Download AP Human Geography Summer Assignment

AP Human Geography Summer Assignment
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 Geography throughout the school year
I. AP Human Geography Notebook
Your first task is to acquire a decent-sized (2” +) three-ring binder notebook for your summer assignment. The following
assignments need to be collected in your Notebook and will be checked for completion on the first day of class.
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 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
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
Township
Meridian
Regional (or cultural
landscape) studies
Relocation diffusion
Cultural landscape
Culture
Formal region (or
uniform or
homogeneous region)
Functional region (or
nodal region)
Geographic
Information System
Global Positioning
System
Globalization
Greenwich Mean Time
Space-time
compression
Stimulus diffusion
Parallel
Pattern
Remote sensing
Resource
Density
Hearth
Physiological density
Scale
Diffusion
Hierarchical diffusion
Place
Section
Cartography
Concentration
Connections
Contagious diffusion
Cultural ecology
Transnational
corporation
Uneven development
Vernacular region (or
perceptual region)
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 draw them over 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. 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. SEATO
2. The Caribbean
3. The Middle East
4. The Mediterranean
5. Southeast Asia
6. Southwest Asia
7. South Asia
8. NATO
9. Eastern Europe
10. Southern Europe
11. Northern Europe
12. European Union
13. The Balkans
14. The Caucasus
15. Central America
16. South America
17. The Arab League
18. North Africa
19. African Union
20. Sub-Saharan Africa
21. Horn of Africa
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. You must email me to get your country approved
before you begin. ([email protected] or [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) This part’s a little tougher. 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. The articles
should reflect something about the impact of the country’s location on the face of the Earth. I’ve included the course outline
which should inspire you with some possible ideas to consider as you look for articles for your country:
1. Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives
(a) Geography as a field of study
(d) Maps
(b) Spatial data
(e) Geographic technologies
(c) Regionalization
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
(c) Environmental impact
(b) Cultural differences
(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.)
Keep these in 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