Welcome to AP Human Geography

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Welcome to AP Human Geography The Why of Where!
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As a young man my fondest dream was to become a
geographer. However, while working in the customs
office I thought deeply about the matter and
concluded that it was far too difficult a
subject. With some reluctance, I then turned to
physics as a substitute.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Unpublished Letters
this quote was a hoax!
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Note Before we begin, whenever you see text in a
different colour than the rest of the text -
yellow, red, orange, green etc. This means that
it is a moment to stop, reflect, discuss and take
some important notes.
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Each chapter contains a number of slide shows.
Most of the slide shows that are linked on the
web are student versions. In other words they
have been stripped of content. The teacher will
use the more detailed version and project it on
the big screen. Whenever you see three dots ()
it means that material has been removed from your
slide show and that you need to take notes.
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The slide shows contain content from a number of
AP books (both past and present). Therefore the
slide shows do not follow the book exactly.
Preparing ahead of time with your readings and
keyissues is essential for your success in this
class. Also taking notes becomes key, since the
slide shows contain much more than the book.
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• It is simple
• read the textbook,
• do the key issues,
• do the activities,
• follow the slide shows in class
• take notes off the slide shows.!!!
• prepare for your tests

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The first day or so, we all pointed to our
countries. The third or fourth day we were
pointing to our continents. By the fifth day, we
were aware of only ONE earth Sultan Bin Salan
al-Saud, astronaut
Challenge to the students Get to know the
World! Geo-Games, Handouts, Maps and Atlas!
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"Geography is a discipline of diversity, under
whose spatial umbrella we study and analyze
processes, systems, behaviours, and countless
other phenomena that have spatial expression. It
is this tie that binds geographers, this interest
in patterns, distributions, diffusions,
circulations, interactions, juxtapositions - the
way in which the physical and human worlds are
laid out, interconnect and interact" Harm de
Blij, Why Geography Matters Discussion
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One last quote about what a Geographer is A
Geographer is a mile wide and an inch
deep Discussion!
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A mile wide and an inch deep!
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• One key aspect as to what a Geographer is, is
  that they can think spatially.
• Here is a quick look at Spatial Thinking
• How many decisions have to be made when parking a
  car in a large parking lot like Yorkdale Shopping
  Mall?
• Which section of Yorkdale do you wish to park?
• What stores do you want to go to?
• How close to the entrance can you park? - this
  can be a 3 dimensional decision

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• How far from the entrance (distance y)? lets
  call this the side distance
• What floor are you going to park and then can
  you park near stairs or an elevator
• How far from the entrance (distance x)? lets
  call this the straight-on distance

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• Remember that this is just to enter the mall,
  you will have to come back to this area to exit
  the mall.
• If you had your choice what would be the ideal
  spot? In the front, in the middle, next to a
  curb.
• The weather conditions might play a role - eg.
  you don't mind walking on a sunny warm day
• If it is night you may want to be near a lamp
  post

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• Who is with you may play a role? - an older
  person who does not want to walk a great
  distance, special parking
• Once a spot has been found - is there enough
  room to park, who are you next to, think about
  scratches, do you want to back in?
• Once the car is parked how are you going to
  remember where you parked it?- near certain
  stores, near certain landmarks including
  identified areas, remembering letters and numbers
  and colours and even other cars, looking at the
  stores and making a decision of how relative your
  car is to a store.

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Back to the course There is no ISP (Independent
Study Unit) in this course. Instead you will have
a series of Activities to work on and hand in.
Some of these Activities will come from readings
(a book or a newspaper), some will come from
research and some will come from doing an
assignment on a particular topic. There is a
text book called Human Geography in Action.
This book is full of hands on activities that
allow you to learn in an interactive way. This
book also comes with an interactive computer
program. Discussion about trying to use past work!
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You will have two exams in this course. One will
be the final exam for your Ontario credit. I will
set up this final exam. The other final exam
will be set up by the College Board. You will
write both exams in May. I will do my best to try
and get the two exam dates as close together as
possible. We have no control over the College
Board exam date. The Ontario credit exam is worth
20 of your final mark. The College Board exam is
out of 5 and it will go towards getting an AP
credit. It will have no effect on your Ontario
mark. This AP mark is treated differently
depending on the University you attend.
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Because the College Board and AP courses are
American based and all of the textbooks are
American, you will come across many examples from
the United States. Some of the content you will
find easy and a review of things you have done
before. If I may add a personal comment The
subject of Geography is in a better state at the
high school level in Canada than it is in the
United States. It is my job also to bring more
Canadian content to this course through the
Activities. You will also find many references in
the key issues. There will be some use of GIS in
this course - it is becoming evident that your
knowledge of GIS in university is to your
advantage.
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All of your tests this year will follow the
format of the AP exam Part A Multiple Choice
mainly coming from the key issues of the texts
and what we discussed in class. Knowledge portion
of your evaluation. Part B CRQ 1 to 3 essay
questions dealing with major topics discussed in
class. Thinking/Inquiry, Communication and
Application portion of your evaluation.
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The AP exam is marked out of 5!
AP Grade Qualification
5 Extremely well qualified 4
Well Qualified 3
Qualified 2
Possibly qualified 1
No recommendation
Our goal is to get you a 4 or a 5.
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Results for the Debut year (2004/2005) Total
enrollment for section 31 Grade 5 7 Grade 4
8 Grade 3 11 Grade 2 4 Grade 1 1 Average 3.52
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Results for the second year (2005/2006) Total
enrollment for section 41 Grade 5 10 Grade 4
19 Grade 3 9 Grade 2 3 Grade 1 0 Average 3.87
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Results for the third year (2006/2007) Total
enrollment for section 48 Grade 5 11 Grade 4
14 Grade 3 5 Grade 2 8 Grade 1 4 Average 3.48
Recalculated Total 30 Grade 5 11 Grade 4
14 Grade 3 3 Grade 2 2 Grade 1 0 Average
4.10
Note 1 did not write and 5 got 0 did not
write Part B. 12 walked out after 30 minutes
into Part B. The Students that stayed.

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Results for the fourth year (2007/2008) Total
enrollment for section 42 Grade 5 11 Grade 4
14 Grade 3 12 Grade 2 4 Grade 1 1 Average
3.71
The majority of students that received the 4s and
5s were the ones that consistently did the key
issues and activities and kept up with the course.
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Results for the fifth year (2008/2009) Total
enrollment for section 42 Grade 5 5 Grade 4
16 Grade 3 12 Grade 2 8 Grade 1 1 Average 3.4
Students are starting to take the exam lightly
since it is the end of the year and they do not
see the importance of the AP grade. Wasted
opportunity. Lowest scores yet. How will you do
against students around the world.
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Results for the sixth year (2009/2010) Total
enrollment for section 46 Grade 5 4 Grade 4
13 Grade 3 12 Grade 2 6 Grade 1 11
wow! Average 2.8
Downward trend continues. Students are getting
lazy and not doing the readings or preparing for
tests and exams.
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Results for the sixth year (2010/2011) Total
enrollment for section 48 41 Wrote the
exam. Grade 5 7 Grade 4 12 Grade 3 13 Grade 2
4 Grade 1 5 Average 3.3
7 students decided to not write the exam
informed me in advance this is OK. Better
results!
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What I have noticed in the last few years is that
students at Crescent already have a solid
background in Geography and that students who can
think on a global scale and are aware of what is
going on in the world have a better chance at a 5
on the final exam. You have to be able to think
out of the box. Think spatially. With that in
mind we will be incorporating some Current
Events in the course to keep you up-to-date.
Also there is a super Vocabulary list and a
Theories list that will really help you prepare.
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One last point The class of 05/06 and 06/07
mentioned that having a general knowledge of the
location of major countries, regions and cities
of the world was a good foundation for this
course. In other words Do you know where Chad
is?. With this in mind the teacher will hand
out a series of black line masters for each
continent. Your job is to identify the country.
Try your best and do not be embarrassed to make a
mistake. Click here to go to a page which takes
you to a Geography Games page, this is here for
you to learn and have fun at the same time.
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Chapter order for this year Chapter 1 Basic
Concepts Chapter 12 - Services Chapter 13 Urban
Patterns Chapter 9 - Development Chapter 11 -
Industry Chapter 10 - Agriculture Chapter 8
Political Geography Chapter 2 -
Population Chapter 3 - Migration Chapter 4 Folk
and Popular Culture Chapter 5 Language Chapter
6 Religion Chapter 7 - Ethnicity
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The End!