Human geography acquaints students with a geographic perspective on topics such as culture, environment, population, migration, political systems, language, religion, ethnicity, urban challenges, and economic structures. The topics covered are closely connected to many events that dominate today’s news. A learning objective of Geographic education is to facilitate students in making the connection between the concepts and principles presented in the book with the actual world around them During the term, students are assigned to research recent current events and relate that event to course material. The assessment tool is a matrix that supports student observation and analysis of current events to identify and discuss course topics and the Five Themes of Geography: Movement, Region, Location, Human-Environment Interaction, and Place.
Higher Education | Assessment | Tool | 5 Themes | Curriculum and Instruction
Colonnade
Serena Ota St. Clair, Ph.D., has been a faculty member at RCC since 1989. While retired from full time work, she still teaches Geography classes in the Social Science Departments at Southern Oregon University (Ashland Oregon) and Rogue Community College (Medford-Grants Pass, OR). She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geography from Oregon State University (OSU). A Master’s degree in Liberal Studies from Dartmouth, and her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from OSU. Throughout her career she has taught Human and World Regional Geography. With a focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts at her college, she branched out to develop and teach other courses in Social Science: International Studies, Intercultural Communication, Multicultural Education, and Women’s Studies. St. Clair has coordinated professional development for K-12 teachers and community college instructors for her entire career. She also designed student support programs and cohort structures. She conducted education research on applied math, stackable credentials, and systems thinking in organizations.
