Twinsburg City School District



Advanced Placement Human GeographyMr. GarberTwinsburg High SchoolTwinsburg, OhioWelcome to AP Human Geography! The purpose of the AP Human Geography course is to introduce students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface. Students learn to employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to examine human socioeconomic organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their research and applications.It is my desire to transform students’ daily thinking processes into analyzing, interpreting, and applying everyday experiences with preexisting knowledge through the lens of geography. A fundamental piece of the puzzle is how to think about geography. Geography sits at the junction of social science, physical science, humanities, and technology. To think geographically, ask yourself, “Can I map it? What are the spatial implications? How are places affected?” Today, with technology as a driving force, the world has become smaller. Many experiences of North America are intertwined with those of the rest of the world, which makes AP Human Geography an essential course for U.S. students. It helps them view the world from a spatial perspective. This spatial context, or the where and why things occur, is at the core of the course.Class Profile Twinsburg High School offers 2 sections of AP Human Geography each year, with an average enrollment of about 40 students. Classes meet every other day for 90 minutes (on an alternating Blue/White block schedule).Course Overview Human geography is the study of where humans and their activities and institutions such as ethnic groups, cities, and industries are located and why they are there. Human geographers also study the interactions of humans with their environment and draw on some basic elements of physical geography. For example, looking for and thinking about cultural imprints on the landscape, such as how Hispanic markets or religious institutions affect their environments, is geography. Locational questions like “Why is the interstate highway where it is?” or “Why do most Indonesians practice Islam?” are geographic questions with geographic answers. These are just two examples of how we can use the world around us in classroom lessons.Course Objectives The particular topics studied in an AP Human Geography course should be judged in light of the following five college-level goals that build on the National Geography Standards developed in 1994 and revised in 2012. On successful completion of the course, students should have developed skills that enable them to: Interpret maps and analyze geospatial data.Understand and explain the implications of associations and networks among phenomena in placesRecognize and interpret the relationships among patterns and processes at different scales of analysis.Define regions and evaluate the regionalization process.Characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places.Curriculum of Study I. Geography: Its Nature and PerspectivesII. Population and MigrationIII. Cultural Patterns and ProcessesIV. Political Organization of SpaceV. Agriculture, Food Production, and Rural Land UseVI. Industrialization and Economic DevelopmentVII. Cities and Urban Land UseTopic OutlineThe following is an outline of the major content areas covered by the AP Human Geography Exam, as well as the approximate percentages of the multiple-choice section that are devoted to each area. Percentage Goals for Exam(Multiple-choice Content Area section)I. Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–10%A. Geography as a field of inquiryB. Major geographical concepts underlying the geographical perspective: location, space, place, scale, pattern, nature and society, regionalization, globalization, and gender issuesC. Key geographical skills1. How to use and think about maps and geospatial data2. How to understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena in places3. How to recognize and interpret at different scales the relationships among patterns and processes4. How to define regions and evaluate the regionalization process5. How to characterize and analyze changing interconnections among placesD. Use of geospatial technologies, such as GIS, remote sensing, global positioning systems (GPS), and online mapsE. Sources of geographical information and ideas: the field, census data online data, aerial photography, and satellite imageryF. Identification of major world regionsII. Population and Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%A. Geographical analysis of population1. Density, distribution, and scale2. Implications of various densities and distributions3. Composition: age, sex, income, education, and ethnicity4. Patterns of fertility, mortality, and healthB. Population growth and decline over time and space1. Historical trends and projections for the future2. Theories of population growth and decline, including the DemographicTransition Model3. Regional variations of demographic transition4. Effects of national population policies: promoting population growth in some countries or reducing fertility rates in others5. Environmental impacts of population change on water use, food supplies, biodiversity, the atmosphere, and climate6. Population and natural hazards: impacts on policy, economy, and societyC. Migration1. Types of migration: transnational, internal, chain, step, seasonal agriculture (e.g., transhumance), and rural to urban2. Major historical migrations3. Push and pull factors, and migration in relation to employment and quality of life4. Refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons5. Consequences of migration: socioeconomic, cultural, environmental, and political; immigration policies; remittancesPercentage Goals for Exam(Multiple-choice Content Area section)III. Cultural Patterns and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%A. Concepts of culture1. Culture traits2. Diffusion patterns3. Acculturation, assimilation, and multiculturalism4. Cultural region, vernacular regions, and culture hearths5. Globalization and the effects of technology on culturesB. Cultural differences and regional patterns1. Language and communications2. Religion and sacred space3. Ethnicity and nationalism4. Cultural differences in attitudes toward gender5. Popular and folk culture6. Cultural conflicts, and law and policy to protect cultureC. Cultural landscapes and cultural identity1. Symbolic landscapes and sense of place2. The formation of identity and place making3. Differences in cultural attitudes and practices toward the environment4. Indigenous peoples IV. Political Organization of Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%A. Territorial dimensions of politics1. The concepts of political power and territoriality2. The nature, meaning, and function of boundaries3. Influences of boundaries on identity, interaction, and exchange4. Federal and unitary states, confederations, centralized government, and forms of governance5. Spatial relationships between political systems and patterns of ethnicity, economy, and gender6. Political ecology: impacts of law and policy on the environment and environmental justiceB. Evolution of the contemporary political pattern1. The nation-state concept2. Colonialism and imperialism3. Democratization4. Fall of communism and legacy of the Cold War5. Patterns of local, regional, and metropolitan governanceC. Changes and challenges to political-territorial arrangements1. Changing nature of sovereignty2. Fragmentation, unification, and cooperation3. Supranationalism and international alliances4. Devolution of countries: centripetal and centrifugal forces5. Electoral geography: redistricting and gerrymandering6. Armed conflicts, war, and terrorismPercentage Goals for Exam(Multiple-choice Content Area section)V. Agriculture, Food Production, and Rural Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%A. Development and diffusion of agriculture1. Neolithic Agricultural Revolution2. Second Agricultural Revolution3. Green Revolution4. Large-scale commercial agriculture and agribusinessB. Major agricultural production regions1. Agricultural systems associated with major bioclimatic zones2. Variations within major zones and effects of markets3. Interdependence among regions of food production and consumptionC. Rural land use and settlement patterns1. Models of agricultural land use, including von Thünen’s model2. Settlement patterns associated with major agriculture types: subsistence, cash cropping, plantation, mixed farming, monoculture, pastoralism, ranching, forestry, fishing and aquaculture3. Land use/land cover change: irrigation, desertification, deforestation, wetland destruction, conservation efforts to protect or restore natural land cover, and global impacts4. Roles of women in agricultural production and farming communitiesD. Issues in contemporary commercial agriculture1. Biotechnology, including genetically modified organisms (GMO)2. Spatial organization of industrial agriculture, including the transition in land use to large-scale commercial farming and factors affecting the location of processing facilities3. Environmental issues: soil degradation, overgrazing, river and aquifer depletion, animal wastes, and extensive fertilizer and pesticide use4. Organic farming, crop rotation, value-added specialty foods, regional appellations, fair trade, and eat-local-food movements5. Global food distribution, malnutrition, and famineVI. Industrialization and Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%A. Growth and diffusion of industrialization1. The changing roles of energy and technology2. Industrial Revolution3. Models of economic development: Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth and Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory4. 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 financeB. Social and economic measures of development1. Gross domestic product and GDP per capita2. Human Development Index3. Gender Inequality Index4. Income disparity and the Gini coefficient5. Changes in fertility and mortality6. Access to health care, education, utilities, and sanitationC. Contemporary patterns and impacts of industrialization and development1. Spatial organization of the world economy2. Variations in levels of development (uneven development)3. Deindustrialization, economic restructuring, and the rise of service and high technology economies4. Globalization, manufacturing in newly industrialized countries (NICs), and the international division of labor5. Natural resource depletion, pollution, and climate change6. Sustainable development7. Government development initiatives: local, regional, and national policies8. Women in development and gender equity in the workforcePercentage Goals for Exam(Multiple-choice Content Area section)VII. Cities and Urban Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17%A. Development and character of cities1. Origin of cities; site and situation characteristics2. Forces driving urbanization3. Borchert’s epochs of urban transportation development4. World cities and megacities5. Suburbanization processesB. Models of urban hierarchies: reasons for the distribution and size of cities1. Gravity model2. Christaller’s central place theory3. Rank-size rule4. Primate citiesC. Models of internal city structure and urban development: strengths and limitations of models1. Burgess concentric zone model2. Hoyt sector model3. Harris and Ullman multiple nuclei model4. Galactic city model5. Models of cities in Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, and South AsiaD. Built environment and social space1. Types of residential buildings2. Transportation and utility infrastructure3. Political organization of urban areas4. Urban planning and design (e.g., gated communities, New Urbanism, and smart-growth policies)5. Census data on urban ethnicity, gender, migration, and socioeconomic status6. Characteristics and types of edge cities: boomburgs, greenfields, uptownsE. Contemporary urban issues1. Housing and insurance discrimination, and access to food stores2. Changing demographic, employment, and social structures3. Uneven development, zones of abandonment, disamenity, and gentrification4. Suburban sprawl and urban sustainability problems: land and energy use, cost of expanding public education services, home financing and debt crises5. Urban environmental issues: transportation, sanitation, air and water quality, remediation of brownfields, and farmland protectionThe Exam The AP Human Geography exam will be on Friday, May 13th, 2016 8 am. You are required to take this exam as a part of this class (cost is approximately $89). If you fail to do so, you will automatically fail AP US History.The AP Human Geography Exam is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes in length and includes both a 60-minute multiple-choice section and a 75-minute free-response section. Each section accounts for half of the student’s AP Exam score. Multiple Choice Questions: The distribution of topics and the levels of difficulty are illustrative of the composition of the exam. Multiple-choice scores are based on the number of questions answered correctly. Points are not deducted for incorrect answers, and no points are awarded for unanswered questions. Because points are not deducted for incorrect answers, students are encouraged to answer all multiple-choice questions. On any questions students do not know the answer to, students should eliminate as many choices as they can and then select the best answer among the remaining choices.Free Response Section: In the free-response section of the AP Human Geography Exam, students have 75 minutes to answer three constructed-response questions. The score on each response accounts for one-third of the student’s total constructed-response score, so students should spend approximately one-third of their time (25 minutes) on each question. The questions may require students to synthesize different topical areas and to analyze and evaluate geographical concepts. Questions may also require students to supply appropriately selected and well-explained real-world examples to illustrate geographic concepts. Questions may be based on stimulus material such as verbal descriptions, maps, graphs, photographs, and diagrams. Students are expected to use their analytical and organizational skills to formulate responses in narrative form; bulleted lists are not acceptable as a response. AP Scores:**5- extremely well qualified**4- well qualified**3- qualified 2- possibly qualified 1- not recommendedText Book and Supplemental MaterialsRubenstein, James M. The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2014.Malinowski, Jon C., and David Kaplan. Human Geography. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013Grading PolicyTests: tests will be given at the end of each Topic (1-7) and will mirror the AP exam with timed multiple choice questions and free response questions. Tests are cumulative. Quizzes: quizzes will be given roughly after every 2 chapters and will deal solely with material covered in class and from your reading of the textbook and supplemental materials. Quizzes are cumulative. Homework/In Class Work: since this is an Advanced Placement class (and because of the amount of material to be covered), you will be responsible for all of the chapter readings plus analysis of supplemental material. Research Paper/Projects: papers and projects will be few and far between, but will follow appropriate APA or MLA styling.Participation: students will participate in discussions, Socratic seminars and quad work. In order to facilitate active learning, it is imperative that you come prepared and participate to your fullest during these activities. This is also the time to learn from each other and observe new points of view that you may have overlooked.Important Things to Remember-It is YOUR responsibility to come and see me if you have been absent from class. If you do not take the initiative, you will simply receive no credit for any assignments missed. This includes tests, which must be made up outside of class. Any out of class essays should be typed and checked for grammatical and spelling errors prior to turning it in. Anything that requires you to write (both in class and out of class work) must be written in COMPLETE SENTENCES (unless otherwise stated). Late Work: There is no such thing, except in EXTREME circumstances.Absent Work: For every day that you are absent from class (excused), you will have 1 day to make up the work missed. It is VERY important that you try to make it to class every day. Expectations-What am I expecting of you? All in all there is only one real guideline that I want everyone to follow in this class. BE RESPECTFUL TO ME, YOUR CLASSMATES AND YOURSELF. What does this mean? This guideline could include (but is not limited to) being in class on time and prepared when the bell rings. We should always talk to each other with respect and listen when others are talking. Most of all, nobody should be afraid to voice their opinion or any questions that they have. This means that I expect everyone to be open to these opinions or questions and not belittle anyone for their views.You should not sell yourself short with what you can accomplish in this class. Coming prepared (ready to take notes, discuss any information or with your homework done) not only shows that you respect me but that you are taking school seriously. There is not going to be someone at a job or in college continually reminding you to stay on task. Developing this skill early will put you ahead of the curve and shows maturity. I want you to develop critical thinking skills by not just taking information at face value. Look for flaws in the system, arguments etc. Offer your informed opinion because it can spur others to think critically and look at the content being studied in a different way.I will follow these same guidelines and give you as a person and as a class the same respect. I will value your opinions and questions. I may ask you to back up your opinions with facts, but I will never tell you that you are wrong. In the end if you are in doubt as to whether your actions, inactions or words will be acceptable ask yourself if you are going to disrespect or hurt someone in the process. Most of all, THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK.Contact Information:Mr. Garber M.Ed.Twinsburg High SchoolSocial Studies Department Chair Assistant Coach – Men’s Varsity Soccer Program Email: jgarber@twinsburg.k12.oh.usSchool phone: 330 486 2400Class website: twinsburg.k12.oh.us/jgarber Room L-201 *You will find a classroom calendar and assignments posted weekly on the website* ................
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