GEOG-142 World Regional Geography

Credits 4 / 4 Contact Hours
Pre-requisite: Placement into ACRD 080 . 
A survey of the major geographic regions of the world. Emphasis on the physical environment population characteristics economic activities political organization and international relations.

Course Outcomes
STANDARD 1: A student should be able to make and use maps, globes, and graphs to gather, analyze and report geographic information.
A student who meets this performance goal should:
1. be able to use maps and globes to locate places and regions;
2 be able to draw maps;
3. understand how and why maps are changing documents;
4. be able to use geographic tools and technologies to depict and interpret the world’s human and physical systems;
5. be able to evaluate the importance of the locations of human and physical features interpreting geographic patterns; and
6. be able to use geographic tools and technologies to analyze and develop possible explanations and potential solutions to geographic problems.
STANDARD 2: A student should be able to utilize, analyze, and explain information about the human and physical features of places and regions.
A student who meets this performance goal should:
1. know that places have distinctive geographic characteristics;
2. be able to analyze how places are formed, identified, named and characterized;
3. be able to relate how people create similarities and differences among places
4. be able to discuss how and why groups and individuals identify with places
5. be able to describe and demonstrate how places and regions serve as cultural symbols;
6. be able to make informed decisions about where to live, work, travel, and see opportunities;
7. understand that a region is a distinct area defined by one or more cultural or physical characteristics; and
8. be able to compare and contrast how places and regions change with time.
STANDARD 3: A student should understand the dynamic and interactive natural forces that shape earth’s environments.
A student who meets this performance goal should:

1. be able to analyze the earth’s physical systems including ecosystems, climate systems, erosion systems, the water cycle and tectonics and how they interact;
2. be able to distinguish the functions, forces, and dynamics of the physical processes that cause variations in natural regions; and
3. understand the concepts used in studying environments so as to recognize the diversity and productivity of different regional environments.
STANDARD 4: A student should understand and be able to interpret geographic characteristics of human systems including migration, movement, interactions of cultures, economic activities, settlement patterns, and political units in the state, nation and world.
A student who meets this performance goal should:
1. know that the need for people to exchange goods, services and ideas creates population centers, cultural interaction, and transportation and communication links;
2. be able to explain how and why human networks for communications and for transportation of people and goods are linked globally.
3. be able to interpret population characteristics and distributions;
4. be able to analyze how changes in technology, transportation, and communication impact social, cultural, economic, and political activity; and
5. be able to analyze how conflict and cooperation shape social, economic, and political use of space.
STANDARD 5: A student should understand and be able to evaluate how humans and physical environments interact.
A student who meets this performance goal should:
1. understand how resources have been developed and used;
2. recognize and be able to assess local, regional, and global patterns of resource use;
3. understand the varying capacities and limitations of physical systems
4. be able to determine the influence of human perceptions on resource utilization and the environment
5. be able to analyze the consequences of human modification of the environment and be able to evaluate the changing landscape; and
6. be able to evaluate the impact of physical hazards on human systems.
STANDARD 6: A student should be able to use geography to understand the world by interpreting the past, knowing the present, and preparing for the future.
A student who meets this performance goal should:
1. analyze and evaluate the impact of physical and human geographical factors on major historical events;
2. analyze resource management practices to assess their impact on future economic quality;
3. interpret demographic trends to project future changes and impacts on human environmental systems
4. examine the impacts of global changes on human activity; and
5. utilize geographic knowledge and skills to support interdisciplinary learning.