Unit Guide

Human Population Growth: When is enough, enough?

Michelle Hilbeck

Within this unit, students will be addressing this overlying question: with human population quickly escalating and natural resources dwindling, is it necessary for the United States to instate a population policy? The goal of the unit is for students to make their own claims about the topic and support their arguments and counter arguments with evidence they uncover by doing their own research. First, students will learn about the population policy that was in place in China and compare it to the one in the science fiction novel Among the Hidden (which is based on a futuristic America). Next, collaborating with their peers, students will compare the current environmental status of China to the United States to see if there are similarities. Students will read various news articles that discuss fresh water depletion, loss of food resources and arable land, and the endangerment of animals. Finally, students will read about both sides of human population debate to help them determine their own stance on whether or not the United States should have a population policy. This unit will expand over a one month time frame; it will be taught in correlation with a 90 minute block-schedule in a 6th grade English/Language Arts class.