GEOG 101 – Physical Geography

DETAILS Semester-hour credits: 3 Tuition: $448.50 Methods: COURSE OBJECTIVE The goal of this course is two-fold: to give you a better understanding of the world in which you live and to strengthen your mental map of the world. Increasing regional conflicts throughout the world, coupled with recent political changes, highlight the need to understand geographic relationships. COURSE PURPOSE Physical geography focuses on the Earth’s physical landscape. Its task is to describe and explain the components of the natural environment, their distribution and processes involving their interrelationships. To Accomplish this, physical geographers draw on several natural sciences, among them sciences of the atmosphere (meteorology, climatology), oceans (oceanography), solid earth (geology), landforms (geomorphology), soils (soil science) and vegetation (plant ecology, biogeography). As a branch of geography, physical geography also emphasizes spatial relationships – the systematic arrangements of environmental elements into regions over the earth’s surface as well as the causes of those patterns. REQUIRED MATERIALS & TEXTBOOKS Tom L. McKnight and Darrel Hess, Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation, 9th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2008 (ISBN: 13-978-0-13-223901-1, package includes text, atlas, and lab manual) These texts are available through the campus bookstore. Please contact them at 719-549-2146. The books are already packaged together for your convenience. They are also available separately through other outlets. COURSE REQUIREMENTS You will be required to submit eleven (preferably typed) assignments.  Each assignment has required reading with review questions at the end of each chapter and corresponding lab activity intended to assist in the process of becoming more knowledgeable with course material. You will be required to submit six newspaper, news magazines, or internet article summaries organized in a portfolio. The written summary should consist of a minimum 1-2 pages (3 pgs maximum), double-spaced typed. Be sure to include the article title, source, date, page number(s) and a copy of the article itself. DISCLAIMER: Tuition, credits, medium, description, instructors, books, materials, homework assignments, grading scale, and availability are subject to change without notice. For the most up-to-date status, please contact the Continuing Education staff.