You can also see this video in Spanish.
[Background scene of a street with light gray and white buildings of various sizes in the back.]
Narrator: Hi, Everybody! Meet Pa and Jose! Follow along to see how Pa and Jose used the inquiry process to answer a geographic question and communicate what they learned to others.
[A hand slides up from the bottom of the screen carrying the text “Hi everybody, meet…” to the upper lefthand corner. Hand slides out of view.]
[Two more hands slide in from the bottom right corner, each bring an animated child with it, named Pa and Jose. The hands slide back out of view.]
[Text of the kids’ names appear with arrows pointing to the kids]
[Pa and Jose stand waving in the lower right side of the screen.]
[Hands appear again bringing up animated drawings of a cat and daisies.]
[Two hands appear on Pa and Jose and slide everything across the screen to the left.]
[Screen transitions by a film clapperboard appear and shutting out the screen. It opens and slides out of view to the left.]
Narrator: So, how do geographers use the inquiry process to examine problems about WHERE things are located and HOW they are related to each other?
[The new screen is dark blue. Text reading “how?” appears in the upper middle of the screen.]
[Text reading “inquiry” appears below the previous text to the left hand side of the screen. Below that is and animated picture of the globe.]
[An arrow appears pointing to the right. Text appears at the end of the arrow reading “Examine, Related, Located”]
Narrator: The inquiry process has four steps that help us solve geographic problems: ask, think critically, solve problems, and communicate
[ New screen has white light bulb in the middle of blue background, Hand slides down from the top of the screen bringing down text reading ‘inquiry process’ then slides back up.]
[The four steps appear around the light bulb as the narrator reads them. Arrows point from one word to the other as they are read, forming a circle.]
Narrator: Before using inquiry in geography, you need to be able to use the tools and skills that geographers use. Follow along to see how Pa and Jose learned geographic skills and used inquiry to learn about their world!
[Text appears reading “tools + skills= Great Inquiry Ability.” An animation of a white hand giving a thumbs up appears with the text and two animations of explosions appear, one with fireworks.]
[Text and images shrink out of view. Pa and Jose appear with two friends standing in front of an animated globe and sun.]
Narrator: Since Pa and Jose are going to answer questions about location (also called spatial questions), they will use tools that show where things are located; one geographic tool is a map. A collection of maps is an atlas.
[Pa, Jose, and friends disappear. A hand appears and wriHand slides out of view.tes “questions about location” an arrow points down from that where the hand then also writes “spatial questions.” The hand slides out of frame but then reappears with a roller paint brush and paints over everything making the screen white.]
[New blue screen emerges with text reading “Use tools that show where things are located”]
[Text disappears and new text reading “a map” appears in the upper lefthand corner. Two images of maps appear below that, one animated and one a real image with an animated magnifying glass over it.]
[An animated atlas appears and the map images shrink away, the magnifying glass disappears after the maps.]
Ms. Adams: Today you will use an atlas to answer specific questions about geographic issues; please use the maps, charts and graphs in the atlas! You will “choose the most appropriate data” or information related to the question from the atlas to find the answers.
[Clapperboard appears and closes on picture of atlas. When it opens it slides out of view to reveal a new screen.]
[Ms. Adams appears on the right side of the screen. One the left appears the text ‘maps’ with an animated map below it, then text reading “charts” and “graphs” with an animated graph below.]
Pa: First, we found answers to questions about the United States and our neighboring countries - Canada to the north and Mexico to the south.
[Pa stands in the right corner. In the middle is an animated map of North America.]
[An arrow points to Canada, and another one points to Mexico.]
Jose: I used a graph in the atlas to learn about the populations of the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
[Pa disappears. Jose stands in the left corner. Above his head is an animated graph.]
[Text to the right of the graph text appears reading “U.S. population=300 Million” and “Canadian Population=35 Million”]
Narrator: Now that Pa and Jose practiced using an atlas, they are ready to use other geographic tools to prepare for inquiry. Photographs and satellite images are tools that show locations.
[Jose slides out of view. Text appears at the top of the screen reading “other geographic tools.” Text appears below reading “photographs” and “satellite images.”]
Teacher: Now that you have practiced using an atlas, you will “use photographs or satellite images” to interpret spatial information about the United States and Canada.
[Ms. Adams in her classroom with a yellow background. She’s in the right hand corner with her desk to the left.]
Pa: We looked at photographs called aerial photos to answer questions about different cities, landforms, bodies of water, and landmarks in our country.
[Pa and Jose slide in from the left side. Above Ms. Adams desk appears a real photograph of a body of water next to a town.]
Jose: Then we looked at satellite images of places in Canada and answered questions about this country.
[Jose appears alone on a blue background. A satellite image of Canada appears above Jose’s head. To the right of that is text reading “Canada” with a red maple leaf below it.]
Narrator: This is an exciting journey … our students have learned some specialized geographic skills and are now ready for their inquiry question …
[Pa, Jose and their two friends appear, waving their arms. Text appears: “skills” is in the top left corner and to the right of that appears the words “spatial questions”, “satellite images”, and “aerial photos.”]
Ms. Adams: We are ready to use the inquiry process to answer a geographic question.
[Back to Ms. Adams classroom. Ms. Adams has a text bubble reading ‘read for inquiry process!’]
Pa:. Ms. Adams asked us about a geographic issue in our community - floods.
Ms. Adams: How does flooding affect communities in the Red River Valley?
[A hand reaches over and pulls down a string that is attached to a blind. When the blind pulls up there is a new screen reading “How does flooding affect communities in the Red River Valley?”]
Jose: Our teacher showed us photos of the Red River Valley before and during a flood. Then, we analyzed the photos.
[Text reading “Red River Valley” appears in the upper right corner. To the left and below appears two actual images of a flooded fields.]
Narrator: The inquiry process involves many skills. Using these skills gives you practice with thinking critically; if you do inquiry in geography it also gives you practice with thinking spatially.
[Photos disappear. Blue screen has new text that reads ‘skills’. An arrow points to the upper right at text reading “thinking critically.” Another arrow points to the bottom left and reads “thinking spatially.”]
[Ms. Adams Gathering information from different sources, organizing it, and then analyzing what you find by identifying patterns and relationships is necessary for geographic inquiry.]
[Text reading “gathering information” appears across the top of the screen. Below animated shapes jumble together. They then organize themselves in a line organized by shape]
Ms. Adams: Pa and Jose will share their conclusions at the next city council meeting.
[Text across the top reads “City Council Meeting.” Pa and Jose stand behind a podium. Two black chairs with two figures of people in them are across from the podium.]
Narrator: When using inquiry in geography, it is important to identify the local and global perspectives - ways of looking at problems from different viewpoints. Your community may be affected by something that affects other locations. Going beyond your classroom with what you learned using geographic inquiry is important!
[Background is a white piece of paper on a wooden desk. On it appears the text reading “Local” with an animated picture of buildings beneath it, and to the right of that more text reads “global” with an animated globe beneath.]
[White paper disappear and a world map fills the screen. 3 arrows come in and point to various areas of the globe. Arrows then slide out of screen to the left.]
[White page with list of photo citations appear.]
[Screen fades to dark blue with the Minnesota Center for Social Studies Education logo appears in the middle. The lower left corner has the Minnesota Historical Society logo and the lower right corner has the Minnesota Department of Education logo.]