Unit information: Geographies of Nature in 2027/28

Unit name	Geographies of Nature
Unit code	GEOG20029
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Franklin Ginn
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None.
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None.
Units you may not take alongside this one	None.
School/department	School of Geographical Sciences
Faculty	Faculty of Science

Unit Information

This unit will engage key questions concerning the global environment from a human geographical perspective. The unit aims to address how geographers understand the politics, philosophy and history of nature and enviroment. Emphasis will be given to the historical, cultural, political, and economic study of environments and nature from the early-modern period to the present. The focus will be on the Global North and the Global South, historical and contemporary environmental change and its human responses in polar regions, South Asia and the Pacific, and different approaches to understanding and relating to nature and environment from around the globe. Specific geographical contexts of study may include analysing indigenous and non-western approaches to nature and environment, change in historical and contemporary wetlands and riverine environments, plant and forest ecologies, animal geographies, island and coastal geographies, carbon, energy and extractive landscapes, polar and cold climate geographies, and urban geographies. This unit explores topics in the Nature and Environment theme introduced in Year 1.

Your learning on this unit

Upon successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1. Assess contemporary theoretical and empirical debates in the human geographical analysis of global environments.
2. Communicate the geographical complexities of defining and describing global environmental issues.
3. Integrate historical, cultural, political, and economic analyses of global environments to understand its varied geographical significance and
   implications.
4. Critically evaluate historical and contemporary societal responses to environmental change, as well as geographical debates in environmental
   history, environmental humanities, political ecology, and decolonial studies.
5. Communicate the significance of key factors underlying geographical drivers of environmental issues.
6. Demonstrate the inter-disciplinary nature of studying human geographies of nature and environment, in their historical and contemporary aspects, and so further an awareness of relevant conceptual and empirical research in cognate disciplines.
7. Demonstrate analytical and conceptual skills in written work.

The following transferable skills are developed in this unit:

• Written and oral communication
• Discursive analysis of multiple and interdependent textual forms
• Lateral, critical and analytical reasoning
• Planning and implementing applied research projects

Links between learning outcomes and methods of assessment:

• The assessments will test students’ applied understanding and academic scholarship on the critical geographies of nature and environment, and will require them to be conversant with key themes, concepts and case studies covered in lectures, readings, discussions, films, etc.
• The assessments will require students to use written communication, critical reasoning, and organisational skills to demonstrate the relationship between concepts/theories and empirical material, and to make effective use of wider literatures to support critical arguments.

How you will learn

The unit will be taught through a combination of:

• online resources
• synchronous group workshops, seminars, tutorials and/or office hours
• asynchronous individual activities and guided reading for students to work through at their own pace

How you will be assessed

Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):

Review essay on key concepts from the course.

Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):

Unseen examination (100%). [ILOs 1-7]

When assessment does not go to plan

Students will have the opportunity to complete an alterntive exam in the reassessment period.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. GEOG20029).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.

The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.