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

2. 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.

3. Tennessee Standards
W.100 Using census data and population pyramids, identify and describe the demographic changes worldwide since (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)

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

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

6. 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

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

8. Variations

9. 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

10. Population Pyramids 1

11. 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?

13. They can illustrate events like the impact of AIDS in Botswana

14. What can we tell about these countries from their pyramids?

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

19. Population Pyramids can help explain the Demographic Transition Model

20. 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 (C, E, G, H, P)“

21. Population pyramids can help teach math skills
An excellent lesson for this can be found at the Population Education website.

22. 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

23. Students will then graph their answers on this sheet

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

25. Great Resource: Population Reference Bureau

26. 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).

27. 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
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