Note: The article we are using for this lesson comes from the March 15, 2010 issue of The New York Times Upfront. Upfront is a news magazine for teens published by Scholastic in partnership with The New York Times.
Overview | Is the census an integral part of American democracy? What is its impact on government policy, society and the economy? In this lesson, students consider the purpose of the census and the importance of participating in it. They then examine the issues surrounding the 2010 census and engage in one of several multidisciplinary activities designed to make the census relevant to their experience, perspective and learning.
History, Social Studies and Mathematics
-Have students consider how historical events are reflected in census data, and have them search the New York Times archivesback to 1851 to look for interesting and telling stories from particular census years. For example, how does this short news item from the 1910 census reflect events at that time in women’s history? How does this September 14, 1940 article show the impact of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression? How does this June 5, 1960 article chart the mid-century movement of families to the suburbs? Choose an event from American history to see how census data, and census reporting, enriches the “story” of that time and place.
-Using the questions asked in the 2010 census, students create their own 10-minute, 10-question surveys that could help them to create a portrait of their school and/or community. Ask them to consider and develop a rationale for how this information could be used to improve school and/or local services and facilities. Our lesson The Minority Majority provides suggestions for how to create such a survey. After they develop and administer the survey, they then parse the results.
-At The Times’s Visualization Lab or IBM’s Many Eyes, students can create amap of the United States that depicts the states with the following: largest elderly population, largest minority population, highest income and lowest income. They should select an icon to represent each of these categories and visually illustrate the map, using Population Boom as a visual model.
-Using the maps provided by Scholastic’s 2010 Census: It’s About Us, theState and County QuickFacts database, and the New York Times interactive graphic Immigration Explorer, students highlight those states which have grown most rapidly because of immigration over the past decade. They then make projections for the next decade using the Diversity in the Classroom. Have students view the U.S. Census 2010 “Toolkit for Reaching Immigrants”to examine how the government has tried to anticipate and respond to issues around reaching and counting all immigrants.
-Working with historical census data available at American Fact Finder’s Population Finder, students compare the nation’s population trends to those of their state, county, and, if available, town over the past decade. Have them plot this data out on a chart.
-The Many Eyes database contains various infographics featuring census data. Have students create their own visualization using and comparing historical data of their own choice about a particular demographic from the U.S. Census Bureau. Ask them to analyze the significance of their datasets.
