GG3071: APPROACHES TO GEOGRAPHY (2021-2022)

Last modified: 31 May 2022 13:05

Course Overview

This core course is designed to introduce Honours students to key debates on the nature and scope of academic geography. Geographers past and present have studied a huge variety of phenomena using a variety of tools to investigate their subject. This course will help you understand this diversity. Topics include: the changing meaning of the 'environment'; the use and abuse of statistical analysis; the influence of left-wing and post-modern perspectives, and the role of technology. Students may specialise in particular aspects, or mix-and-match across the breadth of the discipline, as you wish.

Course Details

Study Type	Undergraduate	Level	3
Term	First Term	Credit Points	15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits)
Campus	Aberdeen	Sustained Study	No
Co-ordinators	Dr Nicholas P. Spedding

Qualification Prerequisites

Either Programme Level 3 or Programme Level 4

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

Geography (GG) (Studied)
Any Undergraduate Programme (Studied)
Either Programme Level 3 or Programme Level 4

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

GG3031 Approaches to Geography (Studied)
GG3052 Approaches to Earth and Environmental Science (Studied)
GG3063 Approaches to Geography (Joint Programmes) (Studied)

Are there a limited number of places available?

Course Description

The course is designed to introduce students to key debates, both past and present, on the nature and scope of academic geography. As such, it provides essential background for study of geography at an advanced level, irrespective of any intended specialisation. Wherever possible, parallels are drawn between the physical, environmental and human branches of the subject, although the reality (or otherwise) of geography as a single, coherent discipline is also put under scrutiny. Students are encouraged to take a critical stance towards the various claims made for and against the different types of geography, and the notion of geography as a 'contested enterprise' forms a major theme of the course.

Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers

Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Presentation (50%)

Coursework (50%)

Formative Assessment

Exercise centering on essay plan

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge Level	Thinking Skill	Outcome
Factual	Remember	ILO’s for this course are available in the course guide.