GEO150 Europe Russia North America Middle America South

GEO-150 Europe, Russia, North America, Middle America, South America, and Australia / New Zealand Instructor: Tom Broxson Library 138 Office Hours: 11: 00 -12: 00 M, T, W, Th, F and by appointment E-mail: tbroxson@pierce. ctc. edu Office Phone: (253) 840 -8491 Course objectives: To gain an appreciation of the world’s lands and people. There are no prerequisites, and an effort is made to make the material accessible to the broadest possible range of students. Historical and contemporary geographical questions are considered in the context of the cultural, physical, and biological landscape. Emphasis is placed on understanding and critically thinking about the historical and geographical roots of each region's social, economic, and ecological problems. The class can serve as a basic preparation for travel, business, government service, journalism, or volunteer work, as well as for elementary or secondary school teaching. Numerous slides, maps, and videos will illustrate each topic. Course description: An introduction to the rich variety of peoples, traditions, and landscapes in the geographic realms of Europe, Russia, North America, Middle America, South America, and Australia / New Zealand. Emphasis is on the origins and evolution of the diverse cultural heritages of these regions, their interactions with the world as a whole, and on present interaction between these peoples and their environments. Textbook: Realms Regions and Concepts in Geography H. J. de Blij, Peter O. Muller Atlas: You will find an Atlas very helpful for this course, and if you do not already own one you should consider buying one and keeping it along with other basic reference books like a dictionary and thesaurus. Student's responsibilities and strategies for success: - ATTEND CLASS REGULARLY and BE ON TIME. You are responsible for all classroom discussion and assigned readings from the textbook and other sources the instructor may introduce. If you miss a class, please arrange to obtain notes from another student. - Read the assignments and take notes. I will introduce ideas and images and give examples not found in the text. This information is fair game for exams and will be helpful to weekly assignments. - Combine and rewrite your notes from lectures and the readings. - Arrange for adequate time to prepare for exams. - Ask questions in and out of class, and if you have trouble with the material, ask for help! - Respect your fellow students and instructor. The classroom is an environment where we can share diverse opinions, viewpoints, and experiences. Grading: Map Quizzes 10% 20 pts each. Know the locations of the countries, cities, bodies of water, mountain ranges and islands, etc. given on the place name list distributed separately. Class attendance and participation 5% or 50 pts. You will be asked many questions in class and in group discussions over assigned readings and lectures. Take your best shot at answering the questions posed verbally. These points are to encourage you to be in class actively participating! Online Multiple Choice Quiz: 5% or 10 pts each Online Discussions: 10% or 10 pts each (10 total) Online Critical thinking Exercises 10% or 20 pts each set Midterm 1 20% or 200 pts Midterm 2 20% or 200 pts Final Exam 20% or 200 pts

Map Quizzes: Each geographic realm will have an introductory map quiz over assigned places to know. The purpose of these quizzes is to familiarize students with where cultural and physical features are, before we begin a more detailed discussion of the geographic processes at work in that particular place. Online Multiple Choice Quiz: For each realm of the world we study, you will receive a multiple Choice quiz on the course ANGEL web site. The quizzes can be taken multiple times and are designed so that you can test your reading comprehension before taking in class exams. Online Discussions: For each realm of the world we study, I will assign two discussion topics. The discussions topics will be from assigned readings or videos. The discussions will be held on the course ANGEL web site. Online Critical thinking Exercises: For each realm of the world we study, you will receive an assignment composed of several questions which are designed to familiarize you with the material covered in your text and in class. Answers will require critical thinking about cultural, physical, and environmental information pertaining to that geographic realm. Exam essay questions will be drawn from these assignments. Critical thinking exercises will be submitted via the course ANGEL web site. Exams: Will be structured to test knowledge of, concepts, explanations, and solutions. The tests will include multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions. The student is responsible for all the material in the readings, and lectures, including maps, slides, and other graphics. Week Topic 1 Introduction 2 -3 Europe Quizzes/ Exams Reading Assignment Introduction LOCATION QUIZ 1 (Europe) Chapter 1 MID-TERM EXAM 1 Covers lectures, & 4 Russia LOCATION QUIZ 2 (Russia) 5 -6 North America LOCATION QUIZ 3 (North America) Intro, Ch 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 MID-TERM EXAM 2 Covers lectures, & ch 2, ch 3 7 Middle America LOCATION QUIZ 4 (Middle America) Chapter 4 8 -9 South America LOCATION QUIZ 5 (South America) Chapter 5 • The Austral Realm LOCATION QUIZ 6 (The Austral Realm) 11 FINAL Exam Covers lectures, & Chapter 11 Ch 4, 5, 11 I am here to help you learn! Please feel free to come by my office (or e-mail) at any time to discuss any questions or problems that you may have with the course material from lecture or the textbook, with the computer, e-mail, WWW, or any other matter that you'd like to discuss. I'll be glad to try to help you find solutions!

Places to Know Quiz: ch 1. Europe: countries and capitals, Atlantic Ocean, North Sea, Black Sea, Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, Irish Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Bay of Biscay, English Channel, Straits of Gibraltar, Alps, Pyrenees, Pennines, Rhone River, Carpathian Mountains, Thames River, Seine River, Rhine River, Danube River, Po River, Dnieper River, Elbe River, English Channel, Loire River, Oder River, Tagus River, Sicily, Apennines Mountains, Corsica, Sardinia, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belgrade, Donetsk, Frankfurt, Lyon, Milan, Munich, Stuttgart

Places to Know Quiz: ch 2. Russia: countries and capitals, Amur River, Angara River, Baltic Sea Barents Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, Crimean peninsula, Don River, East Sea, Irtysh River, Kamchatka Peninsula, Kola Peninsula, Kloyma River, Kurile islands, Lake Baykal, Lena River, Northern Dvina River, Ob River, Sakhalin island, Sea of Azov, Sea of Okhotsk, Ural Mountains, Verkhoyansck Mountains, Volga River, Yenisey River, Baki, Groznyy, Irkutsk, Kazan, Kransnodar, Murmansk, Omsk, Perm, Rostov, St Petersburg, Samara, Saratov, Tibilisis, Ufa, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Yakutsk, Yakiteringurg

Plases List #2 North America Places to Know Quiz: ch 3. Anglo-North America: countries and capitals, States, Provinces and capitals, Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, Pacific, Atlantic & Arctic Oceans, Gulf of Mexico, Rocky Mountains, Appalachian Mountains, Arkansas River, Canadian Shield, Cascade Mountains, Colorado River, Columbia River, Frazer River, Great Plains, Mississippi River, Missouri River, Ohio River, Mackenzie River, Platte River, Rio Grande River, St. Lawrence Seaway, Sacramento River, San Joaquin River, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Snake River, Yukon River, Mojave Desert.

Places to Know Quiz: ch 4. Middle America: countries and capitals, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Caribbean Sea, Lago de Nicaragua, Gulf of Mexico, Golfo de Panama, Istmo (Isthmus) de Tehuantepec, Sierra Madre Oriental, Sierra Madre Occidental, Sierra Maestra, Puerto Rico, Panama Canal, Yucatan Peninsula, Baja Peninsula, Rio Grande (major river), Lesser Antilles, Greater Antilles, Acapulco, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juarez, Colon, Guadalajara, Guantanamo, Monterey, Tijuana, Hispaniola

Places to Know Quiz: ch 5. South America: countries and capitals, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Caribbean Sea, Drake Passage, Estrecho de Magallanes (Straits of Magellan), Andes Mountains, Brazilian Highlands, Guiana Highlands, Patagonia, Pampas, Lake Titicaca, Amazon River, Parana River, Orinoco River, Atacama Desert, Altiplano, Cape Horn, Cauca River, Falkland Islands, Lake Maracaibo, Magdalene River, Negro River, Pantanal Wetlands, Paraguay River, Tierra del Fuego, Uruguay River, Belem, Cali, Cartagena, Cordoba, Cuzco, Iquitos, Manaus, Mendellin, Recife, Rio De Janeiro, Salvador, Sao Paulo

Places to Know Quiz: ch 11. Australia and New Zealand: countries and capitals, Bass Strait, Canterbury Plain, Cape York Peninsula, Cook Strait, Darling River, Gulf of Carpentaria, Great Australian Bight, Great Barrier Reef, Great Dividing Range, Great Sandy River, Great Victoria Desert, Murray River, North Island, Southern Alps, Tasman Sea, Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane Canberra, Christchurch, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, Sidney