Study guide: United States Regions and Resources
Compare regional landscapes, resources and human connections.
Ideas to explain in your own words
- The United States borders Atlantic and Pacific waters, the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes are freshwater lakes, not an ocean. Water routes and coasts connect regions, but a coastline does not by itself tell us a place’s economy or culture.
- Resources, labor, infrastructure and markets influence production. A resource deposit alone does not guarantee a successful industry. Renewable resources can replenish under suitable conditions; nonrenewable resources form too slowly for ordinary human replacement. Processing and distribution add steps between extraction and use.
- Population density compares people with area: people divided by the stated land area. Total population and density answer different questions. Two places can have the same population but different densities. These exercise figures are fictional; use the same area unit when comparing them.
- A regional comparison must use matching dates, boundaries, units and measures. A larger total may reflect a larger area rather than a different rate. A region’s averages also hide variation within it. These fictional data checks ask which feature prevents a like-for-like comparison.
Useful vocabulary
- Atlantic coast
- the eastern U.S. ocean coast
- Pacific coast
- the western continental U.S. ocean coast
- Renewable resource
- a resource that can replenish under suitable management and conditions
- Nonrenewable resource
- a resource not replenished on ordinary human timescales
- 10 people per square kilometre
- the ratio for the stated population and area
- 20 people per square kilometre
- the ratio for the stated population and area
- Date mismatch
- records refer to different times
- Boundary mismatch
- records cover differently defined areas
Watch your reasoning
- Mixing up Atlantic coast and Pacific coast. Re-read what each note says before choosing.
- Adding a detail that is not on the card. Point to the words that help explain your answer.
A worked review example
Worked example: The card says: “A card locates ocean shoreline in the eastern United States.” That matches Atlantic coast. Atlantic coast is the eastern U.S. ocean coast. Compare the note for Gulf coast: Gulf coast is the southern coast bordering the Gulf of Mexico. That is a different clue.
Make a practice plan
- Read or listen to the notes in the four lessons. An adult can read aloud.
- Try each lesson’s main question and three practice questions. Say, draw or write what helped you choose.
- Use the review cards, then try the changed card in any lesson you want to practice again.
- Complete the four-box task. Then try the separate subject-test cards.