March 3, 2016

Goals for Class

What is geography? Geography is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands,
the features, the inhabitants, and the phenomena of the Earth. But the Earth is too big, and to
study all of its features will take years of research and development. That is why the
exploration and examination of specific region or area like California is small but in fact, a
huge contribution to the overall study of the geography of the Earth. In Geography 351, the
features of California will be study through a systematic, regional, and spatial perspectives
which reveal the diversities and complexities of this landscape.
Systematic perspective is taking into account all of the behaviors of a system as a
whole in the context of its environment. Through this perspective, one can studies of climate,
landforms, economics, and culture among others. The systematic analysis of social,
economic, political, and environmental processes operating in a place provides an deeper
understanding of its distinctiveness or character. Research in this tradition since has shown
that the temporal and spatial sequences of actions of individuals follow typical patterns in
particular types of environments and that many of the distinctive characteristics of places
result from an intersection of behavioral sequences constrained by spatial accessibility to the
opportunities for interaction. Such systematic analysis is particularly central to regional and
human geography, and it is a theme to which much geographic research continually returns.
When such systematic analysis is applied to many different places, an understanding of
geographic variability emerges. Of course, a full analysis of geographic variability must take

account of processes that cross the boundaries of places, linking them to one another, and
also of scale.
Regional perspective focuses on areas of Earth space that have some degree of
homogeneity. Regions may be basically physical, human or some combination of both and
may vary in size from continents to small ecosystems. Through reginal perspective, one can
study the specific unique characteristics of places related to their culture, economy,
topography, climate, politics and environmental factors such as their different species
of flora and fauna.
Geography looks at the world from a spatial perspective or seeking to understand the
changing spatial organization and material character of Earth's surface. One of the critical
advantages of a spatial perspective is the attention it focuses on how phenomena are related
to one another in particular places. One should thus learn not just to recognize and interpret
patterns, but to assess the nature and significance of the relationships among phenomena that
occur in the same place and to understand how tastes and values, political regulations, and
economic constraints work together to create particular types of cultural landscapes.