AP Human Geography (APHG) Summer Packet 2020-2021

Frontier Regional High School

Ms. Walters
Please read carefully.

First, I want to thank you all for taking on the challenge of AP Human Geography! In this course
we will try to evaluate what sounds like very simple questions, “where are things and why?” We’ll
cover everything from population patterns to animal domestication to the political geography of
the former U.S.S.R to language development and even folk culture around the world! It’s quite a
journey! In an AP course the expectation is that a substantial amount of outside work falls on
YOU the student. Do not take this course on a whim; assigned readings will require daily upkeep.
I would estimate, if you want to succeed in this class, up to at least 1 – 1½ hours prior to each class
period will be needed to complete the textbook/class readings. We will also work to prepare for
the AP Human Geography exam scheduled for Tuesday May 4, 2021 at 12:00 PM

The summer reading assignment will try to touch base on the wide variety of topics we cover
throughout the year. I strongly suggest students take their time and space out the work; it is
intended to be worked on in that manner.

Please do not hesitate to email me during the summer if you have questions!!!

I look forward to the upcoming school year! Please join our Google Classroom right away
Code: fhyzzhi
Ms. Walters
alison.walters@frsu38.org

Summer Assignment Checklist-

PART 1- Summer Reading of Book Assignments (one for rising Sophomores/Juniors and a
different one for rising Seniors) - Due August 14, 2020

PART 2: Article on “Why Geography” and short writing assignment – for all due August 14,
2020

PART 3: Mapping Assignments - 14 maps– DUE FIRST DAY OF CLASS (end of August 2020)
Read the directions carefully.

PART 4- What items should I have to start the year?

2 - 1 ½ - 2 inch binders – one to bring to school each day, and one for home to put completed units
Highlighters
Notecards
Colored pencils – you need for the summer map assignments (set of 12 – Walmart, less than $1
I would prepare for roughly 10-12 binder tabbed sections – various units, vocab, handouts, etc.
College rule notebook paper
Graph paper
A spiral notebook for Vocabulary terms that we will learn throughout the year…..

The summer assignments are a requirement for all incoming AP Human Geography
students. This requirement includes students who may register for the class during the
summertime, or at the start of the school year. It will count as your FIRST MAJOR WRITING
ASSIGNMENT GRADE for the quarter.

In order to really dive into our course, the most basic skill must start with looking at our world
through maps! We will have map quizzes throughout the year, both political and physical maps, so
spend the summer getting acquainted. One of your first tests will be one of these maps…

-Carefully read the directions for each assignment located after the course description.

Here is a Course Overview so you can explore what we will be studying:

The purpose of the AP course in Human Geography 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 employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to examine human social
organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools
geographers use in their science and practice.

The topics studied in an AP Human Geography are based on 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, the student should be able to:

Course Outline – **this is an overview of the units and may change as we go along.
Below is just an overview of the Big Ideas we will explore as well as the topics we will be
exploring for each unit. This is by no means complete and there will be additional readings, films
and activities for each unit. As we go along, I will provide you with complete Unit sheets with
homework assignments and daily class activities as well as dates for our work and tests.
Essential Questions help us understand the Big Ideas
Big Idea 1. PATTERNS & SPATIAL ORGANIZATION (PSO): Spatial patterns and
organization of human society are arranged according to political, historical, cultural, and
economic factors.
1. Why do geographers study relationships and patterns among and between places?
2. How does where people live impact global cultural, political, and economic patterns?
3. How does where people live and what resources they have access to impact their cultural
practices?
4. How do historical and current events influence political structures around the world?
5. How do a people's culture and the resources available to them influence how they grow
food?
6. How do physical geography and resources impact the presence and growth of cities?
7. Why does economic and social development happen at different times and rates in different
places?

Big Idea 2. IMPACTS & INTERACTIONS (IMP): Complex relationships of cause and
effect exist among people, their environments, and historical and contemporary actions.
1. How do geographers use maps to help them discover patterns and relationships in the
world?
2. How does the interplay of environmental, economic, cultural, and political factors
influence changes in population?
3. How does the interaction of people contribute to the spread of cultural practices?
4. How are balances of power reflected in political boundaries and government power
structures?
5. How does what people produce and consume vary in different locations?
6. How are the attitudes, values, and balance of power of a population reflected in the built
landscape?
7. How might environmental problems stemming from industrialization be remedied through
sustainable development strategies?

Big Idea 3. SPATIAL PROCESSES & SOCIETAL CHANGE (SPS): A spatial perspective
allows for a focus on the ways phenomena are related to one another in particular places, which in
turn allows for the examination of human organization and its environmental consequences.
1. How do geographers use a spatial perspective to analyze complex issues and relationships?
2. How do changes in population affect a place's economy, culture, and politics?
3. How and why do cultural ideas, practices, and innovations change or disappear over time?
4. How can political, economic, cultural, or technological changes challenge state
sovereignty?
5. What kind of cultural changes and technological advances have impacted the way people
grow and consume food?
6. How are urban areas affected by unique economic, political, cultural, and environmental
challenges?
7. Why has industrialization helped improve standards of living while also contributing to
geographically uneven development?

Unit Outline for the Year:

Unit 1. THINKING GEOGRAPHICALLY
~ Topics:
1. Introduction to Maps
2. Geographic Data
3. The Power of Geographic Data
4. Spatial Concepts
5. Human-Environmental Interaction
6. Scales of Analysis
7. Regional Analysis
Unit 2. POPULATION & MIGRATION
~ Topics:
1. Population Distribution
2. Consequences of Population Distribution
3. Population Composition
4. Population Dynamics
5. The Demographic Transition Model
6. Malthusian Theory
7. Population Policies
8. Women and Demographic Change
9. Aging Populations
10. Causes of Migration
11. Forced and Voluntary Migration
12. Effects of Migration

Unit 3. : CULTURAL PATTERNS & PROCESSES

~ Topics:
1. Introduction to Culture
2. Cultural Landscapes
3. Cultural Patterns
4. Types of Diffusion
5. Historical Causes of Diffusion
6. Contemporary Causes of Diffusion
7. Diffusion of Religion and Language
8. Effects of Diffusion

Unit 4. POLITICAL PATTERNS & PROCESSES

~ Topics:
1. Introduction to Political Geography
2. Political Processes
3. Political Power and Territoriality
4. Defining Political Boundaries
5. The Function of Political Boundaries
6. Internal Boundaries
7. Forms of Governance
8. Defining Devolutionary Factors
9. Challenges to Sovereignty
10. Consequences of Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces

Unit 5 AGRICULTURE & RURAL LAND-USE PATTERNS & PROCESSES

~ Topics:
 1. Introduction to Agriculture
2. Settlement Patterns and Survey Methods
3. Agricultural Origins and Diffusions
4. The Second Agricultural Revolution
5. The Green Revolution
6. Agricultural Production Regions
7. Spatial Organization of Agriculture
8. Von Thünen Model
9. The Global System of Agriculture
10. Consequences of Agricultural Practices
11. Challenges of Contemporary Agriculture
12. Women in Agriculture

Unit 6. CITIES & URBAN LAND-USE PATTERNS & PROCESSES

~ Topics
1. The Origin and Influences of Urbanization
2. Cities Across the World
3. Cities and Globalization
4. The Size and Distribution of Cities
5. The Internal Structure of Cities
6. Density and Land Use
7. Infrastructure
8. Urban Sustainability
9. Urban Data
10. Challenges of Urban Changes
11. Challenges of Urban Sustainability

Unit 7. INDUSTRIAL & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES & PATTERNS

~ Topics
1. The Industrial Revolution
2. Economic Sectors and Patterns
3. Measures of Development
4. Women and Economic Development
5. Theories of Development
6. Trade and the World Economy
7. Changes as a Result of the World Economy
8. Sustainable Development
 2020-2021 AP Human Geography Summer Assignments
Part 1: 2020-2021 if you will be 9th Grade, Sophomores or Juniors
Your summer reading assignment is An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage. You are
to read the book and complete the following assignment.

Your work should be typed using a standard font such as Times New Roman font size 12 if
possible. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE!! Any copying from online book reviews, other internet
sites, or from fellow students will result in a zero for the assignment. This work must be in your
own words!

An Edible History of Humanity – Tom Standage

Part 1: Summaries:

For each of the twelve chapters and for the epilogue, write a ½ page summary of the author’s main
points. Explain the when, where, how, and why certain foods changed human existence. Give
specific examples of how food affected history.

Part 2: Answer the following questions. (At least a paragraph per question)

1. In what ways was farming “the worst mistake in the history of the human race?”
2. How does the development of monumental architecture, such as pyramids and temples,
show evidence of social classes in early civilizations and how does food fit into those
systems of social order?
3. Why might Arabs have created “myths” about the locations and production of spices?
4. Explain what is meant when the book states that “the pursuit of spices is the third way in
which food remade the world…”
5. Explain the pros and cons of ethanol.
6. What is the explanation for why famine has never struck a nation with both a free press and
a representative democracy?
7. Describe the Green Revolution. What are the plusses and minuses of it?
8. What is the connection between agricultural production and industrialization in developing
areas?
DUE: Friday August 14, 2020

Part 1: Book Assignment for 2020-2021 Seniors:

Read Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
After reading, complete the following tasks.

1. Write a short (3-5) page paper in which you do the following:

- Provide a summary of the book, highlighting the key points in Marshall’s book about the
importance of physical geography as it pertains to a country’s interactions with its neighbors.
- Provide your opinion of Marshall’s key argument (as stated above). Do you agree or disagree
with Marshall? Why? Make sure to use at least three (3) specific references from the book to
validate your argument and use MLA citations to cite the passages from the book you use.
- Your paper should be done in 12 pt, Times New Roman font, double-spaced, and with standard
1”margins.

2. Choose two of the regions used by Marshall in the chapters of his book. Using this region, find
three (3) current events (having occurred within the 18 months) that have taken place IN THAT
REGION.
- For each current event, do the following:
 Provide a brief summary of the event. (1 paragraph)
 Discuss whether or not this event supports or undermines Marshall’s key ideas
expressed in the book. (1 paragraph)
 Provide an MLA citation of each current event you used

***Assignment is Due August 14, 2020 - either print out and drop off at school or submit on
Google Classroom..

Part 2: For all students –

Read the attached article, Why Geography? by Charles F. Gritzner. Highlight main points in it
that help answer the question – Why Geography? Then type a 3-paragraph essay that discusses
and explains your response as to why we must study geography based on this article. Include
specifics from all 3 sections of the article. The completed essay is due with your book
assignment on Friday August 17, 2018.

-typed, 12 pt Times New Roman

 -1” margins
- Name and grade level on top of page right side

Why Geography?
Charles F. Gritzner
South Dakota State University
Brookings, South Dakota

Awareness of the World

Never has a nation's people possessed more information, or been in command of more
sophisticated means of acquiring, disseminating, and analyzing data, than do contemporary
Americans. In addition to traditional resources, during recent decades GPS, GIS, satellite
imagery, computer mapping, the wonderful resources of the Internet, and other technological
advances have vastly expanded our knowledge of Earth's surface. Yet given these tremendous
resources for enhancing our geographic awareness and global understanding, most Americans --
living in a Global Age -- continue to possess little more than a Stone Age awareness of the world
about them.

Each day of our lives, we live "geography." Examples affecting each of us on a regular basis can
be drawn from almost every facet of our daily experience. Environmental influences, such as
resource availability and cost, changing weather and climate patterns and their potential impacts,
and the threat of spreading diseases and exotic species, are of increasing concern. Politically we
are confronted with a host of issues ranging from matters pertaining to local taxation, planning,
and zoning to regional (if not global) terrorism and other manifestations of conflict.
Economically, we have seen changes in the value of property and commodities at home, while
the stock market has plummeted during recent years as a result of influences ranging from
Japan's economic malaise to Latin America's financial instability. The disproportional
distribution of wealth and opportunity continues to be a major irritant confronting all of
humankind. Socially, too, we are affected by the rapid pace of change in the nation's
demographic, social, and ethnic composition and determining our own position and role on the
world stage. Unfortunately, all our citizens are increasingly involved in and dependent upon a
global community about which so many remain dangerously ignorant and unconcerned.

Most Americans lack a well-developed "mental map" of Earth's surface, with its varied mosaic
of physical and human conditions. To these geographic illiterates, our planet assumes the image
of a vague, fragmented, and incredibly confusing hodgepodge of meaningless phenomena that
are randomly scattered about on an all but bare tabula rasa. Theirs is a world inhabited by
faceless peoples whose cultures lack a proud heritage, bonding institutions and customs, feelings
and values, tools and technologies, and essential dimensions of space and time. Places, to the
geographic illiterate, are meaningless. They have no grasp of those unique physical and human
features that give each spot on Earth's surface its own distinctive character, from which each
draws its identity and importance. And the spatial sorting of features into similar and dissimilar
places using the geographer's concept of region holds little meaning or relevance to those who
are unaware of their location, nature, and significance. Their world is composed of vague
physical features and life-sustaining environmental systems for which they lack valid mental
images, appropriate terminology, or an understanding of their nature, origin, and importance.
Those who are ignorant of basic geographic principles also have little knowledge of
environmental potentials and limitations. Under these circumstances, how can they possibly be
expected to make enlightened decisions relating to the use and sustainability of our finite global
natural endowment?

A Spatial Vacuum
To persons possessing a poorly developed mental map, historical events occurred in a spatial
vacuum. "History" and "geography" remain spatially unlinked and unrelated, severely limiting
the significance of one to the other. Such individuals, although constantly confronted by critical
problems and issues, sadly lack the information needed to make rational analyses, sound
judgments, or reasoned attempts at resolution. Further, to the geographically insensitive, human
differences often appear to be threatening and can lead to feelings of prejudice and acts of
discrimination. Such individuals are prisoners of their own ignorance and provincialism. As a
result, they are poorly equipped to assume meaningful citizenship in an increasingly
intradependent and multicultural global community!

It stands as a rather sad and somewhat inexplicable indictment of this country's priorities and
approach to education that among the world's industrial nations, Americans rank among the least
literate in geographic knowledge and, perhaps worse, geographic curiosity. Examples of this
ignorance are numerous. So, too, are the increasingly apparent, appalling, and often damaging
consequences -- be they social, economic, political, military, or environmental -- that result from
our failure to provide citizens with adequate geographic instruction.

In most countries of the Western urban-industrial world (and in many less-developed countries
as well), geography constitutes the "core" of the social science curriculum. The United States is
unique among these nations in relegating geography to a relatively minor role in both the
elementary and secondary curriculum. Some progress has been made in terms of enhancing
geography's position in the curriculum during recent years, particularly through the various
initiatives of the National Geographic Society. Despite these efforts and others, however, most of
the world's educated people are much better informed about the world (and often about the
United States!) than are the majority of our own citizens.

In an increasingly complex, troubled, and closely intertwined world community of cultures and
nations, Americans simply do not know much about our global neighbors (or, for that matter,
about ourselves in a geographic sense). We have little understanding of, or feeling for, other
lands and peoples. We are largely ignorant of their ways of living, environments and natural
resources, human capabilities, and cultural attainments. We also know little about their
similarities and differences, their hopes and dreams, or their problems and needs. Perhaps of
greatest importance, we fail to understand how closely linked and important we have become to
one another. How can Americans possibly expect to maintain a position of respect and leadership
in a world of cultures and nations about which we know -- and seemingly care -- so little?

Now, more than ever, citizens can ill afford to remain ignorant of the world about them. The
compression of time and space resulting from the technological "explosion" has placed even our
most remote neighbors at our very doorstep. It is essential that all Americans understand and
appreciate their role and responsibility in an increasingly complex global community. Each of us
must be aware of Earth's fundamental physical and cultural patterns; of its key locations,
distributions, patterns, and divisions; and of its primary linkages, movements, networks, and
systems. We also must understand our planet's basic areas of production and consumption, its
major spatial interrelationships, and its causes and hot spots of conflict. A populace that remains
largely ignorant of fundamental geographic knowledge surely limits a nation's ability to perform
and compete effectively on the global stage.

The Necessity of Geographic Education

Geography education is no longer a curricular luxury. It is an absolute necessity. If the United
States is to endure, we must ensure that all students -- kindergarten through college -- be given the
key to the future: an understanding of the world that only a rigorous geography curriculum can
provide. Few people question the need for history education; why, then, do so many question the
importance of teaching geography? History, after all, is but a recording of past geography; a
society that lives a "good geography" will surely leave a good history. Geography has been
described as "learning for living" and is a science with a strong futuristic emphasis. It is also the
ancient and time-honored science that can best provide the essential knowledge needed to ensure
that our citizens are prepared to assume responsible and enlightened leadership in today's
complex and demanding global community.

T. S. Eliot wrote, "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be
to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time." Today, all citizens certainly
must be able to think globally, while continuing to act locally. By better knowing the world
about us, we come to better know ourselves -- whether at home, or as members of the global
community.

Dr. Charles F. Gritzner is a professor of geography at South Dakota State University. This article first
appeared in Journal of Geography 102 (2003): 90-91; it appears on AP Central through a permission
agreement between the College Board and the National Council for Geographic Education.