Catalogue Description.  GGY 130. Introduction to Physical Geography (4) Spatial distribution of environmental elements and processes, including weather and climate, groundwater, soils, rocks, plate tectonics, landforms, and vegetation. Three lecture and two laboratory hours each week.

Lecture.  9:00 9:50 MWF, 114 DeLoach Hall. This course will include lectures, PowerPoint presentations, Internet demonstrations, and animations from the “Student Animations CD” packaged with the textbook. Students are responsible for changes to the class schedule and assignments that may be announced in lecture and posted to the course web site. 

Question of the Day.  Roughly once a week, I will ask you to write a short response to a “Question of the Day” in class and hand it in. These are used to randomly check attendance at the time the question is asked. Each question is worth one extra credit point that will be added to the lecture grade. Make-ups will not be offered for missed Questions of the Day.

Lab.  The small-group laboratory meetings are an essential part of this class that allow for discussion and demonstrations of the topics covered in lecture. Please note these lab policies:

• Labs meet in 116 DeLoach Hall beginning the week of Aug. 29-31. Before the first lab, you should complete the first Pre-Lab Assignment (first green page in the Student Workbook). Please bring your textbook and Student Workbook to lab each week.
• The lab is worth 50% of your overall course grade (150 of 300 total points). A passing lab grade (at least half the lab points) is required to pass the course as a whole.
• Lab attendance is necessary and mandatory. Students are allowed one unexcused absence during the semester. Additional absences will seriously hurt your lab grade because make-up work is not accepted except under extraordinary circumstances.
• Click here for the lab schedule and syllabus.

Short Paper Assignment.  Students will complete a 2-3 page paper in which you choose a location in the United States and discuss its climate, vegetation, and soils. The paper will be graded by your lab instructor, it is worth the same number of points as an exam and it will be considered part of your lab grade. The short paper is due at the start of lecture on Monday, November 14.  Click here for the short paper assignment.

Grading.  Final grades are based on a ten point scale (A: 93-100, A-: 90-92, B+: 87-89, B: 83-86, B-: 80-82, etc.). Your final course grade is based on exams, extra credit, and the lab grade.

          50 points    Exam 1 (In class Friday Sept. 30)
          50 points    Exam 2 (In class, Friday Nov. 4)
          50 points    Exam 3 (10:00-11:00am, Friday Dec. 9)
          (+15 pts)    Question of the Day (Extra credit)

        150 points    Laboratory Grade

        300 points    Total Possible

Course Goals / Learning Outcomes.  After completing GGY 130 you should be able to:

• Identify the factors that control patterns of climate, biota, soils, hydrologic systems, plate tectonics, and landforms, and explain the processes responsible for producing those patterns.
• Evaluate the causes of change in natural systems and predict the possible effects of human activities on those systems.
• Evaluate the evidence leading to key theories and discoveries in the earth sciences including atmospheric circulation, biological evolution, plate tectonics, and records of the ice age.
• Explain the data sources and analytical methods employed by physical geographers to address key environmental problems, and use these methods to describe and classify climate types, biomes, soil orders, volcanoes, and landforms.
• Identify and measure the important properties of landforms on topographic maps.
• Describe and explain the unique geographic characteristics of a place in the United States, with reference to the operative natural processes at work in that place, using standard terminology and classification systems.
• Develop an argument supported by facts and reasoning to address environmental issues of local importance.

Academic Honor Code.  Academic dishonesty, including cheating and plagiarism, are not tolerated in this class. Students must conform to the Academic Honor Code at all times. Please familiarize yourself with the Code as outlined in the UNCW Student handbook and at http://www.uncw.edu/stuaff/odos/honorcode/.

Students With Disabilities.  Students requiring special accommodations to complete the lecture or laboratory sections of GGY 130 should contact the Office of Disability Services in Westside Hall (962-7555), or at http://www.uncw.edu/stuaff/disability/.