The Sizzling Southwest
Too Many People?

Cinco de Mayo Celebration in Los Angeles

a Lesson on Measuring Population Growth
and its Impact on the Landscape

by Timothy McDonnell
Victor Jr. High School
Victor, New York

CONNECTION TO THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS:
The geographically aware person knows…
Std. 1 - How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
Std. 3 - How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth’s surface.
Std. 9 - The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human population on Earth’s surface.
Std. 18 - How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future.

CONNECTION TO THE NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS FOR MATH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY:
Std. 3.1 - Students use mathematical reasoning to analyze mathematical situations, make conjuctures, gather evidence, and construct an argument.
Std. 3.4 - Students use mathematical modeling/ multiple representation to provide a means of presenting, interpreting, communicating, and connecting mathematical information and relationships.

OBJECTIVES: (to know, to do, and to be like)
1. The students will construct a thematic map of percent of population increase for the Southwest.
2. The students will construct a circle graph of ethnic diversity for the state of California.
3. They will produce a line graph of the population growth of Las Vegas, Nevada.
4. They will observe satellite images of Las Vegas and determine evidence of rapid growth.
5. They will hypothesize about the effects of this rapid growth on  the landscape and the environment.

MATERIALS:
Activity Worksheet (pdf format), outline map of the United States, population data from Census 2000, protractors, rulers, graph paper.

PROCEDURES:
1. Review with students how “percent of increase” is determined.
2. Give students the list of southwestern states and the percent of population growth from 1990 to 2000. (Several other states are included for comparison purposes). They need to come up with a scale of five colors, with the lightest color for the smallest growth.
3. Then they color in the states to make a choropleth map. It should show rapid growth in the southwest compared to the other states.
4. Have students look at the choropleth map of Hispanic population of the United States. They should relate this map to the rapid growth of the Southwest.
5. Other ethnic groups are also moving to the Southwest, especially to California. Have students use the Table of Ethnic Diversity of California to construct a circle graph.
6. Las Vegas is a good example of the rapid growth of the Southwest. Have students make a line graph for this  city. Discuss what the graph shows us.
7. Have the students look at satellite images of Las Vegas for three different dates. They be able to list evidence of growth from these photos. (Two good sources: Earthscapes in Time, a CD-ROM, or a USGS Earthshot website, http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/earthshots/slow/LasVegas/LasVegas).
8. Students should work collaboratively to generate a list of problems that this rapid growth will cause to the Southwest.

SUGGESTED STUDENT ASSESSMENT:
1. Assess the graphs that the students produce for accuracy and correct labeling.
2. Have students  produce a choropleth map from a different region to determine if they have mastered this skill.
3. Ask students determine a way of quantitatively measure the growth  of Las Vegas from the satellite images.

ADAPTATIONS AND EXTENSIONS:
1. If students need practice on determining the percent of increase, have them determine this statistic from census materials themselves.
2. If they have done the unit on the Northeast, discuss with them how these two regions differ in growth patterns at the end of the twentieth century.
3. Do an ethic diversity circle graph for another state. Compare its results to California.
4. Relate the growth of the Southwest to the Heat Islands discussed in the science lesson.
5. While viewing the Earthscapes in Time CD-ROM, can measure the growth of Las Vegas by area. They should be able to determine a way of estimating this.