AP Human Geography
Course Syllabus 2012
Course Description:
This semester long course gives students an introduction to the systematic study of
patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration and
adaptions of & to the earth’s surface. Student’s employ spatial concepts and landscape
analysis to examine human organizations and institutions.
Course Objectives:
1. To use and think about maps and spatial data.
2. To understand and interpret implications of associations among phenomena in
places.
3. To recognize and interpret at different scales the relationship among patterns and
processes.
4. To define regions and evaluate the regionalization process.
5. To give students practical experience in communicating understanding of various
geographic issues.
6. To understand the human experience in moving toward a sense of community is
truly a long, complex, messy business complicated by romanticized concepts.
7. To develop critical thinking skills through using systematic, analytical decision
making skills in discussing and solving problems.
Method of Presentation of material:
The primary mode of presentation is interactive Socratic dialogue. Students are expected
to read and actively participate in the development of concepts and to demonstrate an
ability to analyze concepts through synthesis of reading material, models & maps.
To model a college setting, Monday’s are reading days {preview of material for the week
or AP micro review}-Tuesday through Thursday are discussion daysFridays evaluation/analysis days.
Textbook:
Knox, Paul L. and Marston, Sallie A. Places and Regions in the Global Context Human
Geography Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall
Supplementary Materials:
Human Geography ,The Cultural Landscape , James M .Rubenstein
Human Geography, Landscapes of Human activity, Fellmann,Getis McGraw Hill
Independent Computer-Assisted instruction“http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_knox_humangeo
-http://www.mhhe.com/fellmann7e
-http://www.prenhall.com/rubenstein
E-mail subscription. Ethics, Place and Environments.
Supplemental readings sources: National Geographic, Journel of Geography
The Geographical Review, Geography World
Evaluations:
Weekly subjective Quiz: GIVEN AT ANY TIME
 Free response questions-examination & synthesis of patterns & physical features
 Map & Model analysis & interpretations and drawing.
 Oral Presentations-developed and developing worlds
 Group problem solving-investigation of spatial analysis
 Computer assisted field trips-virtual geographies
 Field assignments-comparisons local to global continuum
Paper due Every 2 weeks {Feb.10 & 24, March 9 & 23,April 5} Student will
develop the question based on 2 weeks of study and completed in the A B C D style
found in the AP acorn book-1 page typed/single space
9 week Exam - Subjective [essay] Exam
Final Exam -Objective questions [multiple choice] & Subjective [essay] Exam
Course Topical Outline:
Week 1 & 2{Jan. 30-Feb.10}-Geography: Its Nature & Perspectives
 Uniqueness of Place
 Interdependence in a Globalizing World
 Geographic Information System
 Fundamental geographic observations & basic concepts
 Regional concepts
 Concepts of Spatial Analysis
 Means of visualizing & analyzing spatial data
 Geographic Expansion, Integration and change
 Industrialization and geographic change
 Internal development of the core regions
 Organizing the periphery
 Types of Maps
 The fast world and the slow world
 World leadership cycles
 Global outlook/local prospects
 Changing face of the landscape
 Role of Human Geography
 Analyzing Models
 Thinking about Space, Place, Region, Scale
 Making Geographic connections/thinking Geographically
Week 3{Feb.13-17}-Geographies of Population
 Major influences on population distribution
 Spatial interaction
 Spatial behavior
 Migration patterns-why do people migrate, migration distribution
 Migration within a country/region
 Population models
 Data & measurement
 Demographic transition
 Population distributions
 Population projections
 Population structure
 Population dynamics
 Population movement
 Population diffusion
 Population polices
 The baby boom and its impact
 Where is the World’s population distributed, where has it increased, why is
population increasing at different rates in different places
 Over population?
Week 4{Feb.21 -24}- Cultural Patterns & Processes
 Nature as a concept
 Nature of human-environmental relations
 Historical transformation of the surface
 Global climatic change
 Human expansion and action
 Structure of culture & cultural change
 Environmental change
 Culture as a geographic process
 Cultural complexes and systems
 Cultural nationalism
 Culture and the physical environment
 Globalization and change
 Classification-families-origins/spread & distribution of language
 Language as cultural identity-preservation of local languages/distribution
 Landscape relic
 Role of religion/religious conflict
 Religion distribution/organized space & distinctive patterns
 Towards a global culture?
 Landscape as a text
 Place Marketing
 Semiotics in the landscape
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Economic development of Space
Postmodern spaces
Cultural geography of cyberspace
Cultural dissonance
Ethnic diversity/conflict
Ethnicities-nationalities
Folk culture/Popular culture diffusion
Folk clusters/housing types
Patterns of Popular culture/Globalization
Human impacts on Environment
Week 5{Feb.27-March 2} -The Politics of Territory and Space
 Geopolitical model of the state
 Location of states/Changing borders
 Shape of states
 Boundaries & problems
 National political units & cooperation
 Nationalism/nationalities
 Representation & fragmentation
 Frontier regions
 Boundary formation & concerns
 Theories and practices of the state
 Politics of geography
 Regionalism/sectionalism
 International political systems
 Law of the Sea
 State case studies
 Adjusting to the future/scale & territory
 Economic cooperation
Week 6{March 5-9}-Agriculture, Food Production & Rural Land Use
 Traditional agricultural geography/origins of Ag
 Agricultural Revolution
 Agricultural Industrialization
 Agricultural regions
 Distribution of Ag. in Developed nations
 Global agricultural systems
 Social and technological agricultural change
 Impact of environment on agriculture
 Impact of agriculture on environment
 Subsistence Agriculture
 Commercial Agriculture
 Non-Farming primary activities
 Environmental/Cultural factors
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Economic issues
Future of Ag
Week 7 & Week 8{March 12-23}-Geography of Economic Development
 Unevenness of economic development
 Distribution of development
 Distribution of industrial development
 Industrial Issues
 Role of services/service clusters
 Central place theory
 Market place analysis
 Obstacles to development
 Resources and technology
 Principles of commercial and industrial development
 Economic and agglomeration effects
 Regional economic cores
 Modification of core –periphery patterns
 Global assembly line
 Global office
 Political and cultural modifications of economic development
 Economic development of Space
 Spatial change/technology
 Productive activities
 Economic Classifications
 Trade/national & international
 Manufacturing locations
 Comparative advantage
 World patterns & economic regions
 Recent developments & impacts of world economic patterns
 Economic models of development
Week 9 & Week 10 {March 26-April 5} -City Spaces & Urban Land Structures
 Nature of cities
 Defining urban settlements
 3 Models of urban structures/use of models outside North America
 Peripheral model
 Distribution of people within urban areas
 Economic base of cities
 Patterns of urban change
 Developing world & urban diversity
 Urban expansion
 World urban trends
 Industrialization/urbanization
 Regional urban trends
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Projected urbanization
Urban systems/transportation systems
Urbanization & economic development
Deindustrialization/decentralization
Counter urbanization/suburbanization
Unintended Metropolis
Territoriality/congregation & segregation
Functional clustering
Social ecology
Comparative urban structures
Symbolic landscapes
Planned urban design
Fiscal problems
Infrastructure problems
Environmental degradation
Contrasts in the city
Week 11{April 16-20}
 Reading-Future Geographies
 Pollution
 Resources
 Global Themes
 Analyze the local to global continuum
 Evaluate the concept of global geographic change
 Experience virtual geography[ or field experience]
Week 12 {April 23-27}
 FINAL EXAM WEEK- Free response questions
 2 days of subjective testing
Week 13 {April 30-May 4}
 Review for AP Exams
Week 14 {after AP Exams} {May 21-24}
 Prepare for final exam question
Week 15{May 30-June 1}
Planning board simulation
 NH school District
 Raise the prospects of mapping future geography
 Committees established
 Panel reports given and future maps presented