PrimaryGeographyAliveDiversityAcrossAsia(Lesson7)

Lesson7:WhatisthequalityoflifelikeinAsia?

Contentfocus:

Inthislessonstudentsinvestigatethe‘qualityoflife’experiencedbythoselivinginselectedAsiancountries.Indoingsotheyareintroducedtoarangeofdatapresentedinagraphicform.Theyalsohaveanopportunitytocommunicatetheirknowledgeandunderstandinginawrittenform.

Resources:

• Resource:Gapminder–http://www.gapminder.org/world/

• Resource:NationalGeographicMapMaker–https://mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org

• Worksheet1:Comparisontable

• Worksheet2:Comparisonparagraphscaffold

Keyinquiryquestions:WhatisitliketoliveinAsia?

Outcomes:

Astudent:

• identifiesqualityoflifeindicators

• readsandinterpretsgraphs

• comparesthequalityoflifeinTWOcountries

Lessonsequence:

WhatisitliketoliveinAsia?

Step1:Teacherintroducestopicbyaskingstudentstobrainstormwhatismeantbytheterm‘qualityoflife’.Studentresponsesarewrittenonboardundertheheading‘IndicatorsofQualityofLife’–forexample:income,housing,education,numberofdoctorsandinternetconnection.

Step2:StudentsareintroducedtoGapminder.TheteacherdisplaysthemainindicatorsforAustralia.StudentsundertakefreeexplorationofGapminder(play)togenerateinterestinlifeinAsiancountriesusingindicators,trackingonecountryovertimeandcomparingcountries.Alternativesoftware:https://mapmaker.nationalgeographic.orgusingeconomiclayers.

Step3:StudentsselecttwocountriesinAsiaandrecordtheindicatorsforthatcountryincludingincome,housing,literacy,numberofdoctorsandinternetconnectiononWorksheet1.

Step4:Follow-upwithavisiblethinkingactivity:Whatdoyousee?Whatdoyouthink?Whatdoyouwonder?

Step5:Literacyactivity:Teacherprovidesscaffoldforacomparisonparagraph(Worksheet2).TeachermodelsacomparisonbetweentwoAsiancountriesusingindicators.StudentswriteaparagraphcomparingtheindicatorsintwoAsiancountries.

ExtensionActivity:StudentscomparetheindicatorsforthetwoselectedcountrieswiththesameindicatorsforAustralia.UseGapminderstatisticstocompareindicatorsfortwoAsiancountrieswiththoseofAustralia.

Alternativeactivities:

1.Introducestudentstovariationsinemployment,educationandhealthinAsiancountriesusingimagesorbooks.

2.Workinginpairsorsmallgroups,studentsprepareabriefFactSheetontwoAsiancountriesincludinggovernment,employment,educationandhealth.

©GeographyTeachersAssociationNSW