Course Objectives
GEOG V01
As of Fall 2014
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to demonstrate the following
measurable skills and abilities:
1. Define the discipline of geography and the concepts of spatial distribution and analysis.
2. List/use basic elements of maps, including scale, legends, direction, title, grid, and key
projection types.
3. Identify the basic elements of a GIS system and how GPS/remote sensing is involved.
4. Analyze in detail the system of latitude and longitude, including time zones and sun angle, and
calculate time differences on a globe using knowledge of latitude and time zone.
5. Define and provide specifics on the positions of Earth/Sun as they relate to insolation, and
define basic Earth heating terms, such as solar constant, convection, etc.
6. Define processes of ocean/atmospheric circulation relating to hear transfer, and inventory and
diagram the Earth's major wind belts, pressure systems, and movements of ocean gyres
(including warm and cold currents).
7. Name, diagram, and evaluate the basic compositional and temperature layers of Earth's
atmosphere in order from the surface upward.
8. Characterize the basic cloud types and their associations with rising air, storm systems, and
mountain barriers (including the impact of dry and wet adiabatic lapse rates).
9. Locate basic Koppen climate types (e.g., tropical rainforest, tundra, etc.) on a global map; and
compare/contrast continental and marine climate types, and the temperature patterns of each.
10. Identify, define, and compare the three main tectonic plate boundary types, their features, and
their geologic activities (including folding and general fault types).
11. Appraise concepts of volcanic/earthquake activity in relationship to plate boundaries,
diagram the relationship between the locations of tectonic plates and of mountain ranges, and
inventory on a map the types of mountains generated from plate boundaries.
12. Evaluate the three main types of volcanic mountains and their eruptive trends and features.
13. Identify the basic landscape features, including depositional processes, of rivers, glaciers,
wind, coasts, and karst.
14. Inventory the primary types of physical and chemical weathering of rocks.
15. Analyze the basics of mass-wasting and examples of fall, slide, flow, and creep.
16. Locate world desert regions and itemize major causes for their distribution on the Earth.