Catalog Description

Hours: 13 (7 lecture, 6 laboratory)
Description: Explore valley and mountainous regions of Northern California, such as the Sacramento Valley, northern Coast Range and the southern Cascade mountains; learn about the region's natural history, its culture and past history, its people and industry, human-environmental relationships including land-use, and a sense of place. Some hiking and camping may be required. (CSU)

Course Student Learning Outcomes

  • CSLO #1: Identify common flora and fauna of the Sacramento Valley floor and surrounding mountains, including biomes, belts and plant communities.
  • CSLO #2: Illustrate and explain major landform provinces of northern California, their geologic characteristics, such as rock types and soils, and identify their geologic causes.
  • CSLO #3: Write a comprehensive field report on an interpretive walk that focuses on one or two aspects of the area, such as ecosystems and plant communities, fluvial processes, climate influences or even current environmental issues that affect natural landscapes.
  • CSLO #4: Summarize major historical events that help reveal how the past has shaped he present story of the Sacramento Valley and surrounding area.
  • CSLO #5: Describe geographic patterns of cultural and economic activities and analyze the causes, such as recreation, hospitality, natural resource extraction, agriculture and the historical industries of the Sacramento Valley and surrounding area.

Effective Term

Fall 2021

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

13

Outside of Class Hours

14

Total Student Learning Hours

27

Course Objectives

Lecture Objectives:
1. Explain basic principles of geography including concepts of site & situation (significance related to physical landscape) of the Sacramento Valley and adjacent mountains including their natural resources.
2. Analyze locational patterns in the creation and development of environmental and cultural landscapes as it pertains to the valley and mountainous regions of Northern California.
3. Identify basic environmental processes (geology, weather & climate, hydrology) and/or cultural factors (urban areas, ethnicity, history, economics) of the upper Sacramento Valley and surrounding area.
4. Discuss the interrelationships between environmental and human landscapes of the upper Sacramento Valley and surrounding area.
Laboratory Objectives:
1. Apply basic principles of geography and concepts of location through mapping exercises, written and oral explanations as it pertains to the valley and mountainous regions of Northern California.
2. Analyze and evaluate the importance of location, such as valley soils in the Sacramento area to determine the environmental processes and cultural attributes.
3. Evaluate these regions (the valley and mountainous regions of Northern California) through personal observation, using learned principles of the environmental processes and cultural factors.
4. Using information from the course; apply knowledge to assess current environmental, and cultural challenges of the valley and mountainous regions of Northern California, offering potential future solutions.

General Education Information

  • Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
    • CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
      • Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
        • IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)

          Articulation Information

          • CSU Transferable

          Methods of Evaluation

          • Reports
            • Example: Student must collect notes during the field lectures as well as observations and information collected at museums and other informational kiosks. Using a framework, student collect data for a final report. Once back at home, students conduct additional research as needed to complete their final report including the relation of humans to their environment.
          • Other
            • Example: Notebooks are also submitted for a grade as a means of measuring participation and what was learned at each stop.

          Repeatable

          No

          Methods of Instruction

          • Laboratory
          • Lecture/Discussion

          Lab:

          1. Instructor will explain both natural ecology and specific examples of the Northern California valley as well as its cultural aspects. Students must take notes in a field notebook during all formal lecture events, such as ranger-guided tours and instructor hikes. Field notebook is submitted for a grade in addition to a report. From the field notes, students continue to assemble a final report that must include the history and sequent occupance of the regions, such as in Santa Cruz and California's coastal areas.

          Lecture:

          1. Presented at specific locations during the field class route. Field guides, maps, charts and field instruments are used by the instructor to support the instruction. The instructor encourages students to identify and learn locations through the use of maps, field observations, lecture materials and readings.

          Typical Out of Class Assignments

          Reading Assignments

          1. Read the the chapter "Crow's Range: An Environmental History of the Sierra Nevada" by David Beesley, and be prepared to discuss the origins of the environmental challenges in the Sierra today. 2. Read the handout "Geology of the Sierra, A History of Early Sierran Settlements" and discuss the commonalities of early settlements, especially as it relates to their locations. 3. Acquire and familiarize yourself with a detailed map of the region (map reading). You will be required to locate and analyze relationships between specific features during the field class.

          Writing, Problem Solving or Performance

          1. Through discussion and the writing of a term paper, the students are expected to analyze the location of places visited. Emphasis of study will vary from course to course. The student is encouraged to summarize, analyze and problem-solve environmental, historical or cultural challenges within their written narrative. 2. Students are expected to locate features on their field map, observing and gathering information related to these features. At the conclusion of the course, they are required to explain the historic, cultural or environmental aspects of each location based on their field observations.

          Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)

          1. Final paper using field research as well as research at home to clarify or augment info. collected on the trip.

          Required Materials

          • Rediscovering the Golden State, California
            • Author: William Selby Peters, et. al.
            • Publisher: Wiley & Sons
            • Publication Date: 2018
            • Text Edition: 4th
            • Classic Textbook?:
            • OER Link:
            • OER:

          Other materials and-or supplies required of students that contribute to the cost of the course.

          Camping gear such as sleeping bag, pad, and tent