World Regional Geography: Geography 001 - Spring 2006

MWF 10:10 – 11:00

Room Lafayette 207

Dr. Sasha Davis

Office Rm. 208 Old Mill

Office Hours: Mon. 8:30 - 10 am, Wed 3:30 - 5 pm

or by appointment

Phone 656-2086 Email: Sasha.Davis@uvm.edu

TA – Anna Fleishman

Office Rm TBA

Office Hours: TBA

Email: afleishm@uvm.edu

Course Description:

The purpose of this course is to learn more about the world in which we live. As you will soon discover geography is about much more than just learning where countries, cities and mountains are located. While it is important to know where places are in the world, it is much more important (and interesting) to know how and why some places are different from others. Also, we will be learning about the ways in which different parts of the world are increasingly connected to each other, especially in this current age of globalization. Geography is a field of study that is proud to take a holistic approach that aims to understand a variety of processes (from geology, to climatology, to ecology, to history, to economics, to politics) and understand how they all come together to create the variety of places that exist in the world. By taking this course I hope you will learn more about the world in which you live and the processes that constantly remake it.

Course Requirements:

Lectures: I expect that you will attend lectures, add to discussions in class, complete the assigned readings before class, take the exams and quizzes, and be responsible for catching up on any notes missed during an absence. There may also be guest lectures in the class. If you miss a class I would suggest that you get the notes from a classmate and ask her/him about what we went over that day. Don’t miss the exam days!! If you are someone who may miss classes throughout the semester because of athletics or another university sponsored activity please let me know early in the semester so I can make note of it. Attendance will be taken and count as part of your final grade.

Readings:

There are two books for this class: World Regions in Global Context by Marston, Knox and Liverman (required) as well as Goode’s World Atlas by Espenshade (optional). Both are available at the UVM bookstore. Read the assigned material before the class for which it is assigned. We will discuss the readings in class and the material from the readings will be on exams.

Movies: From time to time we will be watching movies that demonstrate the concepts covered in the class. The information from the movies will be on the exams (Don’t fall asleep!).

Things you will be graded on:

Exams:

There will be 3 exams during the semester: Midterms in class are on Fri. Feb 17 and Fri. March 31 and the final is on Monday May 8 at 8am. The information from the exams will come directly from the class discussions, readings and movies. The final exam is NOT cumulative; it only covers information since the second exam. The exams will have a combination of multiple choice, short answer, and short essay questions.

Quizzes:

There will be 7 quizzes during the semester currently scheduled for: Jan 30, Feb 10, Feb 27, Mar 6, Mar 15, Apr 10, Apr 28. These will focus on knowing the location of countries, places, and physical features (mountains, rivers, etc) of the region we are discussing. Your grade will be based on your 6 highest quiz scores. In other words, the grade for the quiz you did the worst on (or missed) will be thrown out.

Unless you contact me with a reason why you can not make it to class on an exam or quiz day (trip for athletics for instance) at least 24 hours prior to the exam or quiz you can not make up a missed exam or quiz!

Attendance:

Attendance will be taken each day. There are points awarded to your grade for simply showing up (10% of the class). In addition, there are point penalties for missing too many classes. If you miss more than 3 classes during the semester you will start losing points at the rate of 25 points off final class points for each day missed (there are a total of 1000 points for the semester). In other words if you miss 4 classes you lose 25 points, 5 classes you lose 50 points (half a letter grade!), etc.

Grades will be distributed according to the following scale:

A+ 100-97; A 97-93; A- 93-90; B+ 90-87; B 83-87; B- 83-80; C+ 80-77; C 77-73; C- 73-70; D+ 70-67; D 67-63; D- 60-63; F= below 60.

This is how the points will break down:

Exams: 600 points (3 exams at 200 points each)

Quizzes 300 points (6 top scores out of 7 at 50 points each)

Attendance: 100 points

Academic dishonesty: Academic dishonesty includes plagiarism (submitting someone else’s work as your own), cheating, and fabrication of information or citations. It will result in a grade of “F” for this course. If you have any questions or uncertainty regarding this policy discuss them with me.

Access: I encourage persons with disabilities to participate in this class. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation in this course or have questions about physical access, please tell me as soon as possible.

Class Schedule:

(Note: This is an approximate schedule. If there are any changes to it I will announce it in class.)

Week 1: W, F Jan 18, 20 Reading

First class Wed. Jan 19: Introduction, What is Geography? Review syllabus

Fri. Jan 21: Maps and other tools of geography

Week 2: Jan 23, 25, 27

Mon. Jan 23: Global physical environment. Read Chapter One

Wed. Jan 25: Global physical environment

Fri. Jan 27: Global human geography and the regional approach Read Chapter Two

Week 3: Jan 30, Feb 1, 3

Mon. Jan 30: Issue: human/environment interaction. - Quiz on global geography

Wed. Feb 1: Guest Lecture

Fri. Feb 3: North America Read Chapter Seven

Week 4: Feb 6, 8, 10

Mon. Feb 6: Guest Lecture

Wed. Feb 8: Issue: The economic ‘core’ and the costs of affluence Read Chapter Three

Fri. Feb 10: Europe - Quiz over Europe/North America

Week 5: Feb 13, 15, 17

Mon. Feb 13: Russia and Central Asia Read Chapter Four

Wed. Feb 15: Russia and Central Asia

***Fri. Feb 17: Exam #1***

Week 6: No class Feb 20, Feb 22, 24

Wed. Feb 22: Middle East Read Chapter Five

Fri. Feb 24: Middle East

Week 7: Feb 27, Mar 1, Mar 3

Mon. Feb 27: North Africa - Quiz over Russia/ Central Asia / Middle East

Wed. Mar 1: issue: Colonialism, borders and resources.

Fri. Mar 3: Sub-Saharan Africa Read Chapter Six

Week 8: Mar 6, 8, 10

Mon. Mar 6: issue: ‘conflict diamonds,’ and instability in West Africa Quiz over Africa

Wed. Mar 8: Sub-Saharan Africa

Fri. Mar 10: South Asia Read Chapter Eleven

Week 9: Mar 13, 15, 17

Mon. Mar 13: South Asia

Wed. Mar 15: issue: Perspectives on population. – Quiz S. and SE Asia

Fri. Mar 17: South Asia / Southeast Asia - Last day to withdraw

*******Spring Break - Mar 20-24*******

Week 10: Mar 27, 29, 31

Mon. Mar 27: Southeast Asia Read Chapter Ten

Wed. Mar 29: Issue: Perspectives on resource use and control

*****Fri. March 31: Exam 2*****

Week 11: April 3, 5, 7

Mon. April 3: issue: Oil in the rainforest: environment and development.

Wed. April 5: Latin America Read Chapter Eight

Fri. April 7: issue: trade agreements, the IMF and Structural Adjustment Policies.

Week 12: April 10, 12, 14

Mon. April 10: Latin America – Quiz Latin Am.

Wed. April 12: Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea Read Chapter Twelve

Fri. April 14: issue: The science and politics of global warming and sea-level rise.

Week 13: April 17, 19, 21

Mon. April 17: Pacific Islands

Wed. April 19: issue: The legacy of nuclear weapons testing

Friday April 21: Pacific Islands

Week 14: April 24, 26, 28

Mon. Apr 24: East-Asia Read Chapter Nine

Wed. Apr 26: issue: Urbanization and the international division of labor.

Fri. Apr 28: East Asia – Quiz Australia / Pacific / East Asia

Week 15: May 1, 3 No class Friday. Last class Wed. May 3

Mon. May 1: East Asia

Wed. May 3: Wrap-up day. Last day of class.

***************Final Exam: Mon. May 8 at 8am*************************