Mapping Russia: Geographic and Cultural Diversity

This unit approaches the subject of Russia from a particular angle: it seeks to take the students inside the "black box" and introduce them to the vast diversity of this country, its political-administrative structure, its natural resources, the mosaic of its ethnic groups and their territorial homelands, its main geographic regions, spreading across 11 time zones of Europe and Asia, from the Baltic to the Pacific, and from the Arctic to the Caspian. The organization of the unit is two-fold, including both geographic and thematic components. Each lesson covers a particular geographic area with an emphasis on a specific theme.

The student will learn...

How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of earth's surface

The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of the earth's cultural mosaics

The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on the earth's surface

The physical and human characteristics of places

How physical systems affect human systems

The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources