GPH 210
|
GPH
210
Purpose of the Course The purpose of this course is to introduce students to world regional geography. The course will seek to highlight the distinctive feature of the various regions of the world, their historical and cultural background, physical location and physical features, resources, and economic components. The instructor believes that students should have an understanding and appreciation for the world in which they live. The instructor hopes that this course will serve as a window on the world and provide a foundation for understanding other countries, peoples, and ways of life. Course Requirements This course will be primarily a lecture course with discussion strongly encouraged. The instructor expects students to keep up with the reading so they will be able to participate more actively in these discussions. The instructor will use a variety of AV tapes created by the textbook author to highlight various aspects of this course. Multimedia resources and slides from the instructor’s travels will also be used to give students a perspective on countries covered in this course. Grading Policy There will be Four Examinations and a Poster Assignment will be required of all students in this course. Each examination will count 20% of you total grade. The Poster Assignment will constitute the final 20% of the grade. The grades for this course will be calculated as follows:
Examinations The examinations will consist of objective questions drawn from the textbook and essay questions drawn from the textbook and lectures in class. Students need to focus on the main concepts, ideas and issues discussed in the textbook and class. Basic geographical knowledge of the regions will be essential. Think Piece Students will be required to write a short "Think Piece" on a foreign film. The requirements for this assignment and the list of films are explained at the following link which can also be found on the first page of this syllabus. Foreign Film List PowerPoint Presentations All class presentations for this course are available on reserve in the SMU Library. I will use the PC in class. Students find it useful to run these off before class and add whatever notes are appropriate on the file. This should make your task easier. These materials are meant to be an outline not a complete set of notes for this class These materials are testable as well as the readings from the textbook.Attendance I consider attendance to be an important part of this course. Excessive absences will be penalized. Students who miss more than 2 classes for any reason will be penalized one half of a letter grade (25 points); students who miss more than 4 classes will be penalized one letter grade (50 points). This policy will be strictly enforced. Required Textbook H.
J. de Blij and Peter O. Muller.
Course Outline
|