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Wecskaop1: Demographic and Numeric Literacy

Lesson Details


Subject: Science
Learning Level: High School
Author(s): Randolph Femmer
Submitted by:

Abstract

This is the first of six PowerPoint population presentations.

Most of us know that Earth's human population is growing, but this lesson QUANTIFIES that understanding (Each day, approximately 365,000 births minus about 147,000 deaths result in approximately 218,000 extra citizens -- daily).

As students try to imagine the implications of 9,000 extra persons in the human population (each hour) they also solve this riddle: How long would it take for a student to complete 1 billion homework questions at a rate of 100 questions per night, 5 nights per week, 52 weeks per year?

When they arrive at the answer (38,461 years to complete their assignment!), they are better prepared to consider the implications of one billion additional people inhabiting our planet........ every twelve years.

Lesson fundamental understandings:
Essential Questions:


Standards

National Standards

Living organisms have the capacity to produce populations of infinite size, but environments and resources are finite. Human beings live within the world's ecosystems. Increasingly, humans modify ecosystems as a result of population growth, technology, and consumption. Human destruction of habitats through direct harvesting, pollution, atmospheric changes, and other factors is threatening current global stability, and if not addressed, ecosystems will be irreversibly affected. Populations grow or decline through the combined effects of births and deaths, and through emigration and immigration. Populations can increase through linear or exponential growth, with effects on resource use and environmental pollution. Various factors influence birth rates and fertility rates, such as average levels of affluence and education, importance of children in the labor force, education and employment of women, infant mortality rates, costs of raising children, availability and reliability of birth control methods, and religious beliefs and cultural norms that influence personal decisions about family size. Populations can reach limits to growth. Carrying capacity is the maximum number of individuals that can be supported in a given environment. The limitation is not the availability of space, but the number of people in relation to resources and the capacity of earth systems to support human beings. Changes in technology can cause significant changes, either positive or negative, in carrying capacity

State Standards


Lesson

Prerequisite Skills

This is a self-contained unit and students can complete the PowerPoint presentation itself by simply reading each slide and using the mouse to click through the slides of the program. The enrichment activities suggested below, if assigned, offer opportunities to enhance student skills using search engines, entering URLs to access internet information, developing graphs, tables and charts, preparing PowerPoint or multimedia presentations, etc.

Teacher Information/Situations/Setting/Time

This is a self-contained unit and students can complete the PowerPoint presentation itself by simply reading each slide and using the mouse to click through the slides of the program.

The enrichment activities suggested below, if assigned, offer opportunities to enhance student skills using search engines, entering URLs to access internet information, developing graphs, tables and charts, preparing PowerPoint or multimedia presentations, etc.

Assessment

This is a self-contained unit and students can complete the PowerPoint presentation itself by simply reading each slide and using the mouse to click through the slides of the program.

The enrichment activities suggested below, if assigned, offer opportunities to enhance student skills using search engines, entering URLs to access internet information, developing graphs, tables and charts, preparing PowerPoint or multimedia presentations, etc.

Student Activity/Tasks

(1) Students click through PowerPoint lesson (27 slides).
(2) Students answer worksheet items based on lesson information.
(3) Students take "self-quiz" (see closing screens of the presentation).
(4) Students take turns reading worksheet items aloud, and specify the correct answer to each item.
(5) Class discussion and further research may follow at the option of the instructor.

Enrichment/Alternate Activity:

Cross-Curricular:

Technology Requirements/Tools/Materials

Access to a computer that is connected to the Internet.

Acknowledgements:


Additional Resources

Main URL:

Related Lessons

Related Resources




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Career Connection to Teaching with Technology
USDOE Technology Innovation Challenge Grant
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