Full syllabus PDF Document: APHUG Syllabus 2009-2010
So what exactly is Human Geography? Geography is everything and everything is geography… and that is exactly the philosophy that what we will take throughout the school year (and hopefully for the rest of our lives). The attempt to better understand the world around us in order to make it a better place. Human Geography allows students to better understand human issues in the geographical world. Issues such as world population, border disputes, and international conflicts, to name a but a few. In addition, students are exposed to economic theories and models, as well as the spread of world religions and the origins and diffusion of languages. Students also study urban development, industrialization, and city planning, often experiencing these topics firsthand through field trips. So remember… Geography is everything and everything is geography.
Course Description:
This course provides students with a rigorous learning opportunity equivalent to that obtained in a college-level introductory Human Geography course and the Advanced Placement ® Human Geography Exam in May. The AP Examination in Human Geography is approximately two hours long, and consists of a 60-minute multiple-choice section and a 75-minute free-response section. Each portion of the examination will account for 50% of the student’s final score.
The design and intent of this course are to develop students’ critical reading, analytical thinking, reasoning, and writing skills through the analysis and systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of the Earth’s environment. Students will undertake this study through analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the following geographic concepts: population, migration, culture, language, religion, ethnicity, political geography, economic development, industry, agriculture, and urban/rural geography.
The core of the course focuses on the following concepts: use and consideration of maps and spatial data; interpretation and understanding the implications of associations among phenomena in places; definition of regions and evaluation and analyzing of the regionalization process; and analyzing and characterizing the changing interconnections among places.
Course Objectives:
- Use and think about maps and spatial data through the systemic study of patterns and processes that have shaped our understanding and alteration of the Earth.
- Understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena in connected and disparate places through geographic methods: observation, data gathering and analysis, mapmaking, and writing.
- Recognize and interpret at different scales the relationships among patterns and processes.
- Define regions and evaluate the regionalization processes on local, state, regions, and global levels.
- Characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places.
In addition to the described content, the course will also work to refine important skills. They include analyzing data and writing and presenting written and oral arguments. In order to help students master the ability to write a good essay the course will concentrate on the instruction of several essential skills:
- Effective writing style
- The ability to make arguments
- The ability to evaluate critically and to compare scholarly works
- The ability to synthesize data
- The ability analyze, interpret, and respond to stimulus-based data including charts, graphs, cartoons, and quotes
The course will cover a large amount of content. The study of Human Geography is both historical and contemporary. Therefore, it is essential that students remain aware of what is happening in the world. It is suggested that regular reading of newspapers and news magazines as well as the regular viewing of news broadcasts be maintained throughout the course.
AP HUG Outline
I. Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–10%
A. Geography as a field of inquiry
B. Evolution of key geographical concepts and models associated with notable geographers
C. Key concepts underlying the geographical perspective: location, space, place, scale, pattern regionalization, and globalization
D. Key geographical skills
1. How to use and think about maps and spatial data
2. How to understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena in places
3. How to recognize and interpret at different scales the relationships among patterns and processes
4. How to define regions and evaluate the regionalization process
5. How to characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places
E. New geographic technologies, such as GIS and GPS
F. Sources of geographical ideas and data: the field, census data
II. Cities and Urban Land Use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%
A. Definitions of urbanism
B. 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
C. Functional character of contemporary cities
1. Changing employment mix
2. Changing demographic and social structures
D. 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
III. Population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%
A. Geographical 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
B. Population growth and decline over time and space
1. Historical trends and projections for the future
2. Theories of population growth, including the Demographic Model
3. Patterns of fertility, mortality, and health
4. Regional variations of demographic transitions
5. Effects of population policies
C. Population movement
1. Push and pull factors
2. Major voluntary and involuntary migrations at different scales
3. Migration selectivity
4. Short-term, local movements, and activity space
IV. Cultural Patterns and Processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%
A. Concepts of culture
1. Traits
2. Diffusion
3. Acculturation
4. Cultural regions
B. Cultural differences
1. Language
2. Religion
3. Ethnicity
4. Gender
5. Popular and folk culture
C. Environmental impact of cultural attitudes and practices
D. Cultural landscapes and cultural identity
1. Values and preferences
2. Symbolic landscapes and sense of place
V. Political Organization of Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%
A. 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
B. Evolution of the contemporary political pattern
1. The nation-state concept
2. Colonialism and imperialism
3. Federal and unitary states
C. Challenges to inherited political–territorial arrangements
1. Changing nature of sovereignty
2. Fragmentation, unification, alliance
3. Spatial relationships between political patterns and patterns of ethnicity, economy, and environment
4. Electoral geography, including gerrymandering
VI. Industrialization and Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%
A. Key concepts in industrialization and development
B. 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 (i.e., land rent, comparative costs of transportation), industrial location, economic development, and world systems
C. Contemporary patterns and impacts of industrialization and development
1. Spatial organization of the 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
VII. Agricultural and Rural Land Use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%
A. Development and diffusion of agriculture
1. Neolithic Agricultural Revolution
2. Second Agricultural Revolution
B. 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
C. Rural land use and settlement patterns
1. Models of agricultural land use, including von Thünen’s model
2. Settlement patterns associated with major agriculture types
D. 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
