SYLLABUS

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Course Goal

The goal of this course is to introduce students to basic concepts in physical geography. As an introductory course, it assumes students have little or no background in physical geography. Topics covered include: (1) the atmosphere: atmospheric processes, weather, and geographic patterns of climate, (2) the biosphere: soil and vegetation processes, and resulting geographic patterns, (3) the hydrosphere: water in all its phases, movement, and geographic distribution, and (4) the lithosphere: the formation, modification, and geographic distribution of various landforms. Emphasis is on processes driving physical systems on the earth, interactions between physical systems, and human interaction with the physical environment. The sum of these environmental processes and interactions result in specific geographic patterns to all aspects of the earth's physical environment. By the end of the semester, students should have an understanding of basic environmental processes and the global geographic environmental patterns resulting from those processes.

Course Objectives

The objectives of this course are:

to gain a basic understanding of the processes of the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere.
Due to the number and complexity of these processes, we will not be able to explore any one process in depth. The objective is to get an overview of these processes.

to learn the geographic patterns to the earth’s physical environment.
Since this is a geography course, place and spatial pattern are very important. We will discuss the environmental characteristics of specific places, as well as the global spatial patterns to the environment. To this end, everyone must have some basic place-name knowledge. At the end of this syllabus you will find a Location List, a list of places you need to learn on your own. You may use any atlas (print or electronic) for this purpose.

to gain an appreciation of the interconnectedness of all aspects of the earth’s physical environment.
Atmospheric processes affect the biosphere and the lithosphere, while processes of the biosphere and lithosphere may in turn affect the atmosphere. Water (the hydrosphere) connects the other three spheres: precipitation comes from the atmosphere; living organisms need water to survive; and water helps shapes the landscape. Everything in the environment is connected in some way.

to learn some of the technical skills required for the study of geography and the environment.
These include skills at reading, interpreting, and creating maps; skills at reading and interpreting air photos; skills at reading, interpreting, and creating graphs and charts; skills for collecting and interpreting data; and math skills.

to develop critical thinking skills.
It is not enough to know something (e.g. a “fact”); you also need to know why that information is important, and when and how we might use that information. You need to be able to apply what you know. It is always more difficult to apply information than just to know it, however, if you do not know how to apply information, then that information just becomes trivia. In this class you will be required to use information for solving problems, analyzing situations, and predicting what places might be like.

Format & Policies

Attendance

You are expected to attend lecture. You are responsible for all material covered in lecture. Lecture material provides the basis for our laboratory work and not all of this material is covered in assigned readings.

You are required to attend lab. Some of the materials required for lab may not be available outside of the scheduled lab time, and if you miss class, you may not be allowed to make-up that work. You are expected to finish lab exercises during the lab period. You may not leave lab early unless you have finished your exercise or have received permission to leave early.

Exams and quizzes should be taken at the scheduled time (see the course calendar below). Make-up exams or quizzes are only allowed for extreme cause and with a verified excuse.

If you need to miss a class for a legitimate reason (e.g. for a class field trip or university sponsored event in which you are participating), your supervising instructor should provide you with an excuse. Be sure to give me a copy of that excuse before the scheduled event. You are still responsible for all material covered and should get notes from a fellow student.

Cell Phones

Cell phones should be turned off or set to vibrate during class. Cell phones may not be used during exams or quizzes; they must be put away.

Student Rights and Responsibilities

UWSP has specific guidelines regarding student rights and responsibilities in class and on campus explained here.
Student academic standards and disciplinary procedures are explained here.
More information is available here.

Readings

You are expected to do assigned readings (listed on the course web site) before coming to class. You should read these pages critically, asking questions as you go – What does this mean? Why is it important to the study of physical geography? When and how would I use this information? How does this information relate to other information we’ve learned in class? As you do the readings, ask yourself the following questions: What did I learn that I didn’t know before? What did I already know, but gained a better understanding of? What am I still confused about?

Class Participation

Class participation is welcome and encouraged!! Ask questions or contribute comments during class, both lecture and lab, related to the topic under discussion or related to assigned readings. Ask questions before and after class. Use my office hours! Use email to ask questions! The more you participate, the more you will learn – and only you can learn the material (no one else can learn it for you). So participate in class!

Required Material

McKnight, T.L. & D. Hess (2002) Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation (7th ed). Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Available as a rental text.
Lemke, K.A., M.E. Ritter & N. Heywood (2007) The Physical Environment: Laboratory Manual for Introductory Physical Geography, edition 7. Available from Gamma Theta Upsilon/Geography Club for approximately $18.00. A representative from the club will come to the first lab class to sell lab manuals. Make checks payable to UWSP.
Lab materials: pencils, eraser, colored pencils (or pens), calculator. You must purchase these.

Internet Resources and Email

There is a large web site for this course which contains your assigned readings, lecture outlines, diagrams, review questions, practice tests, and grade information (you're at it - explore it!).

In addition to using the Internet, we will occasionally use email. You will be required to submit some of your assignments via email, and I may use email to send out announcements to the class. Please use your university email account for all communication with me regarding this course. Many students have their own email accounts with other providers such as Yahoo or Hotmail, but because of the way the University’s email spam filter is set up, emails sent from these other providers do not always make it through to me. As a result, any time you submit assignments via email, or email me questions on the course material, please do this through your university email account. You can access that account from any computer linked to the internet through: http://email.uwsp.edu/. I strongly encourage you to use email to ask questions, particularly if you have conflicts with my office hours. You can email me questions anytime, but please be aware that I do not leave my email running all day. I check my email twice a day, once in the morning and once before I go home in the evening. I try to respond to emails within a day, except on weekends (I don’t check email on weekends).

Location List

Since this is a geography course, location is important. Following is a list of places, features, and states which you should know. Every test will include some questions from this list. An outline map of the world and an outline map of North America map are included with your lab manual. Outline maps may also be obtained from the Arizona Geographic Alliance and from theUniversity of Alabama Cartographic Research Lab. Use these outline maps to help you learn the items below. You may use any print or electronic atlas to locate items on the list; you do not need to buy an atlas. Some online atlases include: worldatlas.com, CIA World Factbook - Reference Maps, andHolt, Rinehart & Winston World Atlas.

1. Continents and Oceans

North America, South America, Europe & Asia (Eurasia), Africa, Australia, Antarctica

Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arctic Ocean

2. North America

Political features: Canada, United States, states of the U.S. including Alaska & Hawaii, Greenland

Physical features: Coast Mountains & Ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Rocky Mountains, Appalachian Mountains, Great Plains, Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Plain, Aleutian Islands

Water features: Mississippi River, Missouri River, Ohio River, Colorado River, Snake River, Rio Grande, the Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario), Hudson Bay, Gulf of Mexico

3. Middle and South America

Political features: Mexico, Belize, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile

Physical features: Andes Mountains (Cordillera de los Andes), Atacama Desert, Pampas

Water features: Amazon River

4. Eurasia (Europe and Asia)

Political features: Iceland, Ireland, United Kingdom, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Mongolia, China, North and South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines

Physical features: Alps, Arabian Peninsula, Himalayas, Tibetan Plateau, Gobi Desert

Water features: Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Aral Sea, Lake Baykal, Ganges River, Yangzi River (Chang Jiang), Yellow River (Huang He)

5. Africa

Political features: Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa

Physical features: Atlas Mountains, Sahara Desert, the Sahel (also called the Sudan, but do not confuse this region with the country called Sudan), Namib Desert, Kalahari Desert

Water features: Nile River, Congo River, Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi), Red Sea

6. Australia and New Zealand

Political features: Australia, New Zealand

Physical features: Great Sandy Desert, Great Victoria Desert, Great Dividing Range, Southern Alps

7. Antarctica

Karen A. Lemke: klemke@uwsp.edu
Last revised January 16, 2007