Lesson: Overpopulation

Population Growth and Overpopulation:

1. Get into 4-6 teams to play Population Pop-Quiz.

2. Watch NYTimes: The Unrealized Horrors of Population Explosion and discuss.

3. Go to the NYTimes page "Can the Planet Support 10 Billion People?" - Everyone read
the introduction. Then, half of the class read first three debaters on left hand side of page,
and other half read last three. These are short pieces that should not take you very long. 

4. Can the planet support 10-11 billion people?? Discuss: 

·   diet/ food production (example: in vitro meat ) - Do we need to consume less meat?
Is it safe to use GMOs and other technologies to increase crop yields?

·   energy consumption - What types of energy and how much is reasonable to use?

·   reducing fertility - most effective and humane methods?

·   education - Why is this so important?

·   Africa - Why are most countries in African outpacing the rest of the world in pop.
growth?

·   conservation - How important is it to preserve out natural environment?

·   technology - To what extent can we rely on it to solve these and future problems? 

5. Go to Global Footprint Calculator .and complete the footprint calculator for yourself. If do
not get to do this in class, find out the following information tonight so that you can complete
it tomorrow: How many square feet is your house? How much does your family spend per
month on electricity and gas?

6. Go to NOVA's "Human Numbers Through Time" and launch the interactive map. Also check
out the graph there. Why do you think the world population seems to be growing more quickly
now than 200 years ago? What do you think the projection for 2050 is based on? What are the
implications of such growth? What concerns does it raise?  

7. Quickly skim the UN's revised population projection for 2100. .What does this study tell you
about future population growth, its causes, and which countries and regions are growing fastest?

Sustainable Development Goals Project (Global Politics)

Global Politics

SDGs Project Guidelines

To begin this project, you will choose a single Sustainable Development Goal of interest to you that will be the focus of your group’s research and project development. Groups may include 2  people. You will work with your team on every aspect of this project and will ultimately present/student teach about your project for 30 minutes. 

The 2016 Sustainable Development Goals include: 

• No Poverty

• Zero Hunger

• Good Health and Well-Being

• Quality Education

• Gender Equality

• Clean Water and Sanitation

• Affordable and Clean Energy

• Decent Work and Economic Growth

• Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

• Sustainable Cities and Communities

• Responsible Consumption and Production

• Climate Action

• Life Below Water

• Life on Land

• Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

The Sustainable Development Goals are formal goals identified by the United Nations Development Programme and are “a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.” They are the international community’s hopes for the future of nations and people throughout the world. The UNDP notes that “achieving the SDGs requires the partnership of governments, private sector, civil society and citizens alike to make sure we leave a better planet for future generations.” The UNDP has chosen targets specific to each SDG that it plans to achieve by 2030. 

For this project, your main goals are to: 

• evaluate the problems that prevent societies from achieving your assigned SDG;
• identify communities that have recently overcome these problems and evaluate how they did it;
• and craft a plan for how to help a specific community (case study) to achieve your assigned SDG.

For example, if I were to choose Quality Education as my SDG, I might show how gang activity in Central America is an obstacle that prevents many youth in these countries from acquiring higher than a 6th grade education. I might go into why gang activity is so prevalent in Central America and how this interferes with the career prospects of adolescents. I might then show how Nicaragua has been more successful than other countries in Central America at providing programs that keep adolescents out of gangs and in school. My presentation could go into what makes these Nicaraguan programs successful. Finally, I could introduce a plan to implement a program of my own design in Honduras to improve secondary school completion rates that takes into account Honduras’ specific problems with gangs and school enrollment. My plan might incorporate some aspects of Nicaragua’s programs, but it would be tailored to fit conditions more specific to Honduras. 

The required end product for this project includes:

• A team-written project proposal that includes the following sections: 

1. introduction to the problem, 
2. how the problem affects your specific case study, 
3. obstacles to achieving the SDG in your case study, 
4. evaluation of how other places have overcome this problem, 
5. your plan for how to reach this SDG for your case study, 
6. expected outcomes of your plan.

• A 30-minute lesson that includes the following types of instruction:

1. Brief, interesting explanations of the SDG, problems with achieving it, examples of successes, and introduction of your plan. This presentation should include a compelling visual component to capture the viewers’ attention.
2. An interactive, student-centered element to the lesson that directly involves the students in some way and connects them to your project plan. 
3. The opportunity for your classmates to critique your team’s plan and provide constructive feedback.

• A properly formatted bibliography containing all sources you used for this project. It should contain at least one policy paper that you have found that is specific to your SDG.

More specifically, your team’s report must include the following sections:

1.    introduction to the problem (What is the issue? Why is it problematic? What makes current conditions unsustainable? How did this become a problem? Why does it continue to be a problem? Generally, what is being done to solve this problem?)

2.    how the problem affects your specific case study (Be specific to the community you have chosen as the focus of your plan. This should be a place that is currently struggling to achieve your assigned SDG.)

3.    obstacles to achieving the SDG in your case study (What is keeping this community from achieving your SDG? Think about political, economic, cultural, and/or environmental factors. What needs to change in order for the SDG to be achieved?)

4.    evaluation of how other places have overcome this problem (This is where you will bring in the example you have found of a community that has overcome problems with achieving the SDG. Make sure you explain and analyze how they did this.)

5.    your plan for how to reach this SDG for your case study (Your plan can be fairly basic, but it should thoughtfully lay out the who, what, where, when, how, why, so what? Make sure you explain why these actions you propose will be effective at helping the community to achieve the SDG. 

6.    expected outcomes of your plan (What will be the results of your plan? Be as specific as possible and make sure you identify multiple outcomes that are relevant to achieving SDG targets.)

Documeria Project, Then and Now: A US History Environmental History Project

U.S. History-Johnson

Documerica Project, Then and Now

 U.S. Environmental History through research and photojournalism.

1. Begin by exploring the U.S. National Archives site on the Documerica Project, a 1970s project funded by the EPA that hired photographers to take photographs of environmental issues throughout the U.S. After taking about 15-20 minutes to peruse the different artists’ collections, students will choose one photographer and up to a couple of his/her photos to research.

2. Research of historical photos will include identifying the basic information about what was being photographed as well as doing deeper research into the environmental problem. Students will seek out newspaper articles from the time about the issue in the photograph to build a deeper understanding of the issue and its impact on U.S. communities. As they research, they will gather key pieces of data and primary source excerpts to use in a later presentation/lesson.

3. Once students have a solid understanding of one or a couple historical photographs and the environmental issue they document, they will start to research this issue in the present day. It may be that they can focus on the specific place where the photograph was taken and find updated information on the state of the environmental issue today. For example, if a photograph from the 1970s documents industrial waste in Detroit, a student could do research on whether actions were taken to clean up the industrial waste (in Detroit or in the U.S. in general) and if this is still a problem today. Their focus should be two-fold: what actions, if any, were taken between the 1970s and today to address the specific issue, and what does the situation look like today. They will want to find primary sources (government documents, reports, newspaper articles) to illustrate their findings. They should seek out a recent piece of photojournalism related to this specific issue, as well.

4. Reflection: After researching an environmental issue, past and present, and how it was brought to public attention in the 1970s, students will reflect on what factors make society more likely to recognize and take action to address environmental issues. They will think about how the current climate change crisis is presented and addressed, both by the U.S government (EPA, etc) and NGOs, and what types of exposure are effective at motivating people to take action. They also will reflect on what responsibility the government has to protect and preserve the environment, and what role the U.S. government is and should be playing in U.S. environmental protection.

5. From the information they have gathered and the reflection they have done, students will create a presentation/lesson that includes a short slideshow (for illustrations and data) and asks the class to do some evaluation of how the U.S. government and society have addressed the environmental issue over time. I will show a variety of sample ideas for how to actively involve the class in discussion/debate around the issues of environmental protection, government and civic responsibility, and effective ways to propagate calls to action.

NSTA Climate Change Curriculum Book

This just flitted by in an email which some of you probably get, too. Is it something we’d want to look at acquiring one copy of for the group?

NSTA Climate Change Curriculum

NSTA Issue on Climate Change

Here's the link to the National Science Teacher Association's Issue on Climate Change for summer 2019.

Biology: Sea Level Rise Case Study

Students use real data from James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge and Midway Atoll as well as build physical models of sea level inundation to explore the impact of climate change on the protected birds Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) and Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes). They also will explore the concept of carbon footprints and make a personal action pledge to reduce their carbon emissions.

Here is the link to our case study on albatrosses.

We got the idea from this case study from National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science. We decided to adapt this lesson to be more place-based and focus on Hawaii.

For more info, you can also check out https://www.islandarks.org/

BBC Article on species predicted to survive climate change if we don't do anything

Click here

AP French Language and Culture - Science and Technology

Link for Lesson Plan: Science and Technology - Future Technologies

Below: Graph and intro to short film for lesson plan...

AP French Language and Culture - Global Challenges

Link for Lesson Plan: Global Challenges - Environment

Below: Readings that go with lesson plan...