Supplementary Materials: PowerPoint Slides
Design of the lesson
Students were assigned a variable to research related to human population or environmental impact in the United States, France and Tanzania. They prepared a powerpoint slide containing the data from these three countries. The students with human population variables were asked to predict what would happen to that variable if malaria or heart disease were cured in each country. The students with environmental impact variables were asked to predict what would happen to that variable in each country based on projected populations in 2050.
The slides were then projected in class and the results discussed. Students were then given some specific questions to discuss in class including
· How does treating malaria in a developing country differ from treating heart disease in a developed country? Answer: treating malaria allows more children to survive, who in turn produce more children leading to an increase in population. Treating heart disease primarily prolongs the life of people past their reproductive years and has less of an impact on population growth.
· Does consumption correlate with quality of life? Answer: yes and no. Consumption values measured in hectares/person for Tanzania, France, and the US are 1, 7 and 12 respectively. Based on factors such as infant mortality, life expectancy, literacy, etc, one could make the argument that increased consumption in France leads to a better quality of life than in Tanzania. However, there are diminishing returns, and it is unlikely that the quality of life in the US is twice as good as in France, even though we consume twice as much.
· Do both population size and consumption impact environmental impact? Answer: yes, impact = population size x consumption.
Outline
1. Background preparation. Students learned about “models” during the semester.
2. Prior to the Research Lesson class period. We compared several environmental and population statistics between the United States, France and Tanzania. Groups of students were given a specific topic to research, several groups were given the same topic (see table on powerpoint slide for a complete list). 5 minutes to assign groups topics
3. Outside of class. The groups of students researched their topic (using links provided on powerpoint slide) and prepared a single powerpoint slide (a “digital poster”, based on the instructions and example powerpoint slide). The slide contained the data for the three countries on the assigned variable, and a brief summary statement discussing the impact of any differences on population growth in that country. These were submitted to the instructor the day before the Research Lesson class period. Up to 1 hour out of class to research topic and prepare powerpoint slide
4. Day before the Research Lesson class period. The instructor chose the best of the “digital posters” to present in class, ideally one for each topic (two examples are shown on page 11). About an hour of instructor time to put the slides together into one file
5. Research Lesson class period. The instructor presented some background information on the three countries and then presented the selected student “digital posters”. For each variable the students needed to explain what they predicted the impact would be on the population level, quality of life, and the environment. 20 minutes to present and discuss data slides
6. Research Lesson class period. The instructor presented some specific questions for the class to discuss, which highlighted the link between medicine, population growth and the environment. 40-60 min to present specific questions to groups, give them time to discuss their answers and then share them with the class.
Design to help students achieve learning goal.
Students are bombarded with messages from 5th grade about how humans have a negative impact on the environment. By the time they reach college and we lecture to them on the topic again, you can literally see their brains shut off. Students in the US are also isolated from many environmental and health issues that are current problems in much of the world. This can lead to the perception that overpopulation is not a problem because nothing bad has happened yet.
Most of the damage to the environment can be traced directly to human overpopulation. We want the students to collect and discuss data relevant to this issue and draw their own conclusions. We want students to discover for themselves that human population growth has a negative impact on the environment, human health and quality of life.
Prediction
Students will produce group product.
Discussion in class on questions will be limited due to classroom size and layout.
Contact: Scott Cooper
Previous Logs: Step 1 | Step 2
Comments