Modeling Population Growth

How many people did you say? An instructive lesson uses human population growth to explore linear and exponential functions. Learners work cooperatively to use real-world population data and apply concepts of models.

Modeling population growth gives learners an opportunity to experiment with real data. Comparing the growth rates in this real-life task strengthens learners' understanding that exponential functions change by equal factors over equal...

Students explore the concept of population growth. In this population growth lesson, students graph the population growth of a 'calcumite' which is a made up species whose population grows exponentially. Students plot the data over the...

Here learners get to flex some serious algebraic muscles through an investigation of logistic growth. The properties of the constant terms in the logistic growth formula are unraveled in a short but content-dense activity. Moving...

Do you know how the population has grown of your community? Can you predict the population over the next half century? Can we find an algebraic model that matches our data? These along with many more questions can be researched by...

Explore the fascinating study of population growth using real-time online growth calculators, animated maps, and primary sources. Have researchers get out their notebooks and, preferably, one computer for each one or two learners. They...

Will human population growth always be exponential, or will we find a limiting factor we can't avoid? Young scientists learn about both exponential and logistic growth models in various animal populations. They use case studies to...

Students examine both historical and recent estimates of world population. They identify regions of the world that have had significant population growth in the last decade and speculate on reasons for this.

Students use cups of bright candies to model population decay, and growth. They complete a worksheet and participate in a discussion relating their findings.

Through the exploration of population growth of a bacteria population, students learn about and observe bacteria population over a 20 hour period.  Students graph the population growth using a scatter plot and discuss its logistic...