PopEd and Kids

By Pamela Wasserman, Director of Population Education

Since we began putting out the Kid- Friendly Cities Report Card almost 18 years ago, there’s been one question that pops up at each release: Why is a population stabilization organization interested in looking at cities as kid-friendly?

Whenever we’re asked this question, we remind people that not only are population questions premised on a community’s quality of life—including the life and prospects of the community’s children—but Population Connection has been working closely with educators and students in all grades since our inception as Zero Population Growth more than 25 years ago.

Since 1975, Population Connection has provided quality population education training materials to educators. With an emphasis on hands-on learning and balanced discussion of different viewpoints, our program has earned a reputation for educational excellence. Tens of thousands of teachers are introducing important population concepts to their students using these outstanding resources and millions of students are benefiting from them.

Our Population Education curriculum is a grassroots, hands-on effort to provide our children with a solid environmental education. The Kid-Friendly Cities Report Card takes a broader view—we go beyond the schools, and assess other factors in the community that contribute to the well-being of our children.

These two projects can work hand-in-hand, and throughout the magazine, we’ve given you examples of Population Education lesson plans that relate to the topics in the report. On this page, for example, you’ll find an excerpt form the lesson plan “Waste Not, Want Not,” that teaches kids about the benefits of recycling—one of the indicators we used in determining a city’s “community” grade.

If you are a teacher, or you know a teacher, contact the Population Education department (1 800 POP-1956) for more information on our lesson plans and information on how to teach environmental and population education to children of all ages.