Ch 59: NMTA Social Science: Introduction to Human & Cultural Geography
About This Chapter
NMTA Social Science: Introduction to Human & Cultural Geography - Chapter Summary
Our lessons can aid you in brushing up on your knowledge of the characteristics and study of human and cultural geography in preparation for the NMTA Social Science exam. The exam covers the following topics that will help you answer these types of exam questions:
- Defining human and cultural geography
- Exploring contemporary approaches in geography
- Looking at the relationship between environmental determinism and cultural ecology
- Describing formal, functional and vernacular regions
- Looking at scale, space and place
- Using vocabulary related to cultural influences on a geographic region
Our instructors break down these topics into easy-to-digest lessons that will help you get ready for the exam. You should have a solid understanding of human and cultural geography after you've watched all of these lessons.
Objectives of the NMTA Social Science: Introduction to Human & Cultural Geography Chapter
Everyone seeking certification to teach social science in New Mexico must pass the NMTA Social Science exam. The topics detailed in this chapter are in the test's subarea on geography and culture, which accounts for 19% of the total exam score.
The exam is computer-based, and the geography and culture subarea contains all multiple-choice questions. You can prepare to answer these types of questions with the quizzes that follow each lesson. The quizzes also make it easy to assess your knowledge before test day.

1. Human & Cultural Geography: Definition, Characteristics & Studies
Humans don't exist in a vacuum. We live with other humans, and we live in a specific environment. In this lesson, we'll examine human & cultural geography, including what it is, and what types of topics are studied in the field.

2. Contemporary Approaches in Geography: Area, Spatial, Locational & Geographic Systems Analysis
If geographers study people and places, exactly how do they look at the information they find? In this lesson, we'll examine contemporary approaches to studying geography, including spatial, area, locational, and systems analysis.

3. Environmental Determinism and Cultural Ecology: Definitions, Relation & Adaptation
How do cultures develop? How does the environment influence culture? In this lesson, we'll examine some of the historical and contemporary approaches to those questions, including environmental determinism and cultural ecology.

4. Types of Regions: Formal, Functional & Vernacular
There are many different ways to divide land up into regions. In this lesson, we'll look at the common types of regions in geography, including formal regions, functional regions, and vernacular regions.

5. Spatial Association of Culture Regions: Definition, Distinctions & Influences
Have you ever noticed that people who live near water eat a lot of fish? Or that rainforests are in areas that have a lot of rain and high temperatures? In this lesson, we'll look at spacial associations in geography, as well as how they relate to culture.

6. Geographical Similarities: Scale, Space & Place
You've probably heard, and even used, the words 'space' and 'place.' But do you know what they mean in the field of cultural geography? In this lesson, we'll look at how geographers define areas, including space, place, and scale.

7. Cultural Influence on a Geographic Region: Vocabulary
How does a culture spread? And how can we study the way that culture changes across physical space? In this lesson, we'll look at two approaches to cultural geography: the core-domain-sphere model and culture regions and realms.
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Other Chapters
Other chapters within the NMTA Social Science (303): Practice & Study Guide course
- NMTA Social Science: Historiography
- NMTA Social Science: Technology in Early Human Civilization
- NMTA Social Science: Mesopotamia
- NMTA Social Science: Ancient Egypt
- NMTA Social Science: Ancient China, Africa, India & America
- NMTA Social Science: History of the Ancient Near East
- NMTA Social Science: History of Ancient Greece
- NMTA Social Science: Hellenism & Athenian Achievement
- NMTA Social Science: The Rise of the Roman Republic
- NMTA Social Science: The Fall of the Roman Republic
- NMTA Social Science: The Dark Ages
- NMTA Social Science: The Early Middle Ages
- NMTA Social Science: The Medieval Warm Period
- NMTA Social Science: The High Middle Ages
- NMTA Social Science: The Late Middle Ages
- NMTA Social Science: The Renaissance
- NMTA Social Science: The Age of Exploration
- NMTA Social Science: The Reformation
- NMTA Social Science: The Elizabethan Era
- NMTA Social Science: Colonialism
- NMTA Social Science: Absolutism & Constitutionalism in Western Europe (1648-1715)
- NMTA Social Science: Power Shifts in Eastern Europe (1648-1740)
- NMTA Social Science: Empire & Expansion in the 18th Century
- NMTA Social Science: The Scientific Revolution & the Enlightenment (1500-1790)
- NMTA Social Science: The French Revolution & Napoleon Bonaparte (1780-1815)
- NMTA Social Science: Industrialization (1700-1900)
- NMTA Social Science: Political Developments (1760-1848)
- NMTA Social Science: The Age of Nationalism (1850-1914)
- NMTA Social Science: European Life & Trends (1850-1914)
- NMTA Social Science: Imperialism in the 19th & 20th Centuries
- NMTA Social Science: World War I (1914-1919)
- NMTA Social Science: Between the World Wars (1919-1939)
- NMTA Social Science: World War II (1939-1945)
- NMTA Social Science: Western Civilization Since 1945
- NMTA Social Science: First Contacts (28,000 BCE-1821 CE)
- NMTA Social Science: Settling North America (1497-1732)
- NMTA Social Science: The Road to Revolution (1700--1774)
- NMTA Social Science: The American Revolution (1775-1783)
- NMTA Social Science The Making of a New Nation (1776-1800)
- NMTA Social Science: The Virginia Dynasty (1801-1825)
- NMTA Social Science: Jacksonian Democracy (1825-1850)
- NMTA Social Science: Life in Antebellum America (1807-1861)
- NMTA Social Science: Manifest Destiny (1806-1855)
- NMTA Social Science: Sectional Crisis (1850-1861)
- NMTA Social Science: American Civil War (1861-1865)
- NMTA Social Science: Reconstruction (1865-1877)
- NMTA Social Science: Reconstruction & the Gilded Age (1865-1877)
- NMTA Social Science: Industrialization & Urbanization (1870-1900)
- NMTA Social Science: The Progressive Era (1900-1917)
- NMTA Social Science: American Imperialism (1890-1919)
- NMTA Social Science: The Roaring 20s (1920-1929)
- NMTA Social Science: The Great Depression (1929-1940)
- NMTA Social Science: Post-War World (1946-1959)
- NMTA Social Science: The Cold War (1950-1973)
- NMTA Social Science: Protests, Activism & Civil Disobedience (1954-1973)
- NMTA Social Science: The 1970s (1969-1979)
- NMTA Social Science: The Rise of Political Conservatism (1980-1992)
- NMTA Social Science: Contemporary America (1992-2013)
- NMTA Social Science: Basic Facts & Concepts of the Earth
- NMTA Social Science: Geographic Tools
- NMTA Social Science: Plate Tectonics
- NMTA Social Science: The Atmosphere
- NMTA Social Science: Weather & Storms
- NMTA Social Science: Glaciers
- NMTA Social Science: Oceans
- NMTA Social Science: Weathering & Erosion
- NMTA Social Science: Water Balance
- NMTA Social Science: Running Water
- NMTA Social Science: Geography of Languages, Religions & Material Culture
- NMTA Social Science: The Origin & Dispersal of Humans & Culture
- NMTA Social Science: Effects of Population on the Environment
- NMTA Social Science: Domestication of Plants & Animals
- NMTA Social Science: Ethnicity & Geography
- NMTA Social Science: Geography of Land Resources
- NMTA Social Science: Spatial Processes
- NMTA Social Science: Human Settlement Patterns
- NMTA Social Science: Economics & Geography
- NMTA Social Science: Roles & Functions of Social Institutions
- NMTA Social Science: Political Geography
- NMTA Social Science: Impacts of Humans on the Environment
- NMTA Social Science: Renewable Resources
- NMTA Social Science: Nonrenewable Resources
- NMTA Social Science: Environmental Sustainability
- NMTA Social Science: Food & Agriculture
- NMTA Social Science: Solid & Hazardous Waste
- NMTA Social Science: Environmental Risk Analysis
- NMTA Social Science: Environmental Ethics & Political Processes
- NMTA Social Science: Basic Terms & Concepts of Political Science
- NMTA Social Science: Political Theorists & Figures in Political Science
- NMTA Social Science: Constitutional Democracy
- NMTA Social Science: Forms of Government
- NMTA Social Science: Political Science Reference & Research Tools
- NMTA Social Science: Key Political Documents in the Creation of the U.S.
- NMTA Social Science: Landmark U.S. Supreme Court Decisions
- NMTA Social Science: Electoral Systems
- NMTA Social Science: Political Parties in the United States
- NMTA Social Science: U.S. Citizen Rights
- NMTA Social Science: Political Culture, Public Opinion & Civic Behavior
- NMTA Social Science: Civil Liberties in the U.S.
- NMTA Social Science: Civil Rights in the U.S.
- NMTA Social Science: The U.S. Federal Judicial System
- NMTA Social Science: U.S. Presidential Elections & Powers
- NMTA Social Science: The U.S. Congress
- NMTA Social Science: Interest Groups in Politics
- NMTA Social Science: Regulatory Agencies
- NMTA Social Science: The U.S. Court System
- NMTA Social Science: Constitutional Law in the U.S.
- NMTA Social Science: The Criminal Trial in the U.S. Justice System
- NMTA Social Science: The Juvenile Justice System
- NMTA Social Science: U.S. Foreign Policy, Defense Policy & Government
- NMTA Social Science: U.S. Federal, State & Local Government Interaction
- NMTA Social Science: Introduction to Economics
- NMTA Social Science: Scarcity, Choice & the Production Possibilities Curve
- NMTA Social Science: Demand, Supply & Market Equilibrium
- NMTA Social Science: The Federal Government & the American Economy
- NMTA Social Science: Inflation Measurement & Adjustment
- NMTA Social Science: Inflation & Unemployment
- NMTA Social Science: Macroeconomic Equilibrium
- NMTA Social Science: Money, Banking & Financial Markets
- NMTA Social Science: Resource Planning & Consumer Economics
- NMTA Social Science: Personal Finance Foundations
- NMTA Social Science: Credit & Debt
- NMTA Social Science: Savings & Investments
- NMTA Social Science Flashcards