European Culture influence in the Caribbean

Day 2

Goals:

1. To show students how the European culture has impacted the people of the Caribbean.

2. To expose students to the several different nations that comprise Europe.

3. To introduce the students to population growth as a mathematical concept.

Time:

Two hours

Resources\Materials:

Maps of Europe and the Caribbean, calculators, and birth - death records of any Caribbean Island from the late 1800s or early 1900s. Laboratory and Field Manual of Ecology by Brewer and McCann.

Procedure:

1. Students will be introduced to Europe and the countries that make up Europe.

2. The teacher will discuss the four (4) major countries that had an influence on the Caribbean region and discuss them briefly. What did they bring to the area? A. Spain B. France C. England D. Holland

3. The teacher will help the students to identify components of European culture that still exist in the Caribbean nations. For example, the form of government, money, industry, holidays, and language.

4. After the teacher has introduced and shown the impacts of the European cultures, students will participate in an activity that shows the population growth on the islands. This activity will require the teacher to have some knowledge in statistics. Birth and death rates on the island we chose will be used to see if we can make an accurate prediction as to how many people will be on the island in subsequent years. A population activity that can be adapted and used comes from Laboratory and Field Manual of Ecology by Brewer and McCann. Exercise 10: Life Tables. Exercise 11: Population Growth. Both can be adapted easily.

5. Students will be organized into groups of four and will work together as a team.

6. After completion of the population activity, the whole class will come together and discuss their findings.

7. Students must turn in their work.

8. Work through the correct answer with the whole class to show students what they should expect.

Assessment:

Students grades will be determined by how well they stay on task and on the completion of the activity. It is important to note that we want to reward the students for attempting to perform the calculations, not punish them for arriving at the wrong answer.

4 Student actively performs and completes required tasks presented to him/her.

3 Student performs and completes required tasks presented to him/her.

2 Students passively performs and completes required tasks presented to him/her.

1 Student passively performs, but does not complete, required tasks presented to him/her.

Curricular Strands:

Math - Statistics

Cooperative learning - working in groups

Social Studies - History and Economics - discussion of money

Political Science - discussion of governments

Possible Extensions:

Raise fruit flies in class to show how fast a population can grow. Create our own currency and develop our own economy.

Reference:

Brewer, R., & McCann, M. T. (1982). Laboratory and Field Manual of Ecology, Fort Worth: Saunders College Publishing. ISBN: 0-03-057879-5

 This page submitted by St. Norbert College Ocean Voyagers Program