Metropolitan Areas in the USA Geographic Question Overview

Metropolitan Areas in the USA By: LISA MACOMBER

Geographic Question What factors affect the location of major metropolitan areas (SMSA’s) in the USA?

Overview In this lesson, students will explore several factors that influence why people chose to live in certain metropolitan regions of the United States. The factors included in this lesson are temperature, precipitation, landforms, population, available natural resources, and the occurrence and frequency of natural disasters/hazards. Depending upon your classroom, you may need to add or delete some of these categories. Students will form groups to collect data on different metropolitan areas around the United States. Once they have collected all of their data, they will graph, chart, analyze, and discuss their results. When they have reached conclusions about their data, they will write an essay examining the results of why people would choose to live in a certain major metropolitan area. The final step for this lesson is a speech, which discusses and explains why people move to certain major metropolitan areas in the USA. By the end of the project, the students will have had the opportunity to examine, predict, and reflect upon the various factors that influence the decision to move to major metropolitan areas.

Connections with the Curriculum Oregon’s 5th Grade Benchmark Social Studies: Geography Identify physical and human characteristics of regions in the United States and the processes that have shaped them.

The students will identify: Major landforms, bodies of water, vegetation, and climate found in regions of the United States. Types of population distribution and cities found in regions of the United States.

Social Studies: Geography Identify patterns of migration and cultural interactions in the United States.

The students will identify: How physical geography affects the routes, flow, and destinations of migration. How human activity can impact the environment.

National Geography Standards Addressed Places and Regions Standard Five: That people create regions to interpret Earth’s complexity.

Human Systems Standard Nine: The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth’s surface. Standard Ten: The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth’s cultural mosaics.

Grade Level: 5th Grade Objectives The student will: a) Locate and identify several metropolitan areas within the USA. b) Collect data on temperature, precipitation, landforms, population, natural resources, and natural disasters/hazards that occur in one or two metropolitan areas. c) Graph, chart, analyze, and discuss their results with their group. d) Write an essay examining their findings of why people would choose to live in the city that they have researched. e) Give a speech to the class where they are able to present their results in groups to the rest of the class.

Materials ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Rand McNally classroom atlas (classroom set) Classroom map of the USA (for reference) USA political maps (classroom set) Information sheets Overhead projector Overhead pens Markers Butcher paper ♦ Any other materials needed for student presentations (i.e. Creating visual aides)

Procedures Introduction a) Ask the students WHAT a metropolitan area is. b) Brainstorm for 1-3 minutes and collect ideas from the students. They should come up with a list of major cities. c) Ask the students to identify on a map of the USA where these metropolitan areas are located. d) Brainstorm on a piece of notebook paper, or butcher paper if in groups, reasons WHY people would choose to live in these major metropolitan areas.

Lesson a) Have a list of major metropolitan areas from different regions of the USA. For today’s lesson we choose metropolitan areas from the following list of cities: 1. 3. 5. 7. 9. 11. 13. 15. 17. 19. 21.

Atlanta, GA Chicago, IL Dallas, TX Detroit, MI Las Vegas, NV Miami, FL New Orleans, LA Oklahoma City, OK Portland, OR St. Louis, MO Seattle, WA

2. 4. 6. 8. 10. 12. 14. 16. 18. 20.

Boston, MA Cleveland, OH Denver, CO Kansas City, KS Los Angeles, CA Nashville, TN New York City, NY Phoenix, AZ Richmond, VA San Francisco, CA

b) Explain the lesson’s objectives and if there are scoring guides you wish to use make sure to hand these out and go over them with the students. Have examples ready to show. c) At your discretion this activity of collecting data can be done individually or in groups. Each student should have their own complete packet of information when they are finished. d) Have the students form groups and use their atlases and information sheets to collect, graph, and interpret data for one or two cities. * For convenience I recommend assigning each group their own city so that each city is covered in depth. This will also avoid repetition when it comes time for the groups to present their speeches. Another option is to have a sign up sheet with each metropolitan area listed on the paper. Each group could then choose which cities they would like to research, and then sign their group name next to one or two cities on the list.

e) To help with the interpretation of data, have the students use the following prompts to help them: ♦ What are the physical limits/advantages surrounding each urban area? ♦ What is the climate like in each area? ♦ How much precipitation does each city receive? ♦ During which months of the year does it rain the most and least? ♦ What are the high and low temperatures in the different regions? ♦ How does the climate for your individual city compare to the climate in other metropolitan areas around the USA? ♦ How many people live in the city? ♦ Does the city have room to grow? Are there obstacles preventing growth, such as water? ♦ Are there any major rivers or waterways that provide accessibility and connections to other cities? ♦ How far away is the nearest metropolitan area to your city? By land? By water? ♦ Is the city considered a port? If so, what is the port used for? Where do the goods come from? Where are they being distributed or sold? ♦ Are there any natural disasters in the area? ♦ What kind of natural disasters? When do they occur? How often do they occur? f) After these steps have been completed, set aside some time to allow the students to individually write an essay examining their findings of why people would choose to live in a certain major metropolitan area. g) Once the essays have been written allow time for the students to peer edit, revise, teacher edit, revise, and create the final draft. h) When each student has their own final draft, have the groups reconvene and discuss the most important, most prevalent points about the metropolitan area that they have studied. i) Discuss the various roles that each group will have for the speeches. Each team member must contribute to the speech. In addition to the speaking, each group will need at least two visual aids, one being the charts that they have created. j) Before students start their presentations, discuss being a good audience member with the class. k) Begin the speeches. l) For the speech, have the students use their charts, as well as visual aids. When they finish each group can hang their charts and visuals on a map of the United States next to their cities. ***These activities could be used as a benchmark sample for speaking, writing, and math. Speaking: Speech Writing: Essay using different writing styles (expository, imaginative, persuasive, informative.) Math: Graphing data and statistical information

Assessment Assess each student’s packet of information by looking at mapping and interpretation skills. Make sure that the students did not make any major errors locating metropolitan areas or collecting data. Feel free to assign points. For assessment of the speeches, use the benchmark scoring guide for speaking. For assessment of the essay, use the benchmark scoring guide for writing.

Extensions This lesson could be used for any city with complete statistical data. Students could also analyze and compare their results to other regions of the world and analyze the main reasons for the location of international cities. Students could use transparencies to overlay statistical data to compare, contrast, and interpret regions and cities. This activity could be done as a newscast or a TV show. In the TV show the actors could discuss the city within the dialogue. To extend the writing activity, students could write a persuasive essay trying to “sell” the city that they are researching. For this the student would want to convince someone to move to their city. The student would write information about the city and why they think you should move there. Students could create a travel brochure attracting tourists to their metropolitan area.

Population Growth Fastest Growing Cities Las Vegas, NV-AZ Orlando, FL Boise, ID Negative Growth Pittsburgh, PA Metro Areas Atlanta, GA Boston, MA Chicago, IL Cleveland, OH Dallas, TX Denver, CO Detroit, MI Kansas City, KS Las Vegas, NV Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA Miami, FL Nashville, TN New Orleans, LA New York, NY Oklahoma City, OK Phoenix-Meza, AZ Pittsburgh, PA Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA Richmond-Petersburg, VA St. Louis, MO-IL San Francisco, CA Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA

1995-2000 21.60% 13.1 13.1

Population 1995

10.9 1.5 2.4 -0.1 10.5 9.1 1.8 5.2 21.6 1.8 3 8.6 1.1 0.1 3.6 14 -1 10.2 4.7 1.7 2.2 7.2

% Growth

Places Rated Almanac: Millenium Edition David Savageau w/Ralph D’Agostine IDG BooksWorldwide, INC c.2000 by Macmillan General Reference USA, INC

Population 2000

3,432,090 3,247,742 7,682,478 2,230,526 2,965,502 1,827,232 4,423,787 1,671,645 1,138,764 9,054,394 2,028,508 1,109,934 1,310,421 8,593,929 1,013,353 2,661,463 2,386,036 1,713,268 925,967 2,541,514 1,639,457 2,197,036

-1%

3,807,451 3,296,878 7,864,846 2,228,317 3,277,816 1,993,142 4,505,455 1,759,224 1,384,481 9,220,312 2,089,376 1,186,108 1,325,345 8,603,992 1,050,216 3,034,464 2,361,710 1,888,819 969,641 2,584,538 1,675,039 2,356,143

Cost of Living Metro Areas

Atlanta, GA Boston, MA Chicago, IL Cleveland, OH Dallas, TX Denver, CO Detroit, MI Kansas City, KS Las Vegas, NV Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA Miami, FL Nashville, TN New Orleans, LA New York, NY Oklahoma City, OK Phoenix-Meza, AZ Pittsburgh, PA Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA Richmond-Petersburg, VA St. Louis, MO-IL San Francisco, CA Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA

Of 354 metro areas 100 pts is the cheapest

215 350 321 279 180 276 302 188 218 334 230 117 161 354 63 221 217 316 241 175 353 324

Of 354 metro areas 354 is the most expensive


39.38 1.14 9.35 21.25 49.3 22.1 14.74 47.03 38.53 5.67 35.13 67.14 54.68 0 82.44 37.68 38.82 10.77 32.02 50.71 0.29 8.5

Transportation Metro Areas Atlanta, GA Boston, MA Chicago, IL Cleveland, OH Dallas, TX Denver, CO Detroit, MI Kansas City, KS Las Vegas, NV Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA Miami, FL Nashville, TN New Orleans, LA New York, NY Oklahoma City, OK Phoenix-Meza, AZ Pittsburgh, PA Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA Richmond-Petersburg, VA St. Louis, MO-IL San Francisco, CA Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA

Rank out of 354

98.3 94.61 100 96.31 95.46 98.58 98.86 93.76 87.53 93.48 90.65 88.95 84.98 99.71 74.78 89.51 99.71 88.1 80.45 97.73 86.68 86.96

Best to worst100-0


7 20 1 14 17 6 5 23 45 24 34 40 54 3 90 38 2 43 70 9 48 47

Climate Temperature


January 61.8 48.7 48.8 48.1 65.9 47.4 47.3 56.9 63.5 59.5 75.3 59.7 68.7 51.9 60.2 68.1 50.1 50.4 57.9 56.1 54.8 48.7

April

78.6 73.5 73 71.6 86.3 73.4 71.9 80.9 90.2 69 82.5 79.4 82.1 76.4 82.1 92.3 72 67.7 77.8 78.9 62.2 64.8

July

62.2 54.8 53.5 53.2 67.9 51.9 51.9 59.6 67.5 66.3 77.9 60.2 69.2 57.5 62.3 73.4 52.5 54.3 58.6 57.9 60.6 52.4

October

69% 65% 70% 35% 69% 54% 71% 71% 30% 72% 72% 71% 76% 64% 68% 37% 68% 73% 68% 71% 73% 75%

Annual Humidity


41.9 29.6 21.4 25.5 44 29.5 23.4 28.4 44.5 56 67.1 37.1 52.4 31.8 35.9 52.3 26.7 38.9 36.6 28.8 48.5 39.1

Climate

Metropolitan Areas


# of days 0 degrees or below 49 99 132 123 40 155 136 105 37 0 0 76 13 81 79 10 124 44 85 107 6 32

# of days 32 degrees or below

38 12 17 12 100 33 12 40 134 5 55 51 67 16 70 167 7 10 41 37 4 3

# of days 90 degrees or above

111 100 85 68 138 116 78 123 212 147 75 104 102 108 139 212 60 68 101 100 160 72

# of clear days

106 103 106 97 95 130 105 95 82 116 175 106 117 125 97 83 103 75 106 102 101 93

# of partly cloudy days


0 1 7 5 0 10 7 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 3 0 0

Climate Precipitation


inches

Average Precipitation

115 127 127 156 78 88 133 98 26 36 129 119 114 119 82 36 154 154 113 111 63 158

days

Annual Precipitation

1.9 41.8 40.3 53.6 3.1 59.8 40.4 20 1.4 trace 0 11.1 0.2 26.1 9 trace 44.6 6.8 14.6 19.8 trace 12.8

inches

Average Snowfall

48 21 38 34 47 39 32 51 13 1 74 54 69 24 50 23 35 87 43 46 0 8

thunderstorms

Annual number of


48.61 43.81 33.34 35.4 29.46 15.31 30.97 29.27 4.19 12.08 57.55 48.49 59.74 42.82 30.89 7.11 36.3 37.39 44.07 33.91 19.71 38.6

Annual number of days with fog

148 24 124 146 79 53 157 124 4 100 39 150 175 107 89 6 178 50 138 141 100 161