GeoActivity Types in APHG: End-of-Year Culminating Project

Abstract

Project-based learning (PBL) is “a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge” (Buck Institute for Education 2021). PBL offers a broad range of academic benefits, including improved subject understanding and better examination results (Barak and Dori 2005), acquiring the knowledge through active learning, and taking responsibility for the learning (Frank and Barzilai 2004). Facilitating teamwork, communication skills, and project management skills are also wellknown benefits of PBL. A key characteristic of PBL is the emphasis on both the process and the product of a learning activity (Harmer and Stokes 2016). Student projects often involve research on the topics or problems being investigated and conclude with creation of a tangible product. Early exposure to research brings positive long-term outcomes (Diaz and Belgrave 2019), and researchers advocate for including research opportunities earlier in a student’s academic career, even within elementary, middle, and high schools (Russell, Hancock, and McCullough 2007). Despite a myriad of possible benefits, there are challenges when incorporating student projects and/or research in Advanced Placement Human Geography (APHG) classrooms. APHG is a content-heavy course including seven units— Thinking Geographically, Population and Migration Patterns and Processes, Cultural Patterns and Processes, Political Patterns and Processes, Agriculture and Rural Land-Use Patterns and Processes, Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes, and Industrial and Economic Development Patterns and Processes—which take approximately 130 class periods to teach (College Board 2019). The tight curriculum schedule of APHG leaves little room for implementing student-centered learning activities, such as projects and research, in the middle of the school year. Much of the course time is devoted to explaining content and helping students practice for the exam in both multiple-choice and freeresponse question forms. Once the exam is completed in early May, however, the challenge pivots to holding student interest and engagement through the end of the school year. In this paper, we introduce a student project that can help students stay engaged in the course through the end of the year, through a project that can be implemented after the APHG exam is given. This culminating project requires students to synthesize topics and concepts in APHG that they have learned throughout the year in a fun, engaging, and active learning environment. The project also supports student lifetime skills including conducting research, creating visual representations and models, collaborating with peers, and presenting research findings and products. Teachers can use it as a final semester project to ensure that the rigor of the course is consistent for the whole semester.