The Human Population and Demographics
This is a good point in an environmental science class to transition from a focus on the natural world to a focus on the human impacts. The human species is growing an an exponential rate. Not only are our numbers increasing, but the rate of growth is also increasing. Although this seems like a simple concept, the actual rate of increase varies greatly from country to country. Japan is experiencing a decline in population, while many of the developing countries such as India grow at a rapid rate.
Human Population and Demographics Powerpoint
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Purpose: This lecture introduces students to some of the ways that our population, demographics, and growth rate is measured. Population pyramids are used to illustrate the differences in age and gender across the populations of different countries. The demographic transition model is also explained in this lecture.
Essential Concepts: Human population, exponential growth, linear growth, pronatalist factors, antinatalist factors, fertility rate, birth rate, death rate, immigration, emigration, population pyramids, demographic transition model, developed countries, developing countries.
Human Populations and Demographics Lecture Notes Outline
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Purpose: Taking efficient notes can be a big challenge for many students, especially when working from a Powerpoint lecture. This outline gives students a means to take notes that guides them toward important concepts and avoids the pitfalls of writing word-for-word or simply not taking notes at all. The outline is written as a series of questions, fill-in-the-blanks, or diagrams.
Essential Concepts: Human population, exponential growth, linear growth, pronatalist factors, antinatalist factors, fertility rate, birth rate, death rate, immigration, emigration, population pyramids, demographic transition model, developed countries, developing countries.
Comparing Growth Rates of Different World Regions Activity
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Purpose: This assignment has students access the US Census world population website and access data on different regions of the world. Students will find the population for each region across several decades, from 1970-2010. They will then begin to make connections between the differences in population growth in developed and developing regions.
Essential Concepts: Developed countries, developing countries, exponential growth, population density, population growth.
Introduction to Population Pyramids Worksheet
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Purpose: Population pyramids are graphs that show the age and gender distribution for a country during a given year. These graphs are a keystone for a chapter on human population demographics. This worksheet provides a series of three data sets for students to construct population pyramids and begin to learn how to interpret them.
Essential Concepts: Population pyramids, age distribution, gender distribution, demographics, human population.
PBS Nova "World In the Balance; The People Paradox" Worksheet
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Purpose: An outstanding episode of Nova that explores the demographic differences between the f India, Japan, the United States, and the sub-saharan region of Africa. A population pyramid is shown for India and Japan, providing a real context for many of the concepts covered in this chapter. This documentary also discusses the demographic transition model, and identifies the stage each country is in.
Essential Concepts: Demographics, birth rate, death rate, fertility rate, developing countries, developed countries, pronatalist factors, antinatalist factors, demographic transition model.
The Eyes of Nye: Human Population
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Purpose: . An episode in the Eyes of Nye series covering the growing human population and its consequences. Discusses the differences in culture and resource consumption between a developing country like India and a developed country like the United States.
Essential Concepts: Demographics, birth rate, death rate, fertility rate, developing countries, developed countries, pronatalist factors, antinatalist factors.
Researching the Demographics of a Country
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Purpose: This assignment has students pick any country that has not yet been discussed during this unit and research its population data using the U.S. Cenus website. They will record important demographic information about that country, track its growth rate, and construct a population pyramid from that data. Based on the information gathered, they will hypothesize the stage of the demographic transition model that the country falls into.
Essential Concepts: Demographics, birth rate, death rate, population pyramid, developing countries, developed countries, pronatalist factors, antinatalist factors, demographic transition model.
Human Population and Demographics Study Guide
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Purpose: Once the instruction for the unit is completed, students can complete this study guide to aid in their preparation for a written test. The study guide is divided into two sections: vocabulary and short answer questions. The vocabulary is taken directly form the lecture, sequentially. The short answer questions are meant to model the type they may see on the exam.
Essential Concepts: Human population, exponential growth, linear growth, pronatalist factors, antinatalist factors, fertility rate, birth rate, death rate, immigration, emigration, population pyramids, demographic transition model, developed countries, developing countries.
