What if you could challenge your seventh-grade students to explore mathematical principles as well as global population issues as they consider population density? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can!

Global Population Issues outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. Like the other volumes in the series, this book is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms.

This interdisciplinary, four-lesson module uses project- and problem-based learning to help students to devise a model for counting populations of a given species on Earth and develop a formal presentation of their models for consideration by a panel of experts. Students will examine species’ ecosystems, explore global populations with an economic and geographical lens, take on the role of an urban planner to develop a megacity that incorporates what they have researched and learned about the consequences of population density and overpopulation, and share literature relevant to their applied species model.

To support this goal, students will do the following:

• Explore how to gather information about a population and make valid generalizations and inferences from this information
• Utilize mathematical practices to complete mathematical explorations
• Explore the impact of population density on humans and the environment
• Communicate learning and experiences about population density and its influence on humans and the environment through various forms of writing, speaking, and analyzing non-fiction text
• Explore the historical, social, geographical, and economic factors related to population density

The STEM Road Map Curriculum Series is anchored in the Next Generation Science Standards, the Common Core State Standards, and the Framework for 21st Century Learning. In-depth and flexible, Global Population Issues can be used as a whole unit or in part to meet the needs of districts, schools, and teachers who are charting a course toward an integrated STEM approach.