AP Human Geography
2014-2015
AP Human Geography Syllabus
Coach Flores
Randolph High School
Room 4
Email: floresj@rfisd.net
Conference times: 4th Period
Mon-Thurs: 11:15am-12:05pm
Fri: 11:00am -11:50am
Course Overview
AP Human Geography is a year-long course designed to fulfill the curriculum expectations of a one
semester university human geography course. The course focuses on the processes and cause and
effect relationships of human populations. Emphasis throughout the course is on the spatial
distribution, differences in scale and cultural determinates influenced by global interaction and
integration. Major themes that transcend the course of study at multiple levels of scale include
globalization, diffusion, assimilation, acculturation, integration and interaction. The course provides
a systematic study of human geography in a previously determined set of topics:
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Course Objective
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Geography: It’s Nature and Perspectives
Population/Population Movement (Migration)
Cultural Patterns and Processes/Gender Issues
Political Organization of Space
Agricultural, Food Production, and Rural Land Use
Industrialization and Economic Development
Cities and Urban Land Use
Human Environment
The student will develop a geographic perspective to better understand the intricate
relationship between peoples and events at varying degrees of scale.
The student will use interpretive abilities to develop spatial concepts at different scales.
The student will use spatial concepts, geographic terminology and landscape analysis to
examine human organization of space at multiple levels of scale.
The student will use and interpret maps, data sets, and geographic models from different
sources to evaluate the human landscape. This includes sources from GIS, aerial photographs,
satellite images, and data sets from NGO’s and government agencies.
Textbook
Human Geography: People, Place, and Culture, 10th Edition
Erin H. Fouberg, Alexander B. Murphy, Harm J. de Blij
Wiley
Materials
Students will need to bring the following to class everyday:
Textbook, 3 ring binder, loose leaf notebook paper, pens (blue or black ink only) , & pencils.
4 different colored highlighters & map pencils. (Not required daily)
Selected Websites
Global Policy forum www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/
NASA Photo Gallery www.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/index.html
AP Human Geography
2014-2015
The Lonely Planet www.lonelyplanet.com
Population Pyramids & World Info www.population.com
United States Census Bureau www.census.gov
Center for Immigration Studies http://cis.org
Economist.com www.economist.com/countries/
National Agriculture Library www.nal.uda.org
US Dept. of Agriculture www.usda.gov
Earth Observatory http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
Course Description & Tentative Timeline
I.
UNIT 1
Geography- It’s Nature and Perspectives- Ch. 1
Students will be able to know and discuss:
A. Geography as a field of inquiry
B. Major geographical concepts underlying the geographical perspective: location, space,
place, scale, pattern, nature and society, regionalization, globalization, and gender issues.
C. Key geographic skills
1. How to use and think about maps and geospatial 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.
D. Use of geospatial technologies, such as GIS, remote sensing, global positioning, systems
(GPS) and online maps.
E. Sources of geographical information and ideas: the field, census data, online data, aerial
photography, and satellite imagery.
F. Identification of major world regions (see handout).
Student Activities:
 Reading & Study Guide response (all study guides are due the day of the exam).
-Fouberg, Ch. 1- Introduction to Human Geography
“The Five Themes of Geography”, handout
“Key Geographical Terms”, handout
 Article Reviews (all article reviews will be due the day of the exam).
Rediscovering the Importance of Geography, Alexander B. Murphy (handout)
The Four Traditions of Geography, William D. Pattison (handout)
Projects:
 *NYSNC World Tour
 Power of Place #1-One Earth, Many Scales
Online Resources:
About careers in geography www.aag.org
About Geocaching www.geocaching.org
About Globalization and Geography www.lut..ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb40.html
AP Human Geography
II.
2014-2015
Population and Migration – Ch. 2-3
Students will be able to know and discuss:
A. Geographical analysis of population
1. Density, distribution, and scale.
2. Implications of various densities and distributions
3. Composition: age, sex, income, education, and ethnicity
4. Patterns of fertility, mortality, and health
B. Population growth and decline over time and space
1. Historical trends and projections for the future
2. Theories of population growth and decline, including the Demographic Transition Model
(DTM)
3. Regional variations of demographic transition
4. Effects of national population policies: promoting population growth in some countries
or reducing fertility rates in others
5. Environment impacts of population change on water use, food supplies, biodiversity, the
atmosphere, and climate
6. Population and natural hazards: impacts on policy, economy, and society
C. Migration (Population Movement)
1. Types of migration: transnational, internal, chain, step, seasonal agriculture (e.g.
transhumanace), and rural to urban
2. Major historical migrations
3. Push and pull factors, and migration in relation to employment and quality of life
4. Refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons
5. Consequences of migration: socioeconomic, cultural, environmental, and political;
immigration policies, remittances
Student Activities:
 Reading & Study Guide response (all study guides are due the day of the exam).
-Fouberg, Ch. 2, Ch. 3
 Article Reviews (all article reviews will be due the day of the exam).
The Big Crunch, Jeffrey Kluger (Handout)
Projects:
 Power of Place #2-Boundaries and Borderlands
 Power of Place #21-Mexico, Motive to Migrate
 Patterns of Population: Manipulating Population Growth-Predicting the Future
 Choropleth Map: Construction of world demographic data
 District 9 (2009 film)
Case Study: Modern Refugees
Online Resources:
About Population Growth in the World www.prb.org
About the Composition of the Population of the United States www.census.gov
About Immigration to the United States www.unfpa.org
About Refugees www.unhcr.ch
EXAM – Chapters 1, 2, 3
AP Human Geography
III.
2014-2015
UNIT 2
Cultural Patterns and Processes – Ch. 4-7
Students will be able to know & discuss:
A. Concepts of Culture
1. Culture Traits
2. Diffusion Patterns
3. Acculturation, Assimilation, and Multiculturalism
4. Cultural Region, Vernacular Regions, and Culture Hearths
5. Globalization and the effects of technology on cultures
B. Cultural differences and regional patterns
1. Language and communications
2. Religion and sacred space
3. Ethnicity and nationalism
4. Cultural differences in attitudes toward gender
5. Popular and folk culture
6. Culture conflicts, and law and policy to protect culture
C. Cultural landscapes and cultural identity
1. Symbolic landscapes and sense of place
2. The formation of identity and place making
3. Differences in cultural attitudes and practices toward the environment
4. Indigenous peoples
Student Activities:
 Reading & Study Guide response (all study guides are due the day of the exam).
-Fouberg, Ch. 4,5,6,7
 Article Reviews (all article reviews will be due the day of the exam).
Micro Melting Pots, William H. Frey (handout)
Projects:
 Power of Place #24-Boston, Ethnic Mosaic
 Power of Place #25- Vancouver, Hong Kong East and Montreal: An Island of French
 Power of Place #17- Jerusalem: Capital of Two States?
Case Study: Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Cultural Landscapes
Online Resources:
About the Makah Tribe www.makah.com
About the Religious Societies of the North End www.northendboston.org
About the Murals in Northern Ireland www.cain.ulst.ac.uk/mccormick.intro.html
About Religions of the World
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/world_religions/index.shtml
EXAM – Chapters 4,5,6,7
IV.
UNIT 3
Agriculture, Food Production, and Rural Land Usage – Ch.11
Students will be able to know and discuss:
A. Development and diffusion of agriculture
1. Neolithic Agricultural Revolution
2. Second Agricultural Revolution
AP Human Geography
2014-2015
3. Green Revolution
4. Large-scale commercial agriculture and agribusiness
B. Major agricultural production regions
1. Agricultural systems associated with major bioclimatic zones
2. Variations within major zones and effects of markets
3. Interdependence among regions of food production and consumption
C. Rural land use and settlement patters
1. Models of agricultural land use, including von Thunen’s Model
2. Settlement patterns associated with major agricultural types: subsistence, cash cropping,
plantation, mixed farming, monoculture, pastoralism, ranching, forestry, fishing, and
aquaculture
3. Land use/land cover change, irrigation, desertification, deforestation, wetland destruction,
conversation, conservation efforts to protect or restore natural land cover, and global
impacts.
4. Organic farming, crop rotation, value-added specialty foods, regional appellations, fair
trade, and eat-local-food movements
5. Global food distribution, malnutrition, and famine
Student Activities:
 Reading & Study Guide response (all study guides are due the day of the exam).
-Fouberg, Ch. 11, textbook
 Article Reviews (all article reviews will be due the day of the exam).
The Green Revolution in India (handout)
Projects:
 Power of Place #24: Chicago: Farming on the Edge
 Power of Place #7: Vogloda: Russian Farming in Flux
 Power of Place #16 Dikhatpura: Help Through Irrigation
Case Study: The Big Mac Index; Agribusiness
Online Resources:
About food production and development www.foodfirst.org/media/opeds/2000/4-greenrev.htm
About the preservation of agricultural lands www.farmland.org/
V.
Industrialization and Economic Development – Ch. 10 & 12
A. Growth & Diffusion of industrialization
1. The changing roles of energy and technology
2. Industrial Revolution
3. Models of economic development: Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth and
Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory
4. Geographic critiques of models of industrial location: bid rent, Weber’s comparative
costs of transportation and industrial location in relation to resources, location of
retailing and service industries, and local economic development within competitive
global systems of corporations and finance
B. Social and economic measures of development
1. Gross domestic product and GDP per capita
2. Human Development Index (HDI)
3. Gender Inequality Index (GII)
4. Income disparity and the Gini coefficient
5. Natural resources and environmental concerns
6. Changes in fertility and mortality
AP Human Geography
2014-2015
7. Access to healthcare, education, utilities, and sanitation
C. Contemporary patterns and impacts of industrialization and development
1. Spatial organization of the world economy
2. Variations in level of development (uneven development)
3. Deindustrialization, economic restructuring, and the rise of service and high technology
economies
4. Globalization, manufacturing in newly industrialized countries (NIC’s), and international
division of labor
5. Natural resource depletion, pollution, and climate change
6. Sustainable development
7. Government development initiatives: local, regional, and national policies
8. Women in development and gender equity in the workforce
Student Activities:
 Reading & Study Guide response (all study guides are due the day of the exam).
-Fouberg, Ch. 10,12
 Article Reviews (all article reviews will be due the day of the exam).
Helping the World’s Poorest, Jeffrey Sachs (handout)
Weber’s Theory of Industrial Location (handout)
Rostow’s Theory of Industrial Development (handout)
Projects:
 Power of Place #20- Gabon: Sustainable Resources
 Power of Place #23- A Second Chance for Amazonia
Case Study: Globalization (TBD)
Online Resources:
About Global Poverty: www.worldbank.org/poverty
About the Port of Rotterdam: http://portofrotterdam.com
EXAM – Chapters 10, 11, 12
VI.
UNIT 4
Political Organization of Space – Ch. 8
Students will be able to know and discuss:
A. Territorial dimensions of politics
1. The concepts of political power and territoriality
2. The nature, meaning, and function of boundaries
3. Influences of boundaries on identity, interaction, and exchange
4. Federal and unitary states, confederations, centralized government, and forms of
governance
5. Spatial relationships between political systems and patterns of ethnicity, economy, and
gender
6. Political ecology: impacts of law and policy on the environment and environmental
justice
B. Evolution of contemporary political pattern
1. The nation-state concept
2. Colonialism and imperialism
3. Democratization
4. Fall of Communism and legacy of the Cold War
5. Patterns of local, regional, and metropolitan governance
AP Human Geography
2014-2015
C. Changes and challenges to political-territorial arrangements
1. Changing nature of sovereignty
2. Fragmentation, unification, and cooperation
3. Supranationalism and international alliances
4. Devolution of countries: centripetal and centrifugal forces
5. Electoral geography: redistricting and gerrymandering
6. Armed conflicts, war, and terrorism
Student Activities:
 Reading & Study Guide response (all study guides are due the day of the exam).
Fouberg, Ch. 8, textbook
The United States in Afghanistan, Choices (handout)
 Article Reviews (all article reviews will be due the day of the exam).
Review of the Political Organization of Space (handout)
Evolution of the Contemporary Political Pattern
Projects:
 Power of Place #3- Slovakia: New Sovereignty and Strasbourg: Symbol of a United
Europe
Case Study: Terrorism organizations, motivation, and operation/Genocide
Online Resources:
About the European Union: http://europa.eu.int/index_en.htm
About Political Geography: www.politicalgeography.org
EXAM – Chapter 8
UNIT 5
VII.
Cities & Urban Land Use – Ch. 9
Students will be able to know and discuss:
A. Development and character of cities
1. Origins of cities; site and situation characteristics
2. Forces driving urbanization
3. Borchert’s epochs of urban transportation development
4. World cities & megacities
5. Suburbanization processes
B. Models of urban hierarchies: reasons for the distribution and size of cities
1. Gravity Model
2. Christaller’s Central Place Theory
3. Rank-size rule
4. Primate Cities
C. Models of internal city structures and urban development: strengths and limitations of
models
1. Burgess Concentric zone model
2. Hoyt Sector model
3. Harris and Ullman Multiple-Nuclei model
4. Galactic City model
5. Models of cities in Latin America, North Africa, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, East
Asia, and South Asia
AP Human Geography
2014-2015
D. Built environment and social space
1. Types of residential buildings
2. Transportation and utility infrastructure
3. Political organization of urban areas
4. Urban planning and design (gated communities, New Urbanism, and smart-growth
policies)
5. Census data on urban ethnicity, gender, migration, and socioeconomic status
6. Characteristics and types of edge cities: boomburgs, greenfields, uptowns
E. Contemporary Urban Issues
1. Housing and insurance discrimination, and access to food stores
2. Changing demographic, employment, and social structures
3. Uneven development, zones of abandonment, disamenity, and gentrification
4. Suburban sprawl and urban sustainability problems: land and energy use, cost of
expanding public education services, home financing and debt crises
5. Urban environmental issues: transportation, sanitation, air and water quality,
remediation of brownfields, and farmland protections
Student Activities:
 Reading & Study Guide response (all study guides are due the day of the exam).
-Fouberg, Ch. 9
 Article Reviews (all article reviews will be due the day of the exam).
None
Projects:
 Power of Place #4-Berlin: United We Stand
 Power of Place #12- Tokyo: Anatomy of a Mega-city
 Power of Place #23- Sao Paulo: The Outer Ring
 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (handout)
Field Study: Students will conduct a data collection on a topic of their choice as an urban setting
influences it. Details will be provided as the data approaches.
Case Study: Urban Land Use: The Urban Models and how they apply to real cities today
Online Resources:
About the Congress of New Urbanism: http://www.cnu.org
About Opposition to Urban Sprawl www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/
About Seaside, Florida www.seasidefl.com/
EXAM – Chapter 9
UNIT 6
VIII.
Environmental Geography and Development- Ch. 13
Students will be able to know and discuss:
A. Social Space
1. Decisions and Conflicts
2. Uneven Development
3. Quality of Life
4. Sustainability
AP Human Geography
2014-2015
B. Modern Ecological Change
1. Nutrition and Hunger
2. Environmental Devastation
Student Activities:
 Reading & Study Guide response (all study guides are due the day of the exam).
-Fouberg, Ch. 13
 Article Reviews (all article reviews will be due the day of the exam).
Land-Use Choices: Balancing Human Needs and Ecosystem Function, Ruth S.
DeFries, Jonathan A. Foley, and Gregory P. Asner
The Cheeseburger Footprint, Jamais Cascio (handout)
Economic Report into Biodiversity Crisis Reveals Price of Consuming the Planet,
Juliette Jowit (handout)
Projects:
 Power of Place #22- Ecuador: Orange Alert
 Power of Place #26- Oregon: A Fight for Water
 Power of Place #5- Randstad: Preserving the Green Heart
Student Activity:
Material World: Hungry Planet PPT- activity examining agricultural products available in
different areas of the world with the changes in global diets
Case Study: Biodiversity
Online Resources:
About Geography and Environmental Hazards:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/int/geog/envhax/index.shtml
IX.
Globalization- Ch. 14
Students will be able to know and discuss:
A. Key Concepts in industrialization and development
B. 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
Student Activities:
 Reading & Study Guide response (all study guides are due the day of the exam).
-Fouberg, Ch. 14
 Article Reviews (all article reviews will be due the day of the exam).
Movers & Shakers: How Immigrants are Reviving Neighborhoods given up for
dead, Joel Kotkin (Handout)
Japan Cities amid Globalization, Myron A. Levine (handout)
AP Human Geography
2014-2015
Projects:
 Power of Place #15- Singapore: Gateway to Southeast Asia
 Power of Place #1- Globalization and Revolt
 Power of Place #10 Guangdong: Globalization in the Pearl River Delta
Online Resources:
About Media OwnershipColumbia Journalism Review’s Who Owns That Website www.cjr.org/tools/owners
About the Network of World Cities- www.brook.edu/metro/pubs/20050222_worldcities.pdf
About the World Social Forum- http://forumsocialmundial.org
EXAM – Chapter 13, 14
X.
AP Exam Review
A. AP EXAM IS FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2015 AT 8AM
Test Dates (subject to change): Test will reflect the AP format(multiple choice & free response)
Prior Knowledge Review Test- September 5th
Unit 1 Test- Ch. 1, 2, 3 – October 8th
Unit 2 Test- Ch. 4, 5, 6, 7 – November 20th
Unit 3 Test- Ch. 10, 11, 12 – January 30th
Unit 4 Test- Ch. 8 – February 27th
Unit 5 Test- Ch. 9 – April 9th
Unit 6 Test- Ch. 13, 14 – April 30th
Grading
Tests: 50%
Classwork/Quizzes: 40%
Homework: 10%
Makeup/Late Work:
Homework/Classwork
Students are expected to turn in all assignments completed and on time. If you did not turn in a
homework assignment, you have one day to turn it in for 30% off the grade.
ALL major projects and assignments will not be accepted any days late. All major due dates will be
posted on my teacher webpage and the homework board to remind students.
Tests
Should you miss a test, a make-up will be scheduled after discussion with teacher.
Social Studies Department Systematic Policy for Re-Testing Summative Assessment:
If a student receives a 69 or below the student may take a retest within 4 days of the posting of the
grade, the highest summative re-assessment grade is a 70.
In order to take a summative re-assessment a student must complete the following:
Complete the relevant chapter review sections in writing and turn in to the teacher before the reassessment. This does not apply to formative assessments (Quizzes). This opportunity is available at
least once every 6 weeks at teacher discretion. * Mandatory tutorials are at the teacher’s discretion.*
AP Human Geography
2014-2015
Absent & Tardy
If you are absent (excused) you may either come by early before school starts, see me during your lunch,
or come after school to get caught up. You will have the same amount of days you missed to complete
any classwork/homework assigned during you absence. Example, if you missed 2 days you will have 2
days to complete any missed work. Students who are absent due to athletics or other school-related
activities will follow the same protocol as an excused absence.
Electronics
iPads
Students are required to follow all aspects of the RFISD Acceptable Use Agreement, Student Code of
Conduct, and iPad Initiative Handbook, when pertaining to iPad use.
Classroom Use
iPads may be used during class time to take notes only. All other use of the iPad will be at my discretion.
If at any time I have reason to believe you are using the iPad for other reasons than the ones given in
instruction you will be asked to turn it off and put it away. No exceptions. iPads will lay flat on your desk
while in use, at all times.
Cell Phones
Cell phones must be turned off, not on silent, as soon as you enter the classroom. Cell phone use will
not be tolerated during class time for any reason. In the event of an emergency your parent(s) or
guardian(s) need to contact the school and we will notify you promptly.
Keep this syllabus for your reference; it is also posted on my teacher webpage.
I am looking forward to a great school year with all of you.
Go Ro-Hawks!!