Overload on Babies?

In the last unit in the Population class, which is called If/Then. In this unit we talked about the population and tried to predict what the human population would be in 2050. We did this by using a method in math called the geometric and arithmetic sequence. For the last action project we were ask to come up with a topic and write a script about the human population going up so quickly. The discussion had to have 2 viewpoints that had strong evidence. For the math part to fit in we used the geometric method to figure out what the human population would in in 2050. What I found most challenging about this action project was the math part, but when we went over it as a class I understood it much better. What I enjoyed the most about this project was doing the research and how my project came together. 

Right now the human population is at 7,125,000,000, by 2050 my class predicted that it could reach up to 10,715,465,520. We got this answer by using geometric method our work is show below. 

Created by JV Geometric Sequence 2014*

Human population is too over crowded in certain areas in the world. All around the world many babies are born to young teen parents, this is causing our population to go up. 

Below is a discussion between too young teens that have noticed how much teen pregnancy has gone up over the years. They are talking about ways that this can be prevented so that way our population doesn't go over 7 billion. 

Dustin: Hey Haley, is it just me or have you seen like 10 girls pass by that have a baby bump?

Haley: I was thinking the same thing! But just didn't want to mention it. 

Dustin: Do you think they are in some kind of competition or something because there are so many girls at this school that are pregnant?! 

Haley: I have no idea, but I hope that is not the case! You know I was watching the news and I heard that there are 72% births per 1,000 adolescent females. The U.S teen birth rate is higher than any other developing countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom. (1)

Dustin: That is insane! Knowing that our population rate worldwide is growing so quickly, too many teen girls are having babies! 

Haley: Right now our world population is at seven billion, but if we stay at our current rate of growth we can reach up to 10 billion by 2050! 

Dustin: So the 72% of birth rates are in the United States alone?

Haley: Yes, I know its a high percent. The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the world. 

Dustin: But do you honestly think that these young teens that are having babies and increasing our population affecting our planet? I mean I don’t think having too many humans well harm us. The more people we have on our planet the better because we would have more resources!

Haley: That is true, but have you thought about our planet and how its handling all of us? We should run out of food, and water. Plus women and young teen girls in developing countries that have high fertility rate will suffer the most. (2)

Dustin: So teens having babies at a high rate the will cause commensalism because its benefiting our population, but hurting the planet’s population. But since that population is growing, it will than turn into competition because than we will be fighting for food, and other resources in order to survive.

Haley: Exactly! And this can hurt the U.S because we have such a large population rate for teen pregnancy compared to Canada, which has 27.9% per 1,000 adolescent females. (3)

Dustin: So what can help this rate go down?

Haley: Schools can have more well educated classes, to inform teens on how to prevent pregnancy!

Dustin: Oh yeah this school definitely needs that class!

Citations:

(3) "Seven Ways Seven Billion People Affect The Planet."newsecuritybeat.org. Geoff Dabelko. Web. 2011. Oct 27, 2014. 

(1) "Trend in Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing." hhs.gov/ash/oah. Evenlyn Mkappeler. Web. 2010. Oct 22, 2014. 

(2) "Why Teen Pregnancy Is One The Rise." theglobeandmail.com. Zosia Bielski. Web 2013. Oct 27, 2014. 

German Shepherd on Mars One?

During this Unit in my population course called From/To, which means where did we come from and where are we going. In this unit, I learned about Darwin and his theories of Natural Selection. For this action project, I had to pick a organism that would be best suited to live in a new environment which would be Mars One. The animal that I picked came from a dog rescue. What I enjoyed most about this action project was learning about the history of different organisms and how they died off, and our future to life. What found most challenging about this unit was the math, I always struggle with math, but I am practicing and feel like I’m getting much better. What I am most proud of is my research for my project and how it all come together.


While looking at the animals online at the rescue shelter, I chose to record my information about the weight of dogs and cats, in lbs. The box -and-whisker plot is representing my data. 

Created by JV "Box-and-whisker plot" 2014*

This is my standard deviation chart. My chosen animal is 21.82 standard deviation which is below the mean. I did have a outlier, the animal is 80 pounds. 

 Created by JV "Standard Deviation chart" 2014*

Citations: 

"Alive Rescue". aliverescue.org. Kristen Gerali. Greg Raymond. Web. 2008. October 13, 2014. 

"German Shepherd Hope Rescue". gsdhope.org. N.A. Web 2014. October 13, 2014. 

Mexican Mole Lizard.

The purpose for this first Action project for my STEAM class called "Population", which is a Global Health series that talks about why our population had changed throughout history and what this means for our future. During this unit, I learned both Mathematical and Scientific systems of classification; I also learned about Taxonomy, which is the branch of science that classifies animals, which helped me a lot with my project. I picked the Mexican Mole Lizard (Bipes biporus) because it looked so interesting to me, and how it's one of a kind because it doesn't have a relative. The MML is cold blooded, its Bipes because it is a Carnivore and Squamata because it has scales. Using Taxonomy helped me a lot because I got to see what class my animal was in as well as other information. What I found really helpful with doing this AP was really understanding what Taxonomy is. What I found challenging was doing the Mathematical language because I'm not that great at it, but I would love to improve. What I enjoyed about this project was learning about all different kinds of animals.

Here is the Taxonomy classification of the Mexican Mole Lizard.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Bipedidae
Genus: Bipes
Species: B. biporus

Created by JV, "MML" 2014*

Here are the set theory statements explaining in mathematical language what my animal is categorized in and what it's not.

Created by JV "MML" 2014*

Here is a three circled Venn Diagram, I compared my animal with my classmate RD who had a Blue Tailed Skink, and my other classmate AMK had a Fennec Fox. To see what we have in common or what we don't have in common.

Created by JV, RD, AMK 2014*