Geography

Effective: Fall 2018
Associate in Arts Program Map
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This program map from the 2024-2025 catalog year represents one possible pathway to complete this program. Your pathway may vary depending on your transfer plans and also previous college credit, including AP Test scores, concurrent enrollment courses and high school articulated courses.

I'm ready to get started. What do I do next?

  1. Review this program map to get an overview of the required courses
  2. Meet with a counselor to develop your customized student education plan www.chabotcollege.edu/counseling
  3. Use DegreeWorks, an online student education planning tool, to track your progress toward graduation www.chabotcollege.edu / admissions / degreeworks
Program Description

The field of Geography examines features and processes that occur on Earth’s surface. This discipline has three main specializations;

(1) Physical/Environmental Geography: The study of Earth’s physical environment which focuses on the origin and impact of storms, climate change, natural disasters, land forms, volcanoes, river systems, oceans, glaciers, wind systems, plant types, and animals.

(2) Human Geography: The study of human societies and their relationship to the land. This includes their history, language, religion, politics, culture, development and how they have been influenced by the physical surroundings of their society such as land forms, water access and other local natural resources.

(3) GIS/Cartography: The study and use of modern technologies that collect and store data on the features and processes that exist on Earth’s surface. These technologies also allow for analysis and visualization of the results creating data driven and interactive maps and graphics that quickly tell a story. These technologies are widely used in a variety of different fields both locally and globally. Examples of technologies that students learn to use include Geographic Information Systems, Global Positioning Systems, and remote sensing.


What can I do with this major?

Geography graduates are equipped to move in several career directions including:

  1.  Land administration: Public Works, Surveying, Urban/Rural Planning;
  2.  Public Safety: Emergency Management, Wildfire Management, Environmental Monitoring, Disaster Relief and Recovery;
  3. Natural Resources: Agriculture, Archeology, Climate Change, Forestry, Heritage Sites, Marine and Coastal, Water Resources, Sustainability;
  4. Transportation and Infrastructure: Highways, Logistics, Ports and Maritime, Public Transportation, Railways, Wastewater treatment, Recycling;
  5. Academic: Educator, researcher, consultant;
  6. Health: Environmental Health Specialist, Toxicologist, Health and Safety Officer;
  7. Regional Analyst: Socio-cultural analysis, Human rights, Geospatial analysis, Communications;
  8. Tourism, Intelligence.

Learning and Career Pathway
  • Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Environment

Icon Key

= Critical Course = Prerequisite for Other Courses = Prerequisite Required = Required for Major GE = General Education

Semester 1

14-15 units

GEO 1
Introduction to Physical Geography

3 units
Earth's natural environments, with emphasis on spatial characteristics, change over time, interactions between environmental components, and human-environment interactions. Physical processes, techniques, and tools by which Earth's climates, soils, vegetation, water resources, and land forms are linked into integrated global patterns. Effect of natural environments on human activities and how humans modify environments. Field trips may be included.
Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • GEO 1L
    Introduction to Physical Geography Laboratory1

    1 unit
    Application of the concepts, techniques, tools, and materials of physical geography. Practical exercises, experiments, observations, data analyses, and computer applications/simulations which augment understanding of geographic processes, interrelationships, spatial patterns and distributions. Use of maps, remotely-sensed imagery, and geographic information systems. Includes locational reference systems, time-space relationships, weather, climate, soils, vegetation, and landforms. Field trips/field projects may be included.
    Course Details:
    1. Prerequisite: GEO 1
  • Transfers to CSU

    • GEO 5
    World Regional Geography

    3 units
    Regions of the world and the way humans live within those regions. Includes physical and cultural characteristics of world regions, how they are similar and how they are different, economic patterns, agriculture, industrial development and population dynamics. Emphasis on contemporary major issues and their geographic impact.
    Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • English 1- Critical Reading and Composition

    4 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3-4 units
    GE
    • 1 - GEO 1 and GEO 1L can be taken at the same time.

    Semester 2

    16-18 units

    GEO 2
    Cultural Geography

    3 units
    Spatial analysis of human populations, their cultural traits, and activities. Emphasis on how diverse peoples, through their interactions and through their perceptions and use of the physical environment, create distinctive cultural landscapes. Social, political, and economic elements of geography which contribute to the evolution of these global and regional cultural patterns. Field trips may be included.
    Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • GEO 8 (Intro to Weather and Climate) or GEO 13 (Climate Studies): Choose one

    3 units

    GEO 8
    Introduction to Weather and Climate

    3 units
    Introduction to weather and climate and their impact on and modification by human activities. Emphasis on weather elements, events, and processes; climate controls; and the techniques, tools, and instruments of atmospheric science. Includes atmospheric optics, weather prediction, severe storms, air pollution, global/regional warming/cooling, ozone depletion, acid rain, El Niño, deforestation, desertification, and other topics related to everyday experience and global climate change. Field trips and observational activities may be included.
    Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU
    • or

    GEO 13
    Climate Studies

    3 units
    Climate Science is a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary field focused on the principles that govern climate, climate variability, and climate change with their implications for society. Elements of the climate system, atmospheric events and processes; factors controlling Earth’s climate types, climate classification, and contemporary technological tools and instrumentation used in atmospheric science. Examination of the climate record, paleoclimates, and climate modeling and forecasting. Real-world investigations of climate change issues through observation, prediction, data analysis, and critical thinking. Emphasis on the influence of human activities on climate change, trends in global and regional climate change, and both the scientific basis and policy implications of air pollution, global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, deforestation, and urbanization. The economic, social, and political environment that interacts with the everyday experience and potential threats of global climate change. Field trips and observational activities may be included.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1A

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    4 units
    GE
    ENGL 4A or 7A recommended

    Math Course for General Education: see a counselor to choose the appropriate course.

    4-5 units
    GE
    MTH 43 or PSY 5 recommended

    Elective- see a counselor to choose a course that counts for elective units (can be any credit course).

    2-3 units

    Semester 3

    15 units

    GEO 20
    Introduction to Geographic Information Systems

    3 units
    Computer-based information technology tools and techniques that analyze spatial relationships between locations and attributes of physical, cultural, and economic features. Visualization of geographic relationships to support decision-making through interactive linkages of maps, databases, images, and charts. Introduction to GIS theory, principles, concepts, applications, and operations. Field trips may be required.
    Course Details:
    1. Transfers to CSU

      2. General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

      3 units
      GE

      General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

      3 units
      GE

      Elective- see a counselor to choose a course that counts for elective units (can be any credit course).

      3 units
      GEO course recommended

      Elective- see a counselor to choose a course that counts for elective units (can be any credit course).

      3 units
      GEO course recommended

      Semester 4

      15 units

      Major Electives Course Option

      3 units
      Select one course from the list of Major Electives below.
      See the full list: (Click here)

      General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

      3 units
      GE

      General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

      1 unit
      GE
      PE course recommended

      Elective- see a counselor to choose a course that counts for elective units (can be any credit course).

      3 units

      Elective- see a counselor to choose a course that counts for elective units (can be any credit course).

      3 units

      Elective- see a counselor to choose a course that counts for elective units (can be any credit course).

      2 units

      Major Electives

      Select one course from the following list

      ANTH 3
      Social and Cultural Anthropology

      3 units
      How human beings in different cultures meet basic biological, social and cultural needs, including kinship and marriage practices, political and social organization, economic institutions, religious and childrearing practices, social change, as well as other aspects of cultural behavior. Emphasis on understanding other cultures on their own terms. Includes the many subcultures making up North American populations.
      Course Details:
      1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1
        2. or
      2. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1A
      Terms Offered: Summer, Fall, Spring

      ECN 1
      Principles of Microeconomics

      3 units
      Economic analysis of market systems, price theory, including supply and demand analysis, marginal utility, elasticity, cost and revenue concepts, perfect and imperfect competition, international trade theory, pricing of the factors of production, poverty and income inequalities.
      Course Details:
      1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1A
      2. Prerequisite: MTH 53
      3. Prerequisite: MTH 53B
      4. Prerequisite: MTH 65
      5. Prerequisite: MTH 65B
        6. or
    2. Transfers to CSU
      3. Terms Offered: Spring, Fall, Summer

      GEO 3
      Economic Geography

      3 units
      An introduction to the world’s major economic systems; their spatial distribution and characteristics; their relative contributions to regional development and global change; and related movements of people, goods, and ideas. Techniques and tools of spatial analysis applied to human-environment interactions, with emphasis on ecological problems associated with specific economic activities. Field trips may be included.
      Course Details:
      Terms Offered: Spring

      GEO 10
      Global Environmental Solutions

      3 units
      Exploration of sustainable solutions to major global environmental issues with emphasis on a multidisciplinary approach. Essential concepts include an introduction to the causes of environmental change, including ecosystem processes, the history of human population growth and demand for natural resources, fossil fuel consumption, land use change, and pollution sources, followed by an exploration of the current and future solutions to these problems. Economic and public policy issues pertaining to the sustainability of the environment and discussion of the dynamics of participation and leadership in promoting improved stewardship of the environment will also be included.
      Course Details:
      Terms Offered: Fall

      GEO 12
      Geography of California

      3 units
      California’s physical, cultural, and regional elements. The physical geographic base includes: location, geologic history, geomorphic provinces, natural hazards and resources, climate, water resources, vegetation, and soils. Historically developed cultural themes include: Native American and Hispanic origins, migration patterns, settlements, population growth, ethnic diversity, land use, economic activities, and Pacific Rim connections. Human-environment interactions and issues are considered throughout the course. Field trips may be included.
      Course Details:
      1. Transfers to CSU
        2. Terms Offered: Spring
        Total Units: 60-63 units
        This program map is not a guarantee of course availability or financial aid applicability.