High School Social Studies

Unit 7 - Growth and Globalization: Population, Migration, and Development

April

Overview

This World Studies unit examines the interplay between population dynamics, migration patterns, and development in the context of globalization. Students will engage in data and source analysis, utilizing maps, charts, graphs, and other tools to explore these topics at different scales. The unit explores how the private and government sectors interact in shaping population trends, migration flows, and economic development. It investigates economic sectors in both less developed countries (LDCs) and more developed countries (MDCs) and touches upon the concept of neo-colonialism, particularly in relation to global migration patterns. The unit delves into push and pull factors that influence migration and explores the role of international organizations, such as the United Nations and relief organizations, in assisting displaced populations. Students will also explore migration stories to understand the personal experiences and challenges faced by migrants. The unit connects population dynamics and development to the availability and distribution of resources, raising questions about who has access to resources and why. If time permits, the unit can further examine neocolonialism in the context of international trade issues. Additionally, students will analyze demographic transition models and the theories of Malthus and Boserup to understand population dynamics. The creation and role of the United Nations will be explored, with a specific focus on Asia as a case study. The unit underscores the concept of globalization and its impact on population, migration, and development.

The focus of each unit could include one or more of the following:

Anchor Event: The creation of the United Nations

Regional Focus: Asia

Concept: Globalization

Prepared Graduates

1. Apply the process of inquiry to examine and analyze how historical knowledge is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.
2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.
3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.
4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

Grade Level Standard(s)

GLE: History 1: Apply the historical method of inquiry to formulate compelling questions, evaluate primary and secondary sources, analyze and interpret data, and argue for an interpretation defended by textual evidence.

GLE: History 3: Analyze and evaluate key concepts of continuity and change, cause and effect, complexity, unity and diversity, and significant ideas throughout the world from the Renaissance to the present.

GLE Geography 1: Use geographic tools and resources to analyze Earth’s human systems and physical features to investigate and address geographic issues.

GLE: Geography 2: Make connections among geographic variables that influence the interactions of people, places, and environments.

GLE Geography 3: Investigate patterns of the interconnected nature of the world, its people, and places.

The highlighted evidence outcomes are the priority for all students, serving as the essential concepts and skills. It is recommended that the remaining evidence outcomes listed be addressed as time allows, representing the full breadth of the curriculum.

Students Can (Evidence Outcomes):

History: 1.1.c. Gather and analyze historical information from a range of qualitative and quantitative sources. For example: Demographic, economic, social, and political data.

History: 1.3.c. Analyze the complexity of events from the Renaissance to the present. For example: globalization.
History: 1.3.d. Examine and evaluate issues of unity and diversity in world history from the Renaissance to the present. For example: Migration and immigration (e.g., rapid global population growth), world conferences and international agreements (e.g., United Nations), and human rights issues.

Geography: 2.1.b. Create and interpret maps to display and explain the spatial patterns of cultural and environmental characteristics using geospatial and related technologies.

Geography: 2.2.a. Identify, evaluate, and communicate strategies to respond to constraints placed on human systems by the physical environment.
Geography: 2.2.b. Analyze, interpret, and predict the influences of migration and the distribution of human populations based on reciprocal patterns. For example: Historical events, the spatial diffusion of ideas, technologies, and cultural practices.
Geography: 2.2.c. Examine patterns of distribution and arrangements of settlements and the processes of the diffusion of human activities. For example: Urban/rural, regional, and transportation patterns.
Geography: 2.2.d. Explain how altering the environment has brought prosperity to some places and created environmental dilemmas for others.
Geography: 2.2.e. Research and interpret viewpoints from diverse groups. Including but not limited to: African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQ, and religious minorities’ perspectives on issues that shape policies and programs for resource use and sustainability. For example: Immigration, resource distribution, universal human rights and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Geography: 2.2.f. Evaluate the influence of long-term climate variability on human migration and settlement patterns, resource use, and land uses at local-to-global scales.
Geography: 2.3.b. Explain how shifts in the world’s population are connected to and dependent upon other people for both human and natural resources.

Geography: 2.3.c. Explain how migration of people and movement of goods and ideas can contribute to and enrich cultures, but also create tensions.
Geography: 2.3.e. Make predictions and draw conclusions about the positive and negative global impact of cultural diffusion and assimilation. For example: Human rights, language, religion, and ethnicity.
Geography: 2.3.f. Examine geographic concepts through the lens of multiple diverse perspectives from various regions of the world and with consideration for indigenous, dominant, and marginalized populations.

Essential Skills & Nature and Skills

Apply knowledge and skills to implement sophisticated, appropriate, and workable solutions to address complex global problems using interdisciplinary perspectives independently or with others (Global and Cultural Awareness, Creativity and Innovation).
Interpret geographic variables and draw conclusions based on geo-spatial analysis (Critical Thinking and Analysis).
Historical thinkers understand that the ability to analyze the significance of interactions among eras, ideas, individuals, and groups is an essential skill in an increasingly globalizing world.
Historical thinkers analyze how historical events and spatial diffusion of ideas, technology, and cultural practices have influenced migration patterns and the distribution of human population.
Geographic thinkers understand how geographic reasoning brings societies and nature under the lens of spatial analysis, and aids in personal and societal decision making and problem solving.
Geographic thinkers predict how human activities will help shape Earth’s surface and ways that people might cooperate and compete for use of Earth’s resources.
Geographic thinkers study how the physical environment is modified by human activities, including how human societies value and use natural resources.
Geographic thinkers evaluate major areas of environmental and societal interaction.
Geographic thinkers evaluate global systems such as culture, diffusion, interdependence, migration, population pyramids, regional alliances, development of competition and trade, and the impact of population changes on society.
Geographic thinkers study the interconnection between physical processes and human activities that help shape the Earth’s surface.

Inquiry Questions

How might people and societies respond to changes in the physical environment?
What are the maximum limits of human activity the environment can withstand without deterioration?
What are push and pull factors that impact migration?
How does globalization influence the interactions of people on Earth?
How do cooperation and conflict influence the division and control of the social, economic, and political spaces on Earth?
What predictions can be made about human migration patterns?

Disciplinary, Informational and Media Literacy

Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats.
Synthesize information from a range of sources such as texts, experiments, and simulations into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information, when possible.
Analyze the reliability of information, claims, and sources presented in the various forms of media.

Academic Vocabulary and Language Expectations:

globalization, migration, push and pull factors, immigration, emigration, LDCs, MDCs, demography, United Nations, development
Grade 9-12 Social Studies Language Expectations

Possible Assessments: