Course Syllabus

GEOG 1300 People and Places of the World

Course Description

This course is a study of the major geographical regions of the world, emphasizing the interrelationships between people and the natural environment. The course focuses on the following topics in a region-by-region tour of the world: physical landscape features, population and settlement, cultural influence and coherence, geopolitics, and economic/social development. Special attention is paid to current global issues, natural hazards, and the effects of globalization.

Justification

Today, we live in an interconnected world of travel, trade, tourism and high-speed communication that reaches into the most remote corner of the globe. A knowledge of this world beyond our borders is a crucial asset in an age of growing interregional and international relationships. Geographers use a spatial perspective to study these relationships. In this course, students learn not only where geographical realms and areas are located, but why they are located where they are and how they connect to the rest of the world. There is a strong interdisciplinary relationship between geography and many of the social and natural sciences. Those students taking this class to fulfill a general-education requirement will gain an enhanced understanding of geography's role across the curriculum, be well prepared to take upper-level courses in geography and related social and natural sciences, and be more aware of places and issues in the world we call home.

General Education Outcomes

1. A student who completes the GE curriculum will have a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world, with particular emphasis on American institutions, the social and behavioral sciences, the physical and life sciences, the humanities, the fine arts and personal wellness.  This outcome will be achieved through focused textbook readings, classroom lectures, current-event discussions, and online reading assignments. This outcome will be assessed through a combination of examinations, discussion-board activities, map quizzes, and constructed essay assignments related to current global events.
2. A student who completes the GE curriculum can read, retrieve, evaluate, interpret, and deliver information using a variety of traditional and electronic media. This outcome will be achieved through focused textbook readings, classroom lectures (delivered and posted to Canvas), in-class and online current-event discussions, and online reading assignments. This outcome will be assessed primarily through discussion-board activities, map quizzes, and constructed essay assignments related to current global events.
3. A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively about nature, culture, facts, values, ethics, and civic policy. This outcome will be achieved through focused textbook readings, classroom lectures, current-event discussions, and online reading assignments. This outcome will be assessed through a combination of examinations, discussion-board activities, and constructed essay assignments related to current global events.
4. A student who completes the GE curriculum can either (a) solve a problem using information and methodologies from more than one discipline; or (b) identify the College’s general education outcomes and explain ways in which they have achieved those outcomes.  This outcome will be achieved through focused textbook readings, classroom lectures, current-event discussions, and online reading assignments that address the multiple intersections between geography and the natural/social sciences. This outcome will be assessed through a combination of examinations, discussion-board activities, map quizzes, and constructed essay assignments.

General Education Knowledge Area Outcomes

1. This outcome will be achieved through lectures, readings, and discussions of regional cultural histories across the world in terms of population and settlement, cultural change, and economic/social development. This outcome will be assessed through examinations, discussion-board posts, and constructed-response essays. This outcome will be achieved through lectures, readings, and discussions of regional cultural histories across the world in terms of population and settlement, cultural change, and economic/social development. This outcome will be assessed through examinations, discussion-board posts, and constructed-response essays.
2. Develop and communicate hypothetical explanations for individual human behavior within the large-scale historical or social context. This outcome will be achieved through lectures, readings, and discussions related to the regional population behavior through the lens of land use and changing settlement patterns over time. This outcome will be assessed primarily through discussion forums and essay questions on examinations.
3. Draw on the social and behavioral sciences to evaluate contemporary problems using social science research methodology. This outcome will be primarily achieved through the discussion of current global events and will be assessed in constructed-response essay assignments.
4. Describe and analytically compare social, political, economic, cultural, geographical, and historical settings and processes other than one’s own. This outcome will be achieved through lectures, readings, and discussions of regional cultural histories across the world in terms of population and settlement, cultural change, and economic/social development as they relate to varied natural environments. This outcome will be assessed through examinations, maq quizzes, discussion-board posts, and constructed-response essays.
5. Explain and use the social-scientific method to test research questions and draw conclusions. This outcome will be primarily achieved through the discussion and analysis of current global events and will be assessed in constructed-response essay assignments and discussion-board posts and activities.
6. Write effectively within the social science discipline, using correct disciplinary guidelines, to analyze, interpret, and communicate about social science phenomena. This outcome will be achieved through the analysis of current global events and will be assessed through the construction of short analytical research papers and selected discussion-board assignments.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Complete the class with an enhanced spatial perspective of the world in which they live.
2. Locate all the world's significant regions and most of the world's countries and major cities.
3. Identify many of Earth's specific physical features, as well as the processes related to their formation and presence.
4. Express familiarity with current global affairs that occur during the general timeframe of the course.
5. Understand the interconnectedness of the global economy and how dependent the United States is upon trade with other countries.
6. Evaluate the many differences between those who live in the "developed" world and those who live in the less-developed areas of the world.
7. Appreciate their own circumstances and determine ways that they can help less fortunate citizens locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally through awareness and action.

Course Content

This course provides an introductory-level examination of the dynamics of human/environmental interactions across different regional scale levels on Earth. The first part of this course presents the basics of world regional geography, examining how geographers describe spatial aspects of human settlement history, culture, geopolitics, economic and social development, and natural environments from a global perspective. Then, the course studies the world through a region-by-region tour of different, but interrelated areas, including but not limited to North America, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, the Russian Domain, East Asia, South Asia, and Australia/Oceania. The course applies the basic knowledge and terminology from the first part of the course in explaining the similarities and differences between each of these important world regions. Additionally, the course explores how groups from different world regions have interacted at a global scale over time.