Overview

This course framework provides a description of the course requirements necessary for student success, specifying what students must know, be able to do, and understand to qualify for college credit or placement.

This class fulfills the Geography High school Credit, below is the statutory authority provided by the Texas Education Authority for its content.

The course framework includes two essential components:

1 COURSE SKILLS The course skills are central to the study and practice of human geography. Students should have the opportunity to develop and apply the described skills on a regular basis over the span of the course.

2 COURSE CONTENT The course content is organized into commonly taught units of study that provide a suggested sequence for the course. These units comprise required content and conceptual understandings that colleges and universities typically expect students to master to qualify for college credit and/or placement. This content is grounded in big ideas, which are cross-cutting concepts that build conceptual understanding and spiral throughout the course.

Course Skills

The table that follows presents the skill categories and related skills that students should develop during the AP Human Geography course. These skills form the basis of tasks on the AP Exam.

Course Content

Based on the Understanding by Design® (Wiggins and McTighe) model, this course framework provides a clear and detailed description of the course requirements necessary for student success. The framework specifies what students must know, understand, and be able to do, with a focus on big ideas that encompass core principles, theories, and processes of the discipline. The framework also encourages instruction that prepares students for advanced geography coursework and active global citizenship.

Big Ideas

The big ideas serve as the foundation of the course and enable students to create meaningful connections among course concepts. Often, these big ideas are abstract concepts or themes that become threads that run throughout the course. Revisiting the big ideas and applying them in a variety of contexts allow students to develop a deeper conceptual understanding. Below are the big ideas of the course and a brief description of each.

UNITS

The course content is organized into commonly taught units. The units have been arranged in a logical sequence frequently found in many college courses and textbooks. The seven units in AP Human Geography, and their weightings on the multiple-choice section of the AP Exam, are listed below.

Spiraling

Each unit builds upon each other while still consistently incorporating each Big Idea.

TOPICS

Each unit is broken down into teachable segments called topics. The topic pages contain all required content for each topic.

All of this information and more can be found in the AP Human Geography Course Exam and Description found below.