AP Human Geography by the College Board
BPS Virtual AP Program
AP Human Geography Assignments List
| ap_human_geography_hw_cw.pdf |
AP Human Geography Student Homepage
AP Human Geography Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Class Materials:
- 1 Subject Notebook (for notes and homework assignments)
- Pen or Pencil
- Student Textbook (provided by BPS)
- A good attitude (provided by you!)
Course Content and it's Presentation:
AP Human Geography presents high school students with the curricular equivalent of an introductory college-level course in human geography or cultural geography. Content is presented thematically rather than regionally and is organized around the discipline’s main subfields: economic geography, cultural geography, political geography, and urban geography. The approach is spatial and problem oriented. Case studies are drawn from all world regions, with an emphasis on understanding the world in which we live today. Historical information serves to enrich analysis of the impacts of phenomena such as globalization, colonialism, and human– environment relationships on places, regions, cultural landscapes, and patterns of interaction.
Specific topics with which students engage include the following:
Course Goals:
By the end of the course, students should be more geoliterate, more engaged
in contemporary global issues, and more multicultural in their viewpoints. They should have developed skills in approaching problems geographically, using maps and geospatial technologies, thinking critically about texts and graphic images, interpreting cultural landscapes, and applying geographic concepts such as
scale, region, diffusion, interdependence, and spatial interaction, among others. Students should see geography as a discipline relevant to the world in which they live; as a source of ideas for identifying, clarifying, and solving problems at various scales; and as a key component of building global citizenship and environmental stewardship.
The particular topics studied in an AP Human Geography course should align with the following college-level goals, which are based on the National Geography Standards developed in 1994 (and revised in 2012).2 On successful completion of the course, students should have developed skills that enable them to do the following:
o Assess the nature and significance of the relationships among phenomena that occur in the same place
o Analyze the ways cultural values, political policies, and economic forces work together to create particular landscapes (e.g., associations between exurban developments in the United States and the agriculturally productive Central Valley of California)
AP Human Geography presents high school students with the curricular equivalent of an introductory college-level course in human geography or cultural geography. Content is presented thematically rather than regionally and is organized around the discipline’s main subfields: economic geography, cultural geography, political geography, and urban geography. The approach is spatial and problem oriented. Case studies are drawn from all world regions, with an emphasis on understanding the world in which we live today. Historical information serves to enrich analysis of the impacts of phenomena such as globalization, colonialism, and human– environment relationships on places, regions, cultural landscapes, and patterns of interaction.
Specific topics with which students engage include the following:
- Problems of economic development and cultural change
- Consequences of population growth, changing fertility rates, and international migration
- Impacts of technological innovation on transportation, communication, industrialization, and other aspects of human life
- Struggles over political power and control of territory
- Conflicts over the demands of ethnic minorities, the role of women in society, and the inequalities between developed and developing economies
- Explanations of why location matters to agricultural land use, industrial development, and urban problems
- The role of climate change and environmental abuses in shaping the human landscapes on Earth
Course Goals:
By the end of the course, students should be more geoliterate, more engaged
in contemporary global issues, and more multicultural in their viewpoints. They should have developed skills in approaching problems geographically, using maps and geospatial technologies, thinking critically about texts and graphic images, interpreting cultural landscapes, and applying geographic concepts such as
scale, region, diffusion, interdependence, and spatial interaction, among others. Students should see geography as a discipline relevant to the world in which they live; as a source of ideas for identifying, clarifying, and solving problems at various scales; and as a key component of building global citizenship and environmental stewardship.
The particular topics studied in an AP Human Geography course should align with the following college-level goals, which are based on the National Geography Standards developed in 1994 (and revised in 2012).2 On successful completion of the course, students should have developed skills that enable them to do the following:
- Interpret maps and analyze geospatial data. Geography addresses the ways in which patterns on Earth’s surface reflect and influence physical and human processes. As such, maps, geographic information systems (GIS), satellite imagery, remote sensing, and aerial photographs are fundamental to the discipline, and learning to use and think about these data sources is critical to geographic literacy. The goal is achieved when students learn to use maps and geospatial data to pose and solve problems, such as making predictions about the location of future urban growth for a particular city. Students should also learn to think critically about the patterns and information revealed or hidden in different types of maps and other forms of geospatial data
- Understand the associations and networks among phenomena in particular places and explain their implications. The study of geography requires one to examine the world from a spatial perspective in order to understand the changing distribution of human activities on Earth’s surface and the impact on natural resources. A spatial perspective allows one to focus on the ways phenomena are related to one another in particular places. For example, political instability in one part of the world may be connected to changing urban neighborhood demographics on another continent due to refugee and immigrant streams. Additionally, networks between producers and consumers are constantly changing in a globalized world. In this course, students learn to:
o Assess the nature and significance of the relationships among phenomena that occur in the same place
o Analyze the ways cultural values, political policies, and economic forces work together to create particular landscapes (e.g., associations between exurban developments in the United States and the agriculturally productive Central Valley of California)
- Recognize and interpret the relationships among patterns and processes at different scales of analysis. Geographic analysis requires a sensitivity to scale, not just as a spatial category but as a framework for understanding how events and processes at different scales influence one another and change according to the scale of analysis. Students should therefore understand that the phenomena they are studying at one scale (e.g., local) may well be influenced by processes and developments at other scales (e.g., global, regional, national, state, provincial). For example, the closing of a manufacturing plant could be the result of global forces beyond the control of officials at the local level. Students should examine processes operating at multiple scales when seeking explanations of geographic patterns and arrangements.
- Define regions and evaluate the regionalization process. The study of geography requires one to not simply describe patterns but also analyze how these patterns came about and what they mean. Students should see regions (i.e., areas that share both human and physical characteristics) as objects of analysis and exploration; instead of simply locating and describing regions, they should consider how and why regions come into being and what they reveal about the changing character of the world in which we live. Examples of the regionalization process frequently come into focus when teaching about religion and language.
Revisions to the AP Human Geography Course
AP Human Geography Course Overview Effective 2019-2020
| ap-human-geography-course-and-exam-description.pdf |
AP Human Geography Scoring Guidlines
| ap-human-geography-2019-ced-scoring-guidelines.pdf |
