AP Human Geography This is a syllabus for a two semester Advanced Placement Human Geography course that has been offered for several years at this school. The material covered is based on the AP Human Geography Course Description Booklet published by the College Board. Course Materials There are two texts for this course. They are The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography 8th Edition by James Rubenstein and Human Geography in Action, 4th edition by Michael Kuby et al. Addition and more current sources come from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Smithsonian, Time, Newsweek, National Public Radio, PBS, and many sources on the internet. Organization of the Course This class meets three times a week for 85 minutes. The units will include lectures, discussions, projects, papers and exams. At the end of each unit there will be both a multiple choice and short answer exam. In addition some units will require a longer critique of some specific area. To began the course students are asked to take four assigned countries and using online sources give a general view of the ethnic makeup, religion, resources, population and stage of economic development. The countries this year are China, India, Mexico and Zimbabwe They are to note conflicts and to give some opinion of where the countries are heading. As the course develops we will look back with a keener awareness. At the end of the course students will chose groups of up to 6 and create a region of a world that contains a more developed country and a less developed country and there interactions.
Evaluation Methods All assignments are assigned points. Exams are usually 100 points as are most papers. Some projects are more. Grades are based on a percentage of the maximum score. 90% = A 80% = B 70% = C 60% = D First Semester: Cultural Geography 1. What is geography? maps contemporary tools space scale connections between places. Rubenstein, Chapter 1: Thinking Geographically Kuby, Chapter 1: True Maps, False Impressions 2. Population Geography population concentration natural increase fertility demographic transitions population pyramids Malthus on overpopulation. growth in LDCs and MDCs reasons for migration patterns of migration obstacles to migration internal migration
Rubenstein, Chapters 2 and 3: Population and Migration Chapters 3, 4,and 5: Tracking the AIDS Epidemic in the United States: Diffusion Through Space and Time, Newton s First Law of Migration: The Gravity Model and One Billion and Counting, The Hidden Momentum of Population Growth in India Project Students will write a short story about their character s migration with its reasons, problems and hopes. 3. Folk and Popular Culture Where do popular cultures originate and diffuse? Why is folk culture clustered? Why is popular culture widely distributed? Why does globalization of popular culture cause problems? Rubenstein, Chapter 4: Folk and Popular Culture Kuby, Chapter 2: Layers of Tradition: Cultural Regions at Different Scales 4. Language Where are English-language speakers distributed? Why is English related to other languages? Where are other language families distributed? Why do people preserve local languages? Rubenstein, Chapter 5 : Language Project Students will divide into groups and make a report on a specific language. They will give the language family and branch. They will explain the the sound system and teach the class a few words.
Extra credit is given if they dress in costumes of their country. This is not a problem as many of our students already speak another language and enjoy dressing up. 6. Religion Where are religions distributed? Why do religions have different distributions? Why do religions organize space in distinctive patterns? Why do territorial conflicts arise among religious groups? Rubenstein, Chapter 6: Religion Time, March 5, 2007: Behind the Sunni-Shi ite Divide Paper Students will summarize Time article. 7. Ethnicity Where are ethnicities distributed? Why have ethnicities been transformed into nationalities? Why do ethnicities clash? What is ethnic cleansing? Rubenstein, Chapter 7: Ethnicity Kuby, Chapter 12: Do Orange and Green Clash? Residental egregation in Northern Ireland
8. Political Geography Where are states located? Why do boundaries between states cause problems? Why do states cooperate with each other? Why has terrorism increased? Rubenstein, Chapter 8: Political Geography Kuby, Chapter 13: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Nations, States and Nation States 10. Development Why does development vary among countries? Where are more and less developed countries distributed? Why does level of development vary by gender? Why do less developed countries face obstacles to develop- ment? Rubenstein, Chapter 9: Development Kuby, Chapter 7: Rags to Riches: The Dimensions of Development 11.Agriculture Where did agriculture originate? Where are agricultural regions in less developed countries? Where are agricultural regions in more developed countries? Why do farmers face difficulties? Rubenstein, Chapter 10: Agriculture Kuby, Chapter 8 Food for Thought: The Globalization of Agriculture Paper Using internet students are to write a paper om the costs and bene fits of genetically modified agriculture.
12. Industrialization Where did industry originate? Where is industry distributed? Why do industries have different distributions? Why do industries face problems? Rubenstein, Chapter 11: Industry Kuby, Chapter 6: Help Wanted: The Changong Geography of Jobs? 13. Settlement and Services Where did services originate? Why are consumer services distributed in a regular pattern? Why do business services locate in large settlements? Why do services cluster downtown? Require Reading Rubenstein, Chapter 12: Services Kuby, Chapter 9: Take Me Out to the Old Ball Game: Market Areas and the Urban Hierarchy 14.Urban Patterns Where have urban areas grown? Where are people distributed in urban areas? Why do inner cities have distinctive problems? Why do suburbs have distinctive problems? Rubenstein, Chapter 13: Urban Patterns Kuby, Chapters 10 and 11: Reading the Urban Landscape: Census Data and Field Observation The Disappearing Front Range: Urban Sprawl in Colorado
!5. Resources Why are resources being depleted? Why are resources being polluted? Why are resources reusable? Why can resources be conserved? Rubenstein, Chapter 14: Resource Issues Kuby, Chapter 14: Preserving the Planet: Human Impact on Environmental Systems 16. Review for AP Human Geography Exam 17. The Group Project.