Black Hawk College
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 102
General Description
Physical Geography at Black
Hawk College is an introductory course in geography. The course is
a traditional lecture-style class, with a two hour lab. Through the use
of lectures, textbook, and lab exercises, students explore and study earth
materials and landforms. This course examines the materials that make up
the landforms found on the surface of the Earth and the processes that
build and shape the landforms. Rocks and minerals, Plate Tectonics, earthquakes,
volcanoes, weathering processes, river systems, desert processes, glaciers
and the origin of the Earth are but some of the subjects examined. We'll
even examine landforms on the other planets in the Solar System and ask
the question could life have existed elsewhere in the Solar System?- the
answer may surprise you!
The laboratory section of this course gives students a hands-on approach
to learning about rocks and minerals, map reading, volcanic eruption assessment,
and surface processes. Students will also participate in a field trip which
examines geomorphic processes, human influenced terrain and local biodiversity.
Students will also complete a term project for this course. There are
a variety of term projects that are available. Research papers are typically
7 to 10 pages. Oral presentations of 7 to 10 minutes have also been used
in this course. Each semester a list of topics are selected. One of these
topics is chosen by the student, researched and submitted in a written
paper or oral presentation. Topics are usually ones that are not covered
in detail by the course materials or are topics of recent interest.
For those students needing a lab science course, this course meets the
Lab Elective requirements.
Notice: The material contained within these web pages only applies to those courses and sections taught by Richard Harwood. Unless otherwise noted, all images and graphics contained within are the property of Richard Harwood and may only be reproduced with permission from the author.
