Content Area: Social Studies

 

Index: 6.6E Grade 12 CPI 6

 

Standard: 6.6 - Geography

 

Strand: E -  Environment and Society

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 6 - The student will analyze the human need for respect for and informed management of all resources (sustainability), including human populations, energy, air, land, and water to insure that the earth will support future generations.

 

Grade: 12

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        Students think about and research basic questions such as the following: How many people can the Earth support? How much of the planet’s land mass is usable for people? Has food production kept pace with population growth? Next, students read the illuminating Atlantic Monthly article by Bill McKibben (May 1998) entitled “A Special Moment in History.” This article provides a wealth of information on population growth as well as many useful references. Students locate the most and least populous countries using print and electronic magazine databases, world almanacs, and other standard references. Ask the library media specialist to review statistical resources with students as they research the total world population in the current year and the growth since 1987, when the total reached 5 billion. They also do research to determine what the experts project for the next 10 to 20 years. How Much Is a Million? Use the following examples to convey to students the concepts of million and billion: You were a million seconds old when you were just 11.6 days old. A million dollars in a pile of thousand dollar bills would be 4.3 inches high. A billion dollars in thousand dollar bills would stretch the length of a football field. Students develop these concepts with their own calculations.

 

·        Students learn about mathematical projections. They examine linear and quadratic trends and use these to extrapolate from the known to the future. They learn that population growth took off after World War II and that the growth spurt from 1950 to the present was greater than anything preceding that period. Students speculate about the causes for this rapid growth and the policies that governments should be considering to deal with future growth.