The U.S. Census is a geography teacher's toolbox. As a member of the Statistics in Schools (SIS) development team, Chris Bunin was tasked with exploring existing resources to develop lesson plans. Census.gov is a dynamic online reservoir filled with infographics and visualizations, articles and reports, and best practice instructional materials.…

In a world with an ever-increasing population, diminishing natural resources, and greater levels of consumption, sustainability has emerged as a critical concept and it encompasses everything from international policy to lifestyle changes to "green" technologies. While various aspects of sustainability have been adopted by schools and…

There is considerable research on the difficulties students have in conceptualising individual concepts of probability and statistics (see for example, Bryant & Nunes, 2012; Jones, 2005). The unit of work developed for the action research project described in this article is specifically designed to address some of these in order to help…

The book "If the World Were a Village," by David J. Smith, is the context for analysing and creating graphs of the world's demographic information. Students examine numerical information regarding the more than six billion world inhabitants by imagining the world's population as 100 people.

This study serves as a teaching aid for teachers of introductory statistics. The aim of this study was limited to determining various sample sizes when estimating population proportion. Tables on sample sizes were generated using a C[superscript ++] program, which depends on population size, degree of precision or error level, and confidence…

This article describes an easy and cheap laboratory exercise for students to discover their own mitochondrial haplogroup. Students use buccal swabs to obtain mucosa cells as noninvasive tissue samples, extract DNA, and with a simple polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis they can obtain DNA fragments of…

How can teachers encourage their geography students to make sense of big numbers? The key math skills geography students need to apply are ones they learned long ago in fifth grade: estimation and place value. However, in order to recognize the size of a city, or strength of a country's per capita income, or value of a birth rate, they need…

The technique of distance sampling is widely used to monitor biological populations. This paper documents an in-class activity to introduce students to the concepts and the mechanics of distance sampling in a simple situation that is relevant to their own experiences. Preparation details are described. Variations and extensions to the activity are…

Using Microsoft® Excel, several interactive, computerized learning modules are developed to illustrate the Central Limit Theorem's appropriateness for comparing the difference between the means of any two populations. These modules are used in the classroom to enhance the comprehension of this theorem as well as the concepts that provide the…

A description of the geographic planning and operation of the 1990 U.S. Census presented in cartoon form, this booklet carries the user through the stages of the development of the materials needed for census field enumeration activities. Maps were drawn for address reference files, and geographic reference files were created. These cartoons…

This document contains reproducible black and white materials for teaching about the 1990 United States census. There are maps, charts, and graphs of population projections by region; historical census data; projections of populations changes; world population; minority population figures; age charts; number of dependents; housing units;…

Presents a geography lesson on China to be used to help students understand contemporary and historical China. Suggests that China's population may be the most important factor shaping Chinese culture today. Includes teaching strategies and a student handout to provide an understanding of culture through the geographical concepts of place and…

Discusses the issue of human population. Illustrates the projections of the growing human population in terms of developed and less developed countries. Describes the family planning programs in several countries. Lists three references for further reading. (YP)

A Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) may be comprised of one or more counties, can cross state lines, and must contain a city or urbanized area of 50,000 or more people. The population of the whole county (or counties) is included in the MSA even if part of the county is rural. A Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) must have over…

Describes an experiment relating to fossil populations and using snails. Presented are the procedures and questions for the experiment. Provides four topics for additional study. (YP)