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= Assignments For Week One: = = = = Read Syllabus = = Read Introduction PowerPoint = = Read National Geography Standards PowerPoint = = Read Chapter One: Introduction to Earth = = Read Chapter Two: Portraying Earth = = = = Post Introduction = = Post About Chapters 1 & 2 = = Complete Survey = = = = Quiz on Chapter One = = Quiz on Chapter Two = = = = *Detailed introductions of each chapter, with links to supplemental material (slideshows, videos, articles, and pictures) are posted below. =

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media type="custom" key="28699426" =media type="custom" key="28699432"= = Regarding Chapter One = = = = Chapter One Introduction to Earth. = = If you follow the link above to the Chapter One page, you will find at the top of the page a Prezi - or an online presentation of Chapter One. This is what I use in the classroom when I teach physical geography. I have take the PowerPoints from the publisher and created Prezis for each chapter. I did this because I think the PowerPoints from the publisher are a little boring and I want to connect the material from the text to the real world that we live in. So the Prezis have pictures and videos that are not in the textbook - all to help reinforce the themes of the chapter and connect them to the real world. You do not have to read the Prezis, but I do recommend them. I also have videos and articles posted on the chapter one page that are related to the chapter too. Most of them are in the Prezi, but some are newer and I haven't put them in yet. The supplemental material is not required, but it my hope that you will have a look and I think you may enjoy it. =

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= Your discussion board posting assignment is to write one paragraph about something you found interesting, enjoyed learning, or had difficulty with. You are not required to comment on your classmates posts for your grade, however you may do this if you wish (and only in a positive manner such as agreement.) You should try to use at least one vocabulary word from the chapter in your post. You are encouraged to use pictures and videos in your posts. A paragraph should be 4-6 sentences. Your posts should be error free, so a good idea would be to type them in Word or some other program that will spell check for you, and then paste your paragraphs into the discussion board. You will receive full credit for posts as long as they are error free and demonstrate that you have read the chapter and are engaged with the material. =

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= As you read chapter one, try to make sure you can answer the questions below - if you know all of the vocabulary and you can answer the questions, you should get a high score on your quiz. =

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= 1. How do geographers study the world and use science to explain and understand the natural environment? =

= 2. What are the overlapping environmental “spheres” of Earth, and how does the concept of Earth systems help us understand the interrelationships of these spheres? =

= 3. How does Earth fit in with the solar system, and how does the size of Earth compare with the size of its surface features? =

= 4. How does the system of latitude and longitude describe location on Earth? =

= 5. What causes the annual change of seasons, and how do patterns of sunlight around Earth change during the year? =

= 6. How is the system of time zones used to establish times and dates around the world? = = =

= Regarding Chapter Two - = = = = Chapter Two Portraying Earth =

= Chapter Two is all about the tools of geographers and how we use them to portray Earth. It is one of my favorite chapters to lecture on. I have included several videos in the Prezi to help with the different concepts and I also have more articles and videos on the class web page that I have not had a chance to embed into the Prezi yet. There are also links on the chapter two page to several apps that use GPS and GIS. Of course you are not required to use the apps or read any of the supplemental material, but if you are interested, there are a lot of neat things that connect to this chapter. There are also a lot of local jobs that involve the use of these types of tools, so I am enthusiastic about them in the classroom. I hope you enjoy this chapter. In November, there will be a field trip to ESRI in Redlands, which is the company that invented GIS (and is a major employer in our area) that you are all invited to - I will provide more information as it becomes available to me, but at ESRI, you can see many of these tools in action and how we use them to better understand Earth. =

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= Here is a list of some of my favorite apps that I like to talk about in class that use geospatial technology: =

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= Latest Quakes =

= Maverick GPS =

= Wunderground Weather =

= Google Earth & Google Maps =

= Google Sky Map App =

= Map of Life App =

= Map My Walk =

= Pokemon Go =

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= You can search Google Play for these apps, or the App Store. All of these are free (at least for Android, sorry for my Apple Users, not all are free through Apple.) I like to talk about the apps that use geospatial technology because I like for my students to take away from my class skills that they can use in the real world. Latest Quakes will give you real time earthquake information. Maverick is a GPS app, so you phone will work like a handheld GPS, great for geocaching, or finding anything with GPS coordinates. Wunderground Weather is a great weather app, which will give you real time weather information as well as letting you adjust the layers on the weather map for what you want to see - which makes is a public weather GIS that you can use for free. You may be familiar with Google Earth and Google Maps - both of which use GPS and GIS. Google Sky Map App is one that you can point at the sky and it will show you a map of the stars where you point it, so you know what you are looking at. Map of Life App is a great tool for learning what you are looking at in nature - you can go to the map, select a location, and then a directory of all of the plants and animals comes up and you can identify species that you see - you can also report sightings which helps biologists better understand where things are located and possibly bring protection to threatened or endangered species - this is one of my favorite apps and I have used it to identify many species of birds, lizards, snakes, plants, and trees. I gave my summer students extra credit to post photos of things they identified using the app and there were some excellent pictures. I might do that for your class if you are interested, so let me know if you are. Map my walk is another favorite of mine, you can open the app when you are going to walk and it will map where you go and tell you how many calories you have burned. I listed Pokemon Go because it does indeed use both GPS and GIS and because of this, I learned how the game worked and how to play it. I have linked a video at the very bottom of the Chapter Two page, a 30 minute documentary about Pokemon Go which included some serious discussion about the game - about who has access, who does not, what happens to public spaces, and other serious points, there is an Urban Geographer on the show who is interviewed because some of the things that have happened with the game are very interesting to geographers, and by the way I am an Urban Geographer, so I am interested in the game. Also, if you like to play the game, I could be talked into a Pokemon field trip : ) =

For the Chapter Two portion of your discussion, since it is all about the tools of geography, I would like for you to write about one of the tools of geography that you find interesting, enjoyed learning about, or had any difficulty understanding. I would like for you to use at least one vocabulary word in your posting. Feel free to use pictures, maps, or videos in your discussion. You are not required to comment on others students posts for points, but you may if you wish, and please keep comments positive, such as "I agree" or "that's the one I picked too because..."

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