Examples of cultural regions include Scandinavia, Latin America, and the Bible Belt. Examples of global regions include areas with similar soil types, religions, climates, languages. Examples of local regions include school districts, newspaper-circulation areas, and zip code and zoning areas. Ask students to analyze their list of regions by looking for similarities and differences among the regions. Before you continue, make sure students understand that all regions encompass a specific area and are different from other regions in a significant way.
Regions can be any size.
Ask students to define regions in a complete sentence or two. Give each student a copy of an outline map of the United States and two colored pens or pencils. Designate a separate color to outline the boundaries of each region. Students may need to consult reference maps or atlases for this exercise. Next, on a separate sheet of paper, have students explain why they drew the boundaries for each region where they did.