Purpose
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.
Goals
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. Geography is concerned with the
ways in which patterns on Earth’s surface reflect and influence physical and
human processes. As such, maps and geographic information systems (GIS)
are fundamental to the discipline, and learning to use and think about them
is critical to geographical literacy. The goal is achieved when students learn
to use maps and geospatial data to pose and solve problems, and when they
learn to think critically about what is revealed and what is hidden in different
maps and GIS applications.
• Understand and explain the implications of associations and networks among
phenomena in places. Geography looks at the world from a spatial perspective,
seeking to understand the changing spatial organization and material character
of Earth’s surface. One of the critical advantages of a spatial perspective is the
attention it focuses on how phenomena are related to one another in particular
places. Students should thus learn not just to recognize and interpret patterns
but to assess the nature and significance of the relationships among phenomena
that occur in the same place, and to understand how cultural values, political
regulations, and economic constraints work together to create particular
landscapes.
• Recognize and interpret the relationships among patterns and processes at different
scales of analysis. Geographical 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. Thus students should 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 or provincial). They should then look at processes operating at multiple
scales when seeking explanations of geographic patterns and arrangements.
• Define regions and evaluate the regionalization process. Geography is concerned
not simply with describing patterns but with analyzing how they came about
and what they mean. Students should see regions as objects of analysis and
exploration and move beyond simply locating and describing regions to
considering how and why they come into being and what they reveal about the
changing character of the world in which we live.
• Characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places. At the heart of
a geographical perspective is a concern with the ways in which events and
processes operating in one place can influence those operating at other places.
Thus students should view places and patterns not in isolation but in terms of
their spatial and functional relationship with other places and patterns. Moreover
they should strive to be aware that those relationships are constantly changing,
and they should understand how and why change occurs
College Board AP Course Description Fall 2013
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.
Goals
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. Geography is concerned with the
ways in which patterns on Earth’s surface reflect and influence physical and
human processes. As such, maps and geographic information systems (GIS)
are fundamental to the discipline, and learning to use and think about them
is critical to geographical literacy. The goal is achieved when students learn
to use maps and geospatial data to pose and solve problems, and when they
learn to think critically about what is revealed and what is hidden in different
maps and GIS applications.
• Understand and explain the implications of associations and networks among
phenomena in places. Geography looks at the world from a spatial perspective,
seeking to understand the changing spatial organization and material character
of Earth’s surface. One of the critical advantages of a spatial perspective is the
attention it focuses on how phenomena are related to one another in particular
places. Students should thus learn not just to recognize and interpret patterns
but to assess the nature and significance of the relationships among phenomena
that occur in the same place, and to understand how cultural values, political
regulations, and economic constraints work together to create particular
landscapes.
• Recognize and interpret the relationships among patterns and processes at different
scales of analysis. Geographical 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. Thus students should 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 or provincial). They should then look at processes operating at multiple
scales when seeking explanations of geographic patterns and arrangements.
• Define regions and evaluate the regionalization process. Geography is concerned
not simply with describing patterns but with analyzing how they came about
and what they mean. Students should see regions as objects of analysis and
exploration and move beyond simply locating and describing regions to
considering how and why they come into being and what they reveal about the
changing character of the world in which we live.
• Characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places. At the heart of
a geographical perspective is a concern with the ways in which events and
processes operating in one place can influence those operating at other places.
Thus students should view places and patterns not in isolation but in terms of
their spatial and functional relationship with other places and patterns. Moreover
they should strive to be aware that those relationships are constantly changing,
and they should understand how and why change occurs
College Board AP Course Description Fall 2013