A Middle or High School Geography Standards-Based Unit
Fields of Knowledge Covered:
6.9 Students examine the interrelationships among physical earth processes, ecosystems, and human activities.
7.15ee. Students understand ecological interactions and interdependence between humans and their resource demands on environmental systems.
7.9 Students use statistics; 7.9c gather data from an entire group or from a sample of its members, and identify the usefulness and limitations of each approach; analyze the validity of inferences about a set of data.
1.15 Students use verbal and nonverbal skills to express themselves effectively.
Desired Outcomes:
Students learn:
This SBU was prepared using: Adventures on Earth: Exploring Our Global Links, a 51 page curriculum available for $10 from the Population Reference Bureau, Inc., 1875 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 520, Washington, DC 20009-5728; 1-800-877-9881. Lessons 1-3 are designed as one day lessons. The two case studies and lesson 4 are two day lessons.
Lesson One: What Humans Need. All students are given 3”x 5” index cards with 30 different human needs. The class’s task is to rank the needs from the most essential to the least essential. This ranking should generate a lively class discussion. Homework: One page mock newspaper sheet presenting different stresses caused by difficulties in meeting basic human needs. Ask students what factors led to different stresses. Distribute the World Population and Environmental Data Sheet. Ask students to identify five countries with the greatest stresses caused by lack of a) available water, b) safe water, c) adequate sanitation and d) available cropland.
Lesson Two: Mapping Global Human Stresses. Discuss homework and determine student’s ability to read the Data Sheet. Do an in class mapping of the above stresses (as given in the Data Sheet). (A blank world map is included with the curriculum.) Discuss the consequences of the stresses.
Lesson Three: Using Natural Resources to Meet Basic Human Needs. This is an in-class activity that demonstrates how wealth determines people’s abilities to meet their basic needs and to improve their quality of life. The curriculum provides a brief explanation of the environment as 1) a source of resources; 2) a habitat; and 3) a sink for waste. Additional readings are available in the PRB Middle School-High School curriculum Connections: Linking Population & the Environment and the ZPG Middle School curriculum, People and the Planet.
Lesson Three - Part Two: Map Analysis. Use a transparency to show a map of the countries with the top 20 GNP’s. Have the class find countries that have stresses and high GNP’s. Discuss connections between GNP and consumption, and the impact of consumption on the environment. Continue the discussion with a transparency of the top 20 countries for carbon dioxide emissions.
Case Study One: A case study of Haiti considering human needs and environmental degradation. Assign readings about Haiti for homework. In class have students work in four groups to consolidate their ideas regarding foreign assistance in Haiti. This lesson gives a concrete example of human needs and human and environmental stresses.
Case Study Two: A mock trial between the people of Bangladesh and the nations of the industrialized world. The curriculum provides a map of Bangladesh, four pages of information about Bangladesh and global warming, and a short bibliography. The trial calls for 11 roles such as demographer for the defendant and agricultural expert for the plaintiff. Each student or student team needs to prepare a statement based on information rather than opinion.
Lesson Four: Creating Environmental Public Service Announcements. This lesson asks students to inform the public about a specific environmental issue and to propose specific actions that can be taken in response to the issue.
This Standards-Based-Unit was written by Barbara Duncan, Executive Director of Vermont Population Alliance (VPA) and member of ZPG’s Population Education Network (PETNet). Ms. Duncan is a Population Mentor for the Sierra Club and is active with the National Audubon Society’s Population and Habitat Program. For more information you can reach VPA at P.O. Box 466, Norwich, VT 05055, 802-649-5168, <bdpop@valley.net>.
VPA has produced other Standards Based Units using Zero Population Growth’s (ZPG) elementary curriculum, Counting on People and Population Reference Bureau’s elementary curriculum, Making Connections: Linking Population and the Environment. VPA has also produced an elementary Standards Based Unit, “How Big is Your Ecological Footprint” using both the ZPG and PRB curricula. VPA has high school Standards Based Units to accompany PRB’s and ZPG’s middle school and high school curricula. VPA offers its Population and Sustainable Living Reference Guide free of charge to all Vermont teachers.