The idea for this lesson plan was inspired by Marie Loiselle of the Maharishi School in Fairfield, Iowa, who received a teacher grant from the National Geographic Education Foundation in support of a project called Geographic Learning and City Growth.

Since the dawn of human evolution, humans have migrated across continents in search of food, shelter, safety, and hospitable climate. People still move for these reasons, but new reasons for human migration are arising, such as job relocation and overpopulation.

This lesson will review the reasons humans move around the planet. It will then focus on migrations to and from communities, looking at the push/pull factors that lead to migration to and from certain regions. Students interview a person who migrated to the community; gather background information on the subject, including push/pull factors that motivated the person to move to the community; and create a written report or oral presentation with the results.

Geography, demography, history

Standard 1: "How to use maps and other geographical representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report, information from a spatial perspective"
Standard 9: "The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human population on Earth's surface"
Standard 12: "The processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement"
Standard 16: "The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources"
Standard 18: "How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future"

Two to three hours

• Computers with Internet access
• Large piece of chart paper
• Access to reference materials and sources related to the local community’s history
• Drawing and writing materials

Students will

• think about their own potential migration and the reasons behind that decision;
• answer and discuss questions about migration in terms of their own community;
• explain migration in terms of push and pull factors;
• relate migration patterns to economic, political, social, and environmental factors; and
• write a story about that describes possible motivations for moving into the community.

Begin with a read-aloud of Beverly Friday’s "Time to Go," or another book about a family’s move. This list of books about moving offers a number of other suggestions. In "Time to Go" a family must move from their farm after facing a farm crisis that affects thousands of others.

Ask students if they have ever lived somewhere else. Then ask if they remember moving, and if so, how they felt during and after their move to a new home (excited, sad, afraid, happy, bored). Take a class poll and record the results on a graph. How many students have lived in more than one place? How did students feel about moving to a new home? Next, locate your community using the Xpeditions Atlas First point out North America, and then click until you navigate to your state. Show students the Atlas of the Human Journey which depicts when and where ancient humans moved around the world. Point out the lines on the map that show where people moved, or migrated. On the Atlas of the Human Journey map, point out where your community is located. Then ask students to think about a place they might like to move with their families. Have students brainstorm a list of reasons why they think they would like to move there. Then discuss why they chose that location. Have students draw a picture of the place they named. Ask them to draw a picture that shows the good and the bad things about moving there. (For example, a student's picture of Florida might depict sunny, warm weather, but also show they would be sad about being far from their grandparents.)

Talk about the differences between migration and moving. Explain that migration is when large groups of people move to the same place. Moving is when smaller groups, such as a family, travel to and make their home in a new place.

Activity 1: The Basics of Migration: A North American Perspective

Have students recall the story "Time to Go" and how the family moved from their farm. Ask students to think about some other reasons people might move from one place to another. What might a family do if they lived in a cold part of the country but preferred warm weather? What if one or both parents lost their job? Have students draw pictures that show people or families moving. Then have them write or dictate a sentence that tells why the family is moving. Post all the students' pictures on the wall or have each student describe his picture to the rest of the class.

Talk about the "push-pull" factors involved in human migration. Beforehand, visit PBS and this page with background information on human migration and the "push" and "pull" factors involved. Explain to students that people are sometimes "pushed" away from their home to a new place (i.e., that there are reasons for leaving their home). In "Time to Go" the family was pushed from their home because they could no longer farm the land. Other times, they are "pulled," or attracted to, a new home. They may like the warmer weather in a new place, for example. Review the pictures students made of reasons why people move. Ask students to decide whether each picture shows a "push" or a "pull."

Activity 2: The Basics of Migration: A Community Perspective

Have students review the drawings they made earlier of a place they might like to live. Then have students brainstorm some things in their community that might attract people. Challenge students to think of things that are fun, interesting, or very unique in the community—such as the climate, a well-known industry that children might know of, and recreational resources such as ski resorts or beaches, etc.

Locate and make available a variety of resources that tell the story of migration into the community. You may be able to locate historical photographs, maps, and documents from the public library or the town historian, or on the Internet. Look for images that depict your community’s unique culture and the people who have moved into the area over the years. Allow students to examine the documents and then make observations about what they see. Do things in the pictures look the same today? Do they recognize any of the buildings and places? How do the look the same? How are they different?

Discuss with students some of the reasons that it's important to look at migration. Why do people want to move to some places and away from other places? How does that make a place unique?

Ask students to interview a person in the community who migrated in one form or another (e.g., emigrated from another country, moved from another state, or moved from a rural area to an urban area or vice versa). As a class develop a series of questions to gather background information on the subject as well as push/pull factors that motivated the person to move to the community. Then have students present the results of their interviews to the class. Depending on the age and ability of your students, they can present their report orally, write and read aloud sentences about their interview, or draw pictures that represent the information they gathered, and then share the pictures with the class.

After all students have presented their reports, have students compare and contrast information. What are some similarities among the people interviewed? Differences? What are some reasons people have moved to the community? Make a list on the board. Ask students to identify which are push factors and which are pull factors. How does this information compare to what they learned previously about migration to their community? How is migration different from just moving to a new home? How is it similar to moving to a new home? Have the class come up with a definition of migration.

Use a large sheet of chart paper to write a class story about migration into the community. Have students draw on their observations about the photographs and documents you shared in Activity 2, as well as their ideas about what might attract people to the community. While students are offering suggestions for the story, note their understanding of push-pull factors and the motivations people have for migrating from one place to another. You may wish to have older students write their stories in small groups. When the migration stories are complete, have students illustrate them.

• Have students create an imaginary immigrant character living somewhere in the world today. Ask them to write and illustrate a series of simple journal entries describing their family background, reasons for leaving their home, journey to a new place and their experiences upon arrival. Younger students can use drawing to create a picture journal.
  
  
• Have students photograph (or sketch if cameras are not available) people and places that represent the migration into the community. Examples could include an ethnic community such as a "Chinatown," ethnic grocery stores, a "Jewish Community Center," street signs, signs in other languages, etc. Have students brainstorm locations and people first, and be sure to get permission to take photographs in businesses, libraries, etc. Then have students label photographs with the dates, places, and short descriptions of the migrations represented by each. Compile all the photographs into an album or wall display.
  
  
• Have students research migration patterns across the United States and North America, such as the 19th century pioneers. Then have them write stories, similar to their community migration stories, about a fictional character from that time period.

Geographical Mobility: Population Characteristics
Migration Policy Institute: Migration Information Source
National Geographic Magazine: Changing America
National Geographic News: Forecast Sees Halt to Population Growth by End of Century
Population Reference Bureau
US Census Bureau
United Nations Population Division
University of California, Davis: Migration Dialogue