Summary
Students will build a general understanding of why people choose to move and settle where they do. They will draw on specific, real-world examples of urban explosion in India to identify motivation for movement and analyze the existence and influence of push and pull factors.
Essential Question(s)
What motivates people to move from place to place? How do push and pull factors influence human movement and settlement?
Snapshot
Engage
Students will brainstorm reasons why people move from place to place and be introduced to push and pull factors that affect human migration.
Explore
Students will watch a short video to deepen their understanding of push and pull factors. Students will look at class lists and identify which events are push or pull factors to migration.
Explain
Student groups will read migration stories and analyze maps to gain a deeper understanding of overcrowding in urban areas of India.
Extend
Students will participate in a Card Sort activity to reinforce concepts introduced in the lesson.
Evaluate
Students will complete a Two-Minute Paper to deepen their understanding of the concepts presented in the lesson. The notes from the group work and class lists can also serve as assessments.
Materials
New York Times article, one class set
Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) graphic organizer, one for each student
Push and Pull Factors Card Sort, one per group of four
Maps of India, group work packet
Migration Stories of India, group work packet
Engage
Explain to students that over the next few days they will be learning about how and why people move from place to place. Show slide 3. Ask students to think about the following question: What motivates people to move from place to place?
Place students in pairs and ask them to brainstorm together as many ideas as possible why people move from place to place. Allow five to seven minutes for them to brainstorm. Have all pairs report their answers. This is a Think, Pair, Share activity. List all ideas on the board so all are visible to the class. Hopefully, there will be at least 10 to 20 different reasons why people move. Choose the best ideas and number the best ideas on the board starting with #1. Ask students to copy these reasons onto notebook paper.
Show slide 4, which explains push and pull factors. Emphasize that push factors relate to situations where people have no choice but to move to a new location. Pull factors relate to situations where people move because they are attracted by better circumstances or choose a better life. Pull factors involve greater choice.
Display slide 5. Ask students the question posed on the slide. Would a new job be a push or pull factor? Call on some students for their ideas. This slide is on two mouse clicks that includes pictures for the answer. The correct answer is "it depends on the reason." If a factory or business closes and it would mean that the person loses his or her job, then that person might be forced to relocate to find a new job or face poverty. This is a PUSH factor. If a person chooses to find a new job because it is better for him or her, then this is a PULL factor.
Explore
Understanding Push/Pull Factors: To deepen the understanding of push and pull factors, show students the TED-Ed video Where do you decide to go in a Zombie Apocalypse? This video is approximately 4 minutes long.
After the video, display slide 6, which includes the questions below. Discuss these questions as a class.
When people move or migrate, what do they bring with them? (Culture, ideas, resources, goods, etc.)
If zombies are attacking your town and you are forced to leave or be eaten, which factor would this be in human migration? (Push factor)
What type of town would be best to move to where you would have the best chance of survival against a zombie attack? (Answers will vary but might mention a strong defense system, maybe in a remote location so that zombies do not have easy access, etc.)
Finding the perfect town to survive the zombie attack would be an example of which factor? (Pull factor)
Show slide 7. Return to the class list that was generated in the Engage section and ask students to return to their partners. Have student pairs divide a piece of notebook paper in half lengthwise or "hot dog style." Have students write PUSH FACTORS" at the top of one column and "PULL FACTORS" at the top of the other. Ask pairs to categorize each item on the class list of factors for leaving a location as a push factor or a pull factor. For those that could be both, they should write down their reasoning beside the factor. Allow about 20 minutes for partners to work together on this activity.
Display the class list on the board and randomly ask partners to choose one of the reasons why people move and explain their reasoning why they chose it to be a PUSH or PULL factor. These completed class lists can be taken up after this activity and used as a formative assessment.
Explain
Class Jigsaw Reading: Discuss with students that as people move they bring their ideas, resources, and culture to a new location. Some locations become "urbanized" or see an increase in a population in cities and towns versus rural areas. Urbanization might occur because cities can offer more jobs or resources like housing, goods, or public transportation. Show slide 8 to illustrate urbanization.
Distribute copies of the New York Times article regarding rapid urbanization in India. Number students off one through four. Pass out copies of the article.
Ask students to hold up their fingers for the section they are to read (1,2,3, or 4). They are to SILENTLY form a group of four where each student has a different number. Students will use the Jigsaw strategy to read the article. Give groups 15-20 minutes to read their sections and share the main idea of each section with each other. Show slide 9. As a group, students are to discuss and create one statement about the problems of urbanization.in India. When groups are called on, they are to share out their statement. Write these statements on the board. This entire jigsaw activity should take 30 to 35 minutes.
A Deeper Look at India's Urbanization Group Work: Pass out a packet of India resources to each group. Each packet should contains the maps of India handout as well as the migration stories handout. Each student should also receive a CER (Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning) graphic organizer. Explain that the claim is stated for them: India has problems with urbanization. They are to find the evidence that supports the migration of India's rural population to urban centers.
Ask students to divide up the migration stories and maps equally among the group members. Go over the questions and sections on the graphic organizer. Using the packet of materials as evidence, students are to fill in the information on the graphic organizer as they discuss and share the resources. Allow one class period for reading, discussing, and completing the CER graphic organizer.
Extend
OPTIONAL: To reinforce the definitions of PUSH and PULL factors, a card sort is available in the attachments. Ask groups of four to categorize the statements as either PUSH or PULL factors. After groups are finished, they are to compare their choices with other card sort groups.
OPTIONAL HOMEWORK: Everyone has a migration story. Ask students to interview family members to see why they, their parents or their grandparents located in this community and what brought them to this location. Have students identify whether the reasons were PUSH or PULL factors.
Evaluate
Display slide 10. Ask students individually to choose one of the the statements below as a writing prompt.
What motivates people to move from place to place?
How do push and pull factors influence human settlement?
You might need to explain that for the second question about human settlements, they can use the urban areas of India as examples. Students will complete a Two-Minute Paper to display their understanding and mastery of the concepts. This format also forces students to be concise with their writing.
The class list and the CER graphic organizer can also serve as assessments for this lesson.
Resources
Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). India. The World Factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
FreeWorldMaps.net. (n.d.) India physical map. Retrieved from http://www.freeworldmaps.net/asia/india/map.html
Hall, J. (2012). Urbanization of India: push and pull factors. OKAGE. Retrieved from http://www.okageweb.org/new-blog/2018/2/13/urbanization-of-india-push-and-pull-factors
K20 Center. (n.d.). Jigsaw. Strategies. Retrieved from https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f507c1b8
K20 Center. (n.d.). Think, pair, share. Strategies. Retrieved from https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f5064b49
K20 Center. (n.d.). Two-minute paper. Strategies. Retrieved from https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f506cf73
Polgreen, L. (2010, Nov. 30). New arrivals strain India's cities to breaking point. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/world/asia/01delhi.html
TED-Ed. (2013, June 3). How do you decide where to go in a zombie apocalypse? - David Hunter [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdtQgwOOiBg&feature=youtu.be
Wikimedia Commons. (2006). India flood zone map. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:India_flood_zone_map.svg
Wikimedia Commons. (2006). India population density map. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:India_population_density_map_en.svg
Wikimedia Commons. (2006). India railway schematic map. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:India_railway_schematic_map.svg
