Discovering Demographics:

A Lesson in Reading, Interpreting, and Displaying Demographic Data

by Teresa Brain
La Grande High School
La Grande, Oregon

STRATEGIES:

Put students in groups of three or four. Group students heterogeneously. Provide posterboard, markers, rulers, and other art supplies. Give to each group the instructions for the poster project.

POSTER PROJECT ASSIGNMENT

Display 8 of the following statistics. You may be able to combine some data on one graph. Consider carefully before you do this, however.

• Population
• Population density
• Per capita GDP
• Motor vehicles in use
• Television sets per person
• Radios per person
• Telephones per person
• Life expectancy
• Rate of natural increase
• Physicians per person
• Religion
• Ethnic groups
• Literacy

Make sure charts and graphs are clearly labeled.

Sometimes, information is best understood when put in perspective. Thus you may want to present statistical information in comparison to some other country. Bangladesh, Pakistan Nepal and the United States are good choices for this.

Include other types of information. You're on your own here in terms of what to include. Maps, photos, drawings are all good choices. Text is acceptable, necessary in some instances, but remember, this is a poster, not an essay.

EVALUATION:

NOTES:

• Depending on students' familiarity with demographic data and reading and creating graphs and charts, some concepts may need to be taught before assigning the poster project. These include the meaning and significance of population density, per capita, rate of natural increase and other terms. Regardless of students prior learning, a quick review is advised, most easily accomplished in the form a pretest which asks students to define the relevant terms.
• Emphasize that statistics tell us nothing about individuals. India, for example, may have a lower per capaita GDP than the United States, but not every individual living in India is poor. Similarily, there are some very poor people living in the United States.
• Students may need to be instructed in how to arrive at a percent (and what percentages signify) and how to make and label a bar graph. I have students browse through a variety of magazines and reference books in search of creative way to display statistical data.
• I save especially creative posters from previous years to serve as models and inspiration to students.
• I've had luck with requiring a "progress log" of each group. This log consists of a daily record of what the group and each member has accomplished during each work session. For younger students, this helps focus energy and emphasizes the interdependence of the group.
• This assignment also works well when each group is given a different country. After posters are made, each group presents the poster and teaches the rest of the class about the country.
• Have students display completed posters on the wall. This helps create pride in workmanship and keeps quality of work high.
• Before final evaluation, I review posters, putting "post it" notes next to anything I may question (misspellings, unlabeld charts, inaccuracies, etc.) Groups are then free to make any corrections before the final evaluation. This also works well when groups are given the "post it" notes and assigned to "proofread" each others posters.