Modules
Module 2: Physical Environment and the Americas
Shelley E. Rose
Key Questions
- How do physical geographers study the planet and environment?
- What are the major debates that concern physical geographers in the 21st century?
- What are key characteristics of the human and physical geography of the Americas?
- What is political geography and how does it apply to Ohio and the United States?
Class 1: Planet Earth & Plate Tectonics
Reading: Adam Dastrup, Physical Geography and Natural Disasters, “Planet Earth” sections 3.1-3.8
Class 2: Change over Time- Physical Geography
Reading: Adam Dastrup, Physical Geography and Natural Disasters, “Weathering,” Sections 5.1-5.8, “Atmospheric Structure” Sections 8.1-8.2.
Lab 1
Complete the exercises at “Digital Geography,” Human Geography Lab Manual, Open Geography Education
Lab 2
Complete the exercises on the Geography of Ohio.
Quiz Materials
Class 3: Local Geography
Reading: https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/csugelab/chapter/oh-overview/
Activity
This activity explores the political geography of the United States through the lens of elections and voting.
- Visit https://www.vote.org/
- Navigate the steps to confirm your voter registration or investigate the steps for voter registration for a resident of Cleveland.
Answer the following questions:
- Who is eligible to vote in the United States?
- What geographic factors affect elections and the process of voting?
- What geographic challenges do voters face?
- What subdiscipline(s) of geography study elections and voting?
- Visit earth.google.com. Click on “Explore Earth” if needed to get to the map and search bar. Type “Congressional Districts into the search.” What information do you get from the search results? Where does the data come from? Is it reliable? (Prior to 2025, students visited US Congressional Districts Layer in Google Earth).
- Navigate to Cleveland and find the congressional district for 2121 Euclid Avenue (Cleveland State University).
Class 4: Global Climates & Change
Reading: Adam Dastrup, Physical Geography and Natural Disasters, “Global Climates and Change,” Sections 10.1-10.8, Caitlin Finlayson, “Middle and South America”
Additional Resources on Global Climates & Change (optional reading)
Indian Ocean in World History (https://www.indianoceanhistory.org/) and “The Human History of El Niño” (https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/ElNino/page3.php)
Lab 3
Complete the exercises at “An Eye on Central America,” World Regional Geography Lab Manual, Open Geography Education and “South America” (all sections 6.0-6.2)
Quiz Materials
