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Instructor: Sarah Null

Office: 354 NR Office Hours: 9:30-10:30 MW, or by appointment Canvas email

SI Leader: Patrick Barrus (patrick.barrus@gmail.com) Undergrad Teaching Fellow: Katelyn Boyer (katelyn.boyer@aggiemail.usu.edu) Course website: Canvas (https://canvas.usu.edu/) Questions: Public questions posted to Canvas Discussion section (read through first to see if your question has been posted) Private Questions: Canvas email

Why Physical Geography?

Physical geography is an interdisciplinary natural science that explores Earth’s systems (the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere) and the linkages between them. It is the science concerned with the interaction of the physical elements and processes that make up the environment: energy, air, water, weather, climate, landforms, soils, animals, plants, and Earth. Students in the course gain understanding of the physical world surrounding them. Students learn through lectures and guest speakers, by watching films and videos, participating in class questions and surveys, and by completing course readings.

Geography 1000 - Physical Geography

Fall 2015 MWF 8:30 – 9:20 am

BNR 102

Course Objectives:

1. Gain factual knowledge (terminology, classifications, methods, trends). 2. Learn fundamental principles, generalizations, or theories. 3. Develop specific skills, competencies, and points of view needed by professionals in the field.

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Textbooks/Course Materials: de Blij et al. - Physical Geography: The Global Environment (4th Edition) i-Clicker – Register your clicker at iclicker.com to connect your clicker

with your A number * Additional readings may be assigned on Canvas Grading: Quizzes – 10 given throughout the semester, each worth 10 points. Quizzes are posted on Canvas Thursday at 1:00 pm and due Friday by midnight. Quizzes are done outside of class in Canvas. They are open book/note. They must be finished within 2 hours after starting quiz. Clicker questions – Given in class. Each question is worth 1 extra credit point. Notes can be used, but questions are timed. Mid-term exams – There are 3 midterms, each worth 300 points. Midterms are given in class (see schedule for dates). Final exam – The final is comprehensive and will cover all course material. It is worth 300 points. The final exam is Dec. 14, 7:30-9:20 am in BNR 102.

Midterm and Final Exam Rules: Each student’s lowest exam (midterm or final) will be dropped. Exams are closed note/book; however, students are allowed both sides of one 3.5” x 5” notecard of notes during exams (notecards must be turned in with exams). Letter grades will be assigned based on total points out of 1000. Attaining 90% will guarantee an A-, 80% a B-, 70% a C-, and 60% a D-. Final scores may be curved. Make-up Policy: Missed exams (midterms and final) can only be made-up for emergencies or excused absences. Students must provide documentation showing where they were during exams (e.g., doctor’s note, court date notice, letters from coaches for athletes…) to schedule a make-up exam. Clicker surveys are extra credit and cannot be made up. Quiz make-ups are given in the rare circumstances when students are unable to access the internet for 2 days (and document their excused absence). An essay will be assigned in place of the missed quiz.

Mid-term exams I, II, III, Final 900 pts Quizzes 100 pts Clicker questions Extra credit Total 1000

points

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Academic Integrity: All exams and assignments are to be completed individually. Students are expected to adhere to the standards of academic honesty. Cheating or falsifying information are grounds for disciplinary action and a failing grade in this course. Acts of Academic Dishonesty from USU Student Code Article V: Cheating includes intentionally: (1) using or attempting to use or providing others with any unauthorized assistance in taking quizzes, tests, examinations, or in any other academic exercise or activity; (2) substituting for another student, or permitting another student to substitute for oneself, in taking an examination or preparing academic work; (3) acquiring tests or other academic material belonging to a faculty member, staff member, or another student without express permission; (4) engaging in any form of academic fraud. Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: Students with ADA-documented physical, sensory, emotional or medical impairments may be eligible for reasonable accommodations. Veterans may also be eligible for services. All accommodations are coordinated through the Disability Resource Center (DRC) in room 101 of the University Inn, (435) 797-2444. Please contact the DRC as early in the semester as possible for assistance. Alternate format materials (Braille, large print, digital, or audio) are available with advance notice.

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Rough Schedule

Date Topic Reading/Exams W

k 1

Aug 31 Class policies, syllabus, and expectations Unit 1 – Introducing Physical Geography

1-11

Sept 2 Unit 2 & 3 – Planet Earth 14-41 Sept 4 Unit 4 – Earth-Sun Relationships 42-52, Quiz 1

Wk

2 Sept 7 Labor Day Holiday No class

Sept 9 Unit 5 - Radiation and Heat Balance 53-63 Sept 11 Unit 6 – Composition and Structure of the

Atmosphere 66-81, Quiz 2

Wk

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Sept 14 Solar Energy and Electricity (Guest Lecture – Mike Taylor)

Sept 16 Unit 7 & 8 - Temperatures of the Lower Atmosphere, Air Pressure and Wind

82-102

Sept 18 Unit 9 & 10 - Circulation of the Atmosphere and World Ocean

103-127, Quiz 3

Wk

4 Sept 21 Unit 11 – Atmospheric Moisture and Water

Balance 128-141

Sept 23 Unit 12 – Precipitation, Air Masses, and Fronts 142-154 Sept 25 Unit 13 – Weather Systems 155-169, Quiz 4

Wk

5 Sept 28 Storms (in-class film)

Sept 30 Midterm 1 Oct 2 Unit 14 – Climate Classification &

Regionalization 172-181 (no quiz)

Wk

6 Oct 5 Unit 18 – Natural Climate Change 214-225

Oct 7 Unit 19 – Global Warming & Human Impacts on Climate

226-241

Oct 9 Climate Change (in-class film) Quiz 5

Wk

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Oct 12 Unit 27-29 – Planet Earth in Profile, Igneous, Sedimentary & Metamorphic Rocks

324-353

Oct 14 Midterm 1 review Oct 16 Fall Break No class (no

quiz)

Wk

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Oct 19 Unit 30 & 31 – Plates of the Lithosphere, Plate Movement: Causes and Effects

354-373

Oct 21 Unit 32 - 34 – Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Faults

374-405

Oct 23 Unit 36 –Weathering Processes 415-423, Quiz 6

Wk

9

Oct 26 Unit 37 – Mass Movements 424-433 Oct 28 Midterm 2 Oct 30 Unit 38 & 39 - Water in the Lithosphere, Slopes

and Streams 434-455 (no quiz)

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Wk

10

Nov 2 Unit 40 & 41 - Fluvial Landscapes and Landforms (Guest Lecture – Patrick Belmont)

456-479

Nov 4 Unit 43 – 45 - Glacial Erosion, Deposition, and Landscapes

492-524

Nov 6 Midterm 2 Review Quiz 7

Wk

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Nov 9 Unit 47 - Wind as a Geomorphic Agent 532-541 Nov 11 Unit 48 & 49 – Coastal Processes, Landforms

and Landscapes 542-561

Nov 13 Unit 22 & 23 – Properties, Classification and Mapping of Soils (Guest Lecture – Antra Boca)

262-284, Quiz 8

Wk

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Nov 16 Unit 21 – Formation of Soils 252-260 Nov 18 Biomes of Utah (Guest Lecture – Mark Larese-

Casanova)

Nov 20 Unit 24 - Biogeographic Processes 285-297, Quiz 9

Wk

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Nov 23 Unit 25 – The Global Distribution of Plants 298-309 Nov 25-27 Thanksgiving Break No Class (no

quiz)

Wk

14

Nov 30 Ecosystems and Ecology (in-class film) Dec 2 Midterm 3 Dec 4 Unit 26 – Zoogeography: Spatial Aspects of

Animal Populations 310-321 (no quiz)

Wk

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Dec 7 Unit 26 – Zoogeography: Spatial Aspects of Animal Populations (cont.)

Dec 9 Earth and the Human Denominator Dec 11 Midterm 3 & Final Review Quiz 10

Dec 14 Final Exam 7:30 – 9:20 am in BNR 102