SDG 3 in the Classroom: Two Lessons for Exploring Global Citizenship

This post will focus on Sustainable Development Goal 3, through which cooperating governments will: ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.’ Below are descriptions/links to two Population Education lessons which not only address the overarching theme of SDG 3, but respond to specific sub-headings.

1) Unfair Race – This lesson, from our 9-12 curriculum Earth Matters, addresses how public health can be linked to many indicators, including: wealth, immunization levels, education, environmental factors, and average life-expectancy for various nations. In this hands-on activity, students will compete in a ‘race’, in which they will represent different countries and learn about their respective countries’ public health statistics. The challenge: each nation’s differing access to economic and geographic resources will grant them different starting points within the race. Who will be the first to cross the finish line?

Content areas: Conducting this lesson will meet content standards in:
Social Studies, Math, ELA

Skills: Through this lesson, students will be able to:
-Recognize which characteristics of a country help or harm citizens’ health.
-Connect resource demographics from various nations around the world to overall public health.
-Compare nations from similar and disparate economic conditions and their subsequent access to health care.
-Synthesize information about economic and geographic conditions and public health.
-Evaluate graphic data to draw real-world conclusions.
-Critically think about the role economically advantaged countries have on global public health and aid.

Learning strategies: This lesson utilizes multiple learning styles including:
Kinesthetic/role-playing, audio/visual, cooperative, critical thinking

2) World Population History: A Demographically Divided World – This lesson is an excellent way to integrate technology into your classroom and comes from our World Population History website. In this lesson, students will take a problem-based research approach to learning about public health demographics internationally. Students will be broken up into groups and use World Population History’s interactive map and timeline to learn about a specific country, and then work together to evaluate that country using the Demographic Transition Model.

Content areas: Conducting this lesson will meet content standards in:
Economics, statistics, ELA, AP Human Geography, World Geography

Skills: Through this lessons, students will be able to:
-Analyze the history of life expectancy and fertility rates to understand present trends.
-Compare/contrast regions of the world according to indicators of human quality of life.
-Define and describe the structure of the demographic transition model.
-Research and evaluate human well-being within a country based on quality of life indicators.

Learning strategies: This lesson utilizes multiple learning styles including:
Hands-on manipulatives and realia, demonstrations, integrated technology, inquiry, claim testing, cooperative learning

For information on other SDG lessons, check out the Population Education SDG Series Home