Respect for all: Life expectancy

This activity was used with pupils in key stage 3, year 9.

Context

This school is a mixed inner-city comprehensive with 820 pupils. Sixty per cent of the pupils are from minority ethnic groups. The school has an active policy of promoting diversity.

Aim

• To develop data handling skills through exploration.

Activity objectives

• To gain a deeper understanding of the human issues involved with life expectancy.
• To explore infant mortality rates and life expectancy for different continents and/or regions around the world.
• To learn how to communicate data about life expectancies in a mathematical format.

Activity description

The pupils were given data sheets containing demographic information such as total population, GNP and adult literacy rates for different countries. The pupils chose two or more continents or regions and calculated the infant mortality rates and life expectancy for each. When they had successfully completed the task they discussed what the results might imply. They discussed how to display the information, and other questions about the regions were also noted for further exploration.

Commentary

The pupils were motivated to complete the work. They were aware of the purpose of the task and recognised that they were investigating an important issue. The implications of the results created lively discussion, and questions about infant and maternal mortality rates were raised for future investigations.

Resources

Demographic information about continents and regions can be found on the internet. Enter "world demographic trends", "world life expectancy" and "world GNP" into any search engine.

The online national curriculum can be found at www.nc.uk.net/