Population in Perspective:

A Curriculum Resource
Second Edition

ection S w e N ate m i l C n o e! Chang

Produced by the Population and Development Program Hampshire 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.

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 profit. 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 popdev@hampshire.edu.

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

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

Designer
Moira Clingman

Copy Editors
Christopher Setzer Rebecca Clingman

Teacher Reviewers for First Edition

Beth Wohlleb Adel Laila di Silvio Dawn Fontaine Kristen French

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Copyright Page

Population in Perspective: A Curriculum Resource

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii How to use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

SECTION 2 POPULATION, FOOD AND 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

SECTION 1 POPULATION PERSPECTIVES IN 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 and Population Aging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 D. Young Populations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 E. Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 F. Urbanization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

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

1:3 Influential 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

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Contents

Contents

SECTION 3
POPULATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
119

SECTION 4 POPULATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Overview for Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 4:1 What Is Climate Change? . . . . . . . . . . . 190 A. Causes of Climate Change . . . . . . . 195 B. Ecosystem Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Contents

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

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 Teaching Ideas for Section 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Notes for Section 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

3:5 Solutions, Solutions, Solutions . . . . . . . . 157 3:6 Bringing It Home: Population and the Environment in the US . . . . . . . . . . 159 Teaching Ideas for Section 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Attachments for Section 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Notes for Section 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

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We are deeply grateful to the many individuals and institutions that made Population

in 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 financial 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.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

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 benefited 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 of Population 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 Bolivian adaptation of the first 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 first 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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Why a New Curriculum on Population?

The world is overpopulated... Population pressure is destroying the environment... People go hungry because there is not enough food to go around... Poor people keep themselves poor by having too many babies... If we dont get population growth under control in the Third World, those people are going to migrate here and take our jobs... Whatever your cause, its a lost cause without population control...

These statements reflect 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 or heard 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 difficult, 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 flood 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

* Teresa Audesirk and Gerald Audesirk, Biology: Life on Earth, 4th ed., (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1996), 865

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Preface

Preface to the First Edition

and Global South. Third, it reduces complex webs of causality to a simple linear cause-andeffect 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 first 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 reflect 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 high school level, with units also appropriate for students in the first 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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Preface

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 field. 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

Preface to the Second Edition

Eight years have passed since the Population and Development Program at Hampshire College released the first edition of Population 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

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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, stifle 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 first edition of this curriculum continue to abound in secondary and post-secondary education. We offer this second, thoroughly revised, updated and redesigned edition of Population 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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Preface

Population in Perspective contains background readings, up-to-date facts and figures, provocative quotes, cartoons, poems, and ideas for teaching about population and the complex relationship between population and hunger, the environment and climate change. The readings and teaching ideas in this book are offered as a flexible 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.

Who Can Use Population in Perspective?

Teachers from a range of disciplines social studies, language arts, environmental studies, geography, 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 population and 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 students, and a collection of teaching ideas.

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How to Use

How to Use Population in Perspective

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 impact hunger? 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 environment. 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 economic, 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 different approaches to solving environmental problems. The section closes with a US-oriented reading 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 marginalized 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 concludes 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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How to Use

Section 1: Population Perspectives in Context

Each reading is written as a stand-alone piece and 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 frameworks. 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 introductory readings and sampling of beliefs from each section.

Population in Perspective is designed to be flexible 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 specific 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 to engage 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 specific regional focus, for instance on postHurricane 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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How to Use

Selecting Readings

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 environment 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 reflect 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 experiences.

Learning Links help students connect new learning to previous 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 issue before.

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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In-Text Tools and Special Features of Population in Perspective

QUOTES THAT PROVOKE

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 highlight diverse perspectives on global population issues. Teachers may also wish to use them as essay prompts or debate topics.

The Did You Know? title signals a list of up-to-date facts, figures and statistics on a population-related issue.

o et e r Mo plor Ex

More to Explore boxes accompany many of the readings in Population in Perspective. They complement the content readings by giving students the opportunity to return to and learn more about important issues touched upon in the readings.

* Definition Boxes

Definition boxes define important technical terms and phrases.

ts Excerpts from Exper

Excerpts from Experts: Highlighted on yellow notepaper, these readings offer expert insights into the issues.

Feedback
Population 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.

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How to Use

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

Using the Teaching Ideas

Each section of Population in Perspective contains a collection of teaching ideas descriptions 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 standards 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 Poverty teaching ideas into your curriculum. The teaching ideas make use of a variety of teaching strategies to engage students in learning about global population issues. They emphasize active learning and critical thinking, and provide many opportunities for student reflection, research and action. Together with the in-text tools, the teaching ideas give students opportunities to further develop their skills in the following 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, defining 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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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 synthesize ideas from different sources text, lecture, class discussion and personal experience into a unified whole. Importantly, it is also a scaffold for a thinking process that can be modified to promote reasoning in many different content areas (McAlexander and Burrell 1996: 1, 3). For the past four years, Springfield educator Dawn Fontaine has been developing and refining 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 particular issue and offers a strategy for them to develop, track, reflect and receive feedback on their thoughts, beliefs, knowledge and feelings about the issue. The synthesis notebook is designed to help students develop confidence in their own knowledge, 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 five columns. The first column, labeled What I know, think, feel or believe helps students to become self-aware of their prior knowledge and allows teachers to see what students bring to the learning situation.

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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, contributed by Springfield educator Dawn Fontaine. The synthesis notebook is described in detail below:

 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, discover the possibilities for new hypotheses, and reflect on what this new knowledge means for them. The fourth column is for peer and teacher responses, and it is intended to be shared. Students 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 fifth column gives the owner of the notebook the opportunity to reflect 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 perspectives, 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 specific topic, e.g., the title of the reading, and allocate time before reading for students to fill 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), reflect on and synthesize information (column 3), receive feedback (column 4) and reflect 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

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The second column is for new knowledge and is labeled What I now know, think, feel or believe. Students fill in this column after engaging in activities that give them more information about the issue.