Download AP Human Geography Summer Assignment

AP Human Geography Summer Assignment (2016)
Objectives: The purpose of the AP Human Geography summer assignment is to encourage students to …
a) Consider the importance of geography to human activities and development
b) Develop and fine-tune skills needed for the work in AP Human Geography throughout the school year
I. AP Human Geography Notebook and 3x5 Index cards
Your first task is to acquire a decent-sized three-ring binder for your summer assignment, and 3x 5 index cards on which to
display vocabulary. The following tasks make up your Summer Assignment, will be turned in on the first day of class, and
graded on completion.
II. Vocabulary Words
The first section of your notebook should be for terms and words. As Bennett Cerf said, “It pays to increase your word
power.” But you’ll find to be successful in Human Geography, it is imperative you increase your word power. I’ve provided
a list of words and terms you’ll need to know from the first unit of the syllabus. The following is how you are expected to
work with words you will amass over the year. Be creative with how you display these in your notebook: Zip-Lock baggies
work great!
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Define the word (look for the geographic definition)
Play with the word (Find an example or a synonym for the word. Antonyms are nice too.)
Draw an icon or image to help you remember the word (think metaphorically; they’re your icons)
Compose a sentence correctly using the word
Agricultural density
Distance decay
International Date
Line
Land Ordinance of
1785
Latitude
Polder
Site
Arithmetic density
Distribution
Possibilism
Situation
Base line (townships)
Environmental
determinism
Expansion diffusion
Prime Meridian
Space
Location
Principal Meridian
Longitude
Projection
Map
Region
Toponym
Mental Map
Regional (or cultural
landscape) studies
Township
Meridian
Relocation diffusion
Cultural landscape
Culture
Formal region (or
uniform or
homogeneous region)
Functional region (or
nodal region)
Geographic
Information System
(GIS)
Global Positioning
System (GPS)
Globalization
Greenwich Mean Time
Space-time
compression
Stimulus diffusion
Parallel
Pattern
Remote sensing
Resource
Transnational
corporation
Uneven development
Vernacular region (or
perceptual region)
Density
Hearth
Physiological density
Scale
Diffusion
Hierarchical diffusion
Place
Section
Cartography
Concentration
Connections
Contagious diffusion
Cultural ecology
III. Creating Maps: Relative Location and Absolute Location
The second section of your note book will be for Maps. One of the foundational skills needed in AP Human Geography is understand
the organization of the countries of the world, and how they form regions. Create the following maps. You may draw these maps by
hand, or you may trace them from a blank map of the world or a region. You may not, however, find an existing region map and
simply color it in. Include pertinent geographic information (cities, capital, rivers, mountains, important land formations). By creating
the map, you will take part in the long tradition of cartography, and this will help you to understand the nations of the world, and their
relationship to one another.
1. North America
2. The Caribbean
3. Central America
4. South America
5. Oceania
6. South Asia
7. Southeast Asia
8. Southwest Asia/ The Middle East
9. North Africa
10. Horn of Africa
11. Northern Europe
12. Southern Europe
13. Eastern Europe
14. The Balkans
15. The Caucasus
IV. Country Portfolio
The third section in your notebook should be designated “[Country Name] Portfolio.” Throughout the course of the year you
will be our resident EXPERT on this nation and its region of the world. In the spring, after you’ve taken the AP Exam you
will have a final assignment where you present information about your country to the class. You must email me to get your
country approved before you begin. ([email protected]) Only one student will be allowed to work on each country,
and they will be approved on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please e-mail me by 7/4 with your country request, and have
alternatives selected in the event someone else selects your first choice.
A) The first item in your Country Portfolio should be the CIA World Factbook’s Country Profile for your assigned country.
The printout will be about 9-10 pages long, but will allow you to quickly access the important data for your country during
the year. The Factbook is online at http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html Look for the pull-down
menu.
B) Create an “artistic Map” of your country. How creative and unique your map is will be up to you. It will hang on the wall
through the year, so make it lovely!
C) Over the summer, you will be expected to locate and read at least ten news articles pertaining to your country that
demonstrate how humans interact with one another and with the environment of the country. I’ve included below the course
outline which should inspire you with some possible ideas for relevant points to consider as you look for articles about your
country:
1. Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives
(a) Geography as a field of study
(b) Spatial data
(c) Regionalization
(d) Maps
(e) Geographic technologies
2. Population
(a) Analysis of population
(b) Population growth and decline over time and space
(c) Population movement – migration, push and pull factors
3. Cultural Patterns and Processes
(a) Culture
(b) Cultural differences
(c) Environmental impact
(d) Cultural landscapes
4. Political Organization of Space
(a) Territorial dimensions of politics
(b) Evolution of the contemporary political pattern
5. Agriculture and Rural Land Use
(a) Agricultural regions, systems, green revolution, biotechnology, environmental impact
(b) Production and consumption patterns
6. Industrialization and Development
(a) Growth and diffusion of industrialization
(b) Contemporary patterns and impacts of industrialization and development
7. Cities and Urban Land Use
(a) Evolution of cities
(b) Character of cities
(c) Built environment and social space
For each article:



Write a paragraph (50-100 words) summarizing the content and explaining how it illustrates our understanding of
geography (or perhaps how it might illustrate the diminishing importance of one's location on the planet).
Keep a copy of the article and the bibliographic information (see Purdue’s OWL for citing news sources.)
Store these articles and summaries in the “Country Portfolio” section of your Geography Notebook.
Good Sources of International News on the WWW are:
* New York Times International News: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/
* International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com
* BBC World News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/
* The following Washington Post site makes life particularly easy by organizing articles by country:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/world/search/list/index.html