Sunday, November 6, 2011

Visualizing the World Population at 7 Billion





Whether the world's population reached 7 billion people as of this past Monday is still in question, but the figure is close, if not over it. According to the running tally on Breathingearth, there are still about 50 thousand more births to go. More importantly, what does this look like when we try to explain it to our students? For most of them, the concept of understanding 7 billion people is writing out the number with a lot of zeros. Even though we can demonstrate this by having students compare the number 7 to 7,000,000,000 to see the difference, to them it is just a number. They have no real connection to it.

Knowing how large the population is today does not help them understand how we got there, nor does it explain why it continues to grow. An excellent visualization to help younger students grasp population size and the reason for its sustainability is the NPR video clip below, called Visualizing How a Population Grows to 7 Billion, by Adam Cole. It is a clear and creative demonstration using the concept of water in a glass to represent continents and countries over time. Liquid filling the glass symbolizes births and leaking from the glass signifies deaths. As advances in medicine and food production take hold, the leaks slow, and eventually births begin to outnumber deaths. This simple visual representation of population growth would fit into any history, math, or geography lesson.

1 comment:

  1. Wisdom Overseasis authorized India's Exclusive Partner of Southwestern University PHINMA, the Philippines established its strong trust in the minds of all the Indian medical aspirants and their parents. Under the excellent leadership of the founder Director Mr. Thummala Ravikanth, Wisdom meritoriously won the hearts of thousands of future doctors and was praised as the “Top Medical Career Growth Specialists" among Overseas Medical Education Consultants in India.

    Southwestern University PHINMAglobally recognized university in Cebu City, the Philippines facilitating educational service from 1946. With the sole aim of serving the world by providing an accessible, affordable, and high-quality education to all the local and foreign students. SWU PHINMA is undergoing continuous changes and shaping itself as the best leader with major improvements in academics, technology, and infrastructure also in improving the quality of student life

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...


Pin It