Regional courses are ones that deal with a particular portion of the earth's surface, and consider all of the phenomena that may make that area different from others. The course "Latin America," for example, considers the climate, landforms, soils, settlement patterns, economic activities, transportation and trade, languages, religions, and much more in dealing with the area called Latin America.
Discover Geography is an example of a topical course. Another topical course is a course named "Urban Geography." Topical courses such as these deal with specific themes or topics that are of concern to geographers regardless of the particular region of the world. Discover Geography considers a number of themes including population, language, religion, economic activities, and settlements. Urban geography concentrates upon places that may be considered to be urban regardless of the region of the world in which they may be found.
Methods classes teach a particular technique or methodology that is used by geographers. Cartography, the art and science of making maps, is one of the oldest. Remote sensing, which involves gathering spatial information about the earth from a remote location such a satellite, and GIS (geographic information systems), which organize spatial information into spatially-based "layers" and allow computers to access and analyze the information, are two newer techniques that are also taught in geography courses.
Discover Geography is really an introduction to a particular aspect of geography. It is really an introductory topical course rather than one that deals with regions of the world, and is also not an introductory course that concentrates on the technology and methodology used by contemporary geographers. Even more specifically, Discover Geography deals with topics that are all directly related to humankind, and is thus an introduction to human topical geography. Other courses exist which deal with physical topics, including courses titled "Physical Geography" and "Climatology."
