AP Human Geography
Infinity Early College High School
Instructor: Sarah Macha
Fall 2015 and Spring 2016
The Five Goals of AP Human Geography
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Use and think about maps and spatial data.
Understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena in places.
Recognize and interpret at different scales the relationships among patterns and processes.
Define regions and evaluate the regionalization process.
Characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places.
Student Text:
Rubenstein, James. Contemporary Human Geography. (3rd Edition) Pearson, 2016.
Supplemental Materials:
DeBlij, Murphy, Fouberg. Human Geography: People, Place and Culture (8th Edition).Wiley, 2006.
Knox, Marston. Places and Regions in Global Context (5th Edition). Pearson Education, 2010
Jordan, Terry and Mona Domosh. The Human Mosaic (7th Edition). Freeman, 2004
Wood, Ethel AP Human Geography Workbook, (2nd Edition). WoodYard Publication, 2009.
Video and Electronic Sources:
(List of videos/films/documentaries to be shown through the course of the school year. Additional films may be
shown depending on availability and opportunity. All will be school and content appropriate.)
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National Geographic: The Human Family Tree, China’s Lost Girls, Inside North Korea, Inside
Mecca
History Channel: Mankind – The Story of All of Us, 9/11: State of Emergency,
A&E Entertainment: How the States Got Their Shapes, History of Holidays (varies)
BBC: Filthy Cities
Discovery Channel: Discovery Atlas, The Other Side of Outsourcing
Ted Talks (various)
One Day on Earth
Citizen USA
God Grew Tired of Us
Girl Rising
The Help
Hotel Rwanda
Whale Rider
Organization of Course:
Students of Infinity Early College High School have the option of taking AP Human Geography in
place of their high school geography credit. Towards the end of the year, students will take the AP
Human Geography Exam given by the College Board to determine if they earn college credit for the
course. Students will get high school credit by completing this course and is not based on their AP
Exam score, since scores will not be released until the summer.
AP Human Geography meets every day (MW 2nd period, TTh 8th period and F). Due to the heavy
workload many days are set aside as “work days” for students to complete assignments. Homework
will only be to finish assignments started in class, define vocabulary terms or study for tests or map
quizzes.
As by district policy, students will have a minimum of 9 daily grades and 3 major grades per every nine
weeks. Daily grades include lecture Cornell Notes, guided readings, video Cornell Notes, vocabulary
definitions, flipped classroom assignments, and map quizzes, among other assignments. Major grades
include in-class tests/exams (sometimes open book/open notes), take home exams, projects and/or
research papers. Assignments will be posted on Google Classroom and/or Ms. Macha’s AP Human
Geography webpage.
Late policy is that all work is due on the designated day required. Anything turned in late can only be
graded as high as 70%. However, any missing work or late assignments can be turned in up until the
end of the nine weeks for credit.
From time to time, extra credit opportunities will be given to the students to boost their grades. At least
one extra credit assignment will be offered every nine weeks.
The AP Human Geography Exam will be given by the College Board on the Infinity Early College
campus Friday, May 13, 2015 at 8:00. Please refer to Ms. Macha’s teacher webpage for important links
to AP Central, concerning preparation, scoring and college credit.
Course Outline
First Nine Weeks
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This is Geography
o Geography as a science
o 5 Themes of Geography (place, location, movement, human-environment interaction,
region) [
o Differences of map projections (site, situation, space)
o Sustainability and human adaption to environment
Population & Health
o Population density and concentrations
o Population growth and the Demographic Transition Model
o Population pyramids
o Future projections globally and specifically for China, India, Japan, US and Europe
o Infectious Diseases (historic and modern) and the Epidemiologic Transition
Migration
o Global patterns of migration
o US immigration (historic and modern)
o Reasons for migration (push and pull factors) – Hotel Rwanda viewing
o Immigration concerns
Second Nine Weeks
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Folk & Popular Culture
o Element, origins and diffusion of folk and popular culture
o Music, Entertainment, Sports, Food, Clothing (folk and popular, historic and modern
patterns)
o Globalization of popular culture (social media, television and the internet)
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o Sustainability challenges of folk culture – Whale Rider viewing
Languages
o Classifying languages and distinguishing language families
o Distribution of dialects
o Diffusion of English
Religions
o Branches, origins and diffusion of world religions
o Cultural landscape of religions
o Religion disputes and conflicts (historic and modern)
Ethnicities
o Ethnicity, race and nationalities
o Segregation and power relationships (historic and modern) – The Help viewing (extra
credit for doing book report on the book)
o Genocide and ethnic cleansing (historic and modern)
Third Nine Weeks
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Political Geography
o Boundaries and nation states
o International law and geopolitical theories
o Cooperation of states (historic and modern)
o Terrorism
Development
o Paths to development
o Examination of human development index
o Problems to development
o Gender-related development – Girl Rising viewing
Food & Agriculture
o History of first and second Agricultural Revolutions
o Origin and history of agricultural development
o Challenges of commercial and subsistence farming
Industry
o History of Industrial Revolution
o Industrial regions (historic, current and emerging)
o Changing site factors of steel, car and clothing industries
Services & Settlements
o Levels of jobs and workforce (types of services)
o Central Place Theory and urbanization
o Developing countries and outsourcing
Fourth Nine Weeks
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Urban Patterns
o Understanding various urban pattern theories/models
o Structure of cities around the world
o Problems of urban sprawl and urbanization
Resources Issues
o Environmental problems of energy demand/production, energy alternatives, and
pollution
o The future of resources and transportation
Review for the AP Exam
o Roughly two weeks of review sessions in class and voluntarily after school
End of Year Project