About AP HUG
Click here to visit the AP HUG lesson calendar
Download the 2010-2011 AP HUG Syllabus
So what exactly is Human Geography? Human Geography is like a virtual field trip around the world. During this trip, we will examine how where people live shapes how they think and act. In so many ways, each of us is a product of our environment, and in AP Human Geography we try to understand how others‘ environment leads them to think and act differently from us. This class is very much a current events course as we apply the spatial perspective to analyze contemporary events. Students will learn to examine the key issues that shape our world today – such as culture, political and ethnic conflict, population movement, urban issues, etc. In addition, students are exposed to economic theories and models, as well as the spread of world religions and the origins and diffusion of languages. Students will study urban development, industrialization, and city planning; often experiencing these topics firsthand through field trips. This course has amazing potential to shape, if not completely change the way you view the world for the rest of your life!
Course Description:
AP HUG provides students with a rigorous learning opportunity equivalent to that obtained in a college-level introductory Human Geography course and the Advanced Placement ® Human Geography Exam in May. The AP Examination in Human Geography is approximately two hours long, and consists of a 60-minute multiple-choice section and a 75-minute free-response section. Each portion of the examination will account for 50% of the student’s final score.
The design and intent of this course are to develop students’ critical reading, analytical thinking, reasoning, and writing skills through the analysis and systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of the Earth’s environment. Students will undertake this study through analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the following geographic concepts: population, migration, culture, language, religion, ethnicity, political geography, economic development, industry, agriculture, and urban/rural geography.
The core of the course focuses on the following concepts: use and consideration of maps and spatial data; interpretation and understanding the implications of associations among phenomena in places; definition of regions and evaluation and analyzing of the regionalization process; and analyzing and characterizing the changing interconnections among places.
Course Objectives:
- Use and think about maps and spatial data through the systemic study of patterns and processes that have shaped our understanding and alteration of the Earth.
- Understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena in connected and disparate places through geographic methods: observation, data gathering and analysis, mapmaking, and writing.
- Recognize and interpret at different scales the relationships among patterns and processes.
- Define regions and evaluate the regionalization processes on local, state, regions, and global levels.
- Characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places.
In addition to the described content, the course will also work to refine important skills. They include analyzing data and writing and presenting written and oral arguments. In order to help students master the ability to write a good essay the course will concentrate on the instruction of several essential skills:
- Effective writing style
- The ability to make arguments
- The ability to evaluate critically and to compare scholarly works
- The ability to synthesize data
- The ability analyze, interpret, and respond to stimulus-based data including charts, graphs, cartoons, and quotes