As an understanding of basic physical geography is required to excel in this course, all students will complete a summer pre-unit in which they will become familiar with the regions of the Earth and their respective political boundaries and physical characteristics. This unit, which counts as a test/project grade, is due by Friday, August 19 or 20 points will be deducted each day that it is late.
I. Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives 5-10% of exam questions Rubenstein Ch. 1, Additional Assigned Articles TBD Aug18-Sept 9, 2016 (3 weeks)
Explain differences between early maps and contemporary maps.
Describe the role of map scale and projections and making maps.
Explain how latitude and longitude are used to locate points on Earth’s surface.
Identify contemporary and analytic tools, including remote sensing, GPS, and GIS.
Identify geographic characteristics of places, including toponym[CA1] , site, and situation.
Identify the three types of regions.
Describe two geographic definitions of culture.
Identify the three properties of distribution across space.
Describe how characteristics can spread across space over time through diffusion.
II. Population (IIa. Population and IIb. Migration) 13-17% of test Rubenstein Ch. 2-3, Additional Assigned Articles TBA Sept 12-Oct 2, 2016 (6 weeks)
Describe regions where population is clustered and where it is sparse.
Define three types of density used in population geography.
Understand how to measure population growth through the nature increase rate.
Describe the four stages of the demographic transition
Summarize the four stages of the epidemiologic transition.
Understand reasons for variations in health care.
Describe the difference between international and internal migration.
Identify the principal sources of immigrants during the three main eras of U.S. migration.
Explain differences among the three forms of intraregional migration.
Provide examples of political, environmental, and economic push and pull factors.
Describe characteristics of immigrants to the United States.
Compare American and European attitudes toward immigrants.
III. Cultural Patterns and Processes (IIIa. Culture, IIIb. Language, and IIIc. Religion) 13-17% of exam Rubenstein Ch. 4-7, Additional Assigned Articles TBD Oct 24, 2016- Jan 11, 2017 (9 weeks)
Compare the origin, diffusion, and distribution of folk and popular culture.
Compare reasons for distribution of clothing styles and folk and popular culture.
Describe regional variations in popular food preferences.
Understand factors that influence patterns of folk housing.
Compare the diffusion of the Internet and social media with the diffusion of TV.
Name the largest language families.
Describe the main dialects in the United States.
Understand the concept of a lingua franca.
Understand how English has diffused to other languages.
Understand the role of Spanish and French and North America.
Describe the distribution of the major religions.
Describe the distribution of the largest ethnic religions.
Understand reasons for religious conflicts arising from government policies.
Analyze reasons for religious conflicts in the Middle East.
Identify and describe the major ethnicities in the United States.
Describe the patterns of forced voluntary migration of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans to the United States.
Describe the patterns of migration of African Americans within the United States.
Explain the difference between ethnicity and nationality.
Describe the process of ethnic cleansing.
IV. Political Organization of Space 13-17% of exam Rubenstein Ch. 8, Additional Assigned Articles TBA Jan 17- Feb 3, 2017 (3 weeks)
Explain why it is difficult to determine if some territories are states.
Explain the concept of a nation-state and how it differs from earlier ways to govern.
Understand the difference between a nation-state and a multinational state.
Describe the types of physical boundaries between states.
Describe the types of cultural boundaries between states.
Describe fives shapes of states, understanding the weaknesses and benefits of both.
Describe differences among the three regime types.
Explain the concept of gerrymandering and three ways that it is done.
Define supra-nationalism.
Define devolution.
Describe the principal alliances in Europe during the Cold War era.
Describe the principal economic alliances in Europe in the period since World War II.
Explain the concept of terrorism.
V. Agricultural 13-17% of exam Rubenstein Ch. 10 Diamond Ch. 4-10, Additional Assigned Articles TBA Feb 6-24, 2017 (3 weeks)
Identify the major crop and livestock hearths.
Describe the major differences between subsistence and commercial agriculture.
Explain differences between developed and developing countries in food consumption.
Explain the global distribution of undernourishment.
Identify the 11 major agricultural regions.
Explain how intensive subsistence farming works in the high population concentrations of developing regions.
Describe reasons for growing crops other than wet rice in intensive subsistence regions.
Describe the impact of population growth and trade on farming in developing countries.
Understand distinctive challenges for developing countries to increase food supply.
Explain the impact of overproduction and market access on farming in developed countries.
Explain the contribution of expanding exports and farmland to world food supply.
Describe the contribution of higher productivity to world food supply.
VI. Industrialization and Economic Development 13-17% Rubenstein Ch. 9 &11, Additional Assigned Articles TBA Feb 27 – Mar 16, 2017 (3 weeks)
Define primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary sectors of development.
Describe variations in level of development within countries and regions.
Explain the principal sources of demand for fossil fuels.
Describe the distribution of production of the three fossil fuels.
Analyze the distribution of reserves of fossil fuels and differentiate between proven and potential resources.
Identify challenges to increasing the use of alternate energy sources.
Summarize the two paths to development.
Describe shortcomings of the two development paths and reasons international trade has triumphed.
Explain the main sources of financing development.
Explain problems with financing development in developing and developed countries.
VII. Cities and Urban Land Use 13-17% Rubenstein Ch. 12-13, Additional Assigned Articles TBA Mar 20-Apr 13, 2017 (4 weeks)
Describe the three types of services and changing numbers of types of jobs.
Explain the concepts of market area, range, and threshold.
Explain the distribution of different-sized settlements.
Describe the factors that are used to identify global cities.
Explain the two types of business services in developing countries.
Explain the concept of economic base.
Describe the difference between clustered and dispersed rural settlements.
Identify important prehistoric, ancient, and medieval urban settlements.
Explain the two dimensions of urbanization.
Explain the three-dimensional nature of a CBD.
Describe the Von Thunen, concentric zone, sector, peripheral and multiple nuclei models.
Describe the history of development of cities in developing countries.
State three definitions of urban settlements.
Describe how metropolitan areas contain many local governments and overlap with each other.