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
• Blank Xpeditions outline map of the world
• Access to reference materials and sources related to the local community's history
• Drawing and writing materials

Students will

• use a map of human migration to 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
• research an individual who has migrated to their community and write a report about the person's background and motivation for moving into the community.

Ask students if they have ever lived somewhere else. Ask students to share the reason (if they know, or want to share) why their family moved to their current home. Poll students and record the results. How many have lived in more than one place? How many have lived in a different city? State? Country? What were some of the reasons? Ask students to look at the Atlas of the Human Journey , which depicts when and where ancient humans moved around the world. Then ask students to think about a place to which they might like to move later in life. Have them create a list of reasons why they think they would like to move there. Then discuss why they chose that location. What would be the downside of moving? Then ask students to think about some of the reasons people might want to move into their state, city, or town. Possible answers could include the climate, job opportunities, natural resources, the economy, culture, etc.

Ask students how they define migration, and keep track of their answers on a large piece of paper or poster board.

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

Have students examine the Atlas of the Human Journey at National Geographic's Genographic Project, looking at the patterns of migration across the globe. Allow enough time for students to explore the text, images, and video clips presented for each time period depicted on the interactive map. What are their impressions of how people have moved from Africa to other parts of the world? When did people first migrate to North America? How did ancient people move from one part of the world to another? How long did it take? Why did they travel along the paths depicted on the map? Why does the map show more migration to the southern part of North America? Why would people have migrated to the south rather than the north? How is the migration shown on the Atlas of the Human Journey maps different from the movement of a family from one city (state, country) to another?

Why do people move? Ask students to think about the forces that drive human migration. Have students look at this overview of human migration and explore the "push" and "pull" factors involved. What are some examples of things that have pushed or pulled people away from or to North America? Ask students to think about real-world examples of some of these situations. Have them consider historical (e.g., Africans brought to America for slavery) and current (e.g., refugees) examples, as well as situations that illustrate both voluntary (e.g., moving to another country to look for work) and forced (e.g., displacement by a natural disaster) migration. Have students brainstorm a list of push and pull factors and write them on the board or chart paper.

In small groups or with the whole class discuss the following questions:

• What are some different types of human movements?
• What are some patterns of migration in North America? In the United States?
• Why do students think the United States has a distinct pattern of regional movements? Do students think more people move from the north to the south or south to north? What about east to west and west to east movement? Why do they think this is so? What effects do a region's economy, climate, politics, and culture have on migration to and from the area?

Activity 2: The Basics of Migration: A Community Perspective

Using the the Atlas of the Human Journey, have students review some of the possible motivations people have had for migrating to different places in North America. Have students brainstorm and discuss some possible reasons that whole groups or even communities of people might move to another location. Some historical examples include environmental disasters such as "Love Canal," or the loss of industry in an area, that cause people to look for work in another part of the country. Then have small groups of students investigate their own community's history by conducting research using historical documents, newspaper articles, photographs, and other documents. Some possible places to look include the public library, a town or city historian, local museums, and newspaper archives. Have students brainstorm a list of community members to interview—people who could share information about patterns of movement to and from the community as well as personal histories. During their research, have students seek information about the motivations (push/pull factors) that caused people to move in and out of the community. Some possible questions include:

• Have there been any major or large-scale natural or environmental disasters in the community?
• Have any large employers or industries left the area?
• Has the community had something that attracted groups of people, such as the climate, cultural resources, job opportunities, etc.?

When students have completed their research, have them create and share presentations that depict migration to and from their community, including the push-pull factors.

Discuss with students some of the reasons that it's important to look at migration. How does a community's pattern of migration make it unique? What can we learn about ourselves from this kind of information? Why is it important to preserve and pass on this information for future generations?

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). Have them 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, and create a written report or oral presentation with the results.

After all students have presented their reports, have students compare and contrast information. What are some similarities among the people interviewed? Differences? What trends do students notice? What are some reasons people have moved to the community? How does this information compare to what they learned previously about migration to their community?

In their small groups, have students create a map of community migration, modeled on the Atlas of the Human Journey map, but focused on the migrations to and from their community and what they've learned in their interviews and research. Students should be sure to include on their maps:

• the path people have taken to and from the community (to/from other cities, states, countries);
• explanatory text; and
• the dates of the migration being represented.

• Have students create an imaginary immigrant character living somewhere in the world today. Ask them to write a series of journal entries describing their family background, reasons for leaving their home, journey to a new place and their experiences upon arrival.
  
  
• 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. Then compile all the photographs into an album or wall display.
  
  
• Have students research migration patterns across the United States and North America and create maps similar to their community maps using a blank map from Xpeditions.

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