PROJECT REQUIREMENTS: The research project for this class is to thoroughly investigate the physical geography of one place on Earth. You must submit a final PowerPoint presentation that is a compilation of all of the research material you have found for the location you have chosen. While this place could be a location that more dramatically highlights certain aspects of physical geography, such as a National Park like Grand Canyon N.P. or Yellowstone N.P., a location near where live is actually the preferred choice. In fact, the place should be a location that you will be able to visit at least once during the semester in order to gather personal "field work" information. Note that this class is not as much about "exotic" far-off places, but about learning how the basic principles of physical geography are constantly at work all around you. The major goal of this project is to have you apply what you learn from the course content to the process of trying to learn about the physical geography of the place you have selected and analyze and evaluate this information based on the actual characteristics you identify for this place.
The requirements for this project are designed to allow the student to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the course's Core Learning Outcomes (CLOs), which are:
Explain the basic processes of and interactions between the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere.
Evaluate geographic patterns to the earth's physical environment (soil, vegetation, climate, earthquakes, winds, etc.) that result from various processes.
Assess the effects humans have on the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere.
Solve problems or make predications by analyzing the physical geography of a particular place.
Two of the most important resources for this project are your class textbook (especially its numerous maps) and Google Earth (which you will use for some of the unit activities). Some of the items specifically required to be included in your presentation are probably not easily available. For example, specific information about actual insolation values for your place of study is probably not available. However, you can use the map of average surface insolation values to determine an approximate value to use for this project. The information available through the USGS National Map Viewer. can be used in a similar manner. Be sure to explore all of the layers of information that are available for your location through Google Earth. You may be surprised by the amount of information you can obtain from these various layers. Also, don't forget that you should go to this place at least once and make some of your own observations to include in the presentation.