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Overview:
In this lesson students will collect information about countries, then enter that information on a chart. This chart will compare the sizes, populations, and political characteristics of different countries. Using this information, students will be able to ask and answer geographic questions as they relate to the division and control of Earth's surface.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, math, language arts, political studies
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 13: "How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth's surface"
Time:
Four to six hours
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access for researching countries and regions or books about different countries and regions of the world
- Paper or poster board and markers
- Atlases
- Encyclopedia
- Blank Xpeditions outline maps of the following large countries: United States, Russia, Canada, Australia, and China
- Blank Xpeditions outline maps of the following small countries: Germany, Japan, Kenya, Ecuador, and Sweden
Objectives:
Students will
- compare political features of five large countries and five small countries; and
- understand the relative advantages and disadvantages of living in a small country or a large one.
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Explain to students that they will create a chart or database for comparing information about different countries. They will collect vital information about countries. Organizing and presenting the information will help them to draw conclusions about how humans have divided the Earth. They will also discuss why some regions comprise many small countries, and others comprise a few large ones.
Development:
Create five geography research teams and give each team one large country and one small country to research. Have students gather information about each country. Use the countries suggested above or others that might be important in your curriculum. Have students record the following information in their notebooks:
- Country name
- Capital city
- Total area in square miles or kilometers
- Total population
- Population density (population divided by land area)
- Population distribution (evenly spread, unevenly spread)
- Location of capital (physiographic center of country, population center of country, other)
- Length of border (use a string to get an approximate measure of the boundary line and convert to miles or kilometers)
- Size of military
- Ratio of military personnel to total population
- Language or languages spoken
- Any other interesting or relevant information
Students may need assistance in calculating population density and the ratio of military personnel to total population. Students should observe city placement on a map of the country to determine the location of each country's capital and the approximate population distribution.
Each group should make informal notes its countries, explaining why people live in certain areas but not others.
Have students transcribe information from their notebooks into a large chart or computer database for all ten countries. Each group can have one or two reporters fill in their country information.
Have the class discuss the following questions for both the large and small countries:
- Is the population spread evenly across the countries, or is there some other pattern to where people live (e.g., near good land, rich resources, or transportation networks such as rivers and mountain passes)?
- What problems does the settlement pattern reflect (e.g., overcrowding of fertile land or greater population and congestion in cities with employment opportunities)?
- Where is the country's capital in relation to the population?
- Can the capital serve the needs of everyone in the country?
- How long would it take to traverse the country by air, rail, and/or car?
- How long is the border of each country?
- What problems do long borders present (e.g., large areas to defend and, perhaps, a disproportionately large military)?
Closing:
Encourage students to reach conclusions about the advantages and disadvantages of a large or small country. (For example, a small country may have easier access to the capital and more cohesiveness as a nation, but may lack a natural resource base and rely more on imports than a larger country.)
Suggested Student Assessment:
Students should be able to quickly assess key aspects of the geopolitical status of another country based merely on knowledge of the country's size and borders. You could give students a large and a small country for direct comparison or challenge them to describe the advantages and disadvantages of managing a medium-size country.
Extending the Lesson:
Add additional countries to your class database. Explore other issues such as communications and transportation within countries as well as the distributions of agriculture and industry.
Gwen Faulkner of Harriet Tubman Elementary School in Washington, D.C., contributed classroom ideas for Standard 13.
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