Unit Four Plans: Disease, Hunger, and Population

Learning Objectives

Oregon's Common Curriculum Goals:

History

• World History
1. Understand and interpret events, issues and developments in four spheres of human activity (i.e., economic, social, political, cultural) within and across eras of world history:
• Era 3: 1000 BC - 300 AD
• Era 4: 300 - 1000
• Era 5: 1000 - 1500
• Era 6: 1450 - 1770
• Era 7: 1750 - 1914
• Historical Relationships
1. Analyze cause and effect relationships, including multiple causations.
2. Interpret and reconstruct chronological relationships.
3. Recognize and interpret change and continuity within four broad content themes: interaction of people, cultures, and ideas; economic and technological developments and their impact on society; American politics and political thought; role of the United States in the world.
4. Understand relationships among events, issues and developments that cross spheres of human activity (i.e., economic, social, political, cultural).
5. Understand how contemporary perspectives affect historical interpretations.

Geography

• Distribution and Migration of People, Ideas and Products
1. Analyze the causes of human migration and its effects.
2. Predict trends in world numbers and patterns of developing and developed nations.
• Interaction Between Physical and Human Systems
1. Describe the consequences of humans changing the physical environment and how human changes in one place affect other places.
2. Describe how physical charcteristics of places and regions affect human activities.
3. Understand the geographic results of resource use and management programs and policies.

Social Science Analysis

• Analysis
1. Define and clarify an issue so that its dimensions are well understood.
2. Explain various perspectives on an event or issue and the reasoning behind them.
3. Identify, analyze and select a course of action to resolve an issue.

Content Goals:

• Students will understand the impact of disease and famine on human populations.
• Students will understand the historical trend of population growth.
• Students will understand the factors contributing to population growth.
• Students will analyze current population trends, predict possible outcomes from those trends, and make recommendations for policies addressing any potential problems related to growth.

Content Resources

Readings:

• Chapter 6 "The Long Struggle" in Clive Ponting's A Green History of the World (pp. 88- 116)
• Small Group Activity (Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical - Mathematical, Spatial

Compose a list which identifies the major causes of famine and hunger and their effects. Formulate a chart which ranks the causes and effects by their severity and provide a scoring guide with which you can assess how severe any particular famine situation is to the society it impacts (Obviously, for the individual, death by famine is severe no matter what its causes or how widespread its effects. Nevertheless, famines do vary in their impact on societies as a whole. It is this societal level at which you should make your chart and scoring guide.).

Model Chart

	Effect 1	Effect 2	Effect 3
Cause 1	Score	Score	Score
Cause 2	Score	Score	Score
Cause 3	Score	Score	Score

Model Scoring Guide

---

0----------10----------20----------30----------40----------50

Light------------------------------------------------------Severe

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• Individual Assignment (Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Musical, Bodily - Kinesthetic) -

Now that you have created your chart and scoring guide, consider if the causes are sufficient to create a famine in our country in the present time. How severe might the effects be in a worse case scenario? Are there any additional causes which you think should be added to your chart which might account for a modern famine? In a reflective piece of writing, the lyrics to a song, or a short piece of drama, express what it might be like to live through such a famine. Be prepared to share or present your work to the class.

• Chapter 11 "The Changing Face of Death" in Clive Ponting's A Green History of the World (pp. 224-239)
• Individual Assignment (Linguistic, Interpersonal, Spatial, Logical - Mathematical) -

Research and give an informative speach on one aspect of the Ponting's Chapter 11. You may select your topic from any material he addresses or something related which you approve with the teacher. Create a visual aid to supplement your speech. Your speech should be 3-5 minutes in length and offer some background information, interpretation, and analysis.

• Chapter 12 "The Weight of Numbers" in Clive Ponting's A Green History of the World (pp. 240-266)
• Small Group Activity (Linguistic, Mathematical - Logical, Spatial, Interpersonal) -

Construct a visual timeline and graph of the world's population growth. Mark out key points along the timeline (first billion people, etc.) and use symbols to put that growth in a context by showing key events in world history along the population growth curve.

• Individual Assignment (Linguistic, Intrapersonal) -

Write a short reflective paper in which you predict what you think will happen to the world's population in the next 50 - 100 years. Contemplate any impact this population level may have on you, either directly or indirectly. Explain your conclusions.

• Whole Class Discussion (Linguistic, Interpersonal, Mathematical - Logical, Intrapersonal) -

Discuss your conclusions and predictions from your reflection paper. Defend your position and challenge others whose opinions differ from yours.

Debate whether there should be any efforts made to influence the trends which you have identified. If so, what should those efforts be?

• Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal"
• Individual Assignment (Linguistic, Intrapersonal) -

Respond to Swift's essay, "A Modest Proposal" in a 3-4 paragraph short essay of your own. Discuss why you think Swift made the proposal and what could have been done about the problems that inspired it. Describe your feelings and reaction to the essay as you read it. Since Swift's proposal was satrirical and never meant to be taken as a real suggestion, suggest what real alternatives might have been possible for Swift's situation in 18th century England and what alternatives might be available for our 20th century world situation.

Videos:

• Black Death: March 27, 1361
• Ebola: The Plague Fighters

Links:

• The Black Death Page
• The Black Death in Italy
• The Ebola Virus Page
• US Census World Population Clock
• World Population Clock and Historical Data
• Life Support System
• The Tragedy of the Commons - Garrett Hardin (1968)