SYLLABUS AND CLASS INFORMATION
Course Description:
AP Human Geography presents high school students with the curricular equivalent of an introductory college-level course in human geography or cultural geography. Content is presented thematically rather than regionally and is organized around the discipline's main subfields: economic geography, cultural geography, political geography, and urban geography. The approach is spatial and problem oriented. Case studies are drawn from all world regions, with an emphasis on understanding the world in which we live today. Historical information serves to enrich analysis of the impacts of phenomena such as globalization, colonialism, and human-environment relationships on places, regions, cultural landscapes, and patterns of interaction.
The course provides a systematic study of human geography, including the following topics outlined in the course description put forth by College Board:
> Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives
> Population and Migration
> Cultural Patterns and Processes
> Political Organization of Space
> Agriculture, Food Production, and Rural Land Use
> Industrialization and Economic Development
> Cities and Urban Land Use
Textbook:
The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography. 11th ed. Rubenstein, James M. Pearson, 2014
The AP Human Geography Exam
Friday, May 18th - 8 a.m. - location TBA
The exam is composed of two parts: a multiple choice section with 75 items, and a free-response (essay) section with three items. Examinees are allotted 2 hours and 15 minutes to complete the exam. One hour is provided for the multiple-choice section, and 75 minutes are provided for the free-response section. Each section contributes equally to the final score a student receives.
Syllabus
Unit I. Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives
Unit II. Population and Migration
Video: World in the Balance: The Population Paradox
Video: China's Lost Girls
Unit III. Cultural Patterns and Processes
Video: National Geographic - Inside Mecca
Video: Power of Place series, #2: Boundaries and Borderlands
Unit IV. Political Organization of Space
Unit V. Development
Unit VI. Agriculture and Rural Land Use
Documentary: King Corn
Documentary: Food Chain$: The Revolution in America's Fields
Unit VII. Industrialization
Video: Power of Place series, #15: Global Interaction
Video: Coal, Steam, and the Industrial Revolution: Crash Course World History #32
Unit VIII. Services
Unit IX. Urban Patterns
Video: Power of Place series, #11: A Challenge for Two Old Cities
Unit X. Review for AP Human Geography Exam
*Assessment:
The assessment of students’ performance is based on tests, map quizzes, assignments, writings, and projects.
Required Materials
>sturdy 3-ring binder
>colored pencils
>14 binder dividers
>exam review book:
The Princeton Review: Cracking the AP Human Geography Exam
>loose leaf paper
>internet access
>3 x 5 index cards (500)
>shoe box or storage box for index cards
>pens and pencils
AP Human Geography presents high school students with the curricular equivalent of an introductory college-level course in human geography or cultural geography. Content is presented thematically rather than regionally and is organized around the discipline's main subfields: economic geography, cultural geography, political geography, and urban geography. The approach is spatial and problem oriented. Case studies are drawn from all world regions, with an emphasis on understanding the world in which we live today. Historical information serves to enrich analysis of the impacts of phenomena such as globalization, colonialism, and human-environment relationships on places, regions, cultural landscapes, and patterns of interaction.
The course provides a systematic study of human geography, including the following topics outlined in the course description put forth by College Board:
> Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives
> Population and Migration
> Cultural Patterns and Processes
> Political Organization of Space
> Agriculture, Food Production, and Rural Land Use
> Industrialization and Economic Development
> Cities and Urban Land Use
Textbook:
The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography. 11th ed. Rubenstein, James M. Pearson, 2014
The AP Human Geography Exam
Friday, May 18th - 8 a.m. - location TBA
The exam is composed of two parts: a multiple choice section with 75 items, and a free-response (essay) section with three items. Examinees are allotted 2 hours and 15 minutes to complete the exam. One hour is provided for the multiple-choice section, and 75 minutes are provided for the free-response section. Each section contributes equally to the final score a student receives.
Syllabus
Unit I. Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives
- Thinking about space
- Thinking about place
- Thinking about region
- Thinking about scale
- Thinking about connections
- Rubenstein, Chapter 1: “Basic Concepts”
Unit II. Population and Migration
- Where the world’s population is distributed
- Where the world’s population has increased
- Population is increasing at different rates in different countries
- Demographic Transition Model
- The world might face an overpopulation problem
- Why people migrate
- Distribution of immigrants
- Obstacles faced by immigrants
- People migrate within a country
- Residential mobility
- Rubenstein, Chapters 2 and 3: “Population” and “Migration”
Video: World in the Balance: The Population Paradox
Video: China's Lost Girls
Unit III. Cultural Patterns and Processes
- Folk and Pop Culture
- Where folk and popular cultures originate and diffuse
- Folk and popular culture and the cultural landscape
- Folk culture is clustered
- Popular culture is widely distributed
- Globalization of popular culture causes problems
- Rubenstein, Chapter 4: “Folk and Popular Culture”
- Language
- Where English language speakers are distributed
- Indo-European languages
- Where other language families are distributed
- People preserve local languages
- Rubenstein, Chapter 5: “Language”
- Religion
- Universalizing and ethnic religions
- Origin and diffusion of religions
- Religions organize space
- Territorial conflicts arise among religious groups
- Rubenstein, Chapter 6: “Religion”
- “Abraham: Journey of Faith” http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2001/12/01/html/ft_20011201.6.html
Video: National Geographic - Inside Mecca
- Ethnicity
- Distribution of ethnicities
- Why some ethnicities have been transformed into nationalities
- The clash of ethnicities
- Rubenstein, Chapter 7: “Ethnicity”
Video: Power of Place series, #2: Boundaries and Borderlands
Unit IV. Political Organization of Space
- The difference between a state and a nation
- Boundaries
- Boundary problems
- Cooperation between states
- A look at terrorism
- Rubenstein, Chapter 8: “Political Geography”
Unit V. Development
- Economic, social, and demographic indicators
- More developed regions versus less developed regions
- Obstacles to development
- Rostow’s model
- Rubenstein, Chapter 9: “Development”
- Friedman, Thomas L., The World is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006. Chapters 1 and 2 are required.
Unit VI. Agriculture and Rural Land Use
- Agriculture hearths
- Classification of agricultural regions
- Agriculture in less developed countries
- Agriculture in more developed countries
- Economic issues involving agriculture
- Von Thünen’s Model
- Rural land use
- Rural landscape analysis
- Rubenstein, Chapter 10: “Agriculture”
- Jared Diamond, "The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race"
Documentary: King Corn
Documentary: Food Chain$: The Revolution in America's Fields
Unit VII. Industrialization
- Origins of the Industrial Revolution
- Distribution of industry
- Situation factors and site factors
- Weber’s industrial location model
- Obstacles to optimum locations
- Problems faced by industry
- A look at NAFTA
- Rubenstein, Chapter 11: “Industry”
Video: Power of Place series, #15: Global Interaction
Video: Coal, Steam, and the Industrial Revolution: Crash Course World History #32
Unit VIII. Services
- Where services originated
- Rural settlements
- Distribution of services
- 1. Central place theory
- Business services in large settlements
- Central business district
- Rubenstein, Chapter 12: “Services”
Unit IX. Urban Patterns
- Origin and location of urban areas at multiple scales
- Urban models
- Problems of inner cities
- Problems in suburbs
- Rubenstein, Chapter 13: “Urban Patterns”
Video: Power of Place series, #11: A Challenge for Two Old Cities
Unit X. Review for AP Human Geography Exam
*Assessment:
The assessment of students’ performance is based on tests, map quizzes, assignments, writings, and projects.
Required Materials
>sturdy 3-ring binder
>colored pencils
>14 binder dividers
>exam review book:
The Princeton Review: Cracking the AP Human Geography Exam
>loose leaf paper
>internet access
>3 x 5 index cards (500)
>shoe box or storage box for index cards
>pens and pencils