AP ® Human Geography Syllabus
Mrs. Pestich’s Contact Information
Email:
jareed1@cps.edu
Office Hours: I am available to answer questions regarding course topics and assessments both before
and after school by appointment.
Course Overview
®
AP Human Geography is a yearlong course aimed at mirroring the experience of a college level
introductory course. The primary focus throughout this course will be to identify, interpret and explain
the distribution processes and effects of human populations on Earth. This course has been developed
in accordance to the course outline and curricular requirements found in the 2013 version of the AP
Human Geography Course Description published by the College Board. Our units of study will include
the nature and perspectives of geography, population, migration, cultural patterns and processes,
political organization of space, agricultural and food production, industrialization, and cities and urban
land use.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, students will have developed the skills that enable them to:
 Learn about and employ the methods of geographers including the interpretation and
creation of maps, observation skills, gathering and interpreting data, and technical writing.
 Understand and explain the changing spatial organization of the Earth’s surface and how
humans interact with it.
 Recognize and interpret the relationships among patterns and processes at different scales
of analysis.
 Develop a geographic vocabulary to characterize and analyze the interconnections among
places.
 Close read and annotate sources of geographic information.
 Use cited evidence to support an argument in both writing and discussion.
 Evaluate sources and compare ideas of scholarly works.
Course Content Standards
Common Core
Standards
Washington High School will focus on 3 common core standards that will be
demonstrated through students’ ability to engage in a Close Reading to Write
Writing Anchor Standard 1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis
of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient
evidence.
Writing Anchor Standard 4. Produce clear and coherent writing as needed by
planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
Reading Anchor Standard 1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis
of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and
origin of the information.
College Readiness
Standards
Main Ideas and Author’s Approach: Infer the main idea or purpose of
straightforward paragraphs in more challenging passages. Summarize basic
events and ideas in more challenging passages
Sequential, Comparative and Cause-and-effect Relationships: Identify clear
relationships between characters, ideas, and so on in more challenging literary
narratives. Understand implied or subtly stated cause-effect relationships in
uncomplicated passages.
Supporting Details: Locate and interpret minor or subtly stated details in
uncomplicated passages
Meanings of Words: Use context to determine the appropriate meaning of
virtually any word, phrase, or statement in uncomplicated passages
CCSS History
Standards
1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and
secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to
an understanding of the text as a whole.
2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary
source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the
relationships among the key details and ideas.
6. Evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the same historical
event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence.
7. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in
diverse formats and media (eg. visually, quantitatively, as well as in
words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
9. Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and
secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting
discrepancies among sources.
Washington’s Targeted Instructional Area (The TIA)
What is a TIA?
A TIA (Targeted Instructional Area) is the one specific instructional area of the curriculum the school
has chosen as most important for its students to know and do well in order to be successful in life. This
area drives all other work. A TIA touches the whole school- every student, every classroom, every day.
The TIA at GW
Argumentative Literacy! College instructors expect students to draw inferences, support arguments
with evidence, and solve complex problems. In college, you will demonstrate these abilities through
writing papers that will need to be well-organized and you will need to provide evidence to support
your argument. Our TIA this year is focused on just that—teaching you, the students, to develop
expertise in argumentative literacy through close reading to writing powerful practices, so that
ultimately you will be successful at the college level. Throughout the course of the year, we will have
continuous practice building your capacity in argumentative literacy.
Texts and Supplemental Materials
Major Text
Malinowski, John C., and David H. Kaplan. Human Geography. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013.
Additional texts for consultation
De Blij, H.J., Erin H. Fouberg, and Alexander B. Murphy. Human Geography: People Place and Culture.
10th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
Fellmann, Jerome D., et al. Human Geography: Landscapes of Human Activities. 12th ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2013.
Greiner, Alyson. Visualizing Human Geography. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
Kuby, Michael, Patricia Gober, and John Harner. Human Geography in Action. 6th ed. New York:
John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
Rubenstein, James M. The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Excerpts from the following Minor Texts and Supplemental Materials
Bigelow, Bill and Bob Peterson. Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World.
Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools Ltd., 2002.
Collier, Paul. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done
About It. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
De Blij, Harm. Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, China and
Global Terrorism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking Penguin,
2005.
Diamond, Jared. The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn From Traditional Societies? New York:
Viking Penguin, 2012.
Kristof, Nicholas D. and Sheryl WuDunn. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for
Women Worldwide. New York: Vintage Books, 2010.
Liotta, P.H. The Real Population Bomb: Megacities, Global Security, and the Map of the Future. The
United States: Potomac Books, 2012.
Moyo, Dambisa. Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa. New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009.
Patel, Raj. Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden battle for the World Food System. New York: Melville
House, 2007.
Ross, Andrew. Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2011.
Sachs, Jeffrey. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. New York: The Penguin
Group, 2005.
Wattenberg, Ben J. Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future. Chicago:
Ivan R. Dee, 2004.
Current Newspapers/Magazines will also be used to illustrate course content and to provide specific
case studies from the local, state, national, and regional and global levels. Those include: The Chicago
Tribune, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Economist, TIME, BBC News, and
National Geographic.
The following resources will be also be used to illustrate concepts, interpret data, and make and
analyze maps: The US Census Bureau (www.census.gov), The Population Reference Bureau
(www.prb.org), Gapminder (www.gapminder.org), The World Bank (www.worldbank.org), CIA World
Factbook (www.cia.gov), The World Health Organization (www.who.int). GIS software will also be
utilized.
Course Outline
Unit 1: Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives
Topics
Objectives
1. Geography as a Field of
By the end of this unit, students will be able to…
Inquiry
1. Define geography, human geography.
2. Major geographical
2. Distinguish between different types of maps and mapped
concepts
information and provide strengths and limitations of each.
3. Compare and contrast formal, functional, and perceptual regions.
3. Key Geographical Skills
4. Review some of the applications of remote sensing, GPS and GIS.
5. Contrast the concepts of place and space.
4. Use of geospatial
6. Distinguish between spatial variation and spatial association.
technologies, such as GIS,
7. Identify different types of diffusion.
remote sensing, GPS, and
8. Explain the relationship between globalization, spatial interaction,
online maps.
and time-space convergence.
9. Review the different scales use in geographical research.
5. Sources of geographical
information and ideas: the
field, census data, online
data, aerial photography, and
satellite imagery.
6. Identification of major
world regions
Readings
Malinowski and Kaplan,
Chapters 1-2
Excerpts from:
Diamond, Collapse
Diamond, The World Until
Yesterday
Essential Questions for Critical Thinking
1. Applying what you have learned about diffusion, is it feasible to
close borders between countries when an epidemic appears to be
intensifying and becoming global in scale?
2. Do you agree with the actor-network theory? Discuss your answer.
3. How might you measure the absolute location of Chicago? How
would this city be considered in regard to its relative location, and
what would be three aspects of its relative location?
Unit 2: Population and Migration
Topics
Objectives
1. Geographical analysis of
By the end of this unit, students will be able to…
population (density,
distribution, scale, age, sex,
1. Distinguish between the total fertility rate and replacement level
income, education, ethnicity, fertility.
fertility, mortality, health)
2. Account for recent changes in global fertility.
3. Identify the geographic dimensions of China’s one-child policy.
2. Population growth and
4. Identify the three basic shapes of population pyramids.
decline over time and space
5. Explain how to calculate the age-dependency ratio.
(historical trends and
6. Summarize the factors that may contribute to an imbalanced sex
projections)
ratio.
7. Identify the components used to measure population change.
3. Migration (types, major
8. Describe the differences among the four stages in the demographic
historical migrations, push
transition.
and pull factors, refugees,
9. Summarize the Malthusian population theory and contrast the neoasylum seekers, and
Malthusian and anti-Malthusian theories.
internally displaced person,
10. Identify Ravenstein’s principles of migration.
consequences of migration)
11. Explain Lee’s model of migration.
12. Explain how transnationalism relates to migration.
13. Distinguish between an unauthorized immigrant, an asylum
seeker, a refugee, and an internally displaced person.
14. Map examples of historic and contemporary forced migrations,
explaining push and pull factors associated with each.
15. Correlate migration patterns with the demographic transition
model.
Readings
Essential Questions for Critical Thinking
Malinowski and Kaplan,
Chapters 3, 5, 12
Excerpts from:
De Blij, Why Geography
Matters
Kristoff and WuDunn, Half
the Sky
1. Do you think it would be feasible to establish limits on the
population size or density of the world’s largest cities? Why or why
not?
2. Discuss how Malthusian views might affect public policy, including
welfare programs.
3. Is reproduction a basic human right? If so, do anti-natalist policies
violate it?
Unit 3: Cultural Patterns and Processes
Topics
Objectives
1. Concepts of Culture (traits,
diffusion patterns,
acculturation, assimilation,
multiculturalism, cultural
regions, vernacular regions,
culture hearths, globalization
and the effects of technology
on culture)
2. Cultural differences and
regional patterns (language,
religion, ethnicity, gender,
pop and folk culture, cultural
conflicts)
3. Cultural landscapes and
cultural identity (symbolic
landscapes, formation of
identity, cultural attitudes
towards environment,
indigenous peoples)
Readings
Malinowski and Kaplan,
Chapters 6-9
Excerpts from:
Diamond, The World Until
Yesterday
Kristoff and WuDunn, Half
the Sky
Ross, Bird on Fire
By the end of this unit, students will be able to…
1. Define culture and cultural geography.
2. Identify and discuss three theses addressing the cultural impacts of
globalization.
3. Examine specific examples of folk culture and regions.
4. Explain what is meant by heritage dissonance.
5. Define local knowledge and describe changes in the way that it has
been viewed.
6. Explain the relationships among local knowledge, gender, and
cultural ecology.
7. Distinguish between the terms language and dialect.
8. Identify and map the major language families and contrast the
distribution of them.
9. Explain one theory about the origins of language families.
10. Explain how political, economic, and religious forces can affect the
diffusion of language.
11. Explain the how, why and where of language change.
12. Identify factors contributing to linguistic dominance.
13. Relate the concept of language endangerment to linguistic
diversity.
14. Identify characteristics of universalizing and ethnic religions.
15. Identify similarities and differences among Buddhism, Hinduism,
and Sikhism.
16. Examine case studies of ethnic conflicts from different regions.
17. Define diaspora.
18. Relate the spread of religion to different types of diffusion.
19. Explain why certain sacred spaces in Jerusalem are contentious.
20. Summarize the process of sanctification.
21. Distinguish between religious fundamentalism and Islamic
traditionalism.
22. Distinguish among geopiety, environmental stewardship, and
religious ecology.
23. Explain why using race as a classification system is problematic.
24. Understand what is meant by institutional discrimination.
25. Identify different components of ethnicity.
26. Distinguish between sexuality and gender.
27. Explore the geographical variation in gender roles and gender
gaps.
Essential Questions for Critical Thinking
1. Linguistically, is the world becoming more alike or different?
Explain your answer.
2. What is slang and why is it a controversial subject? What would you
say is the difference between slang and linguistic creativity?
3. Some scholars argue that gender segregation and strongly defined
gender roles are empowering for women. Do you agree? Why or why
not?
Unit 4: Political Organization and Space
Topics
Objectives
1. Territorial dimensions of
politics
2. Evolution of the
contemporary political
pattern
3. Changes and challenges to
political-territorial
arrangements
Readings
Malinowski and Kaplan,
Chapters 10-11
Excerpts from:
De Blij, Why Geography
Matters
By the end of this unit, students will be able to…
1. Define sovereignty.
2. Distinguish between a state and a nation.
3. Identify some of the impacts of colonialism on the political
geography of Africa.
4. Explain how boundaries affect access to resources.
5. Compare and contrast centripetal and centrifugal forces.
6. Identify two systems of internal spatial organization.
7. Define devolution.
8. Explain how internationalism and supranational organizations are
related.
9. Distinguish between the General Assembly and the Security Council
of the United Nations.
10. Summarize key events leading to the establishment of the
European Union.
11. Define geopolitics.
12. Summarize the Heartland Theory.
13. Distinguish between Cold War geopolitics and contemporary
geopolitics.
14. Explain how globalization can influence the diffusion of terrorism.
15. Define electoral system.
16. Explain gerrymandering.
17. List advantages and disadvantages of different types of
boundaries and provide real world examples of natural/physical
boundaries, cultural boundaries and geometric boundaries.
Essential Questions for Critical Thinking
1. Will internet voting ever replace the use of traditional polling
places? What geographic and political conditions would be most
conducive to such a change?
2. Not all ethnic groups are nations. Why?
3. A political geographer might argue that the Berlin Conference was
an exercise in gerrymandering. Explain what this statement means
and take a position on it.
Unit 5: Agriculture, Food Production and Rural Land Use
Topics
Objectives
1. Development and diffusion By the end of this unit, students will be able to…
of agriculture
1. Explain how agriculture originate and identify its various hearths.
2. Major agricultural
2. Describe the evolution of agricultural practices from their first use
production regions
until today, focusing specifically on the Neolithic Revolution, Second
Agricultural Revolution and the Green Revolution.
3. Rural land use and
3. Analyze how factors such as climate, terrain, culture and world
settlement patterns
markets relate to specific agricultural regions.
4. Identify the predominant agricultural practices associated with
4. Issues in Contemporary
various regions of the world.
commercial agriculture
5. Use agricultural practice to distinguish between developed and
developing countries.
6. Compare and contrast the food systems in developed and
developing countries and the impact those systems have on health.
Readings
Essential Questions for Critical Thinking
Malinowski and Kaplan,
Chapters 4, 15
Excerpts from:
Patel, Stuffed and Starved
1. What influences the food choices you make?
2. Is food aid a good thing?
3. Was the Green Revolution a curse or a blessing? Support your
answer with specific evidence.
Unit 6: Economic Development
Topics
Objectives
1. Social and Economic
By the end of this unit, students will be able to…
Measures of Development
(GDP, HDI, Gender Inequality 1. Use examples of human welfare indicators to distinguish between
Index, Income Inequalities,
developed and developing countries.
Lorenz Curves, Gini
2. Use examples of economic indicators to distinguish between
Coefficients, changes in
developed and developing countries.
fertility and mortality, access 3. Draw and analyze the Brandt line on a world map.
to health, education, utilities, 4. Compare and contrast different theories and models of economic
sanitation)
development and the relationship between developed and developing
countries.
5. Analyze different disparities in wealth and development that exist
at the global, regional and national level.
Readings
Essential Questions for Critical Thinking
Malinowski and Kaplan,
Chapters 4, 18
1. Is “all men are created equal” a reality in the United States?
2. To what extent is being rich and poor different between developed
and developing countries.
3. Is it possible to eliminate income inequality at the global level?
Regional level? National level?
Excerpts from:
Diamond, Collapse
Kristoff and WuDunn, Half
the Sky
Sachs, The End of Poverty,
Collier, The Bottom Billion
Unit 7: Industry
Topics
1. Growth and diffusion of
industrialization (energy and
technology, Industrial
Revolution, Models of
Economic Development,
Geographic critiques of
models of industrial location)
2. Contemporary patterns
and impacts of
industrialization and
development (spatial
organization of world
economy, uneven
development,
Objectives
By the end of this unit, students will be able to…
1. Explain the Industrial Revolution by describing its origin, diffusion
and current pattern of industrial regions.
2. Map regional manufacturing zones and identify the origin,
resources, strengths, and/or problems.
3. Compare and contrast pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial
life and landscape.
4. Describe how site and situational factors influence the location of
manufacturing and give examples.
5. Discuss the problems associated with industrialization in developed
countries and in developing countries.
deindustrialization,
economic restructuring, the
rise of service and high tech
economies, globalization,
NICs, international division
of labor, sustainable
development, government
development initiatives,
women in development)
Readings
Malinowski and Kaplan,
Chapters 16-17
Excerpts from:
De Blij, Why Geography
Matters
Sachs, The End of Poverty
Ross, Bird on Fire
Moyo, Dead Aid
Essential Questions for Critical Thinking
1. Do the benefits outweigh the problems and injustices associated
with sweatshops?
2. If poor people move into an area where a toxic waste site is located,
has environmental injustice occurred? Explain your reasoning.
3. What role to women play in development? What role should they
play?
Unit 8: Cities and Urban Land Use
Topics
Objectives
1. Development and
By the end of this unit, students will be able to…
character of cities
1. Summarize trends in global urbanization.
2. Models of urban
2. Distinguish between urban primacy and urban hierarchy.
hierarchies: reasons for the
3. Explain central place theory.
distribution and size of cities 4. Explain what a bid-rent curve is.
5. Identify and explain four models of urban structure for North
3. Models of internal city
American cities.
structure and urban
6. Account for differences in the urban form of eastern and western
development: strengths and
European cities.
limitations of models
7. Describe the characteristics of a hybrid city.
8. Distinguish between redlining and blockbusting.
4. Built environment and
9. Define sprawl and explain how it is measured.
social space
10. Summarize the process of slum formation.
11. Identify the main goals of new urbanism.
5. Contemporary urban
12. Identify and explain with case study examples patterns and trends
issues
in formation of central business districts and suburbs.
13. Describe the move of retail and industry to the suburbs.
14. Explain the growth of suburbs in terms of social, transportation,
and economic changes.
15. Differentiate between the three models of North American cities.
16. Name and evaluate the problems of the inner city and causes of
urban social stress.
Readings
Essential Questions for Critical Thinking
Malinowski and Kaplan,
Chapters 13-14, 17
Excerpts from:
1. What informal economies exist in the United States? How about in
your neighborhood?
2. Should capitalism be considered a driver of slum formation? Explain
your reasoning.
Ross, Bird on Fire
3. What measures can be taken to reduce the social impact of
gentrification?
Grading Policy
Category
TIA Assessment
Formative Assessments (class
work, discussions, etc.)
Summative Assessment
Percentage
Frequency
10%
30%
1x a quarter
2-3 a week
30%
Homework
Quizzes
10%
20%
Unit/5 Week
Quarter
Semester
2-3 a week
1-2 a week
Grading is based on an aggregate of the student’s work, according to the following scale:
Grade
A
B
C
D
F
Percentage
90-100
80-89
70-79
60-69
59 and Below
Grade Points Earned
6
5
4
2
0
Procedures/Expectations of Students
Throughout this course, we will deepen our understanding of the geographical content through
specific and current cases studies that will broaden your perspective of the world around you. We will
be studying not only historical case studies but also case studies and events that have happened in your
lifetime, which I hope, will allow you to reflect on your role and responsibility as global citizen. I
believe in active learning. Everyone-- the teacher and students, is involved in the learning process. To
that end, this course will provide great opportunities for debate and discussion, and the reading and
writing requirements will be demanding, but with hard work and focus, YOU WILL SUCCEED!
Keys to Success:
 Read each assignment carefully
 Keep up with the reading
 Hand assignments in on time. Late work will not be accepted.
 Study for tests and quizzes
 Concentrate AND participate in class
 Be organized – save notes, assignments, etc.
 Ask Questions
 Own your success in this class and the AP Human Geography course.
GW’s Expectations of Patriots
 Patriots arrive to class on time, every period, every day.
 Patriots dress professionally by following the uniform policy all day, every day.
 Patriots respect the electronics policy by refraining from use while in the building.
 Patriots take a stand against bullies. They don’t bully, even, on-line.

Patriots use hall passes when traveling through the halls during class periods.
Plagiarism Policy
Plagiarism means:
 to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
 use (another's production) without crediting the source
 to commit literary theft
 to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying
about it afterward. Plagiarism will not be tolerated in the Advanced Placement Program and at
George Washington High School.
Materials
You will need the following materials for this class:
1. A large (2-3 inch) 3 ring binder. All documents, graphs, tables, I print for you must be threewhole punched and organized in this binder.
2. A notebook
3. looseleaf paper
4. 3 packs of notecards (you will need more during 2nd semester)
Classroom Routines
In AP Human Geography, we will practice regular classroom routines in an effort to deepen
your understanding of the content and retain information for your AP exams. Some of these
routines you can expect to practice are:
1. Map Skills (1 map quiz per unit)
2. Notecards with content terms and definitions (vocabulary lists will be provided at the
beginning of each unit, and notecards will be checked in prior to the unit exam)
3. Discussions (with elbow partners, small group, whole group) All discussions will be
graded using the discussion rubric.
4. Major Concepts/Notes Sheets: To act as your note-taking guided when reading the
text book.
5. Close Reading and Annotating: We expect active reading at all times. Use the
Annotation Cheat sheet to help you annotate what you read.
6. Argumentative Writing: Mel-Con will be used frequently to express ideas.
7. ACT practice: This year is an important year as you prepare to take the ACT in the
spring. Several readings per unit will be in the form of an ACT style reading with
questions to focus on those essential skills.
Acceptance of Syllabus
Parents/Guardians/Important Adults of my AP Human Geography Students: Please sign and
return the sheet below so that I know you have read the syllabus. Please contact me if you have
any questions, comments, or concerns, and I will do the same for you.
Student Name:
Adult Name:
Relation to the Student:
Phone Number:
Email Address:
Comments or concerns:
Signature of Adult