Catalog Description

Hours: 30 (12 lecture, 18 laboratory) per unit
Description: Explore the greater Sierra Nevada region, such as Lake Tahoe and the surrounding Sierra Nevada 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 Sierra Nevada mountain region and highlands, including biomes, belts and plant communities like the sub-alpine vegetation belt.
  • CSLO #2: Illustrate and explain major landform provinces of the eastern portion of California, their geologic characteristics, such as rock types and soils, and identify their geologic causes & changes in the past 10 million years, including the formation of the Sierra Mountains uplift.
  • CSLO #3: Write a comprehensive field report on an interpretive walk that focuses on one or two aspects of the Greater Sierra Nevada & Lake Tahoe region, 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 Sierra Mountains and Lake Tahoe, such as past lumber industries and tourism.
  • 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 Sierra Nevada region.

Effective Term

Fall 2022

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

30-60

Outside of Class Hours

24-48

Total Student Learning Hours

54-108

Course Objectives

Lecture Objectives:
1. Explain basic principles of geography including concepts of site & situation (significance related to physical landscape) of the Lake Tahoe basin and surrounding mountains including their natural resources.
2. Analyze locational patterns in the creation and development of environmental and cultural landscapes of the Lake Tahoe basin.
3. Identify basic environmental processes (geology, weather & climate, hydrology) and/or cultural factors (urban areas, ethnicity, history, economics) of the greater Sierra Nevada & Lake Tahoe region, including various mountain ecosystems present in the area.
4. Discuss the interrelationships between environmental and human landscapes of the greater Sierra Nevada area, including resource extraction.
Laboratory Objectives:
1. Apply basic principles of geography and concepts of location through mapping exercises, written and oral explanations as it pertains to the greater Sierra Nevada region.
2. Analyze and evaluate the importance of location, such as valley soils in the Lake Tahoe area to determine the environmental processes and cultural attributes.
3. Evaluate the greater Sierra Nevada region 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, offering potential future solutions as it pertains to the greater Sierra Nevada & Lake Tahoe region.

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 info. collected at museums and other info. kiosks. Using a framework (obj. 3), student collect data for a final report. Once back at home, student 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 greater Sierra Nevada 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 greater Sierra Nevada region, such as in the specific region.

          Lecture:

          1. Lectures are presented at specific greater Sierra Nevada locations during the field class route. Field guides, maps, charts and field instruments are used by the instructor to support the instruction. The teacher 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

          Field class reading will vary by region, some examples being: 1. Read chapter section of "A Natural History of California" by Allan Schoenherr and be prepared to discuss California's environmental regions. 2. Read the handout "Early Mining Towns of the Mother Lode" 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 Geography
            • 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