Tracking Population Pressure
​                                                                                                            By:  Sarah Kapenga

Project at a Glance :

This project will be run early spring, and students will be tackling the issue of overpopulation. Students will need to take a mindful and empathetic approach to tackling this potentially controversial topic. Aspects of the solution will need to include education, health care, government and sustainability (including agriculture, development, living space, and energy). Students will present their solutions to their classmates.
       
Driving Question:

How can we, as helpful global citizens, alleviate the problems caused by overpopulation?             

Standards:

• HS-LS2-1 Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support explanations of factors that affect carrying capacity of ecosystems at different scales. 
• HS-LS2-2 Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales. 
• HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.

Team / Culture Building:

• Use the Creative DNA assessment or My Creative Type.com  (Adobe) to help determine diverse groups of students.
• Hopes, Fears, & Norms
• Values Cards (very appropriate for THIS topic! which is hard to do with science standards)

​Entry Event:

• We will do a simulation where the class of 30 represents the word population. Students will get assigned, in correct proportions their nationality, education level, income level, family size etc.  
• This will be followed up with a brief video showing the world’s most typical person.

Stakeholders:

• Farmers
• Manufacturers
• Health and Human Services
• Local, State, and Federal government
• All humans
• Outdoor Discovery Center experts
• MACC experts

Empathy Building:

• Stakeholders Map
• Empathy Map (Students will be in groups and each group will be assigned a fake person who embodies a specific global demographic).
• Pains and Gains protocol
• Rip, Slap, Pass with NEED TO KNOWs and interview questions for the panel.
• Interview a  panel of global healthcare workers, local county health officials, and hopefully some population scientists.

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• Group and Saturate the Need to Knows
• Personal interviews with transplants who have come from diverse cultures
• Research population growth
• Tell it to the Toddler​

Incubation:

• Use the Idea Quota protocol to generate solution ideas.
• Saturate and Group ideas without talking to one another.​​

• Anti-problem/Solution 
• Tell it to a Toddler 
• Elevator Pitch
• Dot Voting​

Checking in:

• Use a Padlet or Peardeck (with entry and exit questions)
• Google form for check ins
• Revisit Hopes, Fears, & Norms​

• 1-on-1 with groups using the KWL strategies.
• Critical Friends

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Solution Building:

• Group and Saturate from 100 ideas quota, without talking to one another
• Build Prototypes of solution
• Use Dot Voting to narrow down solutions for presentation.
• NUF test
• $100 test
• Discuss the idea of a multi-pronged approach for solution.

Critique and Revision: 

• Charette​

• Poster session
• Authentic audience/Adult  feedback that are NOT the people students will present to.​

Authentic Audience:​

• County Commissioners
• MACC experts
• Outdoor Discovery experts
•  Other adults

Final Presentation:

• Speedboat protocol​​

• Live or video recording depending on scheduling of their pitch.
• Students will be able to choose the presentation vehicle they use.

Reflection and Feedback:

• ​Use the IChallengeU rubric for audience and teacher to complete.
• Critical Friends protocol ​

• Q and A with audience
• Warm and Cool feedback from the audience.​

Click here for the teacher's Journey through PBL on Padlet . . .

Meet the Educator:
Sarah Kapenga teaches Biology and Anatomy at Hamilton HIgh School.

     "The learning has meaning when the kids NEED to know. Searching out the information for themselves makes it STICK!"