Lesson Plan for Activity #5
Population Histograms


Lesson # 6

Overview:

Students interpret population growth patterns from population histograms.

Objectives: 

  • Determine the trend of population growth in the U.S. population using population histograms
  • Make predictions of population growth using population histograms
  • Identify countries with different growth rates based on the shapes of their population histograms
  • Make connections between population growth rate and industrial development of a country
Notes to Teacher: 

Students will learn how to interpret population histograms (also known as population pyramids) in this lesson. Students sometimes have difficulty interpreting what is shown in these histograms. One suggestion for students that may need additional help is to have them actually draw their own histogram based on the data provided in the IDB database. Then they can compare the histogram they drew to the one provided in the IDB database. 

Students should find examples of each of the following: rapid growth, slow growth, no growth and negative growth. This may involve some slow hunting at first on their part, but they will probably soon notice which types of countries exhibit certain types of growth patterns. This naturally leads into a discussion about the industrial development of a country.