GY 105 Section 001: World Regional Geography
Spring, 2010
3 Credit Hours
Primary Instructor: Amanda Espy-Brown
Core Designation: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Office: Farrah Hall, Room 326
Office Hours: Monday 8:00-9:00 a.m.; 12:00-1:00 p.m.; Friday 8:00-9:00; and by appointment
Office Phone: 348-2734
Course Description: This course introduces world geographic regions and the political, economic, cultural, physical and spatial characteristics that make them distinct from other regions. Emphasis will be placed on the distribution of these landscape features and their interactions with one another. A focus will be placed on the dynamic and complex relationship between human activity and physical environment in shaping the various regions of today’s world and the lives of their populations.
Course Goals and Objectives: At the conclusion of this course students will ideally have a better knowledge of the actual location of the world’s regions and states and their distinct political, economic, cultural, physical and spatial characteristics. This knowledge, combined with a better understanding of the regions’ current challenges, problems, connections and interrelationships, should allow students an improved foundation for interpreting world events, ongoing conflicts, diverse cultures, increasing interconnectedness and the implications of these.
Learning Outcomes: Students completing this course should be able to:
1. Appropriately apply map skills to locate places and features on the Earth’s surface as well as apply those map skills to better understanding of current geographic realities.
2. Locate and describe world regions, their important geographic features, both physical and human, and the spatial organization of those regions.
3. List the major factors used to measure different levels of economic and social development and demonstrate understanding of how these factors affect current core-periphery relationships.
4. Identify and display understanding of the complex interactions between physical features and human activity that create distinctive world regions and produce unique challenges, particularly those pertaining to environmental degradation.
5. Demonstrate knowledge of the current issues and trends concerning world population challenges, both in the developed and developing worlds.
6. Demonstrate knowledge of the concept of culture, the processes by which it is shaped, the cultural diversity displayed throughout the world, and the part culture plays in current international relationships.
7. Identify and analyze current world events based on understanding of the five major themes of geography.
Introduction to World Regional Geography Pages 1-32
Topics of Special Interest: Location, Location, Location
A World Divided
Europe (Chapter 1) Pages 46-95
Topics of Special Interest: Supranationalism
Centripetal/Centrifugal Forces
Social Welfare
Aging Populations
Eastern Europe and Russia Pages 95-102; 135-148
Shatter Belts and Balkanization
Post-Communist Economies
North Africa/Southwest Asia (Chapter 7) Pages 342-395
Topics of Special Interest Environmental Challenges
Oil and Gas
Religious Conflict
Survey of Asia (Chapter 8) Pages 400-449; 453-521
Topics of Special Interest World Poverty Issues
World Population Issues
Agriculture and the Green Revolution
Culture and Society: The Caste System
Subsaharan Africa (Chapter 6) Pages 290-341
Topics of Interest AIDS
Ethnic Cleansing
Development and the Developed World
The Austral and Pacific Realms (Chapters 11 and 12) Pages 570-609
Topics of Interest Biogeography
Marine Geography
Antarctica
2 Lecture Tests @ 25% each = 50%
Final Exam @ 25% = 25%
3 Map Tests @ 5% each = 15%
Map Final @ 5% = 5%
Journal @ 5% = 5%
100%
Journals: Journals will include 12 weeks of current event articles and summaries. This is an on-going assignment and must be worked on throughout the semester. Detailed description of journal requirements will be discussed in class, given to you in handout form, and posted on ELearning. A GY 105 Reading Table is set up on the third floor of Farrah Hall in the map library as a resource for this assignment.
Final Grade: Your final grade will be calculated based on the following:
2 Lecture Tests @ 25% each = 50%
Final Exam @ 25% = 25%
3 Map Tests @ 5% each = 15%
Map Final @ 5% = 5%
Journal @ 5% = 5%
100%
Grading Scale: 90-100=A; 80-89=B; 70-79=C; 60-69=D; Below 60=F
Grades on ELearning: Test grades will initially show on Testing Services which can be accessed through the Academics tab on MyBama. You will only be able to access these grades after a test if you have correctly entered your campus-wide i.d. number on your scan sheet. These grades will be entered into our ELearning site. Check these grades to make sure that they have been recorded accurately. Extra credit points will only be entered as a cumulative grade on ELearning at the end of the semester. It is your responsibility to keep up with your attendance and extra credit points throughout the semester.
Test Accommodation Policy: Students must take all tests including the final examination at their regularly scheduled times! Students requesting special accommodation pertaining to makeup examinations must do so in writing at least a week prior to mid-semester tests and at least two weeks prior to the final examination. Students who miss a regularly scheduled test without prior permission must contact me by phone or e-mail on the day of the missed test and must have adequate documentation of a medical emergency. This does not include regular doctor’s appointments or illnesses not being treated by a physician.
***All requests for a makeup will be forwarded to the departmental chair for a decision and should include the student’s phone number and e-mail address. The departmental chair is responsible for making all such decisions based upon the legitimacy of the documentation provided by the student. Students must understand that makeup examinations are provided only for legitimate, verifiable reasons and not for convenience.
Make-up Exams: Make-ups are given the following days ONLY. There will be NO MAKE-UPS FOR MAKE-UPS. They are always held on Fridays at 3:00 p.m. in Room 220 in Farrah Hall.
Map Test #1 and Lecture Test #1: Friday, February 19th
Map Test #2 and Lecture Test #2: Friday, April 16th
Map Test #3: Friday, April 30th
Tardiness to an Exam: You must be on time to take all examinations. Departmental policy dictates that after the first student has completed the test and left the classroom, NO ONE will be allowed to begin the test. In other words, if you are late for a test and someone has already completed the test and left the classroom, you will not be allowed to take the test and will therefore receive a 0 on the test.
Absence Policy: I expect full attendance at each class meeting; however, there will be no official policy concerning class attendance. It will benefit you greatly to always be present because the easiest and best way of learning and understanding the material discussed in this class will be to be present and attentive!!! If you do miss a class, obtaining class notes from a classmate is entirely up to you – some materials will be available on ELearning, but in general my notes and overheads will not be made available to students outside of class.
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The Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Policy will be followed in the event of academic misconduct.
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