population in perspective, 2nd edition: introduction

7/28/2019 Population in Perspective, 2nd edition: Introduction

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Produced by

the Population and Development ProgramHampshire College

Amherst, Massachusetts

First edition written by Mary Lugton with Phoebe McKinney

Second edition revised and updated by Katie McKay Bryson,

Lynda Pickbourn and Betsy Hartmann.

Population in Perspective:A Curriculum Resource

NewSection

onClimate

Change!

Second Edition


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Population in Perspective: A Curriculum Resource

www.populationinperspective.org


Produced by the Population and Development Program, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA.

Written by Mary Lugton with Phoebe McKinney.

Second edition revised and updated by Katie McKay Bryson, Lynda Pickbourn and Betsy Hartmann.

Climate section written by Katie McKay Bryson with Betsy Hartmann.

First Edition 2004 Population and Development Program of Hampshire College.

Second Edition 2013 Population and Development Program of Hampshire College.

ISBN-13: 978-1482023701

ISBN-10: 1482023709

Population in Perspective may be reproduced for educational use only. No reproductions may be sold

for prot. Excerpted or adapted material from this publication must include full citation of the source. To

reproduce for any other purposes, a written request must be submitted to the Population and Development

Program at Hampshire College, CLPP, Hampshire College, 893 West St., Amherst, MA 01002-3359; or by

e-mail at [email protected].

Project Directors for Second Edition

Betsy Hartmann,

Director, Population and Development

Program, Hampshire College

Katie McKay Bryson,

(former)Assistant Director, Population and

Development Program, Hampshire College

Anne Hendrixson,

Assistant Director, Population and

Development Program, Hampshire College

Designer

Moira Clingman

Copy Editors

Christopher Setzer

Rebecca Clingman

Teacher Reviewers for First Edition

Beth Wohlleb Adel

Laila di Silvio

Dawn Fontaine

Kristen French

Ann Hennesey

Arlene Kowal

Linda Levister

James Morton

Editorial Review Committee

for First Edition

Rajani Bhatia, Committee on Women,

Population & the Environment

George Cernada, University of Massachusetts

Ryn Gluckman, Hampshire College

Sally Habana-Hafner, University of

Massachusetts

Betsy Hartmann, Hampshire College

Sangeeta Kamat, University of Massachusetts

Rizie Kumar, Rutgers University

Syd Lindsley, Committee on Women,

Population & the Environment

Judy Norsigian, Boston Womens Health

Book Collective

Joni Seager, University of Vermont


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Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

How to use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

SECTION 1

POPULATION PERSPECTIVESIN CONTEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Overview for Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1:1 Introducing Population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1:2 Contexualizing Population Trends. . . . . . . 13

A. Population Growth in

Historical Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

B. The State of Population Growth . . . . . 15

C. Population Decline andPopulation Aging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

D. Young Populations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

E. Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

F. Urbanization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

1:3 Inuential Thinking on Population . . . . . . . 32

1:4 Population Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Teaching Ideas for Section 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Attachment for Section 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Notes for Section 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

SECTION 2

POPULATION, FOODAND HUNGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Overview for Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

2:1 Introducing Food, Population,

and Hunger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

2:2 What Is the Relationship between

Population and Hunger?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

2:3 Are People Hungry Because

Theres Not Enough Food? . . . . . . . . . . . 69

2:4 Do Trade and Agriculture Have Anything

to Do with Hunger?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

2:5 What Do Politics and Poverty

Have to Do with Hunger?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

A. The Politics of Food and Hunger. . . . . 81

B. Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

C. Food Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

D. Land Ownership and Control. . . . . . . . 87

E. Organizing for Land Reform . . . . . . . . 89

F. Food Sovereignty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

2:6 Bringing It Home: Hunger in the US . . . . . 95

Teaching Ideas for Section 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Attachments for Section 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Notes for Section 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Contents


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www.populationinperspective.org iv

SECTION 3

POPULATION AND THEENVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Overview for Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

3:1 Introducing the Great Population/

Environment Debate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

3:2 Examining the Concept of

Carrying Capacity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

3:3 Interrogating IPAT: Exploring Population/

Environment Links in Depth . . . . . . . . . . 132

3:4 Challenging Consumption Patterns. . . . . 137

A. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

B. Deforestation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

C. Energy Consumption

(Greenhouse Gases and More). . . . . 147

D. Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

3:5 Solutions, Solutions, Solutions . . . . . . . . 157

3:6 Bringing It Home: Population and

the Environment in the US . . . . . . . . . . . 159


Attachments for Section 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177


SECTION 4

POPULATION ANDCLIMATE CHANGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Overview for Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

4:1 What Is Climate Change? . . . . . . . . . . . 190

A. Causes of Climate Change . . . . . . . 195

B. Ecosystem Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

4:2 Vulnerability to Climate Change . . . . . . . 202

A. Case Study: Hurricane Katrina . . . . . 203

B. Climate Change and Race . . . . . . . . 207

C. Climate Change and Gender. . . . . . . 209

D. Climate Change and Migration . . . . . 211

4:3 Does Population Growth Cause

Climate Change? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

4:4 Facing the Challenge

of Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220




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We are deeply gratefulto the many individuals and institutions that made Populationin Perspective possible through their generous advice and assistance. First of all, we would

like to thank Sangeeta Kamat at the Center for International Education at the University of

Massachusetts for her crucial guidance. Without her, this project would not have got off the

ground. A special thanks goes to our designer Moira Clingman whose creative and conceptual

eye, original drawings and painstaking labor made the curriculum much more engaging and

accessible. Her patience and good humor helped see us through to the end.

Members of the editorial review committee Rajani Bhatia, George Cernada, Ryn Gluckman,

Sally Habana-Hafner, Sangeeta Kamat, Rizie Kumar, Syd Lindsley, Judy Norsigian, and

Joni Seager gave freely of their time and expertise to improve an initial draft. Rizie Kumar

and George Cernada were especially helpful in clarifying demographic terms and concepts.

Teacher reviewers Beth Wohlleb Adel, Laila di Silvio, Dawn Fontaine, Kristen French, Ann

Hennesey, Arlene Kowal, Linda Levister and James Morton gave invaluable feedback on how

to make the readings and activities more accessible to teachers and students. A special word

of thanks to Dawn Fontaine for testing the materials and contributing the synthesis notebook

as an optional teaching and learning tool.

We are grateful to the authors of the original surveys that were so important in guiding us

in the development of this curriculum: Laura Agustn, Susan Leather, Ryn Gluckman, Anne

Hendrixson and Syd Lindsley. The surveys were produced as the following working papers

(available from the Population and Development Program)

Anne Hendrixson, Demography or Teaching Fear: The Population Problem in US and UK Social Studies

Textbooks. Working Paper No. 1. (Amherst, MA: Population and Development Program & the

Committee on Women, Population and the Environment, Hampshire College/CLPP, 2001).

Anne Hendrixson (based on research by Laura Agustn), The Industrious Europeans and the Hungry

Third World Masses: The Story of Population Told by US High School Social Studies Textbooks.

Working Paper No. 2. (Amherst, MA: Population and Development Program & the Committee on

Women, Population and the Environment, Hampshire College/CLPP, 2001).

Susan Leather,Are People a Good Thing? How British Social Studies Textbooks Present Population

Issues. Working Paper No. 3. (Amherst, MA: Population and Development Program & the Committee

on Women, Population and the Environment, Hampshire College/CLPP, 2001).

Syd Lindsley, The Problem of Population in US High School Biology Textbooks. Working Paper No. 4.

(Amherst, MA: Population and Development Program and the Committee on Women, Population and

the Environment, Hampshire College/CLPP, 2001).

Ryn Gluckman, Population and Development Curriculum Critiques (unpublished).

The assistance of the Committee on Women, Population and the Environment, which gave

both nancial support and conceptual direction, was vital to the completion of the project. We

are especially grateful to CWPE coordinator Rajani Bhatia who has been actively involved in

all stages of the work. Binta Jeffers provided important help on images, and Andy Smith and

Justine Smith were instrumental in getting the project going.

Acknowledgements


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This project would not have been possible without the support of the Civil Liberties and Public

Policy Program (CLPP) at Hampshire College. Special thanks are due to CLPP Director Marlene

Fried and Administrative Director Amy Crysel. Rosalind Pollan gave us important assistance in

long-term planning. Hampshire students Amanda Ellis, Jennifer Feeney and Azi Shariatmadar

provided research assistance.

Funding for various phases of this project was generously provided by the Unitarian Universalist

Veatch Program at Shelter Rock, the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, the Ford Foundation and

the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Thanks to Sue Thrasher, Director of the Five College Public School Partnership Program for her

helpful advice, and to Amelia Clingman for her careful proof-reading. We also wish to thank

Collective Copies for production.

We are grateful to all the individuals and institutions for their help, or for permission to use

excerpts, poems or images. While we have beneted immensely from the contributions of all

those credited, we alone bear responsibility for any errors contained herein.

Mary Lugton, Phoebe McKinney and Betsy Hartmann, 2004

Acknowledgements for Second Edition

We would like to thank all who helped to bring this second edition ofPopulation in Perspective

to fruition. First, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the keen vision, wonderful design skills,

and generous patience of Moira Clingman. Development economist Lynda Pickbourn was

instrumental in updating and revising key sections of the curriculum. Former Population and

Development Program staff Amy Oliver and Elizabeth Barajas-Roman initiated the revision

project. Educator Karen Lennons concurrent work on a Spanish translation and Bolivianadaptation of the rst edition inspired us throughout. Mil gracias to the Bolivian Environmental

Defense League (LIDEMA) for their contribution to the curriculum by helping to see it through the

eyes of a different language, culture and geographic region, thereby diversifying and deepening

our dialogues and perspectives.

PopDevs rst Reproductive and Environmental Justice Fellow, Courtney Hooks, offered valuable

feedback and vision for the new section, Population and Climate Change.

For his painstaking copyediting we thank Christopher Setzer. Emilio Barajas illustrations

captured the curriculums themes perfectly. Micah Bazant brought this vibrant aesthetic to life

through the redesign of the Population in Perspective website (www.populationinperspective.org),in collaboration with Common Media, Inc. Our colleagues at the Civil Liberties and Public Policy

Program at Hampshire College have supported us throughout this endeavor we couldnt have

done it without them.

Katie McKay Bryson, Betsy Hartmann and Anne Hendrixson, 2013


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Preface to the First Edition

These statements reect the conventional wisdom on population growth in much of US society.

Ask almost anyone and they will tell you that overpopulation is one of the major causes, if not

the major cause, of hunger, poverty, environmental degradation, migration, and even political

instability in the Third World. Most people hold these beliefs because thats all theyve read orheard about the subject and all theyve been taught in school.

This was literally brought home to me by my own daughter. Several years ago, when she was

a high school sophomore, I looked at the section on human population in her biology textbook.

Side by side were two photographs depicting the impact of population growth in the Third

World: one a picture of a herd of cattle overgrazing the land, the other a starving African child.

Either we will voluntarily reduce our birth rate or various forces of environmental resistance will

increase our death rate, the text pronounced ominously. Facing the problem of how to limit

births is politically and emotionally difcult, but continued failure to do so will be disastrous.*

In addition to blaming population growth for causing poverty and hampering education

and technological development in the Third World, the authors also suggested that lenient

immigration policies were getting in the way of necessary population stabilization in the US.

My students at Hampshire College, where I have taught for 15 years, have consistently told me

that this is what they learned about population in their high school textbooks too. Just recently,

a student said one of his high school teachers told the class a deadly ood in India was a good

thing because it reduced the human population.

There are many reasons why this conventional overpopulation wisdom is unwise. First, it

ignores demographic trends, such as the fact that today population growth rates are declining

in most areas of the world more rapidly than anticipated. Ironically, many demographers are

increasingly worried about negative population growth or the so-called population implosion.Second, it ignores history, notably the impact of the colonial encounter on subject populations

in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and the enduring inequalities between the Global North

Why a New Curriculum on Population?

The world is overpopulated... Population pressure is destroying theenvironment... People go hungry because there is not enough food togo around... Poor people keep themselves poor by having too many

babies... If we dont get population growth under control in the ThirdWorld, those people are going to migrate here and take our jobs...Whatever your cause, its a lost cause without population control...

* Teresa Audesirk and Gerald Audesirk, Biology: Life on Earth, 4th ed., (Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1996), 865


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and Global South. Third, it reduces complex webs of causality to a simple linear cause-and-

effect relationship, as if there were a single explanation for poverty, hunger and environmental

degradation. Fourth, it reinforces gender discrimination, positioning poor women mainly as

breeders of too many babies. Fifth, it reinforces racism, for the face of overpopulation is typically

that of a person of color, like the starving African boy in the biology text. It also foments fears

of immigrants overpopulating the country. And last but not least, it often leads to a problematic

ethical relativism human rights abuses are excusable if they are in the interest of saving the

planet through limiting births.

Fortunately, at the international policy level, the conventional overpopulation wisdom no longer

holds as much sway. For example, the 1994 UN International Conference on Population and

Development in Cairo embraced a more comprehensive view of population dynamics and put

forward womens empowerment and access to reproductive health and high-quality, voluntary

family planning services as a far better approach than coercive population control. Yet in the US

these new understandings have yet to reach a larger audience and many people still fear that

the population bomb is ticking away. This fear will persist as long as thats what students are

learning in schools across the nation.

In 1998, as part of a larger mission to encourage more complex, gendered and culturally

sensitive views of population, the Population and Development Program at Hampshire

College and the Committee on Women, Population and the Environment (CWPE) began the

Population Curriculum Project to look at population education in US high schools. Our rst

step was an investigation of how social studies and biology textbooks present population

issues. (See Acknowledgements, page v, for information about the papers resulting from our

survey.) Not surprisingly, we found that many US textbooks uncritically reect the conventional

overpopulation wisdom, providing very little background in demography or international

development that would help students place the population issue in a broader context. The

result is the reinforcement of us and them stereotypes, such as the industrious Europeans on

the one hand and the hungry Third World masses on the other. A survey of British geography

texts we undertook found a more nuanced approach toward population issues, with the

impact of population growth presented as the subject of considerable scholarly debate. This

is not surprising given the UKs better attention to international development issues within its

standardized social studies curricula. We also surveyed curricular materials produced by various

private population and environment advocacy organizations in the US, but these generally

seemed limited in their approach.

As the result of our research, we came to the decision that what was needed was a new, easily

adaptable population curriculum which teachers could use to supplement existing curricula in

social studies, environmental studies, global issues, geography and biology classes at the highschool level, with units also appropriate for students in the rst years of college. Our intent was

not only to challenge simplistic views of overpopulation, but also to use population as an entry

point for the discussion of a wide array of urgent global issues: If population growth is not one of

the most important causes of poverty, hunger and environmental degradation, then what are? We

also wanted to bring the issues back home to the US, by exploring, for example, why hunger and

poverty still exist, and in fact are intensifying, in one of the richest countries in the world.


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In 2001 Mary Lugton and Phoebe McKinney, international education and human rights

educator/activists, began the challenging task of synthesizing and making accessible to high

school and early college students the vast literature and diverse points of view in the population

eld. Population in Perspective is the fruit of their considerable labors, wide and deep

knowledge of the world, and strong commitment to effective and accessible global education.

We offer this curriculum resource not only as a way to educate students on population issues,

but to bolster their critical thinking skills and broaden and deepen their understanding of the

world. In its current form, Population in Perspective remains a work in progress, as we welcome

feedback from students, teachers and curriculum developers.

We do not pretend that this Population in Perspective is neutral and objective. In the social

sciences, as well as in the larger realm of human affairs, that is an impossible feat. Just the

word population is loaded with hidden values and assumptions. Our goal here is to help

students take it apart, bring those values and assumptions to light and examine them closely

in the face of competing understandings of how the world works. Pedagogically, the population

issue offers many opportunities for lively discussion, and Population in Perspective makes a

point of presenting diverse points of view and different interpretations of the evidence, whether

statistical or historical. Throughout, however, we foreground the issues of human agency and

social justice, asking teachers and students to consider how inequalities in wealth and power

from the local to the global level shape the relationships between population and hunger,

the environment, and poverty. Population in Perspective offers no easy answers; it does not

substitute one simplistic understanding for another. Rather, in complicating the world, it gives

students important tools with which to analyze and comprehend it, tools that they can carry far

beyond the immediate classroom and into their adult lives.

We live in one of the most powerful nations on earth, but also one of the most parochial. Our

hope is that Population in Perspective will foster a new sense of global citizenship based not on

fear, but rather on deeper understanding.

Betsy Hartmann

Hampshire College, 2004

Eight years have passed since the Population and Development Program at Hampshire College

released the rst edition ofPopulation in Perspective. Much has happened in that time. Climate

change has accelerated, posing one of the major global challenges of our time hence, our

second edition features a new full section on climate change.

Demographically, the population picture is one of smaller families worldwide. Population growth

rates have continued to decline. Family size has fallen to a world average of 2.45 children, and

will likely fall to two or less in the next few decades. A number of countries, especially in Europe,

are experiencing negative population growth as people have no children or only one. Only a few

Preface to the Second Edition


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countries still have high fertility rates, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, because of the persistence of

poverty and inequality. World population will continue to grow in the next few decades because a

large percentage of young people are just entering their reproductive years. Current projections

predict that population will increase to 9 billion people by 2050, and possibly 10 billion by 2100 (a

high projection disputed by many demographers) before leveling off and beginning to decline.

In other words, the so-called population explosion is over.

Many Americans still dont know that, though. Radio, TV, newspapers, magazines and books

perpetuate the story that population is still growing exponentially and charting a collision course

between Man and Nature. We are told that population growth is mainly to blame for hunger,

poverty, war, environmental degradation, and now even climate change. When world population

passed the 7 billion mark in fall 2011, a media blitz ensued, almost without exception sounding

alarm bells.

The more loudly they ring, the more these bells drown out other voices and points of view, hide

a history of demographic critique and rebuttal, stie critical thinking, and reinforce American

ignorance about the rest of the world, especially the Global South. At a time of major global

crises economic, political and environmental we can ill afford to raise a new generation

of students whose worldview is framed and constrained by such a narrow understanding of

population dynamics. Unfortunately, that is still the main approach taught in many high school

textbooks and mandated in curriculum standards. State standards for high school social studies

education mandate teaching about the explosion of population growth, and biology textbooks

like those that inspired the rst edition of this curriculum continue to abound in secondary and

post-secondary education.

We offer this second, thoroughly revised, updated and redesigned edition ofPopulation in

Perspective as an alternative and supporting curriculum resource for teachers, students, and

activists who want to explore global issues more deeply through a multicultural, gendered

and social justice lens. Though the focus is on population, the curriculum introduces students

to important information, analysis and debates about the root causes of hunger, poverty, and

environmental degradation. Our new section on global climate change presents the human

dimensions and impacts of the problem, in particular examining who is most vulnerable to climate

change and why. Throughout, the curriculums emphasis remains on active and participatory

learning: exploring ways students can engage locally, nationally, and internationally in building a

more just, peaceful, and environmentally healthy world.

As you use this curriculum, please share your experiences, lesson plans and ideas with us, as

well as other educators and activists at the curriculum website: www.populationinperspective.org.

Population in Perspective remains an evolving and growing resource, and we welcome your

thoughts and support.

Betsy Hartmann, Katie McKay Bryson and Anne Hendrixson,

Hampshire College, 2013


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Population in Perspective contains background readings, up-to-date facts and gures, pro-

vocative quotes, cartoons, poems, and ideas for teaching about population and the complex

relationship between population and hunger, the environment and climate change. The read-

ings and teaching ideas in this book are offered as a exible supplement to existing curriculum

and textbooks that feature population issues. Population in Perspective itself is not a textbook

or a day-to-day teaching guide on population issues, although it can be used that way.

How to Use Population in Perspective

Who Can Use Population in Perspective?

Teachers from a range of disciplines social studies, language arts, environmental studies, ge -

ography, mathematics and biology can draw on the materials in Population in Perspective to:

provide students with diverse viewpoints and different interpretations of global population

issues;

use population as an entry-point into the discussion of hunger, environmental degradation,poverty, and climate change;

consider how inequalities of wealth and power shape the relationships between populationand hunger, the environment and climate change; and

increase students global literacy and citizenship skills.

Format of Population in Perspective

Population in Perspective is divided into four main sections:

1. Population Perspectives in Context

2. Food, Population and Hunger

3. Population and the Environment

4. Population and Climate Change

Each section contains a one-page overview for teachers, a series of content readings for stu-

dents, and a collection of teaching ideas.


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Section 1: Population Perspectives in Context

This introductory section establishes the context for the rest of the book. It introduces students

to conventional thinking on population, questions common assumptions about overpopulation

and reframes population as a complex issue. Readings place population growth in historical

context and provide fresh information on contemporary population trends. They also introduce

students to a variety of viewpoints on population and outline different population policies. Many

of the teaching ideas that accompany this section focus on identifying bias in coverage of

population issues and can be easily adapted for use in other sections.

Section 2: Food, Population and Hunger

The politics of food and hunger, and the relationship between hunger and poverty are the central

focus of this section. The readings and activities in Section Two help students de-construct the

relationship between food, population and hunger and probe more deeply into the root causes

of hunger. They prompt students to think critically about questions such as: Does population

growth cause hunger? Are people hungry because theres not enough food to go around? Does

increased food production help eliminate hunger? How do trade and agricultural policies impacthunger? What factors are involved in peoples access to food? How are people organizing to

reclaim their human right to food? Why are so many people going hungry in the US?

Section 3: Population and the Environment

Section Three immerses students in the debates about population growth and the environ-

ment. Preliminary readings and activities identify the factors involved in the debate, explore

commonly held beliefs about population and the environment, and examine the range of eco-

nomic, social and political factors that contribute to environmental degradation. Later readings

delve more deeply into resource use and disparities in consumption levels, take a closer look

at deforestation, energy use and water shortages, and review the pros and cons of differentapproaches to solving environmental problems. The section closes with a US-oriented read-

ing that focuses on the purported link between immigration and environmental degradation,

the environmental justice movement, and the ways in which people are working to protect their

communities and resources as natural assets.

Section 4: Population and Climate Change

This new section provides an overview of the causes and emerging consequences of global

climate change, focusing in particular on disproportionate impacts experienced by marginal-

ized communities in both the Global North and Global South, and encouraging students to

think critically about the relationship between population growth and climate change. It con-

cludes by considering technological, policy, political, and community-based solutions to climate

change. Teaching exercises involve students directly in thinking about concrete ways to reduce

vulnerability to climate change and improve community resilience. The section was written by

Katie McKay Bryson with the assistance of Betsy Hartmann.


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Selecting Readings

Each reading is written as a stand-alone pieceand is designed to be used as such.

Although the readings in each section follow a logical progression, each reading is written as

a stand-alone piece and is designed to be used as such. This makes it easy for teachers to

select one or more readings that link to their own lessons, thematic units or curriculum frame-

works. For example, if a biology teacher is doing a lesson on carrying capacity, s/he could use

the carrying capacity reading and More to Explore box in Section Three to introduce students

to alternative views on the issue. Teachers can also select a particular section around which

to base a thematic unit on population, hunger, the environment or poverty. Teachers who wish

only to give students an overview of global population issues may choose to use the introduc-

tory readings and sampling of beliefs from each section.

Population in Perspective is designed to be exible

and user-friendly.

Rather than focusing exclusively on population, the readings use the subject of population as

an entry-point for learning about hunger, environmental degradation and poverty. They also

offer teachers a variety of subject specic entry-points into the study of population. These

include:

language arts (through poems, quotations and critical language investigations)

history (through More to Explore boxes that provide historical context)

geography (by featuring in-text examples from different areas the world)

math (through graphs and charts and analysis of population related statistics) visual arts (through cartoons and other images)

environmental studies (through timely information about key environmental concerns such

as deforestation and climate change.

There are numerous opportunities for students toengage in math and writing across the curriculum.

Throughout the curriculum, there are numerous opportunities for students to engage in math

and writing. Some of the readings also offer a specic regional focus, for instance on post-

Hurricane Katrina New Orleans or Zimbabwean land reform. This provides teachers who are

studying the region with their students an additional entry-point. Sections Two and Three also

contain Bringing it Home readings that examine issues related to population, hunger, and the

environment in the US. All of these entry-points are designed to enhance the usability of the

curriculum.


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In-Text Tools and Special Features ofPopulation in Perspective

Three in-text tools Think Spots, Learning Links and Quick Checks are designed to make

the readings in Population in Perspective more accessible to students and help them navigate

their way through the complex relationships between population and hunger, the environ-

ment and climate change. From a practical standpoint, these tools break up the readings into

smaller, more manageable chunks. They also offer students the opportunity to apply a range

of strategies to understand, interpret and evaluate what they read. Finally, by encouraging

students to engage with and talk back to the text, these tools promote active reading and

strengthen critical thinking skills.

Think Spots are designed to facilitate student thinking. They

give students a chance to reect on what they have read (or

are about to read), pose questions, discuss or write about key

issues, and make connections to their own lives and experi-

ences.

Learning Links help students connect new learning to pre-

vious classroom (and non-classroom) learning. They also

encourage students to think back on past social studies/history

classes to see if they can remember learning about an issuebefore.

Quick Checks are designed to help students monitor their

reading comprehension. They ask students to identify, list, or

summarize key points from the text they have just read.


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Population in Perspective contains several other special features. These are:

Quotes that Provoke: Many of the readings in Population in

Perspective begin with a set of (often-contradictory) quotes.

These are designed to spark interest, elicit reactions and high-

light diverse perspectives on global population issues. Teachers

may also wish to use them as essay prompts or debate topics.

The Did You Know? titlesignals a list of up-to-date facts,

gures and statistics on a population-related issue.

More to Explore boxes accompany many of the readings inPopulation in Perspective. They complement the content read-

ings by giving students the opportunity to return to and learn

more about important issues touched upon in the readings.

Denition boxes dene important technical terms and phrases.

Excerpts from Experts: Highlighted on yellow notepa-

per, these readings offer expert insights into the issues.

FeedbackPopulation in Perspective is a work in progress, and we are eager to receive feedback from

teachers and students about ways to improve the readings and teaching ideas. To provide

feedback, please visit our website: www.populationinperspective.org.

QUOTESTHAT

PROVOKE

Moreto

Explo

re

* Denition Boxes

ExcerptsfromExperts


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Using the Teaching Ideas

Each section ofPopulation in Perspective contains a collection of teaching ideas descrip-

tions of activities that teachers can use with the readings to enhance student understanding of

the issues. The numbering and headings of teaching ideas correspond to the numbering and

headings of section readings.

The Population and Development Program of Hampshire College recognizes that there are no

nationally mandated standards and that teachers are required to follow their own state stan-

dards when teaching.An Activity Reference Chart will be published on our website soon. The

summarized ideas for teaching and suggested links to national standards will provide a variety

of options for incorporating Population and Povertyteaching ideas into your curriculum.

The teaching ideas make use of a variety of teaching strategies to engage students in learn-

ing about global population issues. They emphasize active learning and critical thinking, and

provide many opportunities for student reection, research and action. Together with the in-text

tools, the teaching ideas give students opportunities to further develop their skills in the follow-

ing areas:

Gathering Information

brainstorming, reading comprehension, identifying main ideas, conducting interviews

Organizing Information

listing, categorizing, sequencing, mapping, graphing, drawing, charting

Analyzing Information

questioning, discussing, comparing and contrasting, identifying components and

relationships among components, identifying patterns

Interpreting Information

summarizing, drawing conclusions, dening problems, identifying cause and effect,reasoning

Applying Information

estimating, predicting, synthesizing, proposing solutions, problem solving, making

decisions, developing and implementing investigations and action plans

Evaluating Information

identifying bias, critiquing

Presenting Information

writing, illustrating, public speaking, debating, explaining, performing

Importantly, the teaching ideas and in-text tools offer students many opportunities to develop

their citizenship skills. Throughout Population in Perspective, students get to work in pairs and

groups, debate, come to consensus, take, defend and evaluate a position on an issue of public

concern, plan and take action and become involved in community decision making.


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Teachers who wish to help students further enhance their skill development in these areas and

build a consciousness of the learning process can make use of the synthesis notebook, con-

tributed by Springeld educator Dawn Fontaine. The synthesis notebook is described in detail

below:

The Synthesis Journal (McAlexander and Burrell)& The Synthesis Notebook (Dawn Fontaine)

The synthesis journal is a note-taking strategy designed to promote students ability to syn-

thesize ideas from different sources text, lecture, class discussion and personal experi-

ence into a unied whole. Importantly, it is also a scaffold for a thinking process that can

be modied to promote reasoning in many different content areas (McAlexander and Burrell

1996: 1, 3).

For the past four years, Springeld educator Dawn Fontaine has been developing and rening

her own version of the synthesis journal the synthesis notebook. She has kindly given us

permission to include it as a teaching and learning resource in Population in Perspective.

The synthesis notebook is a variation of the synthesis journal. Like the synthesis journal, the

notebook gives students a time and space to think on paper, to make connections and see

new relationships, and to promote thinking and discovery. Unlike the synthesis journal, the

notebook starts out with students own thoughts, beliefs, knowledge and feelings about a par-

ticular issue and offers a strategy for them to develop, track, reect and receive feedback on

their thoughts, beliefs, knowledge and feelings about the issue.

The synthesis notebook is designed to help students develop condence in their own knowl-

edge, build their identities as learners, academics and experts, and create a consciousness

of the learning process. Ultimately, the synthesis notebook is a tool that can help empower

students as learners. It gives students the opportunity to express themselves freely, do some

critical thinking, and practice their writing by putting their thoughts into words to share with

others in a non-judgmental setting. In this way, students can become more adept at relating

their ideas to others, giving and receiving constructive feedback, and above all, becoming

aware of other perspectives on the same subject. By personalizing learning, the synthesis

notebook is a way to give students more control over the subject matter and greater direction

for their learning.

In its simplest form, the synthesis notebook is a series of pages that are divided into vecolumns.

The rst column, labeled What I know, think, feel or believe helps students to become

self-aware of theirprior knowledge and allows teachers to see what students bring to the

learning situation.


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The second column is fornew knowledge and is labeled What I now know, think, feel or

believe. Students ll in this column after engaging in activities that give them more informa-

tion about the issue.

The third column is the synthesis column where students can think on paper about the new

understandings they have developed by synthesizing their prior knowledge with the new

information. This column gives students a chance to think about their own hypotheses, dis-

cover the possibilities for new hypotheses, and reect on what this new knowledge meansfor them.

The fourth column is for peer and teacher responses, and it is intended to be shared. Stu-

dents may exchange notebooks and respond to the thoughts and ideas of their peers, or the

teacher may review student notebooks and respond to students in this column. By sharing

their notebooks, students get the opportunity to look at the topic from other perspectives

that may be outside their own experience.

The fth column gives the owner of the notebook the opportunity to reect on the feedback

given by others in column 4. In this column students can note new perspectives that have

come to mind after sharing, revise their thinking on a topic after hearing these new perspec-

tives, or list further questions on the topic that may be pursued at a later date.

Some recommended guidelines for using the synthesis notebook include providing students

with the time and opportunity to write in them and modeling the technique using a topic of

interest. It is probably preferable that teachers not give a formal grade for synthesis notebooks

entries, but rather participate in student sharing and offer feedback where appropriate.

To use the synthesis notebook with Population in Perspective readings, simply assign a spe-

cic topic, e.g., the title of the reading, and allocate time before reading for students to ll in

column one with their prior knowledge. After completing the reading, allocate additional time for

students to take notes on their new knowledge (column 2), reect on and synthesize informa-tion (column 3), receive feedback (column 4) and reect on this feedback (column 5).

Sources

Dawn Fontaine, Class Project for EDUC 793F, UMass-Amherst, Spring 2001; Dawn Fontaine et al., Class

Presentation for EDUC 681, UMass-Amherst, Spring 2000

William G. Brozo and Michele L. Simpson, Readers, Teachers and Learners: Exploring Literacy Across the

Content Areas, 3rd. ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999)

Patricia J. McAlexander and Karen I. Burrell, Helping Students Get It Together With the Synthesis Journal

(University of Georgia, 1996). http://www.umkc.edu/cad/nade/nadedocs/96conpap/pmcpap96.htm

population in perspective, 2nd edition: introduction

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