GPH 210
World Regional Geography
Saint Martin's University
Course Syllabus
Langill Home
Dr. Richard L. Langill
Spring 2015
mail: rlangill@stmartin.edu
Office: Old Main #333
phone: (360) 438-4588 (Office)
360) 943-3258 (Home)
Office Hours TTh 9:30-11 & By appointment
GPH 210
Purpose of the Course
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to world regional geography.
The course will seek to highlight the distinctive feature of the various regions of
the world, their historical and cultural background, physical location and physical
features, resources, and economic components.
The instructor believes that students should have an understanding and
appreciation for the world in which they live. The instructor hopes that this
course will serve as a window on the world and provide a foundation for
understanding other countries, peoples, and ways of life.
Course Requirements
This course will be primarily a lecture course with discussion strongly
encouraged. The instructor expects students to keep up with the reading so they
will be able to participate more actively in these discussions. The instructor will
use a variety of AV tapes created by the textbook author to highlight various
aspects of this course. Multimedia resources and slides from the instructor’s
travels will also be used to give students a perspective on countries covered in
this course.
Grading Policy
Grades will be based on Four Examinations and your
participation/attendance. Each examination will count 20% of you total grade.
Your attendance and participation will also constitute the final 20% of the grade.
The grades for this course will be calculated as follows:
=100 points (20%)
=100 points (20%)
=100 points (20%)
=100 points (20%)
=100 points (20%)
=500 points
First Exam
Second Exam
Third Exam
Final Exam
Attendance/Participation
1
A=
B=
C=
D=
F=
500 - 450
450 - 400
400 - 350
350 - 300
300 - 250
Examinations
The examinations will consist of objective questions drawn from the textbook
and essay questions drawn from the textbook and lectures in class. Students
need to focus on the main concepts, ideas and issues discussed in the textbook
and class. Basic geographical knowledge of the regions will be essential.
PowerPoint Presentations
All class presentations for this course are available on the instructor’s Moodle
Homepage. I will use these slides in class. Students find it useful to run these off
before class and add whatever notes are appropriate on the file. This should make
your task easier. These materials are meant to be an outline not a complete set of
notes for this class. These materials are testable as well as the readings from the
textbook. These presentations can be found under the SMU Library’s Moodle
page for GPH 210.
Attendance
I consider attendance to be an important part of this course. Excessive absences
will be penalized. Students who miss more than 2 classes for any reason will
be penalized one half of a letter grade (25 points); students who miss more
than 4 classes will be penalized one letter grade (50 points). This policy will
be strictly enforced.
Required Textbook
H. J. de Blij and Peter O. Muller.
Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts. 16th Ed. 2013
Course Outline
Jan 13
Introduction to the Course
Jan 15
Introduction to World Regional Geography (1)
DeBlij pgs. 3-45
Jan 20-27
Europe (3)
DeBlij Chpt 1, pgs.49-105
Jan 29 - Feb 3 Russia and Central Asia (2)
DeBlij Chpt 2, pgs 106-149
Feb 5
First Examination
Feb 10-17
Central America and South America (3)
DeBlij Chpt 4, pgs. 204-287
2
Feb 19-24
Sub-Saharan Africa (2)
DeBlij Chpt 6, pgs. 288-341
Feb 26
Second Examination
Mar 3-17
North Africa and Southwest Asia (3)
DeBlij Chpt 7, pgs 342-399
Mar 19-31
South Asia (2)
DeBlij Chpt 8, pgs. 400-449
April 2
Third Examination
Apr 7-14
East Asia (3)
DeBlij Chpt 9, pgs 450-521.
Apr 16-21
Southeast Asia (2)
DeBlij Chpt 10, pgs 522-569.
Apr 23-30
Australia / New Zealand / Pacific Is. (3)
DeBlij Chpts 11-12, pgs 570-604
Final Examination--- May 7th @ 8 am
3