3. Managing Human Population Day#3. Lesson plan
Boost Your AICE Environmental Management Teaching Success
As teachers of AICE Environmental Management, one of our core objectives is to ensure that our students not only understand the material but excel in their exams. One area that often poses a challenge is teaching about population dynamics, specifically describing populations in terms of their size and age composition and defining and calculating the dependency ratio. Here are some strategies to make these topics engaging and comprehensible for your students, leading to higher exam passing rates.
Objectives
- 3.1 Human population dynamics and structure
- describe populations in terms of their size and the composition of different age groups
- define and calculate dependency ratio
- explain how changes in birth rates, death rates and migration rates may affect population size and composition
Vocabulary
- Birth rate: the number of live births per thousand people in the population, per year. Also known as the crude birth rate as it does not take age or gender into account.
- Death rate: the number of deaths per thousand people in the population, per year
- Child mortality rate: the number of children, per 1000 live births, that die under the age of five in a population in a year.
- Natural increase: the difference between the birth rates and death rates in a population; natural increase differs from overall increase.
- Net migration: the difference between the number of people entering a country (immigration) and the number of people leaving a country (emigration). Net migration is negative when more people leave a country than enter it.
- Infant mortality rate: the number of infant deaths for every 1000 live births, of children under the age of one
Bellringer
- Bell ringer#3
- Alternative: How does the shape of a population age pyramid reflect the demographic characteristics of a population?
Lesson Outline
Instruction
- Bell ringer#3
- Quiz (one) – version A and B (20 minutes)
- Group activity – The power of the pyramids -Day 2
- Day 2: On the second day, students will work together in groups to finalize the poster, incorporating the demographic transition diagram.
- Make the poster: Place all four population pyramids on a poster board paper. Title the poster “The Power of the pyramids” and label each population pyramid with the name of the country.
Creating a poster comparing population pyramids for four different countries is a great visual way to convey demographic information. In addition to the population pyramids themselves, here are some elements and information that you should include on the poster:
1.Country Information: for each country include the name, flag, continent it belongs to, population size, surface area, population density.
2.Key demographic trends for each country: birth rate, death rate, population growth.
3.Make a chart for demographic transition, including the five stages and identify to which stage each country belongs to.
If you are interested in this activity you can find it HERE.
- Poster presentation
- Upon completion, students will present their posters in the classroom. This allows for a comprehensive exploration of global demographic patterns and facilitates meaningful discussions among peers. Students can elaborate on the significance of the data presented on their posters, fostering a deeper understanding of population dynamics and their impact on different countries. Additionally, this visual presentation can serve as a valuable reference for future discussions and lessons on demographics.
- Exit ticket
- If you opt to have students complete their notes using the Student Guided Notes format during your lecture, then use the bellringer as the exit ticket activity in class.
- If you opt to have students complete their notes using the Student Guided Notes format at home (homework), then use the following exit ticket activity:
- What does the shape of population pyramid tell about a country?
By incorporating these strategies into your teaching, you can make the topics of population dynamics and dependency ratios more engaging and understandable for your students. Engaging lesson hooks, interactive activities, and real-world applications will not only improve comprehension but also enhance your students’ performance in the AICE Environmental Management exams. As teachers, our goal is to empower our students to succeed, and with these methods, we can help them achieve higher passing rates.
Homework – high level/flipped classroom
- Version A – For High-Level Students:
Ideal for independent or advanced learners, this version requires students to copy all notes by hand as homework before class. This flipped-learning approach helps students come to class prepared, freeing up time for application activities, discussions, and AICE-style practice questions. - For this assignment have students fill in the blanks using the PPT Presentation.
More lessons…
