Giada's Honors Human Geography Blog

   Today in class, we watched the video, "Hans Rosling: 200 Years in 4 Minutes".  Hans Rosling is a Swedish man and he "animated data in real space" in this video. He showed a graph, with lifespan on the y axis and income on the x axis. There were then different colored bubbles, which represented different countries. For example, the red bubbles were asian countries, the orange/brown ones were European countries, the purple ones were Africa, etc. The larger the population of the country, the bigger the bubble was. If a country was in the bottom-left corner of the graph, it meant that the country was poor and sick. This means that countries in the top-right corner of the graph were rich and healthy. The graph started at the year 1810. Then, the points changed location to show data all the way up to the year 2009. Here are the notes that I took as I watched the video: Life expectancy back in 1810 was 40 years old In 1819, the UK and Netherlands did better off (in ...

   Today in class, we all watched the TED-Ed video on Population Pyramids. We did our "Okay Stop" routine, where we say "okay stop" while the video is playing to ask a question, make a comment, define a new word, etc. Basically, Mr. Schick did the stopping and he talked about each important part of the video. One new thing we discussed was Demographic Transition and what it looks like on a Population Pyramid. Demographic Transition is when a country moves from a pre-industrial society to one with an industrial or post-industrial economy. We learned that an industrial economy is where a country can produce products and supply jobs because they have factories, workplaces, etc. A post-industrial economy follows the industrial stage of a country and a pre-industrial society is the stage before industrial. Population pyramids in these stages look different. A pre industrialized country has more of a triangular pyramid, meaning that the population is quickly growing. An i...

   Today in class, we watched a TED-Ed Youtube video on our laptops on Population Pyramids. We have talked about them before, but this gave a further explanation. Here is a picture of the current (2019) World Population Pyramid: Here are the important notes I wrote down when I watched the video: A population pyramid is a visual representation which has males and females on opposite sides.  It shows population in each five-year age interval. (starts from ages 0-4 and ends on age 100 and up) Age intervals are grouped together into pre-reproductive (ages 0-14), reproductive (15-44), and post-reproductive (ages 45 and up). Population pyramids can be very useful when predicting future population trends. You can predict whether a country's population will increase or not. Demographic transition- when a country moves from a pre-industrial society to one with an industrial or post-industrial economy. Countries that have only recently begun the process of industrializatio...

   Today in class, we took our Population and Settlement test. I think I did good on it because last night I made a bunch of notes on sticky notes and then went over them. In my last blog, I said that Mr. Schick told us one of the questions was two push and pull forces for different countries. These were the answers I came up with last night: Push Factor: not enough jobs in Mexico Push Factor: lack of jobs in India Pull Factor: better healthcare in Canada Pull Factor: more religious freedom in the United States    In addition, I think overall I got an A, but I might have gotten one or two questions wrong. At the end of the test, there were two bonus questions. I do believe I got them right, but I will just have to find out when we get our scores back.

   Today in class, we went over the Population/Settlement powerpoint again, and its key points, in order to review for the test tomorrow. Mr. Schick told us that the first page of the test will be questions that we must look up on the CIA Factbook website. Then the next page will be matching questions of the important terms/definitions in our unit. One thing that Mr. Schick did in class that was super helpful, was telling us that a question on the test will ask for two pull forces and two push forces of different countries. This helped because now I will write my answers down in my notebook, and study them, to be ready to answer it during the test tomorrow. I liked how he put important notes on what we need to study on his blog page, so that tonight I can go back to it and remember what I should go over. Overall, I believe that I can get a good grade on the test because tonight, while I study, I will go through the powerpoint again to review.

   Today in class, Mr. Schick pulled up the correct answers to the questions we completed yesterday for our blog. We got to review them to further understand them. For example, I better understood what GDP- per capita (PPP) means. Basically, it is the average amount of money each person in a country makes. It is calculated by the amount of money the country as a whole makes, then is split by how many people there are in that country. In the United States, the CIA Facebook website documented that in 2017, the GDP- per capita (PPP) was $59,800. This means that, on average, an American citizen makes about $59,800 in their lifetime. Now, for instance, take Luxembourg. Its GDP- per capita (PPP) in 2017 was $105,100. Why is this so much more than that of the United States? Well, even though it seems that Luxembourg makes more money than the United States, Luxembourg's GDP (which is how much the country as a whole makes), is lower than that of the U.S. There are also a lot less peopl...

The population of China is  1,384,688,986. The population of India is  1,296,834,042. The Total Fertility Rate in Japan is  1.42 children born/woman. The death rate in El Salvador is  5.8 deaths/1,000 population. 23-28% of the French population identify "none" as their  religion. This statistic is not verifiable because France holds a tradition to not officially collect data on people's religion. An 1842 law prohibited state authorities from collecting data on an individual's ethnicity or religion. 82.7% of Mexico's population identifies themselves as Roman Catholic. The GDP- per capita (PPP) of the United States was  $59,800   in 2017. The GDP- per capita (PPP) of Nigeria was  $5,900   in 2017. The GDP- per capita (PPP) of Luxembourg was  $105,100  in 2017. In 2016, 76.2% of the United States  population were internet users. In 2013, there were 1,218 airports in Russia and  3,513 in the United Sta...

   Today in class, we reviewed slides 4-8 of the Population and Settlement Powerpoint. Some major topics we discussed includes life expectancy, birth/death rate, rate of natural increase, net migration, and push/pull forces. life expectancy is  the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year birth rate is the number of births per 1000 of the population and death rate is the number of deaths per 1000 of the population rate of natural increase (or RNI) is the death rate of a country subtracted from the birth rate. This annual, natural growth rate is shown in a percentage net migration rate is the difference between the number of persons entering and leaving a country during a year someone who is entering the country is an immigrant someone who is leaving the country is an emigrant push forces drive someone out of their country and into a new one pull forces are what attracts someone to come into a new country Another thing ...

   Today I could not go to Mr. Schick's class because I left early for my volleyball game. However, I assume that the class took more notes on the Population and Settlement powerpoint.

      Today in class, we started the Population and Settlement powerpoint and talked about topics such as  the world's population, birth rate, death rate, etc. We got through two slides today, since class was shortened, and we got an idea on what this new unit will basically be about. Even though we didn't get through the definitions of these terms yet, these are some vocabulary words that Mr. Schick had us write down in our notebook: life expectancy, birth rate, death rate, Rate of Natural Increase (RNI), infant mortality rate, immigrant, emigrant, Net Migration Rate, Total Fertility Rate, push forces, and pull forces. These are notes that I wrote down for today: there are over 7.6 billion people on the planet right now   population is increasing by over 73 million per year by approx. 200,000 per day 8377 per hour  149 per minute 2.5 per second 90% of this population growth takes place in the developing countries of Africa, South and...

   Today in class, we went over our the test answers because all of them have been graded. I am still disappointed that I did not do very well on the test, but I now know what I did wrong. As I suspected, the area in which I did not do very good was with the relative and absolute location examples. One trick question that Mr. Schick included in the test was an example that said something like "93.916845 N" and "97.82376542 W". I put this down as an absolute location, but what I did not realize was that this location doesn't exist! The North and South Pole only runs to 90 degrees North and South, so that is why there was an answer option labeled "neither" (as in not a relative location and not an absolute question). Mr. Schick also found out at the end of class that we did not go over all the slides talking about Daylight Savings Time and UTC in class, so he is giving us two more points!!! I am now satisfied because my grade will go up by a little, and ...

   Today in class we took a test on maps, grids, time zones, and more. I think I did well, but I don't know if I got an 100%. There was one part of the test that gave you examples of locations and you had to determine whether they were relative, absolute, or neither. Absolute location is the exact location of a place expressed by latitude and longitude. Relative location is the regional position or situation of a place relative to the position of other places. However, I'm not sure if I marked all of them with the right answer. For example, I marked "the Midwest" as neither, but I think it is relative. I do not think I focused too much on relative and absolute location when I should have. Similarly, I think I focused more on latitude and longitude than time zones, but it's okay. Overall, I hope I got an A on my test. The test went MUCH better than the pop quiz we took yesterday.

   Today in class, we finished our debate on whether or not time zones should be abolished, because two people still had to present their argument. Then, we had an ending discussion on the topic. All people who had undecided opinions at the beginning of class ended up deciding on what side they're on. In the end, everyone in this group sided on maintaining time zones, and I agree with them. After this, Mr. Schick reminded us that we have a test tomorrow on maps. This includes all the topics we discussed in class such as  Mercator maps, Peters maps, old maps, site, situation, latitude, longitude, meridians, parallels, time zones, and more.   Unfortunately, we had a 10 question pop-quiz to review for the test. Those questions helped me know what to study, but I didn't like it because I believe I got a 5/10 on it :( However, for the test, I will be more prepared because I can study from my notes and the Powerpoint Mr. Schick put on his blog.

   Today in class, we had our debate on whether we should keep our time zones how they are or abolish them completely, and use a universal time. I was in the group which had mixed opinions on the topic. By the end of class, I decided on where I actually stand in the argument. I believe that we should maintain our time zones how they are. One reason why I believe this is because people are not going to want to be awake during the night in one part of the world, when another part of the world is awake during the day and sleeping during the night. Some of my classmates said that we could all be awake at the same time, so we would know what time to call other places and "make things easier", even if it'll take a long time to get used to. However, that would mean that people across the world will be awake when it is dark outside, whereas today, everyone sleeps at night. There are multiple reasons why we should be awake during the day and asleep during the night. For example, p...

   Today in class, Mr. Schick brought back the discussion our class was having about time zones about whether they were actually useful or not, and turned it into a debate project. We must gather evidence to support either why time zones should stay or go. He made three groups for us to start in. We could be in the group that is supporting the idea of time zones being useful and staying, another group supporting the idea of why we don't need time zones and why it should go, and a group that is undecided. This group gathers reasoning to support both sides, and when we debate on Friday, they will end up making a decision. I chose to start in the undecided group for now as I gather my thoughts and think of which idea makes more sense to me. So far, here are some pieces of evidence I gathered for the claims: The world should continue to use time zones and not get rid of them- "Without time zones, time is never ambiguous, but how do we know at what time it would be appropriate...

   Today in class, we took our map quiz on North America, Central America, and South American countries. We had to label each country from the word box below. Mr. Schick gave us a little time in the beginning of class to practice it online. I felt pretty confident on how I did because I studied and worked on the online version a lot. I checked Veracross and found out that I got an 100% on it, so I am satisfied.    After the quiz, we continued our note-taking on Mr. Schick's Grids and Time Zones powerpoint. The first slide was a little review on the facts of lines of longitude. A couple of facts that were listed included: they are known as meridians they run in a north-south direction they measure east of west of the Prime Meridian are farthest apart at the Equator and meet at the poles cross the equator at right angles    We then learned about time zones. A time zone is a region of the globe that observes a uniform standard for legal, commercial, ...