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Tips for Students

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    Welcome to your physical geography lab manual! We hope the lab exercises bring a new appreciation for the planet we call home. Here are some tips to support your learning.

    Tip 1. Know What’s Being Asked of You

    The questions in the lab manual can be classified using the revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom & Krathwohl, 1956; Anderson & Sosniak, 1994). Starting from pyramid’s wide base each category’s width decreases to the peak of the pyramid. From the base to the peak, the categories are:

    • Remember questions ask you to recall facts and basic concepts. You may be asked to recreate a sketch, label a diagram, define a key term, or identify a process. These are the most basic questions that are designed to ensure that you grasp the fundamental knowledge and skills in a lab.
    • Understand questions ask you to explain ideas and concepts with prompts like describe, observe, and summarize.
    • Apply questions ask you to calculate or adapt information. Several question prompts start with “Apply What You Learned”—this means that you will take the information presented in the lab (or a previous lab) and apply it to a new situation.
    • Analyze questions ask you to make connections among different ideas by making comparisons and interpreting information. Several question prompts start with “Use Your Critical Thinking Skills”, which means that you need to bring in other ideas because these questions can’t be answered simply by reading the information in the lab.
    • Evaluate questions ask you to assess, make predictions, or explain complex ideas. You’ll need to justify a decision or point of view.
    • Create questions ask you to produce new or original work by designing, inventing, or composing.
    clipboard_e78a65c464c016c342beaeb9bab3cb920.png
    Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy: Figure adapted from Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

    Why bother with Bloom’s taxonomy? Students who understand what’s being asked of them do better in their courses. Most students report that in high school, they were asked only to remember or understand information. Transitioning into college coursework goes more smoothly if you recognize what’s being asked of you.

    Decoding a few other question prompts will make the lab go more smoothly for you. Explain your responses:

    • This means you should let your instructor know the reasoning behind your answer. If the question asks for a certain number of sentences, be sure to provide a thoughtful answer that meets that requirement.
    • You don’t need to write in complete sentences.
      • For example, if the question is “Why is geography your favorite subject? Explain your response in one to two sentences” you don’t need to write “Geography is my favorite subject because…”. You can just jump right into your response to save space.

    Lists:

    • When you see this as the question prompt, you don’t need to write sentences. You can just answer the question using bullet points.

    Show your work:

    • This means you should include the variables that you used for a calculation.
    • For example, if the question is to “Convert 100 kilometers into miles. Show your work” then you would need to write: 100 / 0.621371 = 62.1371 miles.
    • You don’t need to show the long division needed to get the answer; just be sure to include the number that you entered into your calculator to find the answer.
    • You definitely do need to include the units of measurement—in this case miles.
    • Always include the correct unit of measurement in your responses.
    • When your answer is in decimals, ask your professor if they have a preference. In the example above, they may prefer you to round the answer to 62 miles (instead of 62.1371 miles).
    • You may indicate an estimation by using the ~ symbol.

    Tip 2. Use Your Resources

    There are four types of boxes in this lab manual to help you navigate the course:

    clipboard_e289ef54bf47c5293b490639a543cc924.png Pin It! Boxes

    Pin It! boxes refer to information that you should mentally “pin” for later. Remembering the information included in pin it boxes will help you answer questions that come later in the lab.

    clipboard_efdd9b69045b7b64a44987e7edbd81391.pngThink About It…Boxes

    Think About It...boxes encourage you to do just that, think about the information provided in the box. The information may require you to relate physical geography to your everyday life, form an opinion on a controversial subject, or make connections across multiple topics.

    clipboard_e8ca67a981aaccd392432b5265a74bc97.png Check It Out Boxes

    Check It Out boxes provide supplemental resources like webpages and videos to help you understand the information or to take you deeper into the topic. We recommend these resources to increase your understanding of physical geography topics.

    clipboard_e67897385e2d062fdd5b94bc477859064.png Guided Practice Boxes

    Guided Practice boxes provide links to short videos that demonstrate tasks that physical geography students often find tricky or provide tips for navigating GIS webpages.

    If there is a QR code, most camera apps on phones can be used to scan the QR code in order to open the website.