Geography 7

Dr. Melanie P. Renfrew, www.lahc.edu/earthscience/geography/

professorrenfrew@yahoo.com

When e-mailing, please i.d. your name & Geog 7 in the subject line.

Office Hours: MW 9:15-9:30, 12:35-1:35, 4:30-5:15; MW 9:45-10:15 p.m. (or when evening students finish lab or tests), in CV 4, or by appointment.

Geography 7 is an opportunity to ‘tour’ the world in a semester! I have organized the class so we will usually have a test every 2 weeks. This means for each world region, we will briefly go over highlights of physical features, population distribution, how people make a living (economic activities), language and religious groupings, and possibly, “geopolitical issues,” the textbook term for regional arguing over “turf.”

Textbook: Hobbs & Salter, Essentials of World Regional Geography, 5^th Ed., 2006. Thomson.

Required Materials: 8-9 Form 883 Scantrons (have matching and completion on back), pencils, eraser, 24-pack colored pencils, portable pencil sharpener to contain the shavings.

Course topics and Required Reading:

Tentative Test Schedule,

Record of scores:

I. Introduction to Physical and Human Geography Practice Quiz: 2/13

Read Chapter 1-all; Chap. 2: important topics listed in class Test 1: 2/20/08

Page through Chapters 15-16 and 22-23. Test 1 pts., grade:_____

II. Latin America Read Chapter 19, 20: Brazil, 21: Mexico, Test 2: 3/5/08

rest of Ch. 20-21: Photos, captions, & maps Test 2 pts., grade:_____

III. Europe Read Chapter 3, 5:125-135: Mediterranean Region; Test 3: 3/19/08

Chap. 4: Photos, captions, and maps. Test 3 pts., grade:_____

3/26 Spring break

IV. Russia and the “Near Abroad” (former USSR republics) Test 4: 4/9

Read Chapter 6; Chapter 7: Photos, captions, and maps. Test 4 pts., grade:_____

(This test will be shorter, and focus on maps & overview.)

V. Monsoon Asia Read Chapter 10, 12: 328-333 (Economic Test 5: 4/30

Pattern); Skim 11: 301-315 (India), 13: 355-374 (China); 14: Test 6 pts., grade:_____

380-394 (Japan); rest of Chapters 11-14: Photos, captions,

and maps. (An extra week is scheduled because this

region contains half the world’s population. Test may be longer.)

VI. Middle East, North Africa Read Chapter 8; Test 6: 5/14

Chap. 9: Photos, captions, and maps. Test 5 pts., grade:_____

VII. Africa South of the Sahara Read Chapter 17;

Chap. 18: Photos, captions, and maps.

VIII. Review, World comparisons (Review tests, Ch.1-2) Final Exam: 5/28

Final Exam includes Africa and world overview. 7:45-9:45 p.m.

Student Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of World Regional Geography, students will be able to:

1. For each world region, locate and identify major physical features (climates, biomes, rivers, mountain ranges, peninsulas, seas, islands, seas), spatial patterns of population, economic activities (how people are making a living in different areas), countries, major cities, and cultural features (e.g., patterns of dominant languages and religions).

2. List factors to measure economic and social development, and compare generalizations of More Developed Countries (MDC’s) with Less Developed Countries (LDC’s).

3. Compare capitalism and communism as major economic systems, and some of the geographic effects of capitalism vs. centrally planned economies (communist).

4. Be aware of stereotypes and common errors that come about by stereotyping, the fallacy of composition and fallacy of reduction.

5. In alliance with LA Harbor College campus goals, “demonstrate flexibility, tolerance, and respect for diverse cultures.“

6. It is intangible, but one of my goals as the professor is to create empathy and understanding for the people groups and ethnicities of the Earth. In every one of the 30+ countries I have lived or traveled in, I have found people who are generous, loving, and kind. People will generally respond to us as we treat them; and if we have negative stereotypes beforehand, even subconscious ones, they will affect how we act toward them. It is better to examine our attitudes first, see if we can change them to be fair, and that may result in some wonderful friendships across cultural lines.

Grading:

· Distribution: 90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 67-79% = C, 60-66% = D, < 59% = F.

· Your grade will be based on 6 tests and the final exam, homework, and possible quizzes.

· If you are on the border between two grades, I consider your attendance, respect, and effort shown by improvement on tests. Please turn off cell phones before class; no walking in and out of class to answer cell phones, no text messaging.

· Tests will have multiple choice, matching, completion, and possible essay questions on the videos, and each will have +20 map locations of the region under study (each worth ½ point). Some Scantron questions also require “mental map” knowledge of spatial patterns of population, climates, biomes, economic activities, physical features, etc.

· You can determine your grade mid-semester by adding the points you have earned, then dividing by the number of points possible up to that point. Drop the decimal to make the number a percentage (e.g., .78 would be 78%, a C+).

· There is not usually extra credit in Geography 7, although physical geography field trips will be announced if you’d like to come on a hike to learn outdoors. These are optional.

· No make up tests, without a medical excuse or emergency: you must notify me on e-mail by the day of the scheduled test (or call 310-233-4557, a number in an office I am not currently using because of campus construction, but I check it occasionally).

· Cheating and plagiarism will never be tolerated and will result in an F on the test, homework, or entire course. Plagiarism is using someone else’s work: do your own.

Levels and examples of economic activities: For each region, as you are reading, find 20 examples of how people make a living, that is, economic activities which provide jobs. They are like us. As you read, make a chart (see example on the board) according to their “level” or category: primary economic activities involve extraction of natural resources (specific food or cash crops, types of farming, minerals, fishing, logging). Some of these are raw materials for secondary activity, which is manufacturing into finished products (e.g., iron into steel, and then with plastics, upholstery and other materials into Volkswagen automobiles; cacao [cocoa] beans, milk, and sugar into Swiss chocolate). Tertiary activities involve the distribution of goods and services, the “service sector,” which includes trade, sales, transportation, communication, government, medical, financial, legal, and other services, recreation, education, etc. Quaternary activities have to do with information processing: the high-technology management of “data” (facts, information), and includes advanced computer processing, research and development (“R & D”), and silicon chip production. Make sure you understand examples given in class.

I will ask you in class what you found, and each test will have questions on these types of jobs, e.g. “List 3 crops typical of Mediterranean agriculture,” or “Which countries in Europe have quaternary regions with the nickname “Silicon” in them?” If you make your own charts from the text, listen in class and understand the different “levels” or categories, you will get these questions right.

Success in Geography 7:

Geography can be fun if you try! As you read the textbook, pretend you are traveling to these regions. Plan on 6 hours a week of reading and study time (text, charts, and maps) if you want to get an A. Students who do not study, do not usually pass.

Try to label and study maps of the next region on Thursday following a test, and review your notes within 24 hours of class time. For each region, remember to look back at world maps in Chapter 2 of population distribution, climates and biomes (vegetation), and 'Affluence and Poverty' (G.N.P. per capita). By the end, you’ll be able to compare regions, and see similarities and contrasts.

As we watch segments of the Power of Place series, watch the people’s expressions, and think about their families, jobs, and what is important to them. How do they survive? How do they make use of the land, and interact with others in their region? Are we connected with them? L.A. is like a microcosm of the world, and many of our neighbors come from these countries.

The world is a great place! It’s fascinating.