Geography its nature and perspectives
The AP Human Geography course emphasizes the importance of geography as a field of inquiry and briefly discusses the emergence of academic geography in nineteenth century Europe. Many students will find the amount new vocabulary used in this initial unit a little overwhelming - but worry about it!!! Many of the terms introduced will be used in later units, so if don't fully understand them at the end of this unit you will get practice using them before the exam next May.Topics to be studied during Unit 1 include:
By clicking on the links below you can download review materials for this unit in additional to other learning worksheets and classwork that may be posted temporarily.
- The 5 themes of geography
- You will be expected to complete a presentation on a location of your choice and how it relates to the 5 themes. Click the following link to view a presentation from a student from 2011 Korea and the 5 Themes of Geography
- The 5 themes of geography include the following:
- Location – (Position on Earth’s surface) the geographical situation of people and things; the distribution of various locations of a collection of people or objects.
- Human/Environmental Interactions (Cultural ecology = relations between cultures and environment).
- Place (The physical and human features of an area); the uniqueness (or sameness) of a location.
- Region (Areas with unique characteristic /or a way of organizing people geographically); an area on the Earth's surface marked by some degree of homogeneity.) In a linguistic region everyone speaks the same language.
- Movement (Is the Interconnections between areas). The movement of people, goods and ideas across the surface of the planet
By clicking on the links below you can download review materials for this unit in additional to other learning worksheets and classwork that may be posted temporarily.
Unit 1 Lessons
| AP Unit 1 Plan Printable |
5 Themes of Geography
Below is an excellent Flipsnack and Screencast by AP Human Geography student Jane
The Gravity Model
Why do we use models?
Despite being abstract generalizations, models give us a way to picture geographical patterns that are not normally visible to the human eye. These patterns are rarely evident on topographic or road maps.
The Gravity Model is a mathematical model that is used in a number of different types of spatial analysis. Gravity models are used to calculate the transportation flow between two points, determine the area if influence of a city’s businesses, and estimate the flow of migrants to a particular place. To do this, a gravity model multiples the quantitative (population) size of two places and divides that by the distance between them, squared. For example,
NYC Population = 19,750,000
London = 12,875,000
Tokyo = 32,450,000
NYC to London distance: 3,470 miles Squared: 12,040,900
NYC to Tokyo distance: 6,760 miles Squared: 45,697,600
Gravity of NYC and London 19,750,000 x 12,895,000
12,040,900
Equals: 21,150,931.4
Gravity of NYC and Tokyo 19,750,00 x 32,450,000
45,697,600
Equals: 14,024,533
*The greater the number the stronger the relationship between to points, the lower the number the weaker the relationship between two points.
Despite the greater difference from NYC to Tokyo, the gravity model score of that relationship is not much smaller than NYC and London’s. This can help explain, for example, why there are very close relationships between financial inventors in NYC and Tokyo. Or this can help explain the high amount of air travel between Tokyo and NYC compared to Tokyo and London.
This model proposes the theory that cities with a large population have a greater “gravitational pull” for individual people than cities with small populations. This makes sense as large cities provide diverse opportunities for employment, education and entertainment that smaller cities cannot provide. Therefore you would expect two cities with large populations but separated by quite a large distance to have greater interaction than two small cities that are relatively closer together.
For example; New York to London vs New York to Schnecksville (North Dakota pop:845)
Despite being abstract generalizations, models give us a way to picture geographical patterns that are not normally visible to the human eye. These patterns are rarely evident on topographic or road maps.
The Gravity Model is a mathematical model that is used in a number of different types of spatial analysis. Gravity models are used to calculate the transportation flow between two points, determine the area if influence of a city’s businesses, and estimate the flow of migrants to a particular place. To do this, a gravity model multiples the quantitative (population) size of two places and divides that by the distance between them, squared. For example,
NYC Population = 19,750,000
London = 12,875,000
Tokyo = 32,450,000
NYC to London distance: 3,470 miles Squared: 12,040,900
NYC to Tokyo distance: 6,760 miles Squared: 45,697,600
Gravity of NYC and London 19,750,000 x 12,895,000
12,040,900
Equals: 21,150,931.4
Gravity of NYC and Tokyo 19,750,00 x 32,450,000
45,697,600
Equals: 14,024,533
*The greater the number the stronger the relationship between to points, the lower the number the weaker the relationship between two points.
Despite the greater difference from NYC to Tokyo, the gravity model score of that relationship is not much smaller than NYC and London’s. This can help explain, for example, why there are very close relationships between financial inventors in NYC and Tokyo. Or this can help explain the high amount of air travel between Tokyo and NYC compared to Tokyo and London.
This model proposes the theory that cities with a large population have a greater “gravitational pull” for individual people than cities with small populations. This makes sense as large cities provide diverse opportunities for employment, education and entertainment that smaller cities cannot provide. Therefore you would expect two cities with large populations but separated by quite a large distance to have greater interaction than two small cities that are relatively closer together.
For example; New York to London vs New York to Schnecksville (North Dakota pop:845)
Model Analysis (The Gravity Model)
For each unit we will analyze various geographic models and make judgement on their effectiveness. The Gravity Model is the first model you will look at. Based on our discussions in class today I have typed up what we discussed in class below. As the year develops you will become more responsible for your own learning and will be able to analyze models competently by yourself.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
You can learn all about GIS from the following PowerPoint and by completing some of the very fun educational games from the following website. Enter the GIS Zone and start completing some of the missions to give the experience of using GIS first hand and its various uses.
http://mapzone.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone/giszone/english/gismissions/
http://mapzone.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone/giszone/english/gismissions/
Unit 1 Assigned Reading Worksheet
These worksheets are designed to assist you with your assigned reading from the textbook . By completing these worksheets you will cover the main ideas within each chapter however it does not replace the need for careful review of the text.
An example can be viewed below along with the downloadable worksheets .
An example can be viewed below along with the downloadable worksheets .
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Unit 1 Review Materials
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The following file contains important vocabulary from the first unit with explanations and examples.
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The following file contains all vocabulary relating to the 5 Themes of Geography with explanations. You will find this very useful!!
Unit 1 Review: True or False Questions
http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_rubenstein_humangeo_8/20/5323/1362727.cw/index.html | ||||||
