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Summary of Changes to the 2010-11 AP Human Geography Course Description
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| | Below is a summary of the recent revisions to the AP Human Geography Course Description. Included are brief explanations of the terminology changes and the rationale for those changes, as well as a table that clearly demonstrates the terms that have been added and those that have been removed.
Content Area I
The terms remote sensing and satellite imagery have been added to Content Area I (Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives) to reflect the importance that these methods of data capture have in the creation of maps and analysis of human activities on the natural environment.
Content Area II
Several changes have been made to Content Area II (Population). Theories of migration, including...human capital, and life course has been added. This emphasizes migration as the movement of labor (human capital) and also the idea of migration selectivity (life course). International migration and refugees has been added to adequately represent the importance of refugee movements and recent years and the addition of the phrase socioeconomic consequences of migration highlights the fact that migrants, and especially refugee populations, have tremendous repercussions in the states into which they move. The concepts of short term, local movements, and activity space have been removed from the Topic Outline.
Content Area III
Minor changes help to update Content Area III (Cultural Patterns and Processes). The terms assimilation and globalization have been added in response to the increasing importance of these concepts in understanding, evaluating, and analyzing changes in cultures at all scales across the planet. Also, two phrases have been removed from the narrative description of this area: impact of folk and popular culture on the environment and the environment in relation to social customs and cultural landscape.
Content Area IV
The narrative description of the Content Area IV (Political Organization of Space) makes a new reference to NAFTA, but the only change which has been made to the Topic Outline in this area is the addition of terrorism as a concept germane to the course. This reflects the current role that quasi-national groups play in geopolitics.
Content Area V
Changes in Content Area V (Agriculture and Rural Landscapes) emphasize the importance of the most recent and somewhat conflicting trends, especially in MDCS but increasingly in LDCs as well, of organic farming and local food production (an added phrase) and genetically modified plants and animals (also added). Adding the terms irrigation and conservation increases the specificity of the Topic Outline. Third agricultural revolution as a subtopic has been made clearer by replacing it with the terms "Green Revolution" and "Modern Commercial Agriculture," both of which had already existed elsewhere in the outline. The phrase future food supplies has been removed.
Content Area VI
The addition of three terms to Content Area VI (Industrialization and Economic Development) serves to emphasize important recent concerns in this subcategory of human geography. Natural resources, environmental concerns, and sustainable development have become mainstream public concerns to which geographers have much to offer. Women in development has also been added to the Topic Outline, reflecting the growing contribution that women play, particularly in LDCs where that role has been more limited in the past, in economic development. References to the Millennium Development Goals and commodity chains are also new in the narrative description of the content areas.
Content Area VII
Models of urban systems has had greater emphasis placed upon it by moving it up one level in the Topic Outline and adding the clarifying terms rank-size rule, central place theory, and gravity model. Models of internal city structure has also been moved up a level, but the phrase in North America and the world has been removed. This clarifies the importance of the study of internal city structure in urban areas across the globe, without the unequal emphasis on North American cities. Additionally, three models—concentric zone, sector, and multiple nuclei—are specifically named. The term housing has been added as a component of, and critical issue in, the study of built environment and social space. Finally, the term New Urbanism is referenced in the narrative description of this content area, along with the additional phrase actions that reduce energy and protect the environment. The addition of these ideas mirrors the new role they play in urban planning and city design.
*Italicized words and phrases indicate some sort of change from the previous Topic Outline, whether it is removal or addition. Bold words indicate additions in the new Topic Outline.
SUMMARY of REVISIONS
| What's been added? |
What's been removed? |
- remote sensing
- satellite imagery
- human capital
- life course
- international migration and refugees
- socioeconomic consequences of migration
- assimilation
- globalization
- NAFTA
- terrorism
- irrigation
- conservation
- genetically modified plants and animals
- organic farming and local food production
- natural resources and environmental concerns
- sustainable development
- women in development
- Millennium Development Goals
- commodity chains
- rank-size rule
- central place theory
- gravity model
- New Urbanism
- actions that reduce energy use and protect the environment
- concentric zone model
- sector model
- multiple-nuclei model
- housing
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- short term and local movements
- activity space
- impact of folk and popular culture on the environment
- the environment in relation to social customs and cultural landscape
- Third Agricultural Revolution
- future food supplies
- pollution, health, and quality of life
- industrialization, environmental change, and sustainability
- historical patterns of urbanization
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