World Regional
Geography
GEA 2000, Summer B, U02B
Class Location: GL 165 Time: 12:30-3:15 p.m.
M,W
Instructor: Benjamin Smith Email: bsmith@fiu.edu
Office: DM 437B Office Phone: 348-2074
Office Hours: Monday &
Wednesday 11:45 -12:15, 3:30-4:00 or by appointment
Teaching Homepage Which You Must Check Frequently: http://www.fiu.edu/~bsmith/teaching.htm
So you want to know everything there is to know
about the world in 6½ weeks? (or perhaps
fulfill a requirement)
Either way, you have
come to the right place. It is my hope
that this course will be one the broadest ranging, most chocked full o’
information courses you will take in college.
I also hope it will be one of the most enjoyable. For nearly every area of the world, we will
discuss environment, politics, culture, economy… well just about
everything. We will cover not only what
is out there, but also the major patterns and processes which cut across
regions that explain why what is out there is where it is.
This is a foundational course.
Consider this course
to be “anatomy of the world.” In
medicine, anatomy is the foundation of everything. You cannot operate, prescribe medicine or do
anything particularly effectively (or at least not know why it is effective)
without knowing anatomy. This course is
the equivalent for geography, but I would also argue it is potentially equally
foundational for many of you who are not in geography. If you are in business, chances are some
aspects of your operation (raw materials, labor, suppliers, customers, etc.)
will be located outside the local area.
If you are an engineer, environmental factors and social factors help
determine what is appropriate to create, as well as how it is created. If you’re a doctor, you will be treating
patients from all over the world, and it helps to know a little bit about where
they are from. Law is getting
increasingly internationalized, and the list goes on and on. And as a human being, who has respect for
other human beings, it is important to know what the rest of planet is
like. Gaining basic knowledge about the
world and how it works is the first step to becoming a good citizen of the
world.
This means there
will be a lot of information and
ideas presented in this course, but I think it will be information that will in
someway be useful, or at least enlightening, for you. Thus you must come prepared to class, and be
prepared to learn.
This short
course will be information intense!!! If you do not study a
little bit multiple times a week, you will be in a world of hurt.
There are only two
tests, plus four map quizzes. If you
bomb a test (since there are only two, instead of three), it will be hard to recover. I will trim the amount of information
presented and the size of study guides some from when I taught this course in
the fall, but you will still need to learn a ton of stuff. If
you don’t think you can handle the quick pace, take the course in the fall.
1.
Have a basic awareness about what is out there in the
world. This includes countries,
economic activities, international institutions, environmental problems,
cultural complexes, etc. This does not mean
you will need to know the name of every mountain, river, and provincial capital
in the world. But it does mean that
when some place or some issue is raised in the news, other courses, etc. you
have an idea about what is being discussed, or at least enough of an idea to
begin to learn more based on related information.
2.
Understand major processes that shape the world. Very little of
what happens on Earth happens in isolation.
Large processes – such as trade, religion, and migration – cut across
countries, regions, and hemispheres.
Thus, it is not enough to know what is out there; it is equally
important to understand how things work.
3.
Be able to critically examine what you hear about the
world. This course is not about you adopting mine, or anyone
else’s, perspective on the world. What
this is about is realizing that there
are multiple perspectives about many of the world’s big and little issues, and
being able to examine your’s and others’ assumptions about how the world
works. This does not mean not having a position, only a willingness to examine other
perspectives on their own terms.
World
Regional Geography (without sub-regions): Global Patterns, Local Lives, 3rd Edition. By
Student Atlas of World Geography, 4th Edition. By John Allen.
McGraw-Hill/Dushkin. ISBN: 0-07-299846-6
Monday, July 2, Class will not meet
(instructor out of town) – PowerPoint and mp3 lecture on
Wednesday, July 4, No Class, University Closed
Wednesday, July 11, First Map Quiz – North America, Middle/South
Monday, July 16. Second Map Quiz – Europe,
Wednesday, July 18, First
Exam
Monday, July 23, Third Map Quiz – North Africa, Southwest Asia,
Sub-Saharan
Thursday, July 24, Last Day to Drop Course with DR grade
Monday, July 30, Fourth Map Test – South Asia, East Asia,
Wednesday, August 8, Final
Exam
Grading
There will be 400 total points available in this class, broken
down as follows:
50 points: Map Quizzes
150 points:
Exam 1
200 points: Exam 2
400 points Total
The
grading scale is A = 100-93%, A- = 92.9-90%, B+ = 89.9-87%, B = 86.9-83%, B-
=82.9%-80%, C+ = 79.9-77%, C = 76.9-73%,
C- = 72.9-70%, D+ = 69.9-67%, D = 66.9-63%, D- = 62-60% F = 59-0%, which
translates to, in points:
A : 400 thru 372 points
A-: 371 thru 360 points
B+: 371 thru 348 points
B: 347 thru 332 points
B-: 331 thru 320 points
C+: 319 thru 308 points
C: 307 thru 292 points
C-:
291 thru 280 points
D+: 279 thru 268 points
D: 267 thru 252 points
D-: 251 thru 240 points
F: 239 thru 0 points
Each exam will be a combination of multiple choice,
matching, and short answers/miniature essays, drawn from lectures, readings,
videos, etc. – basically anything covered in class or assigned in reading.
On the final, there will be a section very much like
the first test that only covers material presented since the first test. On top
of that, there will be an additional section which will have a small number of
short essays which address global topics – I will give a list of these
questions will in advance, and you will get to chose from a number these on the
exam. Thus:
Exam 1: 150
pts (all material from beginning of class).
Final Exam: 200 pts (150 pts of material since second
exam, plus 50 points worth of essay on
global topics)
Throughout the semester there will be four map
quizzes, which test your knowledge of where the world’s stuff is on maps. The features that will be tested include, but
are not limited to: countries, cities, rivers, seas, mountains, peninsulas, and
sub-regions.
You will be given a study list in advance of each map
quiz, to help make your task easier.
Map quizzes will contribute a maximum of
50 points towards your final grade.
However, there will be more than 50 points of map questions offered
during the semester. This means you can miss several questions on
map quizzes over the course of the semester, and still receive the full 50
points. This means if you have one poor
quiz, or solid, if not perfect, performance on all quizzes, then you will still
receive full points.
While I realize this is a short semester, it still
helps you greatly if you quickly read the chapter before coming to class. I basically lecture from the book (with a little
bit of added material of my own), and having an idea of what is coming up in
lecture will help you greatly with keeping up with my pace. It’s a repetition thing – you are my likely
to remember if you see it in the book, then here it from me, then finally learn
it through studying for the exam.
Attendance and Participation
As a way to help soften the blow of a more compressed schedule and
fewer possible point getting opportunities, I will be giving bonus points for
those with good attendance and participation.
Therefore, I will take attendance every class at some point. Here is how it will work:
Miss 0 or 1 class:
12 bonus points (3% of final grade)
Miss 2 classes: 6 bonus points (1.5% of final grade)
Remember,
3% is almost always a step up in grade from A- to A, C- to C, etc, so it is
well worth your time to show up.
Participate
actively in lecture. This means actively
processing the information and participating where appropriate. Ask questions and engage (which means no reading of the
newspaper, use of cell phone or mp3 player, or doing homework for other
classes), while being respectful of other students and their opinions.
As the instructor, I have the right to not give the bonus points to any
student whom I feel is not participating actively or in a constructive way even
if they are in class.
I
want everyone do well: being in class and engaged is a big part of that.
Excused
absences include serious illness; illness of a spouse or dependent; death of an
immediate family member; University-sponsored trips; and major
religious holy days. It is your
responsibility to inform me of the absence in advance of class by e-mail (and
within 2 weeks of the start of class if it is a university trip or holy day),
but no later than two class sessions after the missed class. In order to have an absence excused, you must
provide original documentation which I can keep. If this is done, and I determine the absence
to be excused, I will do my best make sure you make up what you missed.
Make-up
exams and quizzes will only be given in extreme circumstances. The
make-up exam will not be the same one given to those who took the test on the
established date, and will be given during the final examination period, during
which time you will take both the make-up exam/quiz and the final. To sit a make-up exam, you must 1)
provide documentation to me in class within two class periods of the missed
exam/quiz addressing why your absence qualifies as excused 2) have that documentation
accepted by me 3) email me asking to be given a make-up exam and 4) receive
back an email from me confirming a make-up exam will be given.
Your
choices to attend or not attend have consequences – just like they would at
work. I take my responsibilities and
role as a teacher seriously; I hope you hold your role and responsibility as a
student in equal respect.
Teaching Website, On-Line
Articles, and Updates
At the top of this document, you will find the
address for my teaching homepage, which is http://www.fiu.edu/~bsmith/teaching.htm
. There will be a copy of the syllabus
there, the course schedule, handouts, exam quiz review sheets, and links to in class
reading assignments – anything I hand out.
In addition, I will keep a blog (which will be accessible from the
teaching page) for this class on which I will post announcements (such as the
unlikely event of a class cancellation), answer questions and link to articles
which are related to the class that I come across. Thus,
if you have a question about the structure of the class (due dates, test
structure, etc.), check the website and the blog, because the answer will
probably be there.
Office Hours & Making Contact
My office
hours are posted at the top of this document.
If you are having trouble at all,
I strongly encourage you to stop by or call during office hours, or make an
appointment to do so. My job is to
help you learn, not just to assign grades.
I will also
try my best to answer questions via e-mail, but realize that apart from
teaching this class, I am also doing research and administrative work, thus the
quickest, best way to get an answer is to stop by or call me during office
hours.
Academic Integrity and Cheating: