Out of Eden Walk: Bridging the Advanced Placement Human Geography and World History Courses

Abstract

In many Advanced Placement Human Geography (APHG) classrooms, there is a post-exam period of low activity. For example, in our home state, one school district had 12 class days remaining on the calendar prior to the school year end. In this project, we developed a series of post-exam activities focused on the National Geographic Society’s Out of Eden Walk project. The activities utilize concepts learned in APHG that can serve as a bridge to upcoming material in Advanced Placement World History (APWH), a course many students take the next school year. For example, students may compare city models learned in the APHG Urban unit to contemporary and historic cities visited by journalist Paul Salopek—the Out of Eden walker—and then investigate background information on those cities as a primer for the more in-depth material of focus in APWH. As Advanced Placement (AP) exam dates, and thus the number of post-exam days, vary yearly, our “module” encompasses five class days to provide a week of material. Our primary goals were to (1) maximize post-exam classroom time; (2) reaffirm APHG learning via application; and (3) introduce places, events, and concepts of note for the upcoming APWH course. Given the national nature of AP courses, this module is applicable to students across the United States. As described in this article, the project team met to create an articulation between the two courses to find learning opportunities of best fit; create new Out of Eden Walk materials; pilot the materials; refine materials from feedback; and then share the module with a wider audience here.