Course Syllabus
Course: GEOG 1400
Division: Social and Behavioral Science
Department: Social Science
Title: Human Geography
Semester Approved: Spring 2021
Five-Year Review Semester: Summer 2026
End Semester: Fall 2026
Catalog Description: This course is a survey of the major sub-disciplines within human geography, including urban geography, cultural geography, population geography, health/medical geography, economic geography, and political geography. This course is designed for non-majors and majors.
General Education Requirements: Integrated Exploration (IE)
Semesters Offered: TBA
Credit/Time Requirement: Credit: 3; Lecture: 3; Lab: 0
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Justification: This course is an IE (Integrated Exploration) General Education class at Snow College and transfers as a lower division course to other four-year schools. It transfers within the Utah system of higher education as GEOG 1400. Human Geography is typically a required, foundational course for geography majors, and is a valuable interdisciplinary course for students pursuing degrees in sociology, anthropology, criminal justice, and other related fields of study in the social sciences and humanities.
More specifically, Human Geography examines the dimensions of human activity and the imprint of culture on the natural world in a diverse array of cultural landscape settings. The topics explored in this class include folk and popular culture, language, religion, ethnicity, political geography, population, migration, food and agriculture, development, industrialization, and urbanization. By the end of the course, students should be well prepared to take upper-level courses in geography and related social sciences that address the dimensions of human life on Earth.
Currently, GEOG 1400 is a General Education course at most USHE institutions. Additionally, Human Geography is one of the AP courses offered to Utah high-school students, and having the course transfer for credit will assist some future Snow College enrollees get GE credit for their AP coursework."
General Education Outcomes:
1: A student who completes the GE curriculum has a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world. The structure of this course highlights all aspects related to human cultures in an array of diverse environmental settings, examining how cultures shape and are shaped by their natural surroundings in terms of topics such as architecture, agricultural land use, language, religion, economic systems, and political organization.
These will be the assess through examinations, current-event analysis papers, discussion boards, and local cultural landscape PowerPoint presentation
2: A student who completes the GE curriculum can read and research effectively within disciplines. Students will be able to perform research through ancestral exploration activities, the assessment of survey data related to population and land-use change, interrelated global economic and political systems, and the effects of human activities upon the natural world.
These will be assessed through current-event analysis papers, discussion boards, and local cultural landscape PowerPoint presentation
3: A student who completes the GE curriculum can draw from multiple disciplines to address complex problems. At its core, Human Geography borrows from and relates closely to the fields of sociology, economics, political science, history, physical geography, linguistics, demography, and religious studies to understand the complex relationships between culture and environment across the planet over space and time.
These will be the assessed through examinations, current-event analysis papers, and discussion boards
4: A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively. Human Geography encourages students to analyze complex sets of demographic and land-use data, develop arguments related to key global issues like environmental degradation and human-induced climate change, and also produce, present, and analyze maps that creatively portray human-geographic knowledge in a number of integrated class activities.
These will be assessed through examinations, current-event analysis papers, discussion boards, collaborative mapping exercises, and local cultural landscape PowerPoint presentation
5: A student who completes the GE curriculum can communicate effectively through writing and speaking. Human Geography consists of a number of essay-based writing assignments, a posted presentation about students' local cultural landscape features, and regular current events-based discussion board postings.
These will be assessed through collaborative mapping exercises and local cultural landscape PowerPoint presentation.
General Education Knowledge Area Outcomes:
1: Students will work collaboratively on map-production exercises related to population change, changing/evolving electoral maps, and patterns of agricultural land-use activities. Students will also post and present an oral presentation of research-based information about their hometown's cultural landscape key features and histories. Students will work collaboratively on map-production exercises related to population change, changing/evolving electoral maps, and patterns of agricultural land-use activities. Students will also post and present an oral presentation of research-based information about their hometown's cultural landscape key features and histories.
Content:
This course addresses diversity through an examination of human cultural differences related to population dynamics and change, varied religious practices, language differences, complex dimensions of agricultural land-use, aspects of variability in cultural landscapes (including rural, urban, and industrial settings), and multiple political systems at local, national, and global scales over time and place.
Topically, Human Geography covers each of the following areas of focus:
-spatial dimensions of folk and popular culture
-geographic patterns of religion and language
-processes of demographic change and patterns of population
-the imprint of geopolitics and political geography
-aspects of food production and distribution
-industrialization and economic development
-urbanization and the growth of cities
-globalization and the importance of human dimensions of global environmental change
Activities include assignments that allow students to examine their personal family heritage, the use of different words and phrases based upon their geographic location and familiarity, analysis of interconnected global economies, mapping of data sets related to population change, agricultural land use, and electoral results, and reading and interpreting diverse sets of cultural landscapes on Earth in discussion boards and written essays.
Key Performance Indicators:
Examinations 30 to 60%
Current-Event Analysis Papers 10 to 25%
Discussion Boards 10 to 25%
Collaborative Mapping Exercises 10 to 25%
Local Cultural Landscape PowerPoint Presentation 10 to 25%
Representative Text and/or Supplies:
Contemporary Human Geography, James M. Rubenstein
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, Richard Rothstein
Additional online links to readings and activities
Pedagogy Statement:
The classroom method employed will include a mixture of PowerPoint-based lecture materials, seminal readings within the field of human geography, classroom discussions related to key topics of contemporary issues and problems related to topics such as demographic pressure on environmental resources, changing religious and linguistic practices, climate change from multiple cultural perspectives, land-use challenges and dilemmas, urban sprawl, and dimensions of popular culture. Students will be encouraged to provide input regarding their own cultural and personal experiences with these topics through discussion activities, research-based writing assignments about topics such as varied use of words and phrases and their own cultural identity and heritage, as well as interactive, collaborative mapping projects, and a PowerPoint presentation of students' local hometown cultural landscape features and interpretations. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to respect varied cultural perspectives related to the vast array of cultural beliefs and identities that exist on Earth, to share and collaborate with students from diverse backgrounds, and participate in team activities.
Instructional Mediums:
Lecture
Online
Maximum Class Size: 30
Optimum Class Size: 24
