What’s On My Desk?

WHY IS LEARNING ABOUT HUMAN MIGRATION BEHAVIOR IMPORTANT?

The push and pull factors of human migration are a necessary concept for students to learn in this day and age. Although migration and displacement have existed throughout history, technological advancements and media sources have brought this human rights issue into the spotlight like never before. Just recently people have been fleeing from Mozambique and displaced due to political unrest in their recent elections and are forced from their homes due to dangers to their lives. Migrant counts on the Mexico-United States border continue to rise as people seek a better quality of life. People choose to migrate daily seeking new jobs, education, places to retire, etc. It is important that we understand the variables surrounding migration today and how it affects population distribution, and how that can affect the economy and the environment.

Through studying migration and population distribution we learn: (1) What causes people to migrate? (2) How do they migrate? (3) What are the pros and cons of migration? (4) How do they decide where they want to migrate? (5) How movement is influenced by politics, economics, social needs, environmental aspects, and more.

A few years ago, I developed a lesson plan on this concept called Cars, Planes, Buses, Trains & By Foot, which has a popular lesson to use across grades 6th-12th. This lesson can also be found on Classful and Amped Up Learning.

Currently, I am in the process of developing a new lesson on this concept called A Safe Place to Land: Push and Pull Factors of Human Migration which incorporates Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration. This lesson asks students to explore and track the migration of an individual or group, identify the push and pull factors, and whether those factors are based on economic, social, political, environmental, or demographic reasons. To further their understanding, students will create a character analysis based on the migration event they chose to study.

WHAT THIS LESSON INCLUDES:

🦶🏼 An Introduction Activity

🦶🏼 A Safe Place to Land Group Reading Activity

🦶🏼 Comprehension Research Game or Activity and Fun Character Analysis. Students will find a time in history when people migrated based on economic, social, political, environmental, and demographic reasons. Students will need online access for research for each group.

🦶🏼A Safe Place to Land Migration Cards (Front and back – Included)

🦶🏼 Closure Activity: Exit Cards

🦶🏼All of our lessons come with a detailed teacher’s guide and although our lessons are designed for group cooperation, they can easily be modified for an individual assignment.