AP Human Geography Course Outline
Name: Mr. Kelly Swanson
School: John A. Johnson Senior High School
School Location and Environment: Johnson Senior High School is located in an urban
neighborhood on the east side of St. Paul, Minnesota. It is one of seven secondary public
high schools in the St. Paul school district. The school follows a block schedule with
four 84 minute periods a day.
Grades: 10-12
Total Enrollment: Approximately 1,750 students
Percentage of Minorities/Demographics: Asian Americans 46 percent of the student
population; African Americans 29 percent;; Caucasians comprise 14 percent; Hispanic
Americans 10 percent and American Indians 2 percent for the 2011-2012 school year.
Students of color comprise 86% of the population. Free and Reduced lunch is 81%. 18%
are special education and 34% are English Language Learners.
College Record: 38 percent of Johnson High School graduates attend a four year
university. 27 percent of the graduates attend a two year university. Approximately 19
percent attend a technical college 10 percent go directly to the workforce, while one
percent enters into the military.
Overview of Advanced Placement Human Geography:
AP Program: The Advanced placement Program of the College Board provides a way
for high schools to offer college-level courses to their more advanced students and for
such students to demonstrate satisfactory achievement in those studies. Through this
program students may earn college credit, exemption from requirements or placement in
advanced courses when they enroll in college. Pre-AP Courses prepare students fro a
specific Advanced Placement course. Advanced Placement courses are presently offered
in Art, Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, English Language, English Literature, European
history, Human Geography, Physics, Probability and Statistics, Psychology, U.S.
Government and Politics and U.S. History. When students register for a Pre-AP or an AP
course, they are promising to take the AP test in that subject area.
AP Class Size: Up to 35 students
Course Design: The course will use a thematic approach and focus on regions of the
world. Regions will be studied through such themes as population and migration,
agriculture, natural resource allocation and management, industry and economic
development, political geography, cultural geography, and urbanization. Students will
evaluate decision-making processes for patterns in their environment and assess
effectiveness through case studies and observation. I like to use a variety of teaching
styles to address assorted learning styles, and I will emphasize traditional readings and
note-taking. Differentiation will be used in certain situations.
Course Content:
I.
Basic Themes of Geography.
Where is the place? What is it like? How have people changed it by their
interaction with the environment? How has the place been affected by the
movement of people goods and ideas? How is this place similar to and
different from other places? Students will also master such skills as using and
reading different types of maps. What the differences in amps and their
purposes? What are the different types of map projections and where are each
of them distorted?
II.
Population and Migration.
Why is population currently a problem in some areas and not in others? What
are population pyramids and how are they used? We will discuss migration
and immigration, differences in migration patterns and refugees. What are the
three reasons why people move?
III.
Agriculture and Rural Land Use.
What is agriculture? Why is agriculture so prevalent in the world today?
What are the different types of agriculture? What are the effects of agriculture
on the environment? We will analyze Von Thunen’s agricultural land use
model.
IV.
Natural Resource Allocation and Management.
Where are the resources and how does their distribution affect wealth? We
will discuss and evaluate a case study on land use management in Tennessee
with a fifty year analysis of land use using topographic maps.
V.
Industry and Economic Development.
How does industrialization affect a country or region? What is needed
politically, socially, and environmentally for industry to be successful.
Weber’s Least Cost Theory and Core Periphery or World Systems Theory will
be discussed.
VI.
Political Geography.
What is a boundary? Why do we have them? What are the difficulties and
means of establishing boundaries? What are the effects of geography on wars
in the world? Students will know the differences between nation, states and
nation-states.
VII.
Cultural Geography.
What makes a place distinct from or similar to other places? How does
physical geography affect ethnic groups and traditions? Students will analyze
how language and religion affect social customs. Food and music will also be
used to assess differences among populations in the United States.
VIII. Urbanization.
We will analyze the structure and function of cities in the modern world. Are
cities dying? Are cities changing for the better or worse? We will assess
models for urbanization and development. What is the role of the modern
city? How has this role changed over the past centuries?
Assignments: Throughout the course students will work on a variety of case studies,
most of which will be teacher generated. They will do homework assignments, field
work requiring observations, oral reports on their research findings, and an in-depth
geography project. The geography project must be based on a subject containing data
that can mapped and may take the form of a video, paper, map using GIS, or some other
format. Students will work on their projects all semester, using the information that we
study in class. In order to complete their projects successfully, students will have to do
research, conduct interviews, and use cartographic knowledge to map their findings. At
the end of the semester, they will present their maps and findings to the class. Students
must consult with the teacher before they begin the project. Projects must be original and
done individually. All sources used must be citied. The school does not tolerate
plagiarism; students caught plagiarizing receive a 0 on their assignment and must meet
with the assistant principal concerning further school action.
After the AP exam, students will begin presenting their research work.
Field Trips: Field trips are one of the best ways for students to learn because they give
students the firsthand experience with the material we have covered in class.
Minnesota’s cold winters limit when I can take my class outside, so I plan all field trips
for the first two months and the last three months of school. The schools location on the
Eastside of St. Paul allows me to take students on agricultural as well as urban and
suburban field trips.
Assessment: Upon the completion of each unit’s theme, I will evaluate students
knowledge and mastery by using a variety of evaluation methods, including oral
presentation, quizzes, and essay and multiple-choice tests. At some point during each
unit I will give a quiz that covers the reading; at the end of every unity I will give a test
that mirrors the format of the AP exam. Students will take a comprehensive final exam at
the end of the semester as required by the St. Paul School District.
Computers. Johnson Senior High School has two computer labs for 1,650 students.
One of them is located in the library while the other one is a mobile cart with 35 laptops.
Computers and researching skills using the computers will be used through the course.
Advanced Placement Geography Course Outline
Kelly Swanson
I.
Introduction to Geography – Maps
(Rubenstein: Chapter 1 and Appendix A. De Blij Chapters 1-3. Swanson
Chapter 3)
A. Why we need geography.
- Always ask where, why, and so what questions about everything
that we study.
B. Introduction to Maps
1. Different types of map classes and projections.
2. How to read a map.
3. How to lie with maps.
C. The Five Basic Themes of Geography.
1. Where is the place? (location)
2. What is it like? (place)
3. How has the place been affected by the movement of
people goods and ideas? (movement)
4. How have people changed the place by their interaction
with the environment? (human-environment interaction)
5. How is this place similar and different from other places?
(region)
- Three types of regions: Formal, Functional, and
Vernacular.
D. Country Creation Activity – Scales Conversion
E. Possibilist versus Environmental Determinism Models
F. History of Geography
1. Greeks
2. Romans
3. Medieval Period and Islam
4. Chinese
5. Today – GIS and GPS
G. Three Properties of Spatial Distribution.
1. Density
2. Concentration
3. Pattern
H. Case Study of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul) using the five
themes of geography.
II.
Population and Migration
(Rubenstein: Chapters 2-3. De Blij Chapters 4-7, Swanson Chapter 4)
A. Population distribution and density. What is Overpopulation?
1. Where are the people located and why?
2. Malthus and Neo-Malthusians
3. Five major areas of population density.
a. Eastern China
b. Northern and Coastal India
c. Central and Western Europe
d. Southeastern Asia
e. Northeastern North America
B. Population Structure.
1. Age, sex, profiles, and composition of the population.
2. Population Pyramids
C. Demographic Transition Model
1. Family planning or lack of.
2. Reasons for high or low rates. Sub-Saharan Africa = high.
Europe = low.
3. Stages and Development
D. Historical Perspectives.
1. Population sizes of countries over time. China, United
States, Great Britain, etc.
2. Reasons for increased population over time.
a. Factors which contribute to increased population:
-medical advances
-increased food production
-ethnicity or religious issues
-economic issues
b. Factors which contribute to decreased population:
-famines or plagues
-war or political turmoil
-economic issues
E. Immigration, Migration, and Refugees.
1. Case study of the United States. Where did the people come from?
2. Today. Where and Why? Kurds, Africa, East Asia
3. Hmong migration.
4. Push and Pull factors – economic, environmental and political.
F. Population Equations and Scientific Methods
1. Balancing Equation.
2. Doubling time and halving time.
3. Crude Birth Rate and Crude Death Rate.
4. Dependency ratio.
III.
Agriculture and Society
(Rubenstein Chapter 10. De Blij Chapters 14-16, Swanson Chapter 7)
A. Historical geography of Agriculture.
1. Trends in United States Agriculture.
a. Native American agriculture
b. European settlement agriculture.
c. Movement west due to agriculture.
d. Western agriculture – lack of precipitation.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
2. Movement from Hunting and Gathering to Planting and
Sustaining. First Agricultural Revolution
a. Slow transfer process.
b. Movement was not a revolution but rather
evolutionary.
3. Second Agricultural Revolution.
a. Use of Machinery in agriculture.
b. Increased productivity in agriculture.
4. Third Agricultural Revolution
a. Increased industrialization of agriculture.
b. Increased production – Green Revolution.
5. Three Primary Agricultural Hearths.
a. Middle East.
b. Southeast Asia into China and Southern India
c. Southern Mexico and Northern South America.
Agricultural regions and patterns of change.
1. Von Thunen’s model of agricultural land use. Does it still
work?
a. Land analysis of Minnesota and United States
cropland in comparison to Von Thunen’s land use
model.
2. What grows where in the United States and why?
a. Rice – deep south and Hawaii
b. Corn – Eastern Midwest.
c. Wheat – Great Plains
d. Tobacco – Middle Atlantic Regions
e. Wine – California, Oregon
f. Pineapple – Hawaii, California, Florida
g. Barley – Midwest
Creative Destruction – Removing what nature originally produced there in
order to grow what is desired. Human modification of the Environment.
Positive and negative.
Different Types of Agricultural Systems
1. Plantation agriculture.
2. Shifting agriculture.
3. Commercial farming.
4. Subsistence farming.
5. Truck farming.
6. Slash-and-burn agriculture
7. Mediterranean agriculture.
Agriculture Game – What grows where?
Agricultural Land Use Patterns
1. Metes and Bounds
2. Township and Range
3. French Long Lot
IV.
Land Use Management and Natural Resource Allocation.
(Rubenstein Chapter14. De Blij Chapters 32-35)
A. Where are the resources located in the United States?
1. Coal regions – Appalachian and western areas.
2. Gold regions – West – South Dakota
3. Iron Ore – Minnesota and Michigan
4. Forest Products – Great North Woods, Southeast and
Northwest.
5. Fishing – New England and Pacific Northwest
6. Oil – Alaska and Gulf states.
B. Why are these resources important to the United States?
1. Economic Base. Employment and money.
2. Provides raw materials for industry.
C. Case Study – Topographic Map activity of Tennessee.
1. Four Land Use Decision Making Models:
a. Economic – money and development
b. Sustainability – use but not abuse
c. Environmental – parks
d. Preservationist – don’t touch
D. Other Sources of Energy in the United States Today.
1. Nuclear energy
2. Geothermal energy
3. Solar energy
4. Hydroelectric energy
5. Biomass energy
6. Wind energy
E. Pollution and Human Impacts
1. Acid Rain
2. Greenhouse gases
3. Global Warming/Climate Change debate
V.
Industry and Economic Development
(Rubenstein Chapters 9 and 11. De Blij Chapter 21-24. Swanson Chapter 8)
A. Site and Situation Factors.
1. Why did Pittsburgh and Detroit do so well?
2. What geographic factors contribute to a city’s economic
success?
B. Two view of Economic Development.
1. Optimistic Viewpoint – abundance of resources.
2. Pessimistic Viewpoint
a. geography – distribution of resources does not
match the demand.
b. Market dependant
c. Investment is concentrated in a few locations and is
not universal.
C. Weber’s Least Cost Theory
1. Bulk gaining Industries.
2. Bulk reducing industries.
D. World Systems Theory – Use of World, Regional and Local Scales
1. Core Periphery Model.
a. Industrial core region
b. Upward Transition
c. Downward Transition
d. Resource Frontier
2. Core, Semi-core or semi-periphery and periphery.
E. Basic Industry versus Non-basic Industry.
1. Basic – city forming. Minneapolis – milling, St. Paul –
brewing
2. Non-basic – city serving. Fast food restaurants.
3. Multiplier Effect – focuses on the basic.
F. Location of Industry
1. Agglomeration
2. Deglomeration
G. Needs for Economic Development.
1. Environmental compatibility.
2. Political support.
3. Social acceptance.
4. Economic base of support
a. worker training and experience
b. capital investment in infrastructure
H. Modernization of Industry Today.
-The rise of the Sunbelt states.
I. Transportation and Industrialization. Economic reasons for each of the
transportation methods.
1. Airplane
2. Truck
3. Train
4. Pipeline
5. Ships.
J. Causes or Lack of Development
1. Rostow’s Stages of Development
2. Nolan’s Stages of Growth Model.
K. Measurement of Development
1. Key Indicators of Development – economic, social and
demographic
2. Human Development Index
3. Physical Quality of Life Index
L. New International Division of Labor (NIDL)
VI.
Political Geography – Geopolitics
(Rubenstein Chapters 7-8. De Blij Chapters 25-31. Swanson Chapter 6)
A. Definition of a boundary.
1. Use of standard maps to outline political boundaries.
2. Learners map maps outlining new political boundaries.
Difficulties in making new boundaries.
a. Make maps according to latitude and longitude.
b. Make maps according to natural features.
c. Make maps according to cultural differences.
3. Need for Boundaries.
4. Boundary Disputes
a. Definitional Boundary disputes
b. Locational boundary disputes
c. Operational boundary disputes
d. Allocational boundary disputes
B. Definition of a Nation
1. What differs a nation from a state.
2. Case studies: Basque, Kurds, Flemish, Hmong, Zulu,
Ojibwa, Palestinians
C. Sovereignty.
1. Who allows a nation to be sovereign?
2. Native American Sovereignty and rights.
D. Geographic Colonialism.
1. European colonialism throughout the world.
2. Economic reasons – gain financially for the home country.
3. Moral reasons – save the unsaved.
4. Geopolitical reason – maintain power in Europe.
5. Meinig’s Three models for colonialism:
a. Land Empire – Spain
b. Sea Empire – Portugal
c. Settler Empire – England
E. The Five Shapes of Countries. Territorial Morphology.
1. Compact – Uruguay
2. Perforated – South Africa
3. Elongated – Chile
4. Prorupted – Thailand
5. Fragmented – Indonesia
F. Political Organization of Space.
1. Activity for voting districts – gerrymandering.
2. Boundary disputes between states. United States and
Canada. Iran and Iraq, China and India, Iraq and Kuwait.
3. Geography and War.
G. Modern Geopolitical Theories. Risk game
1. Heartland Theory. Sir Halford MacKinder
2. Rimland Theory. Nicholas Spykman
3. Domino Theory. United States CIA.
H. Supranational and Devolution
1. European Union
2. Balkanization
I. Ethnicity and Race
1. Ethnic Landscapes
2. Acculturation and assimilation
VII. Cultural Geography.
(Rubenstein Chapters 4-6. De Blij Chapters 8-13. Swanson Chapter 5)
A. Music and Geography.
1. Country music region
2. Bluegrass music region
3. Blues music region
4. Tex-Mex music region
5. Cajun music region
6. Polka music region
7. Mo-town music region
B. Culture and Food.
1. Hot Dog Video. PBS
2. Good/Bad Food Guide video. Lonely Planet
C. Folk versus Popular Culture
1. Music and Food - Regionalism
2. McDonald’s and KFC in China.
3. Sports – soccer
4. Architecture.
D. Language.
1. What is language?
a. Dialect with an army behind it?
b. Development of languages.
c. Evolution of language to a social content
d. Language standardization. Official language
2. Language Groups of the World
a. Language families.
b. Origins and Diffusions of Languages.
c. Distributions of major languages – Chinese,
English, Spanish.
d. Lingua franca – English and Swahili. Mandarin
E. Religions.
1. Origins of Religions.
a. Three of the world’s five major religions based in
Jerusalem. – Christianity, Judaism, Islam,
Buddhism and Hinduism – Eastern religions
b. All societies have a belief system.
2. Spread of Religion.
a. Universalizing religion – convert the unsaved –
Christianity.
b. Ethnic religion – does not actively pursue other
people – Judaism.
c. Polytheism versus monotheism.
3. Diffusion of Religion.
a. Spread from Middle East and India
b. Major religion groups today.
4. Religion and Conflict.
a. Middle East – Israel/Palestine
b. Sri Lanka – Hindu’s and Buddhism
F. Cultural Landscapes Activity.
1. City park activity. Look for things that describe the culture
of an area.
2. How can we tell what ethnic group lives where?
- Art work and public places.
VIII. Urbanization.
(Rubenstein Chapters 12-13. De Blij Chapters 17-20. Swanson Chapter 9)
A. Defining urban.
B. Development and evolution of urban communities
1. Early cities
2. Medieval cities
3. Colonial cities
4. Indigenous cities
C. Models of urban land systems and Internal Structures of Cities.
1. Concentric zone theory. - Burgess
2. Sector Theory. - Hoyt
3. Multiple Nuclei Theory – Harris and Ulman.
4. Keno-capitalism Model – Dear and Flusty.
5. Gravity Model
6. Central Place Theory. Cristaller.
D. Function of Cities.
1. Define urban function – offering services.
2. Classification by service offerings instead of by size.
3. Classification of urban areas.
a. hamlet
b. town
c. city
d. metropolis
e. megalopolis
4. Primate cities.
E. Hinterland. Central Place Theory.
1. Economic reach
2. Centrality
3. Range
4. Threshold
F. Structure of World Cities
1. Eastern United States Cities
2. Western United States Cities
3. Latin American Cities – Ford Model
4. European Cities
5. African Cities
6. Islamic Cities
7. Southeast Asian Cities
G. Built Environment and Social Space.
1. Central Business District
2. Suburbanization
3. Urban realms
H. Problems of Urban Areas
1. Crime
2. Pollution
3. Traffic Congestion
4. Housing Costs
5. Race relations
6. Water usage
I. Response to Urban Growth.
1. Smart Growth – Gentrification.
2. Met Council in Minneapolis/St. Paul
IX. Preparation for Final Examination.