Unit 1: Thinking Geographically

Geographical Skills (IB)

1. Locate and differentiate elements of the Earth’s using:

2. Interpret, analyse and, when appropriate, construct tables, graphs, diagrams, cartographic material and images. Using all kinds of maps,

3. Undertake statistical calculations to show patterns and summarize information

4. Research, process and interpret data and information

5. Collect and select relevant geographic information

6. Evaluate sources of geographic information In terms of: accuracy, relevance, bias.

7. Undertake geographical investigation and produce written geographical evaluation.

Thinking Geographically (AP)

1.1 Introduction to Maps

1.2 Geographic Data

1.3 The Power of Geographic Data

1.4 Spatial Concepts

1.5 Human–Environmental Interaction

1.6 Scales of Analysis

1.7 Regional Analysis

Physical Systems

Unit 2: Lithospheric Processes, Geophysical Hazards

1. Geophysical systems

How geological processes give rise to geophysical events of differing type and magnitude

Mechanisms of plate movement including internal heating, convection currents, plumes, subduction and rifting at plate margins
Characteristics of volcanoes

2. Geophysical hazard risks: How geophysical systems generate hazard risks for different places

The distribution of geophysical hazards (earthquakes, volcanoes, mass movements)
The relevance of hazard magnitude and frequency/recurrence for risk management
Geophysical hazard risk as a product of economic factors social factors, demographic factors and political factors
Geographic factors affecting geophysical hazard event impacts, including rural/urban location, time of day and degree of isolation

3. Hazard risk and vulnerability: The varying power of geophysical hazards to affect people in different local contexts

Two contemporary contrasting case studies each for volcanic hazards, earthquake hazards and mass movement hazards

How hazard risk is a function of between different human and physical processes
The varying spatial of the processes and challenges associated with different kinds of geophysical event and their aftermaths
Different on how geophysical hazard risks should be managed
How spatial patterns of risk and vulnerability can be represented graphically

4. Future resilience and adaptation

Global geophysical hazard and disaster trends and future projections, including event frequency and population growth estimates
Geophysical hazard adaptation through increased government planning and personal resilience
Pre-event management strategies for mass movement, earthquakes and tsunami, volcanoes
Post-event management strategies (rescue, rehabilitation, reconstruction).

Unit 3: Global Climate Systems

1. Causes of global climate change

Understand the driving forces of the global climate system: Sun, oceans, winds, continentality
How natural and human affect the global energy balance
The atmospheric system, including the natural greenhouse effect and energy balance
Changes in the global energy balance, and the role of feedback loops, resulting from:
- solar radiation variations, including global dimming due to volcanic eruptions
- terrestrial albedo changes and feedback loops
- methane gas release and feedback loops
The enhanced greenhouse effect and international variations in greenhouse gas sources and emissions, in relation to economic development, globalization and trade
The complexity of the dynamic climate system and the of different processes and feedback mechanisms

2. Consequences of global climate change

The effects of global climate change on societies and environmental systems
Climate change and the hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere, including:
- water stored in ice and oceans, and changing sea levels
- carbon stored in ice, oceans and the biosphere
- incidence and severity of extreme weather events, including drought
- spatial changes in biomes, habitats and animal migration patterns
- changes to agriculture, including crop yields, limits of cultivation, soil erosion
Impacts of climate change on people and places, including health hazards, migration and ocean transport routes
The uneven spatial distribution of effects and uncertainty about their timing, scale and impacts for individuals and societies

3. Responding to global climate change

Possibilities for responding to climate change and power over the decision-making process

Disparities in exposure to climate change risk and vulnerability, including variations in people’s location, wealth, social differences (age, gender, education), risk perception

Government-led adaptation and mitigation strategies for global climate change
Civil society and corporate strategies to address global climate change
- Case study of the response to climate change in country focusing on the actions of non-governmental stakeholders
- Why and viewpoints may be different about the need for, practicality and urgency of action on global climate change

Unit 4: Oceans and Coastal Management

1. Ocean–atmosphere interactions: How physical processes link Earth’s atmospheric & ocean systems

The operation of ocean currents: distribution, nutrient and energy transfers, oceanic conveyor belts
Atmosphere–oceanic interactions associated with El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and La Niña cycles and their climatic, environmental and economic effects

The formation, distribution and physical impacts of hurricanes on coastal margins, including storm surges

• _Case study of one hurricane and its impacts on coastal places and people

The changing role of oceans as a store and source of carbon dioxide and the impacts of ocean acidification on coral reefs

2. Interactions between oceans and coastal places: How coastal places are shaped by their interactions with oceans

Physical influences on coastal landscapes, including waves, tides, sediment supply, lithology, vegetation, subaerial processes and wave processes (littoral drift, hydraulic action and abrasion)
The characteristics and formation of coastal landforms of erosion and deposition, including wave cut platform, cliff, stack, spit and beaches
Advancing and retreating coastlines, including the role of isostatic and eustatic processes, and the associated landforms
The role of coastal processes, wind and vegetation in sand dune development
How ocean and atmospheric systems, and their interactions, can be represented graphically
How changes in one part of an ocean or coastal margin may bring with other parts/places

3. Managing coastal margins

The varying power of different stakeholders in relation to coastal margin management

Coastal erosion and flooding management strategies, including cliff line stabilization and managed retreat

• One coastal management case study

Conflicting land-use pressures on coastlines, including commercial land uses (tourism, industry and housing) and conservation measures

• One case study to illustrate the roles of, and outcomes for, coastal stakeholders

Management of coral reefs and mangrove swamps, including different stakeholder perspectives on their use and value

• Detailed examples of both ecosystems and their issues

Varying on the costs, benefits and effectiveness of management
Sovereignty rights of nations in relation to territorial limits along coastal margins and exclusive economic zones (EEZs)

4. Ocean management futures

Future possibilities for managing the oceans as a global commons

Causes and consequences of increasing demand for the abiotic resources of oceans, including minerals, oil and gas
Trends in biotic resource use (fish and mammals) and the viability of alternatives to overfishing, including aquaculture, conservation areas and quotas
Strengths and weaknesses of initiatives to manage ocean pollution, including local and global strategies for radioactive materials, oil and plastic waste
The strategic value of oceans and sources of international conflict/insecurity, including the contested ownership and control of island, canals and transit choke points
How ocean exploitation and management take place at varying

• One contemporary geopolitical case study focusing on a contested ocean area

Human Systems

Unit 5: Cultural Patterns and Processes

Big Idea 1 Patterns and Spatial Organization: How does where people live and what resources they have access to impact their cultural practices?

Big Idea 2 Impacts and Interactions : How does the interaction of people contribute to the spread of cultural practices?

Big Idea 3 Spatial Processes and Societal Change: How and why do cultural ideas, practices, and innovations change or disappear over time?

AP Topics:

3.1: Introduction to Culture

3.2: Cultural Landscapes

3.3: Cultural Patterns

3.4: Types of Diffusion

3.5: Historical Causes of Diffusion

3.6: Contemporary Causes of Diffusion

3.7: Diffusion of Religion and Language

3.8: Effects of Diffusion

Unit 6: Changing Populations, Migration, Patterns and Processes

Big Idea 1 Patterns and Spatial Organization How does where and how people live impact global cultural, political, and economic patterns?

Big Idea 2 Impacts and Interactions How does the interplay of environmental, economic, cultural, and political factors influence changes in population?

Big Idea 3 Spatial Processes and Societal Change How do changes in population affect a place’s economy, culture, and politic?

Topic AP:

2.1 Population Distribution

Identify the factors that influence the distribution of human populations at different scales.

Define methods geographers use to calculate population density.

Explain the differences between and the impact of methods used to calculate population density.

2.2 Consequences of Population Distribution

Explain how population distribution and density affect society and the environment.

2.3 Population Composition

Describe elements of population composition

Explain ways that geographers depict and analyze population composition.

2.4 Population Dynamics

Demographic factors that determine a population’s growth and decline are fertility, mortality, and migration.

Geographers use the rate of natural increase and population-doubling time to explain population growth and decline.

Social, cultural, political, and economic factors influence fertility, mortality, and migration rates.

2.5 The Demographic Transition Model

The demographic transition model can be used to explain population change over time.

The epidemiological transition explains causes of changing death rates.

2.6 Malthusian Theory

Malthusian theory and its critiques are used to analyze population change and its consequences.

2.7 Population Policies

Types of population policies include those that promote or discourage population growth, such as pronatalist, antinatalist, and immigration policies.

2.8 Women and Demographic Change

Changing social values and access to education, employment, health care, and contraception have reduced fertility rates in most parts of the world.

Changing social, economic, and political roles for females have influenced patterns of fertility, mortality, and migration as illustrated by Ravenstein’s laws of migration.

2.9 Aging Populations

An aging population has political, social, and economic consequences including the dependency ratio.

2.10: Causes of Migration

Migration is commonly divided into push factors and pull factors.

Push/pull factors and intervening opportunities/obstacles can be cultural, demographic, economic, environmental, or political.

2.11: Forced and Voluntary Migration

Forced migrations include slavery and events that produce refugees, internally displaced persons, and asylum seekers.

Types of voluntary migrations include transnational, transhumance, internal, chain, step, guest worker, and rural-to-urban.

2.12: Effects of Migration

Migration has political, economic, and cultural effects.

IB: Changing population

Population and economic development patterns How population varies between places

Physical and human factors affecting population distribution at the global scale

Global patterns and classification of economic development:

• low-income countries

• middle-income countries and emerging economies

• high-income countries

Population distribution and economic development at the national scale, including voluntary internal migration, core-periphery patterns and megacity growth

• Two detailed and contrasting examples of uneven population distribution

2. Changing populations and places Processes of population change and their effect on people and places

Population change and demographic transition over time, including natural increase, fertility rate, life expectancy, population structure and dependency ratios

• Detailed examples of two or more contrasting countries

The consequences of megacity growth for individuals and societies

• One case study of a contemporary megacity experiencing rapid growth

The causes and consequences of forced migration and internal displacement

• Detailed examples of two or more forced movements, to include environmental and political push factors, and consequences for people and places

3. Challenges and opportunities

Population and over the decision-making process
Global and regional/continental trends in family size, sex ratios, and ageing/greying
Policies associated with managing population change, focusing on:

• policies related to ageing societies

• pro-natalist or anti-natalist policies

• gender equality policies and anti-trafficking policies

The demographic dividend and the ways in which population could be considered a resource when contemplating possible futures

• One case study of a country benefiting from a demographic dividend

Unit 7: Political Patterns and Processes

Big Idea 1 Patterns and Spatial Organization PSO

How do historical and current events influence political structures around the world?

Big Idea 2 Impacts and Interactions IMP

How are balances of power reflected in political boundaries and government power structures?

Big Idea 3 Spatial Patterns and Societal Change

How can political, economic, cultural, or technological changes challenge state sovereignty?

AP Topics:

4.1: Introduction to Political Geography

For world political maps- a. Define the different types of political entities. b. Identify a contemporary example of political entities.

4.2: Political Processes

Explain the processes that have shaped contemporary political geography.

4.3: Political Power and Territoriality

Describe the concepts of political power and territoriality as used by geographers.

4.4: Defining Political Boundaries

Define types of political boundaries used by geographers.

4.5: The Function of Political Boundaries

Explain the nature and function of international and internal boundaries.

4.6: Internal Boundaries

Explain the nature and function of international and internal boundaries.

4.7: Forms of Governance

Forms of governance include unitary states and federal states.

Unitary states tend to have a more top-down, centralized form of governance, while federal states have more local-based, dispersed power centers.

4.8: Defining Devolutionary Factors

Define factors that lead to the devolution of states.

4.9: Challenges to Sovereignty

Explain how political, economic, cultural, and technological changes challenge state sovereignty.

4.10: Consequences of Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces

Explain how the concepts of centrifugal and centripetal forces apply at the state scale.

Unit 8: Food and Health, Agriculture and Land Use Patterns and Processes

Big Idea 1 Patterns and Spatial Organization How do a people’s culture and the resources available to them influence how they grow food?

Big Idea 2 Impacts and Interactions How does what people produce and consume vary in different locations?

Big Idea 3 Spatial Patterns and Societal Change What kind of cultural changes and technological advances have impacted the way people grow and consume food?

Topics AP:

5.1: Introduction to Agriculture

Explain the connection between physical geography and agricultural practices.

5.2: Settlement Patterns and Survey Methods

Identify different rural settlement patterns and methods of surveying rural settlements.

5.3: Agricultural Origins and Diffusions

Identify major centers of domestication of plants and animals.

Explain how plants and animals diffused globally.

5.4: The Second Agricultural Revolution

Explain the advances and impacts of the second agricultural revolution.

5.5: The Green Revolution

Explain the consequences of the Green Revolution on food supply and the environment in the developing world.

5.6: Agricultural Production Regions

Explain how economic forces influence agricultural practices.

5.7: Spatial Organization of Agriculture

Explain how economic forces influence agricultural practices.

5.8: Von Thünen Model

Describe how the von Thunen modiel is used to explain patterns of agricultural production at various scales.

5.9: The Global System of Agriculture

Explain the interdependence among regions of agricultural production and consumption.

5.10: Consequences of Agricultural Practices

Explain how agricultural practices have environmental and societal consequences.

5.11: Challenges of Contemporary Agriculture

Explain challenges and debates related to the changing nature of contemporary agriculture and food-production practices.

5.12: Female Roles in Agriculture

Explain geographic variations in female roles in food production and consumption.

Topics IB

1. Measuring food and health: Ways of measuring disparities in food and health between places

Global patterns in food/nutrition indicators: the food security index, the hunger index, calories per person/capita, indicators of malnutrition
The nutrition transition, and associated regional variations of food consumption and nutrition choices
Global patterns in health indicators, including health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE), infant mortality, maternal mortality, access to sanitation and the ratio between doctors/physicians and people
The epidemiological transition, diseases continuum (diseases of poverty to diseases of affluence), implications of a global ageing population for disease burden

2. Food systems and spread of diseases: How physical and human processes lead to changes in food production and consumption, and incidence and spread of disease

The merits of a systems approach (inputs, stores, transfers, outputs) to compare energy efficiency and water footprints in food production, and relative sustainability in different places
The physical and human processes that can lead to variations in food consumption
The importance of diffusion (including adoption/acquisition, expansion, relocation) in the spread of agricultural innovations, and also in the spread of diseases, and the role of geographic in the rate of diffusion
Geographic factors contributing to the incidence, diffusion and impacts (demographic and socio-economic) of vector-borne and water-borne diseases

• One detailed example of a vector-borne disease and one detailed example of a water-borne disease

3. Stakeholders in food and health

The power of different stakeholders in relation to influence over diets and health

The roles of international organizations (such as the World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and World Health Organization), governments and NGOs in combating food insecurity and disease
The influence of TNCs in shaping food consumption habits
Gender roles related to food and health, including food production/acquisition and disparities in health
Factors affecting the severity of famine, including governance, the power of the media and access to international aid

• One case study of the issues affecting a famine-stricken country or area

4. Future health and food security and sustainability

Future possibilities for sustainable agriculture and improved health

Possible solutions to food insecurity, including waste reduction

* case study of attempts to tackle food insecurity

Advantages and disadvantages of contemporary approaches to food production, including genetically modified organisms (GMOs), vertical farming and in vitro meat
The merits of prevention and treatment in managing disease, including social marginalization issues, government priorities, means of infection and scientific intervention
Managing pandemics, including the epidemiology of the disease, prior local and global awareness, international action and the role of media

• One case study of a contemporary pandemic and the lessons learned for pandemic management in the future

Unit 9: Urban Environments, Cities and Urban Land Use Patterns and Processes

Big Idea 1 Patterns and Spatial Organization How do physical geography and resources impact the presence and growth of cities?

Big Idea 2 Impacts and Interactions: How are the attitudes, values, and balance of power of a population reflected in the built landscape?

Big Idea 3 Spatial Patterns and Societal Change: How are urban areas affected by unique economic, political, cultural, and environmental challenges?

AP Topics:

6.1: The Origin and Influences of Urbanization

Explain the processes that initiate and drive urbanization and suburbanization

6.2: Cities Across the World

Explain the processes that initiate and drive urbanization and suburbanization.

6.3: Cities and Globalization

Explain how cities embody processes of globalization.

6.4: The Size and Distribution of Cities

Identify the different urban concepts such as hierarchy, interdependence, relative size, and spacing that are useful for explaining the distribution, size, and interaction of cities.

6.5: The Internal Structure of Cities

Explain the internal structure of cities using various models and theories.

6.6: Density and Land Use

Explain how low-, medium-, and high-density housing characteristics represent different patterns of residential land use.

6.7: Infrastructure

Explain how a city’s infrastructure relates to local politics, society, and the environment.

6.8: Urban Sustainability

Identify the different urban design initiatives and practices.

Explain the effects of different urban design initiatives and practices.

6.9: Urban Data

Explain how qualitative and quantitative data are used to show the causes and effects of geographic change within urban areas.

6.10: Challenges of Urban Changes

Explain causes and effects of geographic change within urban areas.

6.11: Challenges of Urban Sustainability

Describe the effectiveness of different attempts to address urban sustainability challenges.

IB Topics:

1. The variety of urban environments

The characteristics and distribution of urban places, populations and economic activities

Characteristics of urban places, including site, function, land use, hierarchy of settlement (including megacities) and growth process (planned or spontaneous)

Factors affecting the pattern of urban economic activities (retail, commercial, industrial), including physical factors, land values, proximity to a central business district (CBD) and planning
Factors affecting the pattern of residential areas within urban areas, including physical factors, land values, ethnicity and planning
The incidence of poverty, deprivation and informal activity (housing and industry) in urban areas at varying stages of development

2. Changing urban systems

How economic and demographic processes bring change over time to urban systems

Urbanization, natural increase and centripetal population movements, including rural–urban migration in industrializing cities, and inner city gentrification in post-industrial cities
Centrifugal population movements, including suburbanization and counter-urbanization
Urban system growth including infrastructure improvements over time, such as transport, sanitation, water, waste disposal and telecommunications

• Case study of infrastructure growth over time in one city

3. Urban environmental and social stresses

The varying power of different stakeholders in relation to the experience of, and management of, urban stresses

Urban microclimate modification and management, including the urban heat island effect, and air pollution patterns and its management

• Case study of air pollution in one city and its varying impact on people

Traffic congestion patterns, trends and impacts

• Case study of one affected city and the management response

Contested land use changes, including slum clearances, urban redevelopment and the depletion of green space

• Detailed contrasting examples of two affected neighbourhoods and their populations

Managing the impacts of urban social deprivation, including the cycle of deprivation and geographic patterns of crime

4. Building sustainable urban systems for the future

Future possibilities for the sustainable management of urban systems

Urban growth projections for 2050, including regional/continental patterns and trends of rural–urban migration and changing urban population sizes and structures
Resilient city design, including strategies to manage escalating climatic and geopolitical risks to urban areas

• Two detailed examples to illustrate possible strategies

Eco city design, including strategies to manage the urban ecological footprint

• Two detailed examples to illustrate possible environmental strategies

Smart city design and the use of new technology to run city services and systems, including purpose-built settlements and retrofitting technology to older settlements

Unit 10: Resource Consumption, Security and Economic Development and Patterns and Processes

Big Idea 1 Patterns and Spatial Organization: Why does economic and social development happen at different times and rates in different places?

Big Idea 2 Impacts and Interactions: How might environmental problems stemming from industrialization be remedied through sustainable development strategies?

Big Idea 3 Spatial Patterns and Societal Change: Why has industrialization helped improve standards of living while also contributing to geographically uneven development?

Topics AP:

7.1: The Industrial Revolution

Explain how the Industrial Revolution facilitated the growth and diffusion of industrialization.

7.2: Economic Sectors and Patterns

Explain the spatial patterns of industrial production and development.

7.3: Measures of Development

Describe social and economic measures of development.

7.4: Women and Economic Development

Explain how and to what extent changes in economic development have contributed to gender parity.

7.5: Theories of Development

Explain different theories of economic and social development.

7.6: Trade and the World Economy

Explain causes and geographic consequences of recent economic changes, such as the increase in international trade, deindustrialization, and growing interdependence in the world economy.

7.7: Changes as a Result of the World Economy

Explain causes and geographic consequences of recent economic changes, such as the increase in international trade, deindustrialization, and growing interdependence in the world economy.

7.8: Sustainable Development

Explain how sustainability principles relate to and impact industrialization and spatial development.

IB Global Resource consumption and Security

1. Global trends in consumption

How global development processes affect resource availability and consumption

Global and regional/continental progress towards poverty reduction, including the growth of the “new global middle class”

Measuring trends in resource consumption, including individual, national and global ecological footprints

An overview of global patterns and trends in the availability and consumption of:

• water, including embedded water in food and manufactured goods

• land/food, including changing diets in middle-income countries

• energy, including the relative and changing importance of hydrocarbons, nuclear power, renewables, new sources of modern energy

2. Impacts of changing trends in resource consumption

How pressure on resources affects the future security of places

The water–food–energy “nexus” and how its complex interactions affect:

• national water security, including access to safe water

• national food security, including food availability

• national energy security, including energy pathways and geopolitical issues

The implications of global climate change for the water–food–energy nexus

• Detailed examples of two countries with contrasting levels of resource security

The disposal and recycling of consumer items, including international flows of waste

3. Resource stewardship

Possibilities for managing resources sustainably and power over the decision-making process

Divergent thinking about population and resource consumption trends:

• pessimistic views, including neo-Malthusian views

• optimistic views, including Boserup

• balanced views, including resource stewardship

Resource stewardship strategies, including:

• the value of the circular economy as a systems approach for effective cycling of materials and energy

• he role of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and progress made toward meeting them

Thinking Geographically