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@Text:This unit is intended to make the student aware of the seriousness of the "population explosion" and to satisfy the National Science Education Standards on Populations and the abilities of technology to identify and implement solutions to the various population problems.
A good start for this unit on population can be found in "Populations" by the Globe Book Company. It starts off by using the example of giving a party for 15 friends. However, each person decided to bring another person with them making a total of 30 people in attendance. This caused the party to be "overpopulated" for the amount of refreshments and space. Everyone leaves the party hungry and there was not enough room to socialize and dance. As most students have gone to parties that have been well organized as well as those that have been "crashed," they can begin to relate to the problem of overpopulation. The teacher can stress that this is just an example of overpopulation on a small basis but ask them to think about this form of living worldwide everyday.
Ask them to come up with some solutions for solving the situation at the party. Make it clear to them that the party situation can be remedied more easily than the worldwide population problem. Unlike the party, we live in a "closed" system and cannot send out for more resources nor can we kick people, once born, off our planet. Therefore, we must look at the situation and begin to take proper steps to save our world from unnecessary disaster.
A good demonstration to show a "closed" system is to use a flask, balloon, hot plate and a balance. Place the balloon over the opening of the flask and measure the combined mass. Place them on the hot plate and heat the flask. The balloon will expand as the air inside is warmed. Remove the flask and balloon from the hot plate (do not touch with your bare hands) and measure the combined mass. Ask students why there was no appreciable change in the mass before and after heating. They will tell you that no air could get in or out of the container. This should help them understand what we mean by a closed system.
Man has the greatest impact on our "Closed System," the Earth. Technology, use of natural resources and standard of living contribute to population attitudes such as birth rate, emigration and immigration to name a few.
To help the student understand the complexity and seriousness of solving population problems, we may use CPUP Kits at various stages of the unit. These are field-tested, age appropriate activity centered kits available to New Haven teachers of science. These kits allow the student to investigate societal issues that are happening in the real world today and hopefully make many of the concepts on population more understandable by providing an opportunity to perform scientific investigations and make decisions based on their data. These investigations make them realize that science and technology have certain limitations.
A brief explanation will be given about these kits and suggestions will be made where these kits may be used.
