Population Pyramids High School Tennessee Geographic Alliance One Day Geography Workshop Instructor Kristi Neuroth Ravenwood High School Brentwood, TN

Overview of Session 1. The power of data. 2. What is a population pyramid? 3. Variations of population pyramids. 4. What population pyramids tell us. 5. What population pyramids can be used for. 6. Lesson options. 7. Additional resources.

Tennessee Standards W.100 Using census data and population pyramids, identify and describe the demographic changes worldwide since 1980. (C, E, G, H, P) US.107 Using census data and population pyramids, identify and describe the demographic changes in the United States since 1980 and the increased movement of people from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt. (C, E, G, H, P)

THE POWER OF DATA Data can be a powerful tool to help us understand our world… 200 countries, 200 years

How can we represent powerful trends in World History? One Powerful Tool: Population Pyramids

So, what is a Population Pyramid, anyway? A TYPE OF GRAPH THAT ILLUSTRATES 3 SPECIFIC PIECES OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION: Age Group (Cohort) Gender Percentage of population

Variations Population can be shown as a percent, or in actual numbers (as demonstrated above).

Variations

What can population pyramids tell us? Life expectancy Old-age dependent or youth dependent? Level of development Historical patterns and projections for the future Sex ratio

Population Pyramids 1

Population Pyramids can reveal the story of a nation’s recent history Can you tell what country is represented here and why it looks the way it does?

They can illustrate events like the impact of AIDS in Botswana

What can we tell about these countries from their pyramids?

Population Pyramids can be used to… Help explain levels of development

Population Pyramids can help explain the Demographic Transition Model

Assignment for US History and Geography/ World History and Geography Please see the assignment titled “US and Foreign Population Pyramid Analysis” which addresses the standard: “W.100 Using census data and population pyramids, identify and describe the demographic changes worldwide since 1980. (C, E, G, H, P)“

Population pyramids can help teach math skills An excellent lesson for this can be found at the Population Education website. http://www.populationeducation.org/media/upload/Activity-power_of_the_Pyramids.pdf

Population Education – “Power of the Pyramids” lesson plan For younger students you can provide the answers, for older students you can have them do the math on their own

Students will then graph their answers on this sheet

For more advanced classes… U.S. Census Bureau “America Fact Finder”

Great Resource: Population Reference Bureau

Extension Activity or Exit Slip Assign each student a country with a unique population pyramid (either a country like Afghanistan with an exaggerate pyramid shape or Italy with a “top-heavy” pyramid). Have the students brainstorm what types of social and demographic challenges a leader would face if they ruled that particular country. Then have students pose potential solutions for the demographic challenges. (This could be turned into a more extensive writing assignment if desired).

Resource List: 1. Wonderful teacher resources at Population Connection 2. Population Pyramid lesson plan from Population Connection 3. Website with population pyramids for all countries from 1950-2050 4. National Geographic Expeditions lesson plan using population pyramids 5. Light presentation for middle school teachers on population pyramids 6. Population Reference Bureau YouTube Channel: Distilled Demographics 7. Population Reference Bureau Population Pyramids Lesson Plan