What makes a region: formal, functional and perceptual regions

Grade 9 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Card A. The Heartland, in Norvia (made up for practice). In 2004, 1,000 adults were asked which provinces they count as “the Heartland”. Share who marked each: Tarn 94 percent, Elby 88, Marrow 71, Quill 46, Sedge 23, Vorn 9. In 2024 another 1,000 adults were asked. Tarn 92 percent, Elby 85, Marrow 52, Quill 51, Sedge 40, Vorn 11. The 2004 sample came from telephone lists in every province; the 2024 sample came from internet users. Card B. Three Heartland maps (made up). The tourism office’s rule: a province is in if more than half of the adults surveyed marked it. A farm group draws the Heartland by crop type and gets Tarn, Elby, Marrow, Quill and Sedge.

2. 1.

   Using the tourism office’s more-than-half rule on both surveys, how did the Heartland change, Ari asks?

   • Marrow drops out and Quill joins, since Marrow’s share fell by 19 points
   • Nothing changes: the same three provinces lead in both surveys
   • Quill joins (46 to 51 percent), and Marrow stays in, but only just (52)
   • Quill and Sedge join, since both rose by more than 5 points
3. 2.

   The tourism office and the farm group draw different Heartlands. Why, Esme asks?

   • Different definitions: survey shares draw a perceptual region, crop type a formal one
   • The farm group should drop Sedge, since under half of the adults marked it in 2004
   • Both are perceptual regions, since both use the shared name “Heartland” for the place
   • One of them made an error and should redraw its map to match the other one

4. Use this

   Card C. The Coastal Strip (made up). Five towns from west to east: Pell, Quay, Rhos, Sand and Tarr, all with a mild, wet climate. Quay is the ferry hub. Ferry trips a week to Quay: Pell 4, Rhos 21, Sand 30, Tarr 2. A rail line also joins Rhos and Sand to the inland city of Marl, with 25 trains a week from each.

5. 3.

   Which description of Rhos do the cards support, Jun asks?

   • It must be placed in just one of those regions, the one it is most strongly linked to
   • It lies in the formal Strip, Quay’s ferry region and Marl’s rail region at once
   • Quay’s ferry region alone, since 21 trips a week is a strong link to the hub
   • Marl’s rail region replaces the Strip, since rail ties are stronger than a shared climate
6. 4.

   A planner wants one ferry region. Pell has 4 trips a week and Tarr 2. What follows, Kira asks?

   • It depends on the cutoff: at 10 trips a week it holds Rhos and Sand, at 2 trips all five
   • Tarr is in and Pell is out, since Tarr lies closer to the hub at Quay than Pell does
   • All five towns form one ferry region, since the towns all share a mild, wet climate
   • Pell and Tarr have no ferry link, since 4 and 2 trips a week are too few to count
7. 5.

   Sand has 30 ferry trips to Quay and 25 trains to Marl. Which statement is best supported, Luz asks?

   • Sand belongs to Quay’s region alone, since its 30 ferry trips are more than 25 trains
   • Sand ties to two centers, so a Quay map and a Marl map would overlap at Sand
   • Sand is a node, since it has the most trips to the hub of any of the towns
   • Sand is linked to Marl more than to Quay, since a train is faster than a ferry boat

8. Use this

   Card D. The Dry Belt (made up). A formal region: a place is in if it gets under 250 mm of rain a year. Readings by distance east, in km: 0 km, 270 mm; 40 km, 255 mm; 80 km, 249 mm; 120 km, 262 mm; 160 km, 241 mm; 200 km, 238 mm; 240 km, 250 mm; 280 km, 260 mm.

9. 6.

   Under the Dry Belt’s rule, which readings fall inside the Belt, Milo asks?

   • 80, 160, 200 and 240 km
   • 160 and 200 km, the two driest readings
   • 80, 160 and 200 km
   • The readings from 80 to 200 km, since the Belt is one unbroken stretch
10. 7.

    The 120 km reading is 262 mm, between two Belt stations. What does it say about the Belt’s western edge, Noah asks?

    • No single clean line fits there: an outside reading sits between two inside ones
    • The Belt is two separate regions, one at 80 km and one from 160 to 200 km
    • A rainfall rule cannot define a formal region, since this edge is uneven
    • The 120 km reading is an error and should be dropped to keep the edge clean

11. Use this

    Card C. The Coastal Strip (made up). Five towns from west to east: Pell, Quay, Rhos, Sand and Tarr, all with a mild, wet climate. Quay is the ferry hub. Ferry trips a week to Quay: Pell 4, Rhos 21, Sand 30, Tarr 2. A rail line also joins Rhos and Sand to the inland city of Marl, with 25 trains a week from each.

12. 8.

    Ren’s note says: “A functional region has one center and one border.” Which fix fits the Coastal Strip?

    • Change it: Rhos and Sand link to Quay and to Marl, so regions can overlap
    • Change it: functional regions have no borders, just a center and its links
    • Change it: a functional region has two centers, here Quay and Marl
    • Leave it: the five towns share one climate, which gives the region a single border

13. Use this

    Card A. The Heartland, in Norvia (made up for practice). In 2004, 1,000 adults were asked which provinces they count as “the Heartland”. Share who marked each: Tarn 94 percent, Elby 88, Marrow 71, Quill 46, Sedge 23, Vorn 9. In 2024 another 1,000 adults were asked. Tarn 92 percent, Elby 85, Marrow 52, Quill 51, Sedge 40, Vorn 11. The 2004 sample came from telephone lists in every province; the 2024 sample came from internet users. Card B. Three Heartland maps (made up). The tourism office’s rule: a province is in if more than half of the adults surveyed marked it. A farm group draws the Heartland by crop type and gets Tarn, Elby, Marrow, Quill and Sedge.

14. 9.

    Tala’s note says: “In 2004 the Heartland was Tarn, Elby, Marrow and Quill.” Which fix is right?

    • Leave it: 46 percent is close enough to half to count as part of the Heartland
    • Change it: add Sedge too, since 23 percent of the adults still marked it as Heartland
    • Change it: Quill’s 46 percent is under half, so only Tarn, Elby and Marrow were in
    • Change it: drop Marrow, since its share had fallen to 52 percent by the 2024 survey

15. Use this

    Card D. The Dry Belt (made up). A formal region: a place is in if it gets under 250 mm of rain a year. Readings by distance east, in km: 0 km, 270 mm; 40 km, 255 mm; 80 km, 249 mm; 120 km, 262 mm; 160 km, 241 mm; 200 km, 238 mm; 240 km, 250 mm; 280 km, 260 mm.

16. 10.

    Zee’s note says: “The Dry Belt is a perceptual region because its edge is hard to draw.” Which fix is right?

    • Change it: it is formal, set by a rainfall rule; the rough edge is in the readings
    • Change it: it is perceptual when more than half of surveyed adults named it a region
    • Change it: it is functional, since rain moves from the east toward the west
    • Leave it: a hard-to-draw edge shows that people disagree about it, as perceptual regions do