CCOG for GEO 298 Fall 2024


Course Number:
GEO 298
Course Title:
Independent Study: Geography
Credit Hours:
4
Lecture Hours:
40
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Offers individualized study at an advanced level in areas of geography not considered in other courses to meet special interests or program requirements. Requires completion of a term project and readings approved by the instructor. Recommended: prior study of geography. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

  • Meet the outcomes mutually agreed upon by the student and instructor for this independent study course that expand upon topics covered in geography courses.
  • Apply the scientific method and geographic concepts through research, data collection and analysis, and presentations of results and conclusions.
  • Develop informed theories on geographic issues.

Course Activities and Design

Course activities and design will vary with each independent project as decided upon between instructor and student.  

Outcome Assessment Strategies

Assessments may include:

  • Independent projects that include data analysis reports and maps
  • Oral presentations of independent project results and findings
  • Scientific article critiques
  • Community based-learning experiences with reflective journal and/or papers
  • Scientific papers that follow professional geographic standards and formatting
  • Library research term papers
  • Design and interpretation of field data collection and study

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

Themes & Concepts may include any subset of the following:

  • Spatial analysis & GIS
  • Cartography
  • Places and Regions
  • Earth's Physical Systems
  • Environment and Society
  • Geospatial Technologies
  • Earth's Human Systems

Issues:

Geography 298 may allow investigation of contemporary, as well as historical issues such as demographic shifts and population, migration, religion, language, culture, natural resource use, political organization, economics and industry, globalization and/or global issues, weather, climate and/or change, landform processes, and other geographic related topics.

Competencies & Skills

  • Develop field and research data collection techniques
  • Use geospatial technologies to investigate contemporary and historical geographic issues
  • Apply the scientific method
  • Collect, analyze, and present geographic data
  • Read geographic literature and critically analyze the information
  • Articulate geographic findings in written and/or oral format