The driving question for this brief is based on the most common question that teachers, principals, school leaders, coaches, and grant writers ask the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) about Project Based Learning (PBL): What evidence exists that shows the impact of Project Based Learning on student learning in core content areas? Research shows…

These lessons are based on U.S. Census 2000 results, focusing on changes in the United States during the 1990s. Students construct choropleth (thematic) maps, analyze information from tables and maps, discuss the impact of the Census 2000 apportionment counts on their state and the United States, and calculate population totals. Lessons include…

A kit containing 10 classroom activities with student work sheets, background information, a glossary, and samples of census data current and past is presented. The material is designed as a classroom resource to learn about the value and significance of the national census. Suggested topics for outreach activities; classroom materials; a…

Population issues discussed are: (1) the growing elderly population in industrialized nations; (2) the debt crunch; and (3) immigration. The focus of the article on the elderly is Japan's elderly population, which will nearly double, from 10 to 18.7%, by 2010. In 1986, the Japanese government took steps to delay the age at which full pensions are…

The Americas conventionally are divided into two continents, North and South America, with the place of demarcation at the border between Panama and Colombia. Yet a generation of students is growing up with the broad but imprecise term Latin America, referring to all of those countries south of the United States, while North America has come to…

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…

The results of four recent studies that contain different estimates of the number of language minority and/or limited English proficient children in the United States are compared. Such estimates of the number of children in need of bilingual or special educational language services are important since they are used to determine services and their…

Reports details of a study of teacher perceptions of children's adjustment to preschool. Indicates teacher perceptions that girls, morning class attenders, and children in multiethnic classes adjusted better to school than did boys, all-white British classes, and afternoon attenders. Identifies induction policies, group make-up, and teacher…

This teaching supplement from the U.S. Census Bureau is designed for educators in grades 5 through 12. The Bureau offers it as a way of addressing the needs and concerns of teachers as they attempt to include statistical information about the everyday world in an effort to meet new educational standards. The supplement is presented in order to…

This document provides information about an undergraduate course that introduces college students to major social, economic, and political influences that have affected the demographic structure of the nation's population over the last four decades. The course permits students, working in small teams, to investigate the ways in which changes in…

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;…

This document describes how to construct and compare choropleth maps for selected Iowa communities and the construction and use of scatter diagrams as a supplement to map comparisons. These tools can be used to compare social, economic, and political variations between neighborhoods and to determine if associations exist between selected…

The four issues of this volume are each concerned with a specific topic in population studies. Issue number 1 , "Demographic Illiteracy," indicates that U.S. students are not aware of world population growth patterns. The information is taken from the Second International Science Study, 1983. An annotated list of 16 population studies resources is…

This map kit is designed to demonstrate graphically the size of countries of the Middle East in comparison to the United States and to each of the 50 states. Basic demographic statistics for each Middle Eastern country and for each of the 50 states are included to enhance comparisons. The overarching premise behind this map kit is that the visual…

Existing demographic analyses do not explain the negative relationship between population growth and life-support systems that are now emerging in scores of developing countries. The demographic transition, a theory first outlined by demographer Frank Notestein in 1945, classified all societies into one of three stages. Drawing heavily on the…