Why should your students know about global population?

In order to be prepared to be 21st century global citizens, students should understand global population and the ways in which it is quickly changing. The rapid growth and shifting of population during our time is a central part of the historical and geographic landscape and should be a key topic in modern social studies education.

What is a jigsaw?

Jigsaw activities begin by grouping students into home groups. These students then disperse into expert groups to develop knowledge with their peers on one component of a multifaceted topic. That one facet represents one piece of the jigsaw puzzle. The students then return to their home groups to put the entire metaphorical jigsaw puzzle together and develop a newfound understanding of the overall topic.

A graphic organizer is included for your student groups to organize their combined knowledge but you might also have them prepare a poster, a blog post, a brochure or a news article instead of or in addition to the graphic organizer.

This cooperative learning activity would be particularly useful in geography, human geography, or the modern portion of a world history class. If used to emphasize the changing international political and economic landscape, it would also be an interesting complement to an economics class.

What will the Global Population Jigsaw accomplish?                                                                           

First: It will engage your students in close reading and complex text analysis.

Second: The jigsaw approach is an opportunity for students to actively construct their knowledge and practice communication skills by collaborating with and teaching others.

Third: It will help your students to develop a big-picture understanding of world population.