Teaching Tools

Here you will find lesson plans that help with the teaching theme “Population and Progress,” as well as interactive tools to help with research, visualization and statistics. *Tip: To more easily search through the list use Ctrl+F*

Lesson Plans:

• Asia for Educators:  lesson plans and professional development resources designed to serve faculty and students in world history, culture, geography, art, and literature. (Various grades)
• Climate Change and Questions of Justice (Choices Program): Causes and effects of climate change, and questions of who is most responsible and who is most vulnerable.
• Creating our Future: This website has a variety of lesson plans for K-12 on population issues ranging from food security to sustainability issues.
• Creating Pop. Growth Projections: Math plan, students create their own projections. (Various grades)
• Global Lives Project: Enriching content and lesson plans for teachers addressing themes of globalization and cross-cultural awareness through the lens of new media (Various grades)
• Global Population: Applicable to various subjects. (Various grades)
• Habitat for Humanity: Lesson plans about housing issues across the world. (Various grades)
• Industrialization: Problem, Progress, or Promise? – Industrialization and how we measure progress in relation to pop. growth in cities. (9th-12th)
• Interdependence: Show systems interacting with one another and the effects on the environment. (K-3rd)
• New Frontier in Brazil: Case Study in the Amazon. (10th – 12th)
• NYT Learning Network: 2010 Census – activities, resources. (Various grades)
• Overpopulation: For ESL classes. (Various grades)
• Pondering the Impermeable: Effects on the environment. (9th-12th)
• Population Education: Free activities, background materials, and lesson plans.
• Population in Perspective: 276 pages of lesson plans, focusing on population issues. (Various grades)
• The Population Explosion – Related to the theme of overpopulation; economic, social, political, and environmental effects. (Various grades)
• Population Growth Project – How to predict pop. growth and what the numbers mean. (9th-12th)
• Population Growth: For math and science high-school classes – with attached teacher guides! (9th-12th)
• Population Growth + The Environment:  The development of cities. (9th-12th)
• Population Reference Bureau: Materials, lesson plans for teachers about population dynamics and the effects of social, economic, and environmental issues.
• Quantitative Analysis: Quantitative aspects of population growth. (College-level and advanced HS students)
• Refugee Stories-Mapping a Crisis (Teaching with the News): Explore the human geography of the crisis, examine refugee stories, and weigh responses to the crisis.
• Understanding Human Population: Applies to various subjects, especially math and science. (Various grades)
• Urban Planning Simulation: Students explore the effects of urban planning. (9th-12th)
• Video Resources for ELL Classrooms: Videos designed for English-language development and ideas on how to use them
• Water and Environment: UNICEF, pop. growth and climate change, based on current events. (Various grades)
• Wealth Distribution Workshop
• World Hunger: From UNESCO, relationship between population, hunger, and security. (Various grades)
• World of 7 Billion: Teacher resources for middle and high school students + a student video contest + a counter of the current world and U.S. populations.
• 7 Billion: PBS news articles and videos. (7th-12th)

Interactive Tools: 

• 2010 Census Interactive Population Map: Explore 2010 census data and details about race, age, sex, and housing status on a state-by-state basis. (by U.S. Census Bureau)
• 2010 Population Finder: To explore pop. data and trends within specific states across the country. (by the U.S. Census Bureau)
• Center of the Population: Shows the historical shift in the center of the American population from 1790-2010.
• ChartsBin: Charts and graphs related to population and other topics.
• EarthRights International Publications: Focusing on international environmental issues through political, social, economic, and health frameworks.
• Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger: Focuses on food security and resource allocation as it relates to population growth.
• Green Build: Interactive tool by Habitat for Humanity to explore sustainability and green building
• Japan – The Old and the Older: Shows the shift in Japan’s population over the last 60 years and the projected change for the next 50 years. (by The Economist)
• My World 2015: Global survey for a better world
• National Geographic’s Special Series: 7 Billion: compilation of articles, resources, and multimedia related to the NatGeo’s year-long series, “7 Billion”
• NPR “7 Billion and Counting”: Compilation of articles and multimedia resources for NPR’s special series.
• Population Action International: Reports and news briefs on country-specific issues and global phenomena.
• Population Growth: Helps calculate pop. growth. (by Wolfram MathWorld)
• Population Growth – Annual %: Shows the annual pop. growth for all countries from 1980. (by the World Bank)
• Population Prospects – Global Growth into the Future: Analyze country data, demographics, and ratios. (by the UN)
• UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund): Publications, educational resources, and events related to population issues.
• United States Census Bureau: Population statistics and info on the social, political, and economic backgrounds of these populations.
• Voice of America: Learn English through breaking news.
• World Bank Development Education Program’s Learning Modules: 3 main modules -social, economic, and environmental – focused on sustainable development.
• World We Want: Conversation about Millenium Development Goals.