AP Human Geography

Course Syllabus

 

 This Course as been approved by The College Board

 

Course Description: The course in Advanced Placement Human Geography is designed to engage students in developing a spatial understanding of the human landscape.  The course focuses upon the interaction of humankind with their environment and the spatial distribution and diffusion of people, places and ideas.  Students will develop effective analytical and geographical skills to critically understand and investigate the role of humans in shaping the world.  They will also utilize geographic technologies to better in the quest for spatial understanding.

 

Essential Questions: 

 

            How do humans shape our world?

            How does the natural environment affect human behavior?

            What is the nature and significance of place?

            What spatial patterns exist in the human world?

            How does space relate to the human condition?

 

Course Objectives:

   Students in the Advanced Placement Human Geography course will be able to: 

 

·        Understand the impact tat geography as a discipline plays is shaping human understanding of the world in spatial terms.

·        Understand the dynamics of population as they relate to all other aspects of human spatial relationships, including culture, power and economy.

·        Understand the multi-faceted nature of culture and the historical and ethnic origins of culture throughout the world.

·        Understand the role that politics and government play in shaping the human boundaries that exist across the landscape. 

·        Understand the development of agricultural and industrial revolutions and the impact that these concepts played in shape the human landscape.

·        Understand the growth, organization and life cycle of modern urban landscapes.

·        Utilize effectively geographic technologies.

 

 

 

Course Participation:

 

            The Advanced Placement Human Geography elective is open to all students in grades eleven and twelve, who are willing to accept the challenge of a rigorous academic curriculum and who are willing to challenge their learning and technological abilities.

 

Course Resources:

 

Primary Text:

An Introduction to Human Geography A Cultural Landscape, Rubenstein, 6th edition,  James M., Prentice-Hall

Supplemental Text:

Human Geography in Action, Kuby

 

Community Geography: GIS in Action, Feaster and English, © ESRI Press

 

Summer Reading Assignment:

Why Geography Matters, De Blij, Harm, © 2005, Oxford University Press.

 

Other Resources:

 

ArcGIS, 9.2  ESRI – Geographic Information Systems (G.I.S.) software for map generation and analysis.  Each unit of instruction will have an associated G.I.S. lab session.


Course Structure and Outline:

 

The Advanced Placement Human Geography course is designed around seven units of instructions, 1 sub-unit and three thread units.  The seven main units of instruction reflect the seven content areas identified by the College Board course description.  They are “

·        The Nature of Geography

·        Population

·        Cultural Patterns and Processes

·        Political Organization of Space

·        Agricultural and Rural Land Use

·        Industrialization and Economic Development, and

·        Cities and Urban Land Use

 

The sub-unit investigates those aspects of physical geography that are essential to understanding Human Geography and geography in general.  It is a primer on physical geography from the perspective of the four spheres ( Lithosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere and Biosphere) and focuses upon the following topics:

·        Lithosphere:  Landforms and Land forming processes

·        Atmosphere: Climatic Processes and Regions

·        Hydrosphere: Water Budget and Water Resources

·        Bioshpere: Resources of Living World, Sources of  Food

 

This sub unit is included to reinforce the connection and demonstrate the impact of the physical earth upon human world.

 

The three thread units are designed to run throughout the course.  They are skill and content building units that will utilize the knowledge from the main units of instruction to build upon.  The thread units are :

 

·        Place Geography: Students will actively engage in learning the places of the world, focusing on the countries, major cities , hot spots and major physical features.  This will be accomplished by each student taking responsibility for a region of the world and then reading, writing and responding to regional web logs that they will maintain throughout the year.  By becoming classroom experts on certain regions they will share with classmates information about different places in the world.  Each student is expected to read and comment in other  student web logs.  As we progress through units the students will focus on the topic under discussion from that unit in their web logs.

·        Geographic Technologies:  Students will utilize G.I.S., aerial photography, G.P.S. and photogrammetry resources through out the year to better understand unit concepts. Each unit will have a G.I.S. lab associated with it that is designed to reinforce and enrich unit topics; as well as developing G.I.S. skills.  The progression of skills will culminate in the students creating a community based original inquiry project in the month after the AP Human Geography examination.

·        Writing in Geography:  Through out the year students will be engaged in developing a writing style and specialization related to geography.  They will learn to interpret maps, charts, tables and graphs and to effectively write in narrative form. This will lead to writing a cartographic essay. The cartographic essay is a student research paper that has substantial use of maps, charts, tables and graphs.  Students will also learn to effectively structure, outline and write open-response essays.

 

UNIT

TITLE

TOPICS

TIMELINE

1

The Nature of Geography
  1. Geography as a field of Inquiry
  2. Evolution of key geographic concepts a models associated with notable geographers.
  3. Key concepts:
    1. Location
    2. Space
    3. Scale
    4. Pattern
    5. Regionalization
    6. Globalization
  4. Key geographic skills
    1. Using and thinking about maps and spatial data
    2. Understanding and interpreting relationships between phenomena and place
    3. Recognize and interpret scale  and relationships among patterns and processes
    4. Defining regions and evaluate the process of regionalization
    5. Characterize and analyze changing interconnections  among places
  5. New geographic technologies: GIS and GPS
  6. Sources for geographic ideas and understanding. (Field work/Census data)

 

September

1a

Physical Geography Sub-unit
  1. Earth & Space
  2. Lithosphere: Landforms and Processes
  3. Atmosphere: Climate: Processes and Regions
  4. Hydrosphere: Oceans, Lakes, Rivers and Streams, Water Budget
  5. Biosphere: Flora and Fauna

 

September

2

Population Geography
  1. Geographic analysis of population
    1. Density, distribution and scale
    2. Consequences of various densities and distributions
    3. Patterns of composition: age, sex, race, and ethnicity
    4. Population and natural hazards: past, present and future.
  2. Population growth and decline over time and space
    1. Historical trends and projections for the future
    2. Theories of population growth, including Demographic model
    3. Patterns of fertility, mortality and health.
    4. Regional variations of demographic transitions
    5. Effects of population policy
  3. Population movement
    1. Push/Pull factors
    2. Major voluntary and involuntary migrations at different scales
    3. Migration selectivity
    4. Short-term, local movements and activity space

 

October

3

Cultural Geography
  1. Concepts of Culture
    1. Traits
    2. Diffusion
    3. Acculturation
    4. Cultural Regions
  2. Elements of Culture
    1. Language
    2. Religion
    3. Ethnicity
    4. Gender
    5. Popular and folk culture
  3. Environmental impact of cultural attitudes and practices
  4. Cultural landscapes and cultural identity
    1. Values and preferences
    2. Symbolic landscapes and sense of place

 

 

November

4

Political Geography

 

 
  1. Territorial dimensions of politics
    1. The concept of territoriality
    2. The nature and meaning of boundaries
    3. Influences of boundaries on identity, interaction, and exchange.
  2. Evolution f the contemporary political pattern
    1. Elements of a state
    2. The nation-state concept
    3. Colonialism and imperialism
    4. Federal and unitary states
  3. Challenges to inherited political-territorial arrangements
    1. Changing nature of sovereignty
    2. Fragmentation, unification and alliance
    3. Spatial relationships between

December-January

5

Economic Geography: Agriculture
  1. The Developing World and Rural Systems
  2. Development and diffusion of agriculture
    1. Neolithic Agricultural Revolution
    2. Second Agricultural Revolution
  3. Major agricultural production regions
    1. Agricultural systems associated with major bioclimatic zones
    2. Variations within major zones and effects of markets
    3. Linkages and flows among regions of food production and consumption
  4. Rural land use and settlement patterns
    1. Models of agricultural land use, including Von Thunen’s model
    2. Settlement patterns associated with major agriculture types
  5. Modern commercial agriculture
    1. Third Agricultural Revolution
    2. Green Revolution
    3. Biotechnology
    4. Spatial organization and diffusion of industrial agriculture
    5. Future food supplies and environmental impacts of agriculture.

 

 

January-February

6

Economic Geography: Industrialization
  1. The Developed World
  2. Key concepts in industrialization and development
  3. Growth and diffusion of industrialization
    1. The changing roles of energy and technology
    2. Industrial Revolution
    3. Evolution of economic cores and peripheries
    4. Geographic critiques of models of economic localization, industrial location, economic development, and world systems
  4. Contemporary patterns and impacts of industrialization and development
    1. Spatial organization of world economy
    2. Variations in levels of development
    3. Deindustrialization and economic restructuring
    4. Pollution, health, and quality of life
    5. Industrialization, environmental change, and sustainability
    6. Local development initiatives: government policies
  5. Service Industries in developed economies.

February-March

7

Urban Geography
  1. Definitions of urbanism and urbanization
  2. Origin and evolution of cities
    1. Historical patterns of urbanization
    2. Rural-urban migration and urban growth
    3. Global cities and megacities
    4. Models of urban systems
  3. Functional character of contemporary cities
    1. Changing employment mix
    2. Changing demographic and social structures
  4. Built environment and social space.
    1. Comparative models of internal city structure
    2. Transportation and infrastructure
    3. Political organization of urban areas
    4. Urban planning and design
    5. Patterns of race, ethnicity, gender and class
    6. Uneven development, ghettoization and gentrification
    7. Impacts of suburbanization and edge cities

March-April

R

Review Exam Prep

 

April

I

Inquiry Project

Community Geography  Projects: Geographic Information Systems and Global Positioning projects

May-June

 

*  Class Attendance Policy:  Class attendance is considered to be integral  part of class participation and is calculated as noted above. Students are provided a quarterly attendance grade on the basis of the percentage of time they were in class.  In essence, this means that they receive a 100 for each day attended and a “0” for each day missed, regardless of the reason.  A single or even five or six absences have “very” little impact.  Excessive absences can have a significant impact on this grade, not to mention missed work and material. If an extended illness or matter forces more than 10 days of absence in a term, parents must contact Mr. Whittier to discuss the possibility of excusing some of the absences. No adjustment will be made for up to 10 absences. Students are responsible for making up work after an absence within 3 days, including making arrangements to take any missed tests or quizzes and extensions on deadlines.  Failure to make arrangements will result in “0”, for the assignment. Make-up assignments and tests submitted within the last five days before any progress report or grade report may result in an “I”, incomplete, being issued on the report card.

 

 

AP Human Geography Performance

 

Year

Percentage of Students Receiving 3 or higher

2007

58%

2005

72%

            **- Students of all abilities are permitted to take this course.*