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Curriculum Organizing Questions
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- What are some of the environmental factors that
affect this population of organisms' growth?
- What other organisms are linked to the natural swings
in population for this organism?
- How has this population changed over time?
- What are the birth rates, mortality rates, emigration
rates, and immigration rates for this population?
- Does this population show signs of linear or
exponential growth?
- What factors influence human populations?
- What are some strategies for reducing the human
population growth?
- What is the carrying capacity of this ecosystem for
this organism?
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Elaboration
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This learning result covers the basic ideas of population
growth in general, as well as, some of the specifics of
human population growth
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Specific Ideas
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- As any population of organisms grows, it is held in
check by one or more environmental factors: depletion of
food or nesting sites, increased loss to increased number
of predators, or parasites.Benchmarks 5D1
- Like many complex systems, ecosystems tend to show
cyclic fluctuations around a state of approximate
equilibrium.Benchmarks 5D2
- In the long run ecosystems always change when climate
changes or when one or more new species appear as a
result of migration or local evolution. Benchmarks
5D2
- The amount of life any environment can support is
limited by the available energy, water, oxygen, and
minerals, and by the ability of ecosystems to recycle the
residue of dead organic materials.Benchmarks 5E2
- Living organisms have the capacity to produce
populations of infinite size, but environments and
resources are finite.NSES C4d
- Populations grow or decline through the combined
effects of births or deaths, and through emigration and
immigration.NSES F2a
- Populations can increase through linear or
exponential growth, with effects on resource use and
environmental pollution.NSES F2a
- For human populations various factors influence birth
rates and fertility rates, such as average levels of
affluence and education, importance of children in the
labor force, education and employment of women, infant
mortality rates, costs of raising children, availability
and reliability of birth control methods, and religious
beliefs and cultural norms that influence personal
decisions about family size. NSES F2b
- Populations can reach limits to growth. Carrying
capacity is the maximum number of individuals that can be
supported in a given environment.overs the basic ideas of
population growth in general, as well as, some of the
specifics of human population growth. NSES F2c
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Developmental & Instructional
Implications
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Students of all ages think that some populations of
organisms are numerous in order to fulfill a demand for food
by another population. Research shows that students have a
poorly developed understanding of the relationships among
populations within a community and connections between
populations and other ideas such as competition for
resources. If, for example, students are asked about the
size of populations and why some populations would be
larger, they often simply describe rather than reason about
interdependence or energy flow. Benchmarks p.342
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Examples
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