AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY UNITS
Unit 1- Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives (Basic Concepts) 1. Understanding the main concepts associated with Perspective: location, space, place, scale, pattern, regions, and globalization.
2. Identifying geographic models and the geographers responsible for them. 3. Learning to read, interpret, and analyze various types of maps and patterns found on them. 4. Understanding new technologies, e.g., GIS, GPS. 5. Using internet sources to find data and learning to map the data. 6. Defining Human Geography and understanding it as a field of study. 7. Construct maps at different scales and interrupt the different patterns found at the different scales. |
Unit 2- Population 1. Analysis of population data: types of densities, population distributions, and population compositions (age, sex, race, and ethnicity). Constructing and explaining population pyramids. 2. Understanding population trends (historical and future) and population models, i.e., Demographic Transition Model, Gravity Model, etc. 3. Explaining the effects of various population policies, e.g., China’s and India’s policies to lower population growth. 4. Analysis of migration and the factors that cause people to move (push and pull factors). Analyze United States and world patterns of migration. Explain the Gravity Model, distance decay and Ravenstein’s “laws of migration.” 5. Describe and analyze the different types of migration and give examples for each type, e.g., rural to urban, chain, forced, etc. 6. Understanding the effects of natural hazards on populations, e.g., Hurricane Katrina’s effects on the Gulf Coast. |
Unit 3- Cultural Patterns and Processes 1. Identifying and analyzing culture, cultural traits, diffusion, acculturation, assimilation, and cultural regions.
2. Describing and explaining differences and similarities between world languages, world religions, ethnic groups (ethnicity), and popular /folk cultures. 3. Discussing and analyzing the environmental impact of various cultural practices. 4. Identifying and explaining various cultural landscapes and understanding a sense of place. 5. Understanding how cultural patterns are represented at various scales from local to global. 6. Analyzing and understanding the distribution of religion and languages and language families around the world. |
Unit 4- Political Organization of Space
1. Understanding the meaning, consequences, and influences of the world’s boundaries.
2. Understanding and applying the terms nation, state, nation states, federal states, and unitary states. 3. Describing and analyzing the changing nature of sovereignty: fragmentation, unification, and alliance. 4. Identifying the spatial relations between political patterns and patterns of economy, ethnicity, and environment. 5. Analyzing electoral geography and the effects of gerrymandering Unit 7- Cities and Urban Land Use1. Explain and describe urbanization: its origins and current and future trends.
2. Understanding and applying urban system models, e.g., Multiple Nuclei Model. 3. Identifying and describing urban areas and global cities / megacities and Central Business Districts. 4. Describing the demographic, social, and employment structures in contemporary cities. 5. Analyzing patterns in urban centers with regards to sprawl, race, ethnicity, gender, class, and age. 6. Compare and contrast the urban spatial characteristics for different regions around the world, e.g., Latin American cities, European cities, etc. 7. Analyzing and describing the inner city of the United States, e.g., the inner city of Memphis, Tennessee. |
Unit 5- Agricultural and Rural Land Use
1. Explain and analyze the impact of the diffusion of agriculture around the world.
2. Discuss and identify the different agricultural revolutions, e.g., First, Second, Green, etc. 3. Understanding the climate, vegetation, and agricultural zones around the world. 4. Using and applying models, e.g., Von Thunen’s model on land use. 5. Describing and analyzing settlement patterns associated with agricultural types. 6. Analyzing modern agricultural topics, e.g., Biotechnology, GMO’s. |
Unit 6- Industrialization and Economic Development
1. Understanding the measurements of industrialization and development.
2. Describing and discussing the diffusion of industrialization. Discuss the Industrial Revolution. 3. Use and applying geographic models and theories, e.g., Bid (land) rent, Core and Peripheral, Weber’s Industrial Location Theory, Central Place Theory. 4. Explaining the impact (landscape, economic, and environmental) of industrialization and development in various places on the globe. 5. Comparing and contrasting development and industrialization in various places on the globe. 6. Analyzing industrial location factors and determining the best location based on a variety of factors. |