Learning Goals

a) In the introductory week, the students gain an overview of the degree programme and selected location-specific study and research content as well as selected professional fields.

b) In the lecture, they gain knowledge about geography as a science as well as the central concepts of the subject. An understanding of the complementarity and the field of tension between physical geography and human geography as well as the ability of geography to integrate and synthesise is developed and discussed in depth in the accompanying courses.

c) Within the framework of the lecture parts, students learn basic techniques and procedures of scientific work as well as subject- and target group-oriented presentation techniques, which are implemented in the seminars.

Contents

Introductory week (WiSe): Presentation of the structures, study contents, the course and the requirements of the graded study programme as well as insights into different university teaching and instruction forms, such as lectures, exercises and short excursions. Presentation of the main areas of work at the Institute of Geography and possible geographical occupational fields.
Lecture (WiSe): Presentation of current case studies, which document in a special way the complementarity and the field of tension between physical and human geography and show integrative and systemic approaches. Presentation of the disciplinary-historical background and introduction to current concepts of the subject.
Lecture and seminar (summer semester): Basic introduction to procedures and techniques of scientific work (e.g. selection and justification of a topic, literature research and topic-related analysis, content-related and formal structuring of a scientific paper) as well as different subject- and target group-oriented presentation techniques. Implementation of the taught procedures and techniques on a specific topic using a concrete example (compilation of a literature list, formulation of guiding questions, compilation of an outline, preparation of a written term paper, presentation and discussion of the results).

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminar, excursion

In the seminars on "Introduction to Scientific Work", regular attendance is also a prerequisite, as here the basic principles of scientific work are practised in a discourse between lecturers and students and applied to the questions chosen by the students themselves. In addition, presentation techniques and feedback cultures are practised.

Mode of assessment

The module ends with two examinations.
In lecture b), geography as a science and the central concepts of the subject are presented. This part of the module ends with the examination "Klausur".
Within the framework of module part c), students learn basic techniques and procedures of scientific work in the lecture parts. In the accompanying seminars, subject- and target group-oriented presentation techniques are implemented. Here, the examination consists of a term paper and presentation.

Justification
The two module parts mentioned complement each other, but cover completely different content aspects: On the one hand, subject-specific topics are addressed, on the other hand, the basics of scientific work are developed and applied. These two areas of the module cannot be adequately summarised in terms of content in a single examination. This also does not seem to make sense from the students' point of view, as the missing content-related references of both parts do not allow for a learning-psychological networking of what has been learned.

Additional Information

Conditions for granting credit points

Participation in the introductory week
Completion of the module component ‘Reading English Scientific Papers’
Successful completion of the examinations in the sum of the partial performances, whereby the course
course ‘Introduction to Scientific Work’ must be passed (i.e. graded with at least 50%).
Composition of the module grade:
 Written examination 50%
 Presentation and term paper 50%

Usage of the module
Compulsory module in the degree programmes B.A. and B.Sc.

Stellenwert der Note für die Endnote
The module grade is CP-weighted (10/180) and is included in the final B.Sc. grade