Guns, Germs, and Steel Test Day

We took the test on Guns, Germs, and Steel today. For me it was pretty easy because I listened intently during the video. I had trouble on a couple questions, but the rest was very easy. The music Mr. Schick played during the test made me focus more in my opinion. It was really soothing and helped me calm my mind.

Guns Germs and Steel Final Day

Today we finished the video of Guns, Germs, and Steel. This video helped me learn a lot about why geography is so important and how it drastically effected the growth of civilization. The big thing that Jared Diamond wanted to get across was that the reason European and Asian civilizations prospered faster than the rest of the world was because of geographic luck and not that they were better than the rest of the world. I agree with this theory because of the amount of evidence Jared Diamond shows. It makes sense that the people with better crops built more powerful civilizations. I think there's more to  it, but he still has a great point.

Pow Wow Extra Credit

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Today in class we watched a video of Jared Diamond explaining inequality with his "guns, germs, and steel" theory. Jared Diamond has spent most of his life trying to figure out Ali's question of why white men and people outside of Papua New Guinea have so much money and the people on the island have close to none. He talked about how the people of New Guinea were visited by Europeans and they immediately took advantage of the native people's lack of knowledge of the outside world.

Midterm Essay Prep Pt.2

            The two population pyramids portray two different countries with different problems. The first point is with their healthcare. Both of these countries have a healthcare system which either positively or negatively affects their total population. The second point is these two countries’ economies. A nation with a more developed economy is going to be vastly different from a country with a poor economy. The final point is with these two countries’ government. If one of these nations has a corrupt government, that would affect their total population.

            The first point is with these two countries’ healthcare. A country with better healthcare will have a bigger population and a lower death rate. This is because less people will die from disease and hospital complications opposed to the other country with a higher mortality rate because of their poor healthcare system. This will also lower the birth rate over time because less people will have a lot of kids because they know that a majority of them will live longer. The country with better healthcare is country B because of their lower birth rate and their high number of people 75+. 

            The second point is the economy. A better economy will also lead to the country being able to afford better healthcare. Country A for example has a poor economy. This is known because of their high number of children and adolescence who are put to work to provide for their families. Country B however has a much more developed economy. Because of their developed economy, it has become much less economically advantageous for a person to have more kids than less. This is because kids have become a liability rather than a economical advantage.

            The final point is the government of these countries. Country A shows signs of being a developing country so this gives the possibility of the government being corrupt and not allowing the country to prosper. Country B also could have this happening if the country has implemented a law where a person can’t have more than one child causing the population to decline because their TFR is not meeting the rate for replacement. 

            Country A and Country B are very different countries. This is shown through their population pyramid through which you can also figure out things about these countries. For example, by analyzing the population pyramid, it is possible to assess the country’s economy and healthcare. This shows how powerful a population pyramid can be for understanding a country.

            

 This is my full essay. I feel like I will do very well on the actual test.

Midterm Essay Prep

            The two population pyramids portray two different countries with different problems. The first point is with their healthcare. Both of these countries have a healthcare system which either positively or negatively affects their total population. The second point is these two countries’ economies. A nation with a more developed economy is going to be vastly different from a country with a poor economy. The final point is with these two countries’ government. If one of these nations has a corrupt government, that would affect their total population.

            The first point is with these two countries’ healthcare. A country with better healthcare will have a bigger population and a lower death rate. This is because less people will die from disease and hospital complications opposed to the other country with a higher mortality rate because of their poor healthcare system. This will also lower the birth rate over time because less people will have a lot of kids because they know that a majority of them will live longer. The country with better healthcare is country B because of their lower birth rate and their high number of people 75+. 

This is what I have so far.  

The Demographic Transition

Today in class we were given a packet about the demographic transition. The demographic transition is a process in which countries go through where the population will increase and decrease based on advancements in healthcare and a better economy. This was pretty easy to understand because all of the terms involved with this graph are terms we have already gone over and talked about. Also, in class today I was so tired so I tried to nap but I stopped myself because I didn't want to be totally unconscious and possibly snore or something.

Post Test

We took the test on world religions in class today. I think I possibly got 100. The only question I got stuck on was the one about what religion 87% of Indonesia practices. I put down Islam, but I think it could have been Hinduism. Other than that question however, I think I did great. I didn't even need to study it was so easy.  If the nest couple lessons are as easy as this one, I think I'll do great on the semester exam.

World Religions

Today in class we started learning about world religions. There are many world religions. The largest one being Christianity. The second largest is Islam. Both of these religions are Abrahamic which means they descended from Abraham. Tomorrow we'll learn about the other 2 major world religions. I think it is probably Hinduism and maybe Jewish. I'm also doing this blog so late because I am a huge procrastinator.

Post Test

We took the test on people and population in class today. I think I did very good on it. I didn't completely know the question where it was three countries and I picked the one with Italy in it. It might have been about TFR I don't know. Other than that question, I feel very confident about my grade. I think I will at least get a 95 if not 100. We also had a dress down day today for people who got honors. I got second honors so I got to dress down which is nice because I have basketball later so I won't have to change out of the uniform.

Population Review

Today in class we reviewed population to prepare for our test on Monday. I think I'll do really good on the test because I have done very well on the past tests about the same subject. I expect myself to get at least a 95 if not 100. I don't think I will need tot study for it either especially since I haven't studied for a human geo test yet this year except for the maps test on countries.

Presentation Assessment

Yesterday, we presented our projects on the countries we were assigned. I think my group did a really good job on the whole project except for coming up with a solution. We didn't know about that question beforehand so we couldn't answer to our fullest ability. Other than that though, I think our slides were very detailed and I think we presented it very well. In my opinion, we definitely had one of the best presentations in the class.

Presentation Day

Today in class we all presented our country projects. I think my group did a really good job in explaining the problems in Kenya. I think I could have added more detail to my slide and given more information about terrorism. In my opinion, our project was one of the best out of all the rest. The last thing we could have definitely done better on was the solution to the problem. We didn't really think about a solution so we didn't really know what to say when the question came.

Kenya Project

Today in class we started working on our projects. My group is doing Kenya. The problem I picked to do within my group is international disputes. This topic covers all of the problems Kenya has with other countries. I think this project should be pretty easy considering the amount of information on the CIA World Fact book about this topic. Kenya doesn't actually have too many disputes, but they do have a good amount of terrorism which I will cover in my slide.

Pop Quiz Prep

Today in class we went over questions on population to prep us for a pop quiz. If we do have a pop quiz, I think I will definitely get 100 on it. Population for me has been so easy so I think I'll do great on the semester exam portion of it. The only thing I feel like I will have trouble with is the part of the exam with A Message for Garcia because I don't completely remember everything from that unit. All I have to do though is study and I will be fine.

In Class Assignment Summary

Yesterday in class we did an assignment where we had to find what we thought were the most important statistics on the CIA World Fact book. I learned from this assignment how even countries you would think would be producing a lot of babies might not be. I thought that all the African countries would have a rapidly increasing population. I was wrong however because even though most of those countries have a rapidly increasing population, its not all of them.

In Class Assignment

Death Rate: 7.7 deaths/1,000 population (World) - I think this fact is important because it is the amount of people who die and you don't want it to be too high or too low. The World Facebook also says that this statistic means there are 108 worldwide deaths per minute and 1.8 deaths per second. 

Maternal Mortality Rate: 211 deaths/100,000 live births (World) - This fact is important because it is the amount of women who die giving birth. This number is so high because most places don't have as good healthcare as we do here in the U.S. I think we should strive to make this number much lower than it is.

Population Without Electricity: 1.201 Billion (World) - This statistic is very important because it tells how much of the world still doesn't have electricity. I think this is way too high of a number considering all the things we use electricity for. We are really lucky to not be the 1.201 Billion without electricity.

Internet Users Percent of Population: 43% (World) - This statistic is extremely important because of the emphasis we put on using the internet. We need to change the fact that over half the world isn't connected to the internet. This is a problem because we use the internet for everything and that means these people don't really know what's going on around the world. 

Unemployment Rate: 7.7% (World) - This statistic is vital because people need jobs to earn money and survive. This statistic is completely accurate however because if you're unemployed for a long period of time, your government will stop counting you as an unemployed person. This might be very high in some countries so the unemployment rate is probably quite a bit higher.

China - Rising slowly/Decline

Argentina - Rising slowly/Rising slowly

United States - Rising slowly/Rising slowly

Slovakia - Rising slowly/Decline

Ghana - Rising rapidly/Rising rapidly

Poor and Sick vs. Rich and Healthy

Today in class we watched a video where Hans Rosling explained population and income trends using life expectancy and GDP per capita chart. This is very useful to see how far countries have come in terms of economy and healthcare. Personally, I thought China would have had their industrial revolution quicker than they did because of how big of a country they are now. Instead however, I learned that they developed their huge economy over about the past 10 years with the ridiculous number of factories and their very cheap labor.

Population Pyramid

I forgot to do a blog yesterday however I'm doing it now. We talked in class about the population pyramid. The population pyramid is a type of graph which allows you to see the amount of people in the population make up a certain age group. This very helpful when figuring out if a country's population is rising or falling. You can tell it's rising if the chart expands at the bottom and is smaller at the top. This also tells you the country is pre-industrial because they're having so many children and not a very long life expectancy.

Post Test Review

Today we got our tests back. I did super good on it. I got a 101 and I'm very proud of it. I think I could have definitely gotten a 104, but I made a dumb mistake which cost me 3 points. The surprising thing is that I didn't even study for this test. I just paid a lot of attention in class to the power-points and Mr. Schick speaking. I hope I can do just as well on the exams and future tests as I did on this one.