30-year averages of temperature and precipitation at weather stations. Teachers can download normals for other stations from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information to add more regions.
Is D2.Geo.10.6-8 a world geography or a U.S. history standard?
It is a geography indicator in the C3 Framework's Global Interconnections strand. It is usually taught in grades 6-8 world geography or world cultures courses, and it pairs well with literacy work on citing evidence (RH.6-8.1).
How can students avoid stereotypes when comparing regions?
Students should describe specific communities from specific sources and avoid saying that everyone in a region lives one way. Encourage phrases such as "according to Source 2, many families..." and remind students that each region includes many places and peoples.
What mistakes do students make with D2.Geo.10.6-8?
Many students list facts about each region without comparing them, or they mix up cultural and environmental characteristics. Others assume a cultural practice is caused by climate alone. A comparison matrix with one row per characteristic helps students compare directly.
What comes after D2.Geo.10.6-8?
In high school, D2.Geo.10.9-12 asks students to evaluate how changes in a region's environmental and cultural characteristics influence patterns of trade and land use. Students move from describing variation to explaining how changes in those characteristics shape economic patterns.
07
Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to D2.Geo.10.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
D2.Geo.5.6-8Prerequisite
Analyze cultural and environmental traits that make places similar and different
Explain how environment and production of goods shape patterns of world trade
Lesson coming soon
After this lesson
D2.Geo.10.9-12Next step
Evaluate how changes in environment and culture influence trade and land use
Lesson coming soon
Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.
