1. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY SLOs and Understanding the Environment
C.J. Cox/ Air Pressure & Winds
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY SLOs and Understanding the Environment
Geography Dept. (916)

2. The
Little
Blue
Planet

3. Geographic Tools and Techniques – Maps, GPS,
GEOG 001: Physical Geography
Expected Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
Gain an understanding of physical geography as a systematic science, and an integrative, applied discipline that emphasizes location, distance, direction and spatial relationships in explaining the physical world around us.
Descriptive to Analytic, to Applied Geography
– What, Where, Why, How, and What If of things
Geography’s Three Perspectives – Spatial, Systems (Environmental), Scientific (Scientific Method), both Physical and Social Science
Spatial Concepts – location, place, region, mobility, human- environment interactions (5 spatial themes) + distributions, patterns
Geographic Tools and Techniques – Maps, GPS,
Remote Sensing, and GIS

4. Learn about the intricate processes that shape the varied patterns of landform, weather, climate, soil and natural vegetation, and how they impact on human activity.
Earth’s Cosmic Connections
– the rotating and orbiting little blue planet
Earth-Sun Relationships and Insolation
Earth’s Atmosphere and Heat Energy Budget
The Greenhouse Effect
The Ozone Hole
Day-Night, Seasons
Atmospheric and Oceanic Circulation
Weather and Climate
Weather Systems and Atmospheric Disturbances
The Hydrologic Cycle
Climate Classification and Climatic Regions
Global Warming and Climate Change

5. Earth’s Internal Structure – Core, Mantle, Crust
Rocks, Minerals and the Rock Cycle
Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics
Endogenic Processes – Volcanic, Plutonic and Tectonic
Exogenic Processes – Gradational Processes – Weathering, Mass Wasting, Erosion, Transportation and Deposition
Geomorphic Agents and Landform Regions
Appreciate the delicate human-nature interaction that result in numerous environmental hazards and challenges, from earthquakes and wildfires to global warming and climate change, and how the insights thus gained may help us deal with theses problems.
Environment as Opportunity
Environment as Hazard
Environmental Degradation
Environmental Management

6. Recognize maps, satellite imagery, GPS technology, GIS methodology as essential tools of geographic/spatial analysis, and how the related skills have proven invaluable in environmental planning and management efforts.
Cartography – the art and science of mapmaking
Map Projections and Map Basics
Maps – General Purpose, Topographic, Thematic
Surveying, GPS and Remote Sensing
Digital Mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Web GIS and Google Earth
Map reading and Map Interpretation
Role of Geography and GIS in Environmental
and Management