World Geography

G&ES 104

Erick Howenstine
A General Education Course
Survey Course in Geography
Required of major and Graduate Students

G&ES 104, World Geography is offered by the department every term, including summers, but I generally teach one sesson Spring and one in Summer 1A.  All students should be required to take this class -- and they'd agree after they take it. Geography is the study of what goes on on the Earth's surface, and this is a survey course so it covers a wide variety of topics. Students will learn a great deal about the world, and it will seem smaller and easier to understand after taking this class.

Geography is probably the most fascinating subject for people wanting to understand the world. Like very few other disciplines, it crosses over the human and natural sciences; geographers study why mountains and rivers occur where they do, but also study such things as cultural boundaries, urban organization, and population distribution. You might think of geography as a "spatial" discipline, just as history is a temporal one. To understand what happens where, you need to have an open mind and delve a bit into other disciplines. This is an excellent General Education course for you, and it does carry GEN ED credit.

The department of Geography & Environmental Studies at Northeastern Illnois University offers many courses which follow G&ES 104 nicely. Take World Geography! It may pique your interest in geography; and it surely will improve your knowledge of the world around you.

The textbook is Bergman & Renwick's Introduction to Geography. It's excellent, and moreover I've been maintaining their web site for about five years. You'll find my multiple choice, true/false, matching, labeling, excellent links, summaries, essay questions, and student resources there:  PRENTICE HALL SITE ed2 .

G&ES 104 Syllabus