Geog 212 Geography of North America 3 Cr

Syllabus

Geog 212 Geography of North America 3 cr. South Dakota State University-Brookings Fall 2013

Course Meeting Time and Location/Instructional methods: This is an online Course: Syllabus, brief lecture notes, weekly exercises are posted online. Students are expected to login to D2L weekly to access exercises and to post to discussion forums. Exercises and discussion forums require research using online library databases and other resources. Discussion Forums in discuss in D2L are asynchronous (not live) to allow students maximum flexibility for the timing of work completion. Exercises and Paper are submitted to the drop box within D2L. Midterm and final exam are accessed through D2L Quizzes. Midterm and Final exams have an availability window during which they must be completed. See deadlines in course calendar below.

Instructor: Elizabeth Keeler, PhD Contact me through the D2L internal email as I check it most frequently. Contact me anytime you have difficulty making a deadline, have access problems, or have any questions. After access to the course ends, use the [email protected] email. It may take 48 hours to get a response to a question by email. My interest in geography stems from my curiosity about how places came to be the way they are. I like to approach each learning opportunity as an exploration of discovery.

Course description

A regional and topical analysis of of the geographic patterns of the United States and Canada. Focus is upon the interaction of groups of people with the natural environment to produce regional differentiation. Geographic aspects of the physical geography, population, culture groups, economy, settlement systems, land division, and use of natural resources.

This course is designed for self-motivated learners who are comfortable using Internet resources and tools. Coursework is completed on a weekly basis and requires an overall time commitment equivalent to classroom-based courses. In addition to weekly reading assignments from the textbook, there will be 4 exercises, a weekly posting to the discussion forum, a midterm exam, and a final exam. Students are required to set up access to the library online journal databases and use those journals where possible as part of their resources for exercises and the paper.

Course Requirements

Textbook required: The Geography of North America: Environment, Culture and Economy by Susan Wiley Hardwick, Fred Shelley, and Donald G. Holtgrieve Pearson: Boston Second Edition 2013 ISBN 978- 0-321-76967-1 or 978-0-13-009727-9. Either hardcover or softcover is acceptable. We will not be using Chapters 13, 16, 17, 18 and 19. For technical assistance, see the contact information under SDSU resources and in the Student Guides area.

1 Additional resources recommended: You can also use atlases in the library but will probably not be able to check them out and take them home. Possible online sources include www.worldatlas.com but some home computers have trouble accessing sites with large graphic files so you may want to try this site on the computers in the library first.

Course goals and learning outcomes This course meets SD Board of Regents General Education Goal 3 BOR System Goal 3: Students will understand the organization, potential and diversity of the human community through study of the social sciences

Student Learning Outcome 1 Identify and explain basic concepts, terminology, and theories of the selected social science discipline from different spatial, temporal, cultural and or institutional contexts.

Course Objectives: Students will define basic concepts and themes in geography such as the human-environment interaction. Learn how to use maps and other geographic representations to acquire process and report information. Examine the physical and human characteristics of North America. Analyze the spatial organization of people, places and environments in North America as we consider geomorphic processes and landforms; patterns and processes that influence weather and climate, soil types and vegetation biomes; contrast the different settlement patterns of indigenous peoples and identify the long term impacts of these people on North American culture, identify and compare the settlement patterns of various European and other immigrant settlement groups; examine characteristics, distribution and migration of these human populations; land subdivision systems; transportation systems; location patterns and environmental and economic challenges faced by all levels of economic production; political systems; and human impact on the environment and the changes that occur in the meaning , use, distribution and importance of resources. Students will learn geographers identify regions to interpret the Earth’s complexity. A distinctive sense of place and unique cultural landscapes can be seen in each region. Students demonstrate knowledge and comprehension in written exercises and exams.

Student Learning Outcome 2 Apply selected social science concepts and theories to contemporary issues Course Objectives: Students will learn how climatic patterns relate to natural hazards that strike an area and how human actions modify the physical environment. Economic disparity from place to place is considered as we look at primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary types of economic production. Student post contemporary issues weekly in discussion forums named places in the news and have the option of examining an environmental issue in a written exercise. Students examine a downtown or suburban shopping area in the urban field exercise.

Student Learning Outcome 3

2 Identify and explain the social or aesthetic values of different cultures. Course Objectives: The cultural diversity of North America is examined as we consider the characteristics, distributions and complexity of cultural mosaics in places. Students demonstrate knowledge in exams.

Student Learning Outcome 4 The origin and evolution of human institutions Course objectives: Students learn how forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of the Earth’s surface as we develop political systems and establish governments. Students demonstrate learning in exams.

Student Learning Outcome 5 The allocation of human or natural resources within societies Course Objectives: Students will learn the changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution and importance of resources. Students apply this understanding in the analysis of both the physical and cultural resources of North America they choose to write about in exercises and in exams.

Student Learning Outcome 6 The impact of diverse philosophical, ethical or religious views We attempt to identify the long term impacts of indigenous peoples, European and other immigrant settlement groups on North American culture as reflected in current landscapes and regional patterns. Student demonstrate knowledge in exams and written exercises.

Evaluation Procedures Students earn points for discussion forums, exercises, and paper based on the content and quality of presentation of data discovered while pursuing research using scholarly resources to the extent possible in an online environment. The exercises and discussion forum statements must include citations for sources. Students are expected to login weekly to keep up with the work load. Midterm and final exams are multiple-choice.

Points Breakdown 200 total points for class Exercises-4 exercises ( 3 exercises at 20 points and 1 for 16 points) = 76 points Weekly discussion sections -12 discussions for 2 points each=24 points Midterm = 50 points Final = 50 points Total = 200 points

A=90-100% B=80-89% C=70-79% D=60-69% F= below 60%

Evaluation of exercises and discussion entries considers content, writing, spelling and grammar and quality of analysis. Factual statements receive more credit than general statements. For 3 example, a statement like “according to map 43 entitled Primary school enrollment in Allen and Sutton (p 57), more than 96% of children of primary school age in the United States attend school” is better than “most children in the United States attend primary school.”

Cite the sources of your information including page numbers or you will lose points. For the discussion forums and exercises be certain to cite the sources for information. See the following source for style guides: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/ Material not of your own creation that does carry a complete citation including page numbers from a printed source or paragraph numbers from a website will lose points. Plagerized material is 0 credits. Please retain copies of your exercises

Exercises (See course calendar near end of syllabus for due dates) There are 4 exercises. Exercise 1 is worth 16 points and exercises 2, 3 and 4 are worth 20 points each. Each student follows the instructions in each exercise. Use the SDSU library website at http://www.sdstate.edu/library/research/guides/geography.cfm. Use data found in local, county, state or province government or other official websites suggested by the instructor (see the urls listed below)or government websites or other official websites, for example libraries, historical societies found by the student, or in online journals in SDSU library databases, or in hardcopy atlases, journals or books available to the student. You must include a minimum of 3 sources for each exercise. Quotes should be set off with quotation marks. To receive full credit, sources of information must be complete. Citations must be complete enough so others could duplicate your research if they were interested in the same topic. Material not of your own creation that does not carry a complete citation will be given 0 credit. Plagiarized material is also 0 credits. Please include your map sources in your bibliogrpahy. You may use any style guide of your choice. Use a recent edition so that you can cite internet sources correctly. Those most commonly used are Chicago Manual of Style, Turabian, APA or MLA. See this website for style guides http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/hss/ref/style.html There may be times that you must report negative research results if a particular website does not have any data so be certain you track the websites you visited and links chosen as you progress through the website so you can get credit for the work done even if you search in vain. If you have negative research results more than twice, please contact the instructor so we can determine better sources for you to try. Please keep a copy of your exercises in hard copy

For this class you can go to USA.gov www.USA.gov and or Canada.gov. at www.Canada.gov On the USA website, I find it most helpful to go to the A-Z index of United States government to find specific government agencies like bureau of the census under census or dept. of agriculture under agriculture. You may also search under the names of states in your search engine. For example if I enter South Dakota in Google, the sd.gov site comes up and I can search that site for population statistics or other information. Let me know if you need help as we go through the course.

Library of congress www.loc.gov

4 American center for Folklife http://www.loc.gov/folklife/fieldwork/

Center for Disease Control

National Institute of Health

For printable maps. Go to http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/, to find maps and print them for reference. You may encounter other maps you think are better in the course of your research which you may use instead. This is a handy source that will allow you to copy and paste so I thought I’d suggest it.

Exams: see course calendar for dates of exams Midterm Exam (50 points) Final Exam (50 points) Exams are open textbook so be certain to familiarize yourself enough with your textbook so you can find the answers quickly. When the timer stops you, you are finished so be sure to keep track of your time as you take the exam.

Discussion forums ( See course calendar for due dates of discussion postings) 2points for each week The purpose of the postings in the discussion forums is to make yourself aware of the world around you. In the discussion forum for the first week you will go in and introduce yourself and give the reason you took the class, your major and class level. For the remainder of the semester, in discussion forums post information for the weeks indicated about a place in the news. The focus of the news item should be the place and what it tells you about some aspect of the place. Examples include population trends, land use, landforms, vegetation, soil, plate tectonics, disease, urban growth or other aspects of urbanization, transportation, economic patterns, guest workers, employment, trade, energy consumption, impact of war on society, etc. Post the link to the news item and include a one paragraph summary of the news item and what it tells you about that place. Collect information from 1) a travel show on PBS 2) local news online or on TV or your local newspaper 3) a places in the news link on www.worldatlas.com or www.nationalgeographic.com or Time magazine or Newsweek or one of the online news sources. You must post new material in each forum. Try to relate your entry to the part of North America we are considering that week if you can but it may not always be possible and is not required. Cite the sources of your information. Material not of your own creation that does not carry a complete citation will lose points. Plagiarized material is 0 credits. To receive full credit for discussion entries, you must post complete sentences and include sources of information. Do not write ditto or similar expressions if someone posted something similar to what you were going to post. Your online behavior should be professional and scholarly at all times. Discussion forums are asynchronous (not live) to allow you to work at your convenience but they do have due dates.

ADA Statement Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact Nancy Hartenoff-Crooks, Coordinator of Disability Services (605-688-4504 or Fax, 605-688-4987) to privately discuss your specific needs. The Office of Disability Services is located in room 125, the Wintrode Student Success Center

5 Attendance policy Student attendance and participation is governed by the South Dakota State University Attendance policy. I expect students to login weekly to submit to discussion forums, complete exercises and exams according to the course calendar which is part of this syllabus. Absences due to personal reasons due to verified medical reasons, death of a family members or significant other, or verified extenuating circumstances judged acceptable by the instructor or the Office of Academic Affairs, will be honored. If a student has an accident, falls ill, or suffers some other emergency over which he/she has no control, the student needs to gather whatever documentation is available (e.g., copies of repair or towing bills, accident reports or statements from health care provider) to show the instructor. Such exceptions must be communicated and negotiated between the student and faculty member prior to the absence whenever possible. Absences for vacations or breaks, personal interviews do not constitute a valid reason for absence.

Absences due to approved University sponsored recognized trips Requests for excused absences must be submitted one week prior to the trip or event. Students must present the completed approved trip absence card to me prior to the trip or event to have an official excused absence. I am not required to honor incomplete or late cards.

Academic Honesty policy In written papers and other class projects (electronic format, hard copy or otherwise) it is unethical and unprofessional to present the work done by others in a manner that indicates that the students is presenting the material as his/her original ideas or work. Cheating, assisting others, or plagiarizing on tests, quizzes, problems, research papers, or other assignments will result in written notification to the student involved, the academic advisor, the department that offers the course, the appropriate College or Administrative Dean, and parent/guardian (when the students is a dependent for financial aid purposes). Plagiarizing is submitting uncited materials as your own work, which was in fact produced by others. Examples include uncited work from journals, books, work of others or electronic sources.* In addition, the penalty for academic dishonesty may be one or more of the following, at the discretion of the instructor and based on the seriousness of the situation 1. a grade of zero on the exercise, paper, discussion forum posting, exam, test, quiz, homework, problem or other assignment for the student(s) involved. 2. A grade of F for the course. 3. referral of the matter to the Student Conduct Committee or the Graduate School for disciplinary action.

Course calendar

Week 1 August 26 to September 1, 2013 Introduction and North America’s Environmental Setting Choose your citation form from the style guides at http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/ Reading Assignment: Chapter 1 Introduction and Chapter 2 North America’s environmental setting Also Read how to evaluate information resources on SDSU Briggs Library website Exercise 1: Accessing South Dakota State University Library databases due in D2L drop box by midnight September 1, 2013 Discussion forum Introduce yourself due in D2L discussion forum by midnight September 1, 2013

6 Week 2 September 2, 2013 to September 8, 2013 (September 2 Labor Day Holiday) Historical Settlement of North America Reading assignment Chapter 3 Historical Settlement of North America Exercise 2 Historical or Environmental Investigation due by midnight September 29, 2013 Discussion forum: Places in the news due in D2L discussion forum area by midnight September 8, 2013

Week 3 September 9, 2013 to September 15, 2013 The North American Political Economy Reading Assignment: Chapter 4 The North American Political Economy Discussion forum: Places in the news due in discussion forum area of D2L by midnight September 15, 2013

Week 4 September 16 to September 22, 2013 The Atlantic Periphery Reading Assignment Chapter 5 The Atlantic Periphery Discussion forum: Places in the news due in discussion forum area of D2L by midnight September 22, 2013

Week 5 September 23, 2013 to September 29, 2013 Quebec Reading Assignment Chapter 6 Quebec Discussion forum: Places in the news due in discussion forum area of D2L by midnight September 29, 2013

Week 6 September 30, 2013 to October 6, 2013 Megalopolis Reading Assignment Chapter 7 Megalopolis Exercise 3 Urban Exercise due by midnight October 27, 2013 Discussion forum: Places in the news due in discussion forum area of D2L by midnight October 6, 2013

Week 7 October 7, 2013 to October 13, 2013 (October 7 Native American Day Holiday) Reading Assignment Chapter 8 The Great Lakes and Corn Belt Discussion forum: Places in the news due in discussion forum area of D2L by midnight October 13, 2013

Week 8 Midterm Exam visible October 14, 2013 at 12:01 AM to October 20, 2013 at 11:59 PM. Midterm Exam covers chapters 1 – 8 in the textbook.

Week 9 October 21, 2013 to October 27, 2013 Reading assignment Chapter 9 The Inland South Discussion forum: Places in the news due in discussion forum area of D2L by midnight October 27, 2013

Week 10 October 28, 2013 to November 3, 2013 Reading Assignment Chapter 10 The Coastal South Exercise 4 Transportation or Logistics or Diffusion exercise due by midnight December 1, 2013 Discussion forum: Places in the news due in discussion forum area of D2L by midnight November 3, 2013

Week 11 November 4, 2013 to November 10, 2013 Reading Assignment Chapter 11 The Great Plains Discussion forum: Places in the news due in discussion forum area of D2L by midnight November 10, 2013

7 Week 12 November 11, 2013 to November 17, 2013 (Veteran’s Day Holiday observed) Reading Assignment Chapter 12 The Rocky Mountain Region Discussion forum: Places in the news due in discussion forum area of D2L by midnight November 17, 2013

Week 13 November 18, 2013 to November 24, 2013 Reading Assignment Chapter 14 MexAmerica Discussion forum: Places in the news due in discussion forum area of D2L by midnight November 24, 2013

Week 14 November 25, 2013 to December 1, 2013 Thanksgiving Holiday November 27to November 30, 2013 Use this week to catch up

Week 15 December 2, 2013 to December 8, 2013 Reading Assignment Chapter 15 California Discussion forum: Places in the news due in discussion forum area of D2L by midnight December 8, 2013

Week 16 December 9, 2013 to December 15, 2013 Final Exam visible December 19, 2013 12:01 AM to December 18, 2013 at 11:59 PM. Final Exam covers Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15

Freedom in Learning Students are responsible for learning the content of any course of study in which they are enrolled. Under Board of Regents and University policy, student academic performance shall be evaluated solely on an academic basis and students should be free to take reasoned exception to the data or views offered in any courses of study. Students who believe that an academic evaluation is unrelated to academic standards but is related instead to judgment of their personal opinion or conduct should first contact the instructor of the course. If the student remains unsatisfied, the student may contact the department head and/or dean of the college which offers the class to initiate a review of the evaluation.