Counting on Kids: Elementary Activities that Impact Our World

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1 Counting on Kids: Elementary Activities that Impact Our World Presenter: Dr. James Lane, Professor of Education Columbia College, Columbia SC, USA Resources provided by: SESSION AGENDA I. Overview of Population Education II. Sampling of Activities a. World Population Video - A five-minute film that depicts population growth from 1 CE through Population concentrations appear as dots on a map of the world. Available to stream at b. Earth: The Apple of Our Eye - A demonstration of worldwide land distribution. The instructor divides an apple representing the Earth down to the fraction that shows the amount of land used for farming. c. Crowding Can Be Seedy - A simulation and gardening lab give students hands-on experience with the effects of increasing population density. Part 1: Students pretend to be flowers growing in a flower pot. Part 2: Students track the growth of radish seeds over the course of a month. III. Closing

2 UNIT 3 HOW MANY IS ENOUGH? EARTH: THE APPLE OF OUR EYE COUNTING ON PE PLE K-5 Activities for Global Citizenship METHOD A visual demonstration that illustrates the limits on farmland, making the importance of conservation clear. MATERIALS Apple Knife Paper towels INTRODUCTION Only about 3 percent of the earth s surface is capable of growing food. Over time, better farming has made it possible to feed more and more of the world s people. But, with a limited amount of land and a growing number of people to feed from that land, each person s share of the land becomes smaller and smaller. Healthy soil is required in order for land to be fertile. Soil can be damaged if it is overused, polluted, or built upon. With our global family now over seven billion people, it is important to appreciate the limits of our farmland and to consider the personal actions that can be taken to protect it. PROCEDURE Slice the apple according to the instructions, narrating as you go. Use a globe or a map of the world to point out the regions that are discussed during the demonstration. CONCEPT Farmland is an essentially nonrenewable resource that we depend on for our food. GRADE LEVEL Upper elementary SUBJECTS Science, Social Studies, Math OBJECTIVES Students will be able to: Describe earth s geography in terms of relative amounts of water, mountains, deserts, ice, developed land, and land available for farming. Identify two reasons why protecting farmland and maintaining healthy soil is important for food production. Name at least two ways people can help to preserve farmland. SKILLS Dividing, using fractions, observing, deductive reasoning, problem solving, understanding cause and effect Note: To tie in more mathematics, have your students create pie charts of the described areas as the demonstration progresses.

3 Apple Whole Apple Narrative Hold the apple out so that the class can see it. This apple represents our planet. 3/4 Cut the apple into quarters. Hold out 3/4 in one hand. Ask the students, What do you think these pieces represent? They may want to look at the globe for help. These pieces represent all of the water in the world. 1/4 Set the three water sections aside and hold out the remaining quarter. Ask the class, What fraction of the apple remains? (1/4) So, this 1/4 represents all of the land on our planet. 1/8 Slice the land (the remaining 1/4) in half, lengthwise. Hold out one of the pieces. Ask the class, What fraction of the apple is this? (1/8) This 1/8 represents the areas where people can t live, and we also can t grow food. Ask students what types of land might fall into this category. (Polar areas, deserts, swamps, very high or rocky mountains) Say, We call this land inhospitable. 1/8 Hold up the other 1/8. Explain that this is land where people can live, but not all of the soil is good or available to grow food. Slice the 1/8 piece crosswise into 4 equal sections. Ask the class, What fraction of the apple does each of these sections represent? (1/32) Hold three of the sections in one hand. 3/32 These 3/32 represent land on which people can live, but we can t grow food. Some of this land is either too wet, dry, rocky, steep, or has soil too poor to grow food. Other parts of this land are protected parks and nature areas that will never be developed or used to grow food. The rest of this land is developed for people to use: cities, suburbs, highways, shopping centers, schools parks, factories, parking lots, and other places where people live, work, or use in other ways. Set the 3/32 aside and hold out the 1/32. 1/32 This 1/32 represents the portion of the earth that can be used to grow food to feed all the people living on our planet. Unit 3 How Many is Enough? Activity: Earth: The Apple of Our Eye, Page 2

4 Apple 1/32 Peel Narrative Carefully peel the 1/32 slice of earth. Hold out the peel. This tiny bit of peel represents top soil, the very thin layer of the earth s crust in which people grow food. It is less than five feet deep and it takes 100 years for one inch of topsoil to form. It is very important that this tiny bit of soil be taken care of so that we can grow food for all the earth s people. Some Threats to Farmland: Soil erosion, the removal of soil from the earth s surface by wind and water, is the most serious cause of soil loss and degradation. Although it is a natural process, erosion is accelerated greatly by things like construction, deforestation, unsustainable farming practices, and animal grazing. Farmland is also lost to urban sprawl, or the expansion of an urban area into areas of countryside that surround it. Farmland can be threatened by the demand to build more housing developments, roads, and shopping centers. After the demonstration, it is important to talk with your students about ways people can help keep soil clean and healthy. Use the Discussion Questions below as a guide for class discussion. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What are some foods you eat everyday that come from the soil? Answers will vary but may include: grains (like rice, wheat for bread, and corn for cereal), apples and other fruits that grow on trees, carrots and other vegetables, spinach and other green leafy plants. 2. What things can cause erosion? The roots and fallen leaves and branches of plants help to keep soil in place. When trees are cut down through deforestation, the soil is no longer protected and it easily washes away in the wind and rain. Planting trees can help prevent soil erosion. Another example is overgrazing. When cattle eat grass, they pull it out of the ground by the roots, taking some soil with it. Each bite leaves a patch of ground uncovered, exposed to the wind and the rain. Also, these animals have sharp hooves that tear up the surface a little with each step. 3. What is overfarming? Invite students to brainstorm what overfarming might be, just by the sound of the word. Oerfarming occurs when we ask too much of the land. We used to practice crop rotation, which means we divided farmland into sections, and grew a different crop in each section. Each year, the kind of crop grown in each section would be changed, and one section would be left unplanted, to let it rest for a year. Now, Unit 3 How Many is Enough? Activity: Earth: The Apple of Our Eye, Page 3

5 many farms plant only one kind of crop. This practice, known as monoculture, is widely used today because these crops are easier to maintain, faster to grow, and less expensive to farm. However, each kind of crop takes different nutrients from the soil, so if the same crop is grown in the same place for too many years in a row, the soil has no chance to renew itself. Eventually, all of that particular nutrient will be gone and that soil will be unable to grow anything. 4. What are some ways we could help preserve farmland? Answers will vary but may include: choosing not to build anything on land that could be used to grow food, keeping the soil and water clear of pollution by disposing of chemicals properly, planting trees in areas that might be prone to erosion, conserving energy to help reduce pollution that becomes acid rain and pollutes the soil, buying food from farmers who practice crop rotation (most small local farms rotate their crops), teaching others about the importance of protecting our soil. 5. Where else does food come from beside farmland? Waterways including oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams. Remind students, though, that overpopulation also leads to overfishing and the dumping of pollutants into the waterways. MEASURING LEARNING Ask students to imagine that they are citizens of a town that is rapidly growing. The city council wants to build houses and other buildings on nearby farmland. Have each student write a letter to the local newspaper of their fictitious town explaining why it is important to preserve the farmland. They should include two reasons why healthy soil is important for food production. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES 1. Arrange a class field trip to a local farm. At the farm, explore foods that come from the farm, discuss with the farmer how the farm may have changed over the years, and investigate how the farmer keeps the soil healthy. 2. Try the activity, Scraps Into Soil, in the People and Waste unit of this curriculum in order to further explore soil and introduce students to the concept of composting. You can use the soil from the activity to start a class or school garden. Adapted from an activity that first appeared in KUITATK, a Native American Science Education Association Issue Publication. Unit 3 How Many is Enough? Activity: Earth: The Apple of Our Eye, Page 4

6 UNIT 5 CROWDING CROWDING CAN BE SEEDY METHOD A simulation and gardening lab give students hands-on experience with the effects of increasing population density. MATERIALS Part 1: 20 ft of yarn/tape or chalk Part 2: Package of radish seeds (or other fast germinating seeds) Potting soil Plastic containers to plant seeds (per student) Water-catch basins (plastic lids, aluminum pans, etc.) Labels INTRODUCTION Different plants and animals need different amounts of space to grow well and be healthy. In this activity, students will first simulate seeds sprouting together in a crowded pot then plant real seeds in a gardening lab to determine how space makes a difference in their growth. COUNTING ON PE PLE K-5 Activities for Global Citizenship CONCEPT Crowding affects the ability of living things to thrive. GRADE LEVEL Lower elementary SUBJECTS Science, Social Studies, Math OBJECTIVES Students will be able to: Describe two effects of crowding on living things. Name two resources plants need to grow well. Chronicle observations of growing plants using pictures and words. SKILLS Observing, collecting and analyzing data, drawing, basic gardening, understanding cause and effect, employing the Scientific Method PART 1: THE SPROUTS GAME PROCEDURE 1. Mark off a 5 ft x 5 ft (1.5 m x 1.5 m) area with yarn, tape, or chalk. 2. Ask someone to assume the role of a seed. The seed is planted inside the square and remains dormant. (Person should be sitting with head tucked.) You can use the following rhyme to signal the seed to start growing.

7 The sun shines, the wind blows, the rain falls and the little seed grows! Given a signal to sprout, the seed slowly becomes active and finally becomes a mature plant, standing and slowly waving its stem and branches (using arms and upper body). Ask the student: Do you have enough soil for your roots? Enough space for your leaves? Enough light? 3. Now plant more and more seeds (students) in the same area and (try to) repeat the growth process each time. Be sure to interview the seeds after each round. Set ground rules about touching other students. (Ex. If you touch another plant, you have become tangled and cannot grow, so you must go back into the ground.) DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What happened to some of the seeds? As the activity progressed, the seeds became more crowded and had less space to spread their roots and leaves. Each seed had a smaller share of the soil and the rain. 2. How did you feel if you did not have enough room to sprout and grow? 3. Think of your own home and the people you share it with. What would it be like if there were two or three times as many of you living there? What things might there be too much or not enough of? (Possible answers: too much noise, trash; not enough beds, food, hot water, space, privacy, quiet, etc.) How do you think you and the people you live with would like that? PART 2: GARDENING GROWTH PROCEDURE 1. Make planting pots by punching drainage holes in the bottoms of plastic containers deep enough for growing radishes. 2. Fill the pots with potting soil to about 1/4 inch below the rim. 3. Distribute the seeds as follows: Give 1/3 of the class (Group 1) one seed each; give 1/3 of the class (Group 2) two seeds each; give 1/3 of the class (Group 3) six to ten seeds each. 4. Plant seeds at the depth recommended on the seed package. Each student should plant all his or her seeds in a single hole in the middle of the carton. Students should label their cartons with their names, the number of seeds planted, and the date. Unit 5 Crowding Activity: Crowding Can Be Seedy, Page 2

8 5. Set the pots in a lighted spot and keep them moist. Seeds should germinate in about one week. Maintain the plants during the growth period and have students draw and make notes on the growth observed (including measuring height) for their plants either in a science journal or on the provided Student Worksheet. Place the pots for each group together so that students can compare the foliage among groups. Make sure all of the plants receive the same amount of water and sunlight to eliminate multiple variables from the experiment. 6. Harvest the radishes when foliage appears thick and mature. It should take days from the time you plant the radishes to when you harvest them (using spring varieties). Compare the size and relative health of the plants and radishes for the different groups. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Which students grew the largest radish? The smallest? 2. Which group overall grew the largest, most healthy-looking radishes? Why do you think that was the case? Most likely, Group 1 grew the largest radishes. The seeds in this group had the most space, received all of the sunlight, could take in the soil s nutrients, etc. MEASURING LEARNING Review students science journals or worksheets for their observations and drawings of the plants over the course of the month and gauge understanding from classroom discussion. Unit 5 Crowding Activity: Crowding Can Be Seedy, Page 3

9 CROWDING CAN BE SEEDY STUDENT WORKSHEET Name: Date: Group: In each block on the chart below, draw a picture of your plant for Days 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 and measure the height of the plant with a ruler. On Day 30, you can draw the radishes that were pulled up from the roots. Day 5 Day 10 Day 15 Day 20 Day 25 Day 30 Unit 5 Crowding Activity: Crowding Can Be Seedy Student Worksheet, Page 1

10 1. How many seeds did you plant in your pot? 2. On which day did your plant begin to sprout? 3. How many radishes grew in your pot? 4. Did your plant and radishes look healthy? How can you tell? 5. How do your plants and radishes compare to the ones grown by others in your group? 6. How do your plants and radishes compare to the ones grown by students in the other two groups? 7. Name two resources that your plant needed to be healthy. and 8. Name two effects of crowding too many plants in the pot. and Unit 5 Crowding Activity: Crowding Can Be Seedy Student Worksheet, Page 2

11 Download FREE lesson plans at PopulationEducation.org Classroom resources and lesson plans are Age appropriate and range K-12 Use real-world issues and data Adaptable for all learning styles building skills in literacy, number sense, science, and geography. Interdisciplinary content includes... environmental awareness interdependence in nature understanding human needs and wants (food, energy, water and shelter) resource use and availability the importance of environmental stewardship and conservation. Questions? L Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, D.C USA

PE PLE CROWDING CAN BE SEEDY

PE PLE CROWDING CAN BE SEEDY UNIT 5 CROWDING CROWDING CAN BE SEEDY METHOD A simulation and gardening lab give students hands-on experience with the effects of increasing population density. MATERIALS Part 1: 20 ft of yarn/tape or