As a die hard Montalban fan I’ve stopped watching after STII. But soon enough it seems we will run out of room on this planet. According to studies based on radioactive uranium dating the earth is about 5,000,000,000 years old. However during the past 1,000 years the human population has exploded. Although undersea hotels already exist, my guess is that as a civilization we will travel up, not down. That means a young James Tiberius Kirk is probably already born according to the types of expeditions we may need in the near future. The world’s population was only about 1 billion in 1800. Now at 6.8 billion, the next 40 years is supposed to bring it to a whopping 9.2 billion!
For students to be able to calculate human population growth rates:
1) Teach:
Growth Rate= (population at end of period – population at beginning of period)/population at beginning of period
2) Have half the class choose a year in history to see how many people were living at that time (x). Recent years are better for more accurate head counts.
3) Partner them with the other half that will choose the subsequent year (x+1)
3) Check world populations according to cencus tabulations.
4) Each pair will determine the growth rate over their one year intervals.
5) List all respective one year time frames on the board.
Homework:
Have students chart growth rate vs. year.
Critical Thinking:
What is their prediction for human population growth rates over the next few years? What is their prediction for total human population in 10 years?
As a primer for calculus this is also an excellent way to introduce the concept of the derivative, or an instantaneous rate of change.
