Strand/Topic: Academic Geography Grade: 9/10 Date: Week 1

Expectations
Overall:
B2: Interrelationships between Physical Systems, Processes, and Events: analyse
characteristics of various physical processes, phenomena, and events affecting Canada and
their interrelationship with global physical systems (FOCUS ON: Patterns and Trends;
Interrelationships.
Specific:
B2.1: analyse interrelationships between physical processes, phenomena, and events in
Canada and their interaction with global physical systems.
Connections
Because my students are from Ontario, Canada, I know that they are very lucky
and have more opportunities to succeed than adolescents in many other
countries. This task can help the students realize this and perhaps prompt them
to take greater advantage of their circumstance.
This task connects to the subject History, as students are learning about trends
in factors such as population and exploring historic events as a possible driver
for these trends. This task also connects to the ecology portion of Biology.

Learning Goals
By the end of this lesson, I will be able to discuss demographic trends in Canada (i.e. population, infant mortality rate, etc.) and relate and critique them against trends in other parts of the
world.

Questions to Ask Accommodations/ Materials

Modifications
(content/process/product)
Part 1: Minds On

7 mins The lesson will begin with students being prompted to form small -How do you think -Create PPT slides or write the Computer Lab
discussion groups of about 3-4 students. The students prior knowledge will be Canadas population is questions out on chart paper so Projector
activated through a series of questions testing their current understandings and beliefs increasing in relation to students can see the questions and Worksheet (class
regarding trends in Canada and around the world. This discussion is meant to be other countries? refer back if they forget what they set)
used as a small diagnostic to observe what the students know and do not know. With are to be discussing.
this, the teacher will be leading the class with presenting each question. These -How do you think
questions are presented in the Questions to Ask section of this lesson plan. Canada compares to other
nations in CO2 emissions?
3mins Students will share some of the thoughts that arose from their discussions
with the class. Use their responses to come up with consolidating conclusions that -How has child mortality
can lead into part 2. trended over time in
Canada? How does this
compare to other
countries?

3-Part Lesson plan template

 Part 2: Action
50 mins What happens to the
Using www.gapminder.org, students in partners will work through a sheet of Canadian population
questions designed to help them understand global trends in various demographic from1940 to 1945? How
categories (population, child mortality rate, GDP, etc.) and specifically, Canadas does this compare with the
history and current standing in this shifting landscape. populations of other
Students will be required to find the information asked of them in the handout, and countries in this time
then speculate on what this information means and why it is so. frame? Why do you think
this is?
The teacher will circulate to help students navigate the wealth of information on
Gapminder and challenge their understanding of what the statistics mean. If youre trying to evaluate
the wealth of a country,
which statistics might be
useful to pay attention to
(from drop down list of
options on Gapminder)?
By working in pairs, students Computers with
whose learning is impacted by internet access
learning disabilities can be (ideally enough for
mitigated by having a helpful students to work in
partner. Assigning a helpful partner pairs).
for these students may be
necessary, and assigning pairs Question sheets.
throughout the whole class could
have many positive outcomes as a
whole. It is also suggested to offer

3-Part Lesson plan template


Part 3: Consolidate Debrief
Questions to Ask Accommodations / Materials
Differentiation
(content/process/product)
10 mins After completing the Gapminder task, students will be required to What surprised you during Verbal as opposed to written Exit slips.
complete an exit slip with questions on it like what is the most interesting thing you this task? exit slip.
learned today? What did you not expect? What are you still curious about? Did you
enjoy the task? What would you still like
to know?
The teacher will circulate during this task to stimulate thinking by asking questions
audibly, helping learners who are not visual learners form ideas. Did you enjoy the task?
How could it have been
As students leave the classroom, collect the Gapminder Worksheet and Exit Slips. made more enjoyable?

Assessment Tools (diagnostic/formative/summative)

The question sheet that is to be filled out and which guides the students during this task will be handed in at the end of class and can be used as a formative assessment. The exit slip as part
of the consolidation assignment can be used to gauge students engagement in the task and is a rough assessment of learning; this is a diagnostic tool. A minds-on task in the next class can
also gauge student learning by asking them for three things they remember from the previous class; a formative assessment tool. Finally, questions from this demography task can be
included on a final unit test as a summative assessment.

Prior Knowledge
Students should be familiar with regions of the world at this point (Europe, Asia, the Americas, their countries etc.) which can help them with their data analysis in this task as well as
helping in knowledge retention. Students will have been taught about child mortality rate, GDP, and other statistical categories.

Next Steps
Students will prepare an essay investigating a trend of their choosing they discovered through Gapminder. The students will examine contributing factors, impact on other areas of the
world, impact in Canada and how it differed between provinces, the current state of the relationship, etc.

Students will also be required to have important key trends memorized for the final unit test.
SAMR Justification
This task is a redefinition of previous ways demography could be conducted in a classroom setting. Instead of students spending most of their time searching for statistics, the information
is readily accessible to them in an interactive timeline on Gapminder, and more time can be dedicated to analysis of the data, and finding interesting relationships not hand-picked by the
teacher for students to discover, paving the way for exploratory learning.

3-Part Lesson plan template