Lesson Packet

Grades 6-8, 9-12

330 Million in the USA

SUBJECTS: Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies

TOPICS: Fertility/Mortality, U.S. Population Trends/History

Resource Overview

U.S. population takes center stage in this downloadable packet that includes 14 lesson plans, 6 readings, and 6 infographics. Today’s middle and high school students (Gen Z) will need to examine where we’ve come from in order to assume their future roles as innovators and civic leaders. To this end, Population Education has created this new set of classroom lessons, 330 Million in the USA.

Included teaching materials will enable your middle and high school students to examine trends (past and present) around the United States’ population growth and settlement patterns, Congressional representation, family size, education, health, transportation, immigration, gender roles, and environmental impact and policies. Many of these lessons include rich data sets and primary sources from the past 230 years.

Each of the components of 330 Million in the USA is available for free download below. In the coming weeks, we will also be posting the complete set as a downloadable booklet.

Packet of lessons on the demographic, social and environmental trends that have shaped the USA

Features of This Resource

  • Great lessons for U.S. History, APUSH, and Government
  • Opportunities for students to explore and analyze primary sources
  • Many lessons can easily be modified for distance learning

Lesson Plans and Readings

Download the following teaching materials now:

Lesson Plans

Almighty Aquifers

- Students play a game that mimics the relationship between population growth and U.S. aquifer depletion.

American HerStory

- Students examine current and historic U.S. gender roles through two short mental exercises and research.

Connecting the Dots

- Students create a population density map of U.S. population over time, from 1800 to today.

Family Counts

- Students examine historic census data to investigate U.S. family size over time.

Good Old Days

- Acting as presidents from various points in history, students compare U.S. demographic and environmental statistics.

Let’s Go

- Students use Google Maps to strategize urban transit and determine the costs/benefits travel choices.

Looking to the Future: A 2020 Vision for 2070

- Students write about predictions of an environmental, social, or demographic topic in America in 2070.

Making it in America

- Students investigate American wealth distribution and analyze historic documents related to the American Dream.

Mysteries of the U.S. Pyramids

- Students construct and interpret population pyramids (age-sex distribution charts) and discuss differences in population characteristics at different points in U.S.... Read more »

Our Shared Environmental History

- Students create a timeline of events in U.S. environmental history and write an op-ed.

The People’s House

- Students debate increasing the number of members in the U.S. House, then gerrymander simulated districts.

USA Population Circle

- Fun large-group simulation of U.S. population growth since the first census in 1790.

Infographics

U.S. Population and Projection (1790-2050) infographic

- U.S. population from its founding in 1790, to present, and projected U.S. growth through 2050.

Average Number of Children Per U.S. Family (Historic), infographic

- Average number of children per woman in the U.S. from 1800 to 2018.

Average U.S. House and Household Size infographic

- Average number of people per house and average house size in the U.S., 1790-2019.

Distribution of U.S. Household Net Worth infographic

- Visual display of household wealth in the U.S. - the top 1% holds 32% of wealth.

Immigration to the U.S. by Geographic Region (Historic) infographic

- Line graph displays the number of immigrants to the U.S. by home region over time.

U.S. Population Pyramid infographic

- Unites States' population pyramid, or age structure diagram, for the 2020 population.
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