Living Physical Geography is an integrated learning system that combines a textbook with digital media to enhance the teaching and learning of physical geography. The following media components are part of this integrated system:

Exploring with Google Earth

Google Earth is an important pedagogical tool in Living Physical Geography. An “Exploring with Google Earth” activity appears at the end of each chapter. The .kml files required to complete these activities are available on LaunchPad.

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Students benefit from using Google Earth because it familiarizes them with the spatial relationships of physical and cultural features of Earth, vividly illustrating the spatial perspective that is essential to geography. Using these exercises, students will be able to quickly navigate to and interpret physical phenomena such as Mount Fuji, the Grand Canyon, the fjords of Greenland, the sand seas of Algeria, and the glaciers of New Zealand. (Answers to the Exploring with Google Earth questions are available in the Instructor’s Manual.)

Animations and Videos

Animations are available for key figures throughout the book. The animations show the movement and development of select physical geography phenomena. For example, the formation of a stratovolcano as it grows by adding layers of ash and lava flows is animated to enhance student learning of this process.

These animations are accessible through LaunchPad, where they are accompanied by questions that assess students’ understanding of the concepts. The animations are also available for immediate access by clicking on the play icon that appears next to the relevant figures.

A library of short videos is also available. This collection is designed to support and further develop selected topics in each chapter. Select videos are conveniently accessible through QR codes in each chapter. The complete collection is also available, along with assessment questions, on LaunchPad.

Learning Tools

The learning tools in Living Physical Geography have been carefully designed to provide a multimedia, multimodal approach to the teaching and learning of physical geography.

Chapter Opener with Chapter Outline

Each chapter begins with an image or photo that relates to the contents of the chapter. Each image is briefly described, and reference to the appropriate section within the chapter is provided to stimulate students to seek further information about the image. A brief chapter outline allows the reader to preview the chapter’s contents.

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“Living Physical Geography” Questions

The chapter opener also includes a set of “Living Physical Geography” questions. This feature is designed to stimulate interest in the chapter material by asking questions that students may already have. Each question is repeated at the place in the chapter where students will find the answer. Brief versions of the answers to each question are provided at the end of the chapter.

The Big Picture

At the beginning of each chapter, a brief description in a color band orients students to the chapter’s main themes in one or two sentences.

Learning Goals

At the start of each chapter, a list of learning goals is provided. Each numbered section of the chapter begins with a repetition of the relevant learning goal. These learning goals break each chapter down into manageable units while helping instructors focus on the learning outcomes that are important to them.

The Human Sphere

Each chapter opens with a section titled “The Human Sphere.” This opening story briefly explores the relationship between people and a physical phenomenon or process. The key goals of this feature are to illustrate the importance of people to physical geography and to demonstrate the relevance of physical geography to students’ daily lives. Some examples of the Human Sphere topics include air pollution in Wyoming, Asian dust storms, EF5 tornadoes, non-native species, tsunamis, weathering on Mount Rushmore, and collecting mammoth remains from thawing permafrost.

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Geographic Perspectives

Each chapter concludes with a section titled “Geographic Perspectives.” These sections are mini-case studies that show students how to think like geographers. Some topics explored in the Geographic Perspectives sections are renewable wind and solar energy, the functional value of plant dispersal, strategies to address climate change, the pros and cons of fracking for natural gas, the pros and cons of dams on rivers, the consequences of rising sea level, and the importance of soils. Geographic Perspectives encourage critical thought and assessment in four ways:

Scientific Inquiry

Each chapter has a feature titled “Scientific Inquiry” that reveals why scientists do what they do, how they assess what they know, and how they collect and interpret scientific data. The goal of this feature is to dispel the perception of science as something disconnected from students’ daily lives or career options. Topics range from how stream gauges work and why they are important, to how data are collected from marine buoys and weather balloons to forecast hurricane threats, to how data are collected from ice cores for research into ancient atmospheric chemistry.

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Geo-Graphics

The Geo-Graphic feature is a pedagogical tool that combines imagery with narrative. Geo-Graphics develop the text narrative without repeating information from the main text. A key goal of this feature is to provide an image-based avenue of learning for students who learn visually. Clear labels guide students through each GeoGraphic in a logical sequence.

Picture This

In each chapter, the Picture This feature delivers pertinent and intriguing content that supplements the main text and illustrates a relevant principle. The wettest place on Earth, extreme climate events, coal mining, and collapse sinkholes are examples of topics visited in this feature. Each Picture This includes two or three Consider This questions that students can answer by reading supporting text within the feature or the text just preceding it. (Answers to the Consider This questions are available in the Instructor’s Manual.)

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Crunch the Numbers

A feature titled “Crunch the Numbers” appears in each chapter at an appropriate point. These short quantitative reasoning exercises ask students to think about how the science of physical geography can be expressed in numbers as well as in words. (Answers to the Crunch the Numbers exercises are available in the Instructor’s Manual.)

Key Information in Blue

Within each chapter, sentences with key information are emphasized in blue. Collectively, these highlights provide a snapshot of the most essential ideas in the chapter.

Chapter Study Guide

Each chapter concludes with a comprehensive study guide. Included are an Exploring with Google Earth question set, Focus Points that summarize the chapter text, a Key Terms matching game, Concept Review questions, Critical-Thinking questions, a 10-question Test Yourself quiz, a visual Picture This: Your Turn exercise, and a brief Further Reading list. Answers to the study guide questions are provided in the Instructor’s Manual.

Locator Maps and Places Visited

All photos whose subjects are located in real geographic space are accompanied by a locator map. The purpose of these locator maps is to emphasize and familiarize students with the locations and spatial relationships of places visited in the book. All places visited are listed in the Places Visited Index at the back of the book. The locations of the places visited are also shown on the world map on the inside front cover.

Consistent Use of the Mollweide Map Projection

The Mollweide map projection is used for most world maps in the text. This projection was chosen because it is an equal-area projection that preserves the true relative sizes of the continents. This quality is necessary so that the geographic extent of mapped features, such as regions of atmospheric warming or types of vegetation, can be meaningfully compared across different geographic regions. A consistent map projection fosters a more accurate understanding of spatial dimensions and relationships and greater geographic literacy.

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