Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Fall 2016 | Page 18

New Perspectives

Exploring Human Geography With Mr. Nelson
Human Geography challenges students to think
critically through the study of social organization and
its environmental consequences. The subject uniquely
interconnects several content areas including culture, land
use, demographics, and economics.
With a grimace, Thornton Academy teacher Mike Nelson
explains that Human Geography is often cut from social
studies curricula around the country. Most students, he
says, study physical geography—“learning all the countries,
capitals, rivers, mountains…learning the ‘where.’ But
Human Geography is really looking at the ‘why.’”
In contrast, enrollment in TA’s Advanced Placement
Human Geography has skyrocketed from 0 to 119 students
since 2012 and propelled a successful capture of a Maine
WorldQuest title this year. This popularity does not surprise
Mr. Nelson, “Everything that students hear about in the
news from population to politics relates to one of the units
we cover in class,” he says. “The class mantra is ‘geography
is in everything and everything is in geography’ from
what you had for breakfast, to the clothes you are wearing,
to how you get to school or work, where you live, the
businesses you frequent, etc. It is by far the most relevant
course any student has the opportunity to enroll in.”

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BY EMMA DEANS

With students from thirty-five countries around the
world joining the Thornton Academy community, diverse
perspectives enhance classroom discussions. Mr. Nelson
points out, for example, how Americans distinguish seven
continents (North America, South America, Europe, Asia,
Africa, Australia and Antarctica), while Latin Americans
and Europeans view the world through the lens of five
continents (America, Eurasia, Africa, Australia and
Antarctica).
Human Geography students complete a project for each
of the units in the course. In the popular Agriculture unit
students conduct a grocery store field study called “Seed to
Supermarket.” This involves researching and mapping where
their food comes from and the miles it has traveled, while
exploring issues related to organic vs. non-organic, free
range, and genetically modified organisms. Mr. Nelson also
incorporates local history into his lessons by examining the
shift in the mills of downtown Saco/Biddeford from means
of production to places of commerce. “We have to answer
why those jobs are outsourced and look at the impact it has
on not only Saco/Biddeford, but the entire country,” Mr.
Nelson says.
Global learning at Thornton Academy extends beyond the
classroom and many of the AP Human Geography students

Thornton Academy’s WorldQuest teams included students from the Maine towns of Saco and Arundel, as well as the countries of
Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Kazakhstan. Our teams are “so representative of the world,” said Mr. Nelson (far right).