Essay

Today in class we took the essay part of our exam. We had to write a five paragraph essay on one of the three topics. I choose the one with the population pyramids. The question was:

The population pyramids below represent two countries at different stages of the demographic transition and economic development. Explain the demographic characteristics of each country below with respect to the demographic transition model. Describe potential issues both countries could face in the future if their population pyramids remain the same. Discuss possible solutions to each country’s population concerns. I think I did pretty good on my essay and answered all the questions properly. Hopefully I wrote enough which I think I did because I don't know what else I would have added to it. I really hope I get a good grade on it because I want to do well on my exams.

Pre essay

For class tomorrow I have to write an essay on a topic of my choosing. This is my essay that I wrote for practice and to take notes from for my index card. Here it is.
    

 The population pyramids shown are describing the population of two countries and the future of their population. The pyramids will be described by writing which demographic transition stage each population pyramid is in. Then its demographic characteristics and potential issues that the countries could face in the future if their population didn’t change will be addressed. Once these problems have been addressed,  a solution will be found for them to help keep their country existing. 

The first pyramid is the one that looks sloped triangle shape. The bottom is very wide and gets smaller as it goes up. Around age 45 it drops a lot and gets very small at the 50 and up. This is showing that they probably are a poor country and  don’t have good health care because the older people get the less there are of them.  Also, there are a lot of children which were used to help on the farms and the more children the less work it is to manage a farm. In the future if this population pyramid doesn’t change they will have lots of children that will keep coming into the reproductive age and those kids now adults will have more children which will result in overpopulation.

The second pyramid is the small one. The pre reproductive is small, gets a little bigger as it goes to reproductive, and then it gets a little smaller as it goes to post reproductive. This is showing that this country is post industrial and more women are having  less children. They are having less children due to reasons like birth control, jobs, and college educations. They may only have between none to two children. When those children become older they will have less or the same children and the population will decrease even more as the years go on.

    The future population of the first pyramid will grow very much in the first few years. There are very many children being born, once they reach reproductive years they will have the same amount of children for reasons like helping on the farm. The population will grow but you can slow down the growth by providing more information to the people living there. Another idea is providing birth control, more jobs for women, letting them do more besides raise children, and run the house. The second population pyramid will slowly decrease because the less children that are born will be raised to have less children and may eventually decide to not have any when they reach reproductive age. Ways to increase population is to encourage people to have more children, and encourage more immigrants to come live in the country.

    The population pyramid will eventually struggle with their numbers of people and could rapidly increase or decrease in the coming years. There are many good solutions to help these countries not become overpopulated or underpopulated. If they follow these ideas and make an effort to keep the population at a steady amount they will thrive in coming years. 

Essay Preparation Day

Today in class we went to his blog and then to the study guide for the exam. We are writing an essay and then remembering as much as we can for Friday. We use this to study for it so we can write a good essay and have an idea of what to write. It would be hard if we just got a bunch of essay questions and then had to write one with not much recent information. Also on the paper is an outline of what the scantron test will be like and what to study for it. It also has another outline for the essay with five paragraphs. I choose Option B with the population pyramids. It seems the easiest. I will describe each pyramid by writing which demographic transition stage each one is in and describe the economic development. Then I will explain the demographic characteristics of the models and describe potential issues that the countries could face in the future if their population didn’t change. After that I’ll find solutions to these problems.

Demographic Transition Test

Today in class I walked in and the lights were on. The lights in this classroom are very bright and there are to many of them. I am not used to coming in this class and it being this bright. I did not like it at all, I'd rather it be dark. So I turned on the other switch which only has four lights instead of five. Then we took the test, it wasn't to hard. I think I got most of them write except maybe three. The one with the equation were you had to find the mistake, I did not know what it was so I guessed. I also wasn't sure about the questions were you had to name to countries in stage five. I knew one but I didn't know another one. After we took the test we got to turn the lights off and work on our blog. That was it for the class and I found out I got one wrong already.

Demographic transitions quiz prep day

Today in class we talked more about Demographic Transitions. We copied a chart for people who are ore visual. The chart is about our world in data. It looked like the picture down at the bottom. It says stage 1s birth rate is high and death rate is high. Its natural increase is stable or slow increase. For stage 2 the birth rate is high and the death rate will fall rapidly. The natural increase is very rapid increase. In stage 3 the birth rate is falling and the death rate falls more slowly. The natural increase is increase slows down. In stage 4 the birth rate is low and the death rate is low. The natural increase is stable or slow increase. In stage 5 the birth rate is very low and the death rate is low. The natural increase is stable or slow decrease.  We re watched the Khan Academy video to review.

Video Assignment

In class we had a substitute. We did an assignment were we watch three videos and write three facts about each of them.

Demographic Transitions:

1. States that a population will eventually stop growing when the country transitions from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates stabilizing the population.
2. Stage one country has high birth rates because of limited birth control and the economic benefit of having more people to work. Have high death rates because of poor nutrition or disease.
3. The Malthusian Theorem says we might run out of resources and then there will be a global food shortage. 1 billion out of 7 billion suffer from malnutrition and hunger.

Why Populations Grow and the Demographic Transition Model:
1. One way to measure population growth is by calculating the doubling time which is the length of time it takes for a population to double in size. D= 70/Growth rate(r)
2. The two factors that influence population change is rate of natural increase and net migration.
3. Stage 1 is associated with the least economically developed countries in the world today.

The Demographic Transition Theory:
1. Since agricultural revolution 8,000 years ago to industrial revolution which started in 1750, the worlds population grew by only 67,000 people every year.
2. Now we gain 67,000 people every six to seven hours. Fertility rates are much higher than death rates in less industrialized countries we are having expediential growth.
3. There is enough food on the planet for everyone if we would just distribute it evenly. It is still unclear if industrialization can stop overpopulation with our consumption rates.


My favorite video was the Demographic Transition Theory. I was very detailed with good information. It helped me understand more about this topic. The lady was a PhD so she is a reliable source.

The Demographic Transition

Today in class we learned about demographic transition. Demographic transition is a process of change in a society's population from high crude birth and death rates and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and higher total population. Stage 1 is low growth. The low growth is caused by very high CBR, very high CDR, and very low NIR. Stage 2 is high growth. The high growth is caused by high CBR, rapidly declining CDR, very high NIR. Stage 3 is moderate growth. The moderate growth is caused by rapidly declining CBR, moderately declining CDR, and moderate NIR. Stage 4 is low growth. Low growth is caused by very low CBR, low or slightly increasing CDR, and zero or negative NIR. Those are the four stages of demographic transitions. We got our quizzes back and I got a 88%. Its not the best but its not bad. I only got 3 wrong.