In plain English: D2.Geo.5.6-8 is the C3 Framework geography indicator for grades 6-8 that asks students to analyze how a place's mix of cultural characteristics (people's ways of life) and environmental characteristics (natural features) makes it similar to some places and different from others. It is usually taught in middle school geography or world studies.
Analyze the combinations of cultural and environmental characteristics that make places both similar to and different from other places.
C3 Framework for Social Studies (NCSS) · Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools · Discipline: Geography · Human-Environment Interaction: Place, Regions, and Culture · Official standard
D2.Geo.5.6-8 asks students to analyze the combinations of cultural and environmental characteristics that make places both similar to and different from other places. A cultural characteristic is a feature that comes from people's ways of life, such as language, religion, buildings, foods, jobs and history. An environmental characteristic is a natural feature, such as climate, landforms, water, plants, animals and rocks. The key idea is that no single feature makes a place special: it is the mix of features, and the links between them, that does.
In this lesson students compare two real coastal towns, Sitka, Alaska and St. Augustine, Florida. Both grew up around a European colonial center by the ocean, and both have long Native histories. Yet one sits in a cool, very wet rainforest and the other on a warm, flat coast, and those environments shaped what people built. Students read short National Park Service sources and NOAA climate data, sort characteristics, build a comparison diagram and write an evidence-based comparison.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Sort features of a place into cultural characteristics and environmental characteristics.
Identify ways two places are similar, using climate data and primary sources as evidence.
Identify ways two places are different, and back each difference with a number or a quotation.
Analyze how a combination of characteristics, including links between culture and environment, makes a place both like and unlike another place.
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Reading a bar graph and a data table with units
Locating places on a map with latitude and with the words north, south, east and west D2.Geo.1.6-8
Citing specific evidence from a source to support an answer RH.6-8.1
"Think of your own town and one other place you have visited, read about or seen in a video. Write one way the two places are alike and one way they are different. Then decide: is each of your answers about people or about nature?"
Collect five or six answers on the board in two columns, People and Nature, without naming the columns yet. Then reveal the geography words: the People column lists cultural characteristics and the Nature column lists environmental characteristics. Point out that most students found at least one similarity and one difference. Geographers say every pair of places is alike in some ways and different in others; the skill is explaining which ways and why.
Direct Instruction15 minutes
Part 1: Key words. A characteristic is a feature that helps describe a place. A similarity is a characteristic two places share, and a difference is one they do not share. A combination is the particular mix of characteristics in one place. Two places can share one characteristic (both are on a coast) and still differ in the combination (a cold, rainy coast with spruce forest against a hot coast with sandy islands).
Part 2: Meet the two places. Show Sitka and St. Augustine on a wall map. Sitka is in Southeast Alaska, on an island in the Pacific Ocean. St. Augustine is in northeast Florida, on the Atlantic Ocean. Ask students to predict, from latitude alone, which place is warmer. Then read Tables 1 and 2 together. The temperatures and precipitation are averages over 30 years, called climate normals; precipitation means rain plus melted snow.
Table 1. Climate of the two places (real data: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, stations Sitka Airport, Alaska, and St. Augustine Lighthouse, Florida)
Characteristic
Sitka, Alaska
St. Augustine, Florida
Latitude of the weather station
57.05° N
29.89° N
Average January temperature
36.5 °F
57.6 °F
Average July temperature
56.5 °F
82.4 °F
Average temperature for the whole year
45.4 °F
71.2 °F
Total precipitation in an average year
84.47 inches
50.64 inches
Wettest month (average)
October, 11.78 inches
August and September, 7.18 inches each
Driest month (average)
June, 2.92 inches
November, 2.32 inches
Table 2. Place facts (U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 population estimates; National Park Service pages for Sitka National Historical Park and Castillo de San Marcos National Monument)
Characteristic
Sitka, Alaska
St. Augustine, Florida
People (July 1, 2024 estimate)
8,355 (Sitka City and Borough)
16,033 (St. Augustine city)
Where it is
Western coast of Baranof Island, Southeast Alaska, on the Pacific Ocean
Northeast coast of Florida, on the Atlantic Ocean
Native peoples named by the NPS
The Tlingit, whose village Shee Atika was on Baranof Island
Many Native cultures lived in Florida at the time of European contact, among them the Timucua
European empire and dates
Russia; Sitka, then called New Archangel, was the Russian colonial capital
Spain; St. Augustine was established by Pedro Menéndez in 1565
A historic building and its material
Russian Bishop's House, completed 1842, with spruce walls
Castillo de San Marcos, begun in 1672, built of coquina stone
Sorting characteristics
A student lists five features of Sitka: a spruce and hemlock forest, the Russian Bishop's House, about 84 inches of precipitation a year, totem poles along the park's trail, and salmon swimming up the Indian River.
Result: Environmental: the forest, the precipitation and the salmon (they are part of nature). Cultural: the Bishop's House and the totem poles (people made them).
Stating a similarity
Use Table 2. What do Sitka and St. Augustine have in common in their history and setting?
Result: Both are towns on an ocean coast where a European empire set up a colonial center: Russia at Sitka and Spain at St. Augustine. The similarity mixes an environmental characteristic (a coastal site) with a cultural one (colonial history).
Stating a difference with numbers
Use Table 1. How different are the summers and the yearly precipitation?
Result: July: 82.4 - 56.5 = 25.9 °F warmer in St. Augustine. Precipitation: 84.47 - 50.64 = 33.83, so Sitka gets about 34 more inches a year.
Analyzing a combination
Sitka's Russian Bishop's House has spruce walls; St. Augustine's Castillo is built of coquina, a stone made of shells. Is this a similarity or a difference?
Result: Both. The pattern is similar: in each town, colonial builders used a material the local environment offered. The result is different: wood from a rainforest in Sitka, shell stone from the coast in St. Augustine.
Guided Practice15 minutes
Read Sources 1 and 2 together. Source 1 comes from the National Park Service page about nature at Sitka National Historical Park. Source 2 comes from the National Park Service page about how the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine was built. A few words to know: an estuary is the place where a river meets the sea; a temperate rainforest is a cool forest with very heavy rain; coquina is a soft limestone made of broken shells; porous means full of tiny holes; a maritime climate is a climate shaped by a nearby ocean; extant means still existing. Paragraph numbers below count only the paragraphs shown.
1Sitka National Historical Park's visitor center overlooks the park's diverse marine intertidal zone and forest. By standing on the seaside porch, one can immediately appreciate the mingling of culture and nature that is unique to Sitka. Totem poles frame the forest and marine landscape and welcome visitors to the park.
2Sitka National Historical Park is located in Southeast Alaska on the western coast of Baranof Island. The convergence of the Indian River, the coastal environment, and the temperate rainforest provides an inspiring, biologically rich environment that is critical to understanding the historical events that took place here. Historically, the Tlingit people relied on these natural resources for survival. Today, they rely on them for continued production of cultural artifacts.
3Though only a fraction of the acreage of other national parks in Alaska (only 116.29 total acres), Sitka NHP contains a variety of habitat types. While walking the park’s Totem Trail, visitors can experience temperate rainforest, open meadow, the Indian River estuary, and various intertidal zones. By looking over one’s shoulder, the snow-streaked mountains indicate the ruggedness of Baranof Island. The area experiences a maritime climate with relatively heavy precipitation and moderate temperatures. Often shrouded in coastal clouds, the peaks and glaciers at high elevations are characteristic of Southeast Alaska.
[...]
4Historically, Sitka's ecosystem provided a rich source of physical and spiritual sustenance for the Tlingit and profitable resources, such as sea otter pelts, for the Russian colonists. The landscape of Sitka National Historical Park continues to serve as a backdrop for the history of Native Peoples and the confluence of European colonization. Contemporary issues like development and climate change are shaping the park in new ways, and local inventory and monitoring programs are helping Sitka National Historical Park take stock of its resources and examining possible threats to preservation.
National Park Service, Sitka National Historical Park, Sitka National Historical Park: Nature, three opening paragraphs and Local Relevance (Source 1) (2022). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
1The Castillo de San Marcos is unique in North American architecture. As the only extant 17th century military construction in the country and the oldest masonry fortress in the United States it is a prime example of the Vauban style of fortifications, and the culmination of hundreds of years of military defense engineering.
2It is also unique for the material used in its construction. The Castillo is one of only two fortifications in the world built out of a semi-rare form of limestone called coquina. The other is Fort Matanzas National Monument, 14 miles south of St. Augustine.
[...]
3Given its light and porous nature, coquina would seem to be a poor choice of building material for a fort. However the Spanish had few other options; it was the only stone available on the northeast coast of La Florida. However, coquina's porosity turned out to have an unexpected benefit. Because of its conglomerate mixture coquina contains millions of microscopic air pockets making it compressible.
4A cannon ball fired at more solid material, such as granite or brick would shatter the wall into flying shards, but cannon balls fired at the walls of the Castillo burrowed their way into the rock and stuck there, much like a BB would if fired into Styrofoam. So the thick coquina walls absorbed or deflected projectiles rather than yielding to them, providing a surprisingly long-lived fortress.
National Park Service, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, Castillo de San Marcos: Architecture and Construction, coquina paragraphs (Source 2) (2025). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
Find the environment. Prompt: which words in Source 1 describe nature at Sitka? (The Indian River, the coast, the temperate rainforest, a maritime climate with heavy precipitation, mountains and glaciers.)
Find the culture. Prompt: which sentences in Source 1 describe people, and which people do they name? Have students underline them and say whether each one is about the past or the present.
Find the link in Source 2. Prompt: which paragraph connects the coast's natural resources to the way the fort was built? Ask students to predict, before rereading, whether a soft shell stone would make a good fort, then check their prediction against the source.
Complete Diagram 2 as a class. Add one more item to each part of the diagram from the sources, then write a class statement: "Sitka and St. Augustine are alike because ___, but the combination of ___ and ___ makes them different."
Independent Practice15-20 minutes
Read Source 3 and write a comparison. Source 3 comes from the National Park Service page about the Russian Bishop's House in Sitka. A diocese is an area led by one bishop of a church.
1The Russian Bishop's House is one of the few surviving examples of Russian colonial architecture in North America. Imperial Russia was the dominant power in the North Pacific for over 125 years. Sitka (known as New Archangel at the time) was the Russian colonial capital. The Bishop's House was completed in 1842 and was the center of Russian Orthodox Church authority in a diocese that stretched from California to Siberian Kamchatka.
2The Russian Orthodox Church closed the Bishop's House in 1969. The spruce walls had rotted, the roof leaked, and the floors and doorways tilted. The building was in danger of collapse. In 1973, the National Park Service obtained the property and began a 16 year project to restore the building to its 1853 appearance. The restored Russian Bishop's House offers visitors a chance to step back into history and feel and understand what it was like to live in Sitka during the Russian-American period.
National Park Service, Sitka National Historical Park, Sitka National Historical Park: Russian Bishop's House (Source 3) (2026). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
Each student completes a comparison chart with six rows: climate, landforms, water, natural resources, colonial history and Native history. For each row, write what Sitka has, what St. Augustine has, and an S (similar) or D (different). Then write one paragraph of 5-7 sentences that names two similarities, two differences and one link between culture and environment, citing a table, a diagram or a source paragraph for each point.
Closure10 minutes
Exit ticket. On an index card: "Name a third place (your town is fine) that is similar to Sitka in one way and different in another. Label each one cultural or environmental." Collect and sort the cards into a quick class chart.
Teacher note on respectful language. The Tlingit are a living people, and Sitka is a Tlingit place today, not only in the past. Encourage present-tense language about living Native peoples, and use the names the sources use. Describe colonial history as history: both the Russian and the Spanish empires took control of lands that Native peoples already lived on.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a comparison chart with the six row labels and one example filled in for each place.
Offer sentence frames: "Both places ___." "Sitka ___, but St. Augustine ___." "Because of ___, people in ___ built ___."
Let students read Source 1 paragraphs 2-3 and Source 2 paragraphs 3-4 only, with the key words written above them.
For Advanced Students
Add a third coastal colonial town of the student's choice and judge which of the three pairs is most alike, using at least four characteristics.
Explain why two places at very different latitudes can still share a characteristic such as a coastal setting or a colonial history.
Sitka's warmest month, August, averages 57.3 °F (NOAA monthly normals). Using a table of St. Augustine's monthly normals from the NOAA site, count how many months in St. Augustine average warmer than that, and explain what the count shows.
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Strong work names both similarities and differences, labels each one cultural or environmental, and backs it with a number, a table row or a source paragraph. The best answers explain a combination: how two or more characteristics work together, such as a natural resource that shaped what people built. Watch for comparisons that list only differences, numbers given without units, and claims that one place is "better" than the other.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Sitka, St. Augustine or Both? Characteristic Card Sort
15 minPairs
Pairs sort 12 cards onto a three-part mat labeled Sitka only, Both and St. Augustine only, using Tables 1-2 and Sources 1-2. Then they mark each card C (cultural) or E (environmental).
The 12 Characteristic Cards
An average July temperature of 82.4 °F
A bishop's house with spruce walls, built for a Russian church
A fort built of coquina stone
Salmon that swim up a river to spawn in late summer
A site on an ocean coast
A colonial past under a European empire
About 84 inches of precipitation in an average year
Snow-streaked mountains and glaciers nearby
Established by Spain in 1565
A national park site that tells the town's history
Native peoples who lived there before Europeans arrived
An average January temperature above 50 °F
Answer Key
Sitka only: 2 (C), 4 (E), 7 (E), 8 (E). St. Augustine only: 1 (E), 3 (C), 9 (C), 12 (E). Both: 5 (E), 6 (C), 10 (C), 11 (C). Card 3 is a good one to discuss: the fort is cultural, but its stone is an environmental resource, so the card shows a link between the two kinds of characteristics.
Discussion
Ask: which cards were hardest to place, and why? Every card in the Both group is a similarity; are those similarities mostly cultural or mostly environmental? Could two places share one characteristic, such as a coast, and still have very different combinations?
2
Reading the Rain: Comparing Months
15 minPairs
Pairs use Diagram 1 to compare the two places month by month. The goal is to see that two places can be close in some months and far apart in others, so a single yearly total does not tell the whole story.
Tasks
Count the months when Sitka's bar is taller than St. Augustine's.
Name the months when St. Augustine gets more precipitation than Sitka.
Find the month when the two bars are closest in height.
Name each place's wettest season (a group of three months in a row).
Write one sentence that states a similarity and one that states a difference in the precipitation patterns.
Answer Key
1. Ten months. 2. June (6.27 against 2.92 inches) and July (4.88 against 4.62). 3. August (7.25 and 7.18 inches, only 0.07 inch apart). 4. Sitka: September-November (11.69 + 11.78 + 9.91 = 33.38 inches). St. Augustine: July-September (4.88 + 7.18 + 7.18 = 19.24 inches). 5. Sample: "Both places get rain in every month of the year." "Sitka's wettest season is fall, but St. Augustine's is summer."
Discussion
Ask: in which months would a visitor notice the biggest difference? Why might a yearly total hide a month when the two places are almost the same?
3
Combination Webs and Gallery Walk
20 minGroups of 3-4
Half the groups make a web for Sitka and half for St. Augustine. The place name goes in the center, with three environmental characteristics on the left and three cultural characteristics on the right. Groups draw an arrow for each link they can support with a source, for example from "temperate rainforest" to "spruce walls."
Gallery Walk
Post the webs in pairs, one Sitka web next to one St. Augustine web. Groups walk the room with sticky notes: green notes name a similarity they see across a pair, and blue notes name a difference. Each note must name the source, table or diagram it comes from.
Debrief
Ask: which links between environment and culture appear in both towns? Which appear in only one? Have each group finish the statement "Sitka and St. Augustine are similar in ___, but their combinations differ because ___."
Variation: Our Town
Groups build a third web for their own town or city and compare it with one of the two posted webs. They decide which of the two places their town is more like and support the choice with at least three characteristics.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: Average Monthly Precipitation in Sitka and St. Augustine
Real data: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, Sitka Airport (USW00025333) and St. Augustine Lighthouse (USC00087826). Each pair of bars shows one month's average precipitation in inches; the dark bar is Sitka and the light bar is St. Augustine.
Diagram 2: Comparing the Two Places
A comparison diagram built from Tables 1-2 and Sources 1-3. The overlap holds characteristics the two places share; each outer part holds characteristics found in only one of them. In Guided Practice, the class adds one more item to each part.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
D2.Geo.5.6-8 Homework: Three Invented Towns
Directions: Fennick Bay, Pell Harbor and Corvel are invented towns, made up for this homework, and all their numbers are invented. Use the profiles below, plus Table 1 from the lesson for Problem 5. Write in complete sentences and give a number or a fact for every comparison.
Fennick Bay (northern ocean coast): average July temperature 57 °F; 88 inches of precipitation a year; spruce forest and steep mountains; most people work in fishing or logging; houses are built of wood; a boat-blessing festival every spring. Pell Harbor (southern ocean coast): average July temperature 82 °F; 52 inches of precipitation a year; oak and palm forest on low sandy land; most people work in fishing or for visitors; older houses are built of local shell stone with wide porches; a seafood festival every fall. Corvel (inland desert valley): average July temperature 92 °F; 9 inches of precipitation a year; cactus and dry scrub, with a small river; most people farm with water from the river; older houses are built of adobe (bricks of sun-dried mud); a harvest festival every fall.
Part 1: Sort and Compare (Problems 1-3)
Sort the six facts given for Fennick Bay into cultural characteristics and environmental characteristics. Give a reason for one fact in each group.
Find the difference in average July temperature and the difference in yearly precipitation for each pair of towns (Fennick Bay and Pell Harbor, Pell Harbor and Corvel, Fennick Bay and Corvel). Which pair is closest in July temperature? Which pair is closest in precipitation?
Name one cultural similarity and one cultural difference between Fennick Bay and Pell Harbor.
Part 2: Analyze Combinations (Problems 4-6)
Explain one link between the environment and the culture of Corvel. Say which environmental characteristic shapes which cultural characteristic.
Compare Fennick Bay with Sitka, Alaska, using Table 1. Name one way their environments are similar and one way their histories or cultures could differ, and say what information you would need to check the second point.
Which two of the three invented towns are more alike overall? Weigh at least four characteristics, two cultural and two environmental, and explain why your answer depends on which characteristics you choose.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Sorts Characteristics
All facts sorted correctly, with a clear reason
Most facts sorted correctly, or no reason given
Facts not sorted or mostly wrong
Uses Numbers Correctly
All differences correct, with units, and the closest pairs named
One or two calculation errors or missing units
Differences missing or mostly wrong
Identifies Similarities and Differences
Both similarities and differences named, each backed by a fact
Only similarities or only differences, or facts missing
No clear similarity or difference
Analyzes Combinations
Explains how two or more characteristics work together and why the answer depends on the characteristics chosen
Names a link but does not explain it
No link between characteristics
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 5, 6 and 17 use Tables 1 and 2 in Direct Instruction, questions 13, 14 and 20 use Diagram 1, questions 7, 8 and 16 use Source 1, questions 9, 10 and 15 use Source 2 (both in Guided Practice), and questions 11 and 15 use Source 3 in Independent Practice. 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 place?
Answer: B
House styles are made and chosen by people, so they are cultural. Mountain height (A), salt in seawater (C) and salmon runs (D) are part of nature, so they are environmental; picking D may come from thinking that anything people care about is cultural.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these is an environmental characteristic of a place?
Answer: D
Wind is part of the natural world, so it is environmental. A festival (A), stores (B) and religion (C) all come from people's ways of life, so they are cultural.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A student writes: "Sitka and St. Augustine are different because one is in Alaska and the other is in Florida." Why is this a weak analysis?
Answer: A
Saying which state a town is in does not name any cultural or environmental characteristic, so it does not explain how the places differ. A stronger answer names a characteristic, such as climate or building material, with evidence. Choice B is a matter of order, not of analysis.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Town 1 is a desert town where most people speak Spanish and raise cattle. Town 2 is a desert town where most people speak English and work in copper mines. How do the two towns compare?
Answer: C
Both towns are in a desert, so they share an environmental characteristic. Their languages and jobs differ, and those are cultural characteristics. Choice A swaps the two kinds of characteristics.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Table 1. How much warmer is St. Augustine than Sitka for the year as a whole, on average?
Answer: B
71.2 - 45.4 = 25.8 °F. Choice C, 25.9 °F, is the July difference (82.4 - 56.5), and choice A, 21.1 °F, is the January difference (57.6 - 36.5). Choice D adds the two yearly averages instead of subtracting.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Table 1. St. Augustine's average January temperature is closest to which Sitka value?
Answer: D
St. Augustine's January average (57.6 °F) is only 1.1 °F above Sitka's July average (56.5 °F), so St. Augustine's winter is about as warm as Sitka's summer. Sitka's January (A) is 21.1 °F lower and its yearly average (B) is 12.2 °F lower. Choice C is a precipitation amount, not a temperature.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to paragraph 2 of Source 1, how did the Tlingit people use Sitka's environment in the past?
Answer: A
Paragraph 2 says, "Historically, the Tlingit people relied on these natural resources for survival." Nothing in Source 1 mentions trading stone (B), leaving in the rainy season (C) or wheat fields (D); choice B mixes up Source 1 with Source 2.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which detail in paragraph 4 of Source 1 shows one environment mattering to two cultures in different ways?
Answer: C
Paragraph 4 says the ecosystem "provided a rich source of physical and spiritual sustenance for the Tlingit and profitable resources, such as sea otter pelts, for the Russian colonists." The same place met different needs for two cultures. Choice B is in paragraph 4 but is about today's park staff; A and D come from paragraph 3 and do not compare cultures.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 2, why did the Spanish build the Castillo de San Marcos out of coquina?
Answer: B
Paragraph 3 says coquina "was the only stone available on the northeast coast of La Florida." The source calls coquina light and porous and says it "would seem to be a poor choice," so choice A is the opposite of what it says. Nothing in the source mentions shipping costs (C).
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 2, what happened when cannon balls hit the Castillo's coquina walls?
Answer: D
Paragraph 4 says the cannon balls "burrowed their way into the rock and stuck there." Choice A is what the source says would happen to granite or brick, not coquina.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Source 3 says the Bishop's House was the center of church authority in a diocese "that stretched from California to Siberian Kamchatka." What does this detail suggest about Sitka in the Russian period?
Answer: C
A diocese reaching from California to Kamchatka means Sitka was the center of a very large region around the North Pacific. Choice A is the opposite; choice D confuses Russia with Spain.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which statement analyzes a combination of characteristics instead of naming just one?
Answer: A
Choice A links an environmental characteristic (salmon in a river) to a cultural one (how a people fed themselves), so it explains how two kinds of characteristics combine. Choices B, C and D each state a single fact, which is useful evidence but not yet an analysis.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Diagram 1. In which month is the gap between the two places' precipitation the largest?
Answer: B
November: 9.91 - 2.32 = 7.59 inches, the largest gap. October has Sitka's tallest bar (11.78 inches), but St. Augustine gets 4.37 inches that month, so the gap is 7.41 inches; choosing October comes from looking at only one bar. September's gap is 4.51 inches and January's is 5.48.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Diagram 1. Which statement describes a similarity in the two places' precipitation?
Answer: C
Sitka's driest month averages 2.92 inches and St. Augustine's 2.32 inches, so every month in both places is above 2 inches. Their wettest months differ (A: October against August and September), neither is wettest in winter (B), and Sitka's yearly total is 84.47 inches (D).
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Sources 2 and 3 each describe a colonial building. Example 4 in Direct Instruction already compared their building materials, so go beyond that: explain one other way the Castillo de San Marcos and the Russian Bishop's House are similar and one other way they are different, citing each source.
Model answer: They are similar because each is a rare survivor from its colonial empire: Source 3 calls the Bishop's House "one of the few surviving examples of Russian colonial architecture in North America" (paragraph 1), and Source 2 calls the Castillo "the only extant 17th century military construction in the country" (paragraph 1; extant means still existing). They are different in purpose and in how they lasted: the Bishop's House was "the center of Russian Orthodox Church authority" and its "spruce walls had rotted" before the National Park Service restored it (Source 3), while the Castillo was a fort whose coquina walls "absorbed or deflected projectiles," making it "a surprisingly long-lived fortress" (Source 2, paragraph 4). Rubric: 2 points for a supported similarity and a supported difference that go beyond the building materials; 1 point if one is missing or unsupported.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Using Source 1, explain how Sitka's environment and the culture of its people are connected. Give two pieces of evidence.
Model answer: The river, coast and rainforest give Sitka rich natural resources, and Source 1 says the Tlingit relied on them "for survival" and "Today, they rely on them for continued production of cultural artifacts" (paragraph 2). Paragraph 1 calls the view from the visitor center "the mingling of culture and nature," with totem poles framing the forest and shore. Rubric: 2 points for a clear connection with two pieces of evidence; 1 point for one piece of evidence.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
A family moves from St. Augustine to Sitka. Use Tables 1 and 2 and Source 1 to name two environmental differences they would notice, other than July temperature and yearly precipitation, and one cultural similarity.
Model answer: Environmental differences: January in Sitka averages 36.5 °F instead of 57.6 °F, about 21 °F colder; and Sitka has steep snow-streaked mountains and glaciers nearby (Source 1, paragraph 3), while St. Augustine is on a flat coast. Cultural similarity: both towns have a colonial past under a European empire, with historic buildings from that time (the Russian Bishop's House and the Castillo). Rubric: 2 points for two supported differences and one similarity; 1 point if a difference or the similarity is missing.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
Explain how two places can be similar and different at the same time. Use an example from this lesson.
Model answer: A place is a combination of many characteristics, so two places can share some and not others. Sitka and St. Augustine both sit on an ocean coast and both were colonial centers, so they are similar in those ways, but Sitka is cool and very wet with a spruce forest while St. Augustine is hot with a flat sandy coast, so their combinations differ. Rubric: 2 points for the idea of a combination plus a correct example of each; 1 point for an example without the explanation.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
A student says: "Sitka and St. Augustine have nothing in common because their climates are so different." Respond with two pieces of evidence.
Model answer: The climates do differ, but climate is only one characteristic. Both towns are on an ocean coast, and both were built up as colonial centers by European empires (Russia at Sitka, Spain at St. Augustine, Table 2). Their builders also both used local natural materials, spruce in Sitka and coquina in St. Augustine. Rubric: 2 points for two accurate pieces of evidence of similarity; 1 point for one.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Use Table 1. About how many times as much precipitation does Sitka get in a year as St. Augustine? Round to one decimal place. Then explain why the yearly totals alone do not show everything about how the two places compare.
Model answer: 84.47 ÷ 50.64 ≈ 1.7, so Sitka gets about 1.7 times as much. The totals hide the seasons: Diagram 1 shows St. Augustine is wetter than Sitka in some summer months even though Sitka is wetter for the year. Rubric: 2 points for 1.7 and a correct point about months or seasons; 1 point for one of the two.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does D2.Geo.5.6-8 mean?
D2.Geo.5.6-8 asks middle school students to explain what makes places alike and unlike. The full text is "Analyze the combinations of cultural and environmental characteristics that make places both similar to and different from other places." Students compare places by looking at both people's ways of life and natural features, and at how the two work together.
What is the difference between cultural and environmental characteristics?
Cultural characteristics come from people; environmental characteristics come from nature. Language, religion, buildings, foods, jobs and history are cultural. Climate, landforms, water, soils, plants and animals are environmental. Many interesting features, such as a building made of local stone, sit where the two meet.
What does "combination" mean in D2.Geo.5.6-8?
It means the particular mix of characteristics found in one place. Two places can share a single feature and still be very different overall, because the rest of the mix is different. Strong answers explain how characteristics work together, not just list them.
Is it enough for students to list similarities and differences?
No, listing is a start, but the indicator asks students to analyze. That means backing each point with evidence, labeling it cultural or environmental, and explaining how the characteristics combine to make each place what it is. A Venn diagram is a good organizer, but the written explanation is where the analysis happens.
Why compare Sitka and St. Augustine?
They make a clear pair: both are coastal towns with long Native histories and a colonial past, yet their climates and building materials are very different. Real NOAA climate data and National Park Service sources are available for both, so students can check every claim. Any two places with good public data would work for the same skill.
Where does the climate data come from?
Table 1 and Diagram 1 use NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991-2020, which are 30-year averages calculated by the National Centers for Environmental Information. The Sitka values come from the Sitka Airport station and the St. Augustine values from the St. Augustine Lighthouse station.
How does D2.Geo.5.6-8 connect to D2.Geo.5.9-12?
The high school version asks students to evaluate how political and economic decisions over time have shaped the cultural and environmental characteristics of places. The middle school comparison skill comes first: students must be able to describe what a place is like before they can judge how decisions changed it.
What mistakes do students often make when comparing places?
Common mistakes are listing only differences, giving numbers without units, and ranking one place as "better" than the other. Ask students to finish the frame "They are alike in ___ but differ in ___" with evidence.
How should teachers talk about Native peoples in this lesson?
Use present tense for living peoples and the names the sources use, such as Tlingit. Sitka remains a Tlingit place today. Present colonial history as history, noting that empires claimed lands where Native peoples already lived.
How can I assess D2.Geo.5.6-8?
Use a written comparison of two places with a short rubric. Look for at least one supported similarity, one supported difference, correct labels (cultural or environmental) and an explanation of how characteristics combine. The quiz and homework on this page give items for each part.
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Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to D2.Geo.5.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
D2.Geo.1.6-8Prerequisite
Construct maps that represent and explain patterns of cultural and environmental traits
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.
