InspireData Lesson Plan: Immigration Then and Now

Immigration Then and Now

Subject: Social Studies

Grades: 6-8
Ages: 11-14

Lesson Objective

Immigration is a topic receiving considerable attention today, but how does it compare to U.S immigration in the past? In this lesson students will research the waves of immigration to the U.S. from the 19th century to the present. Using historical immigration data and other resources, students will gather information on the total influx of immigrants from different continents and evaluate the changes over time. Students will use InspireData^® to analyze the patterns and trends and synthesize their conclusions within a historical context.

Teacher Instructions
 
1. Introduce the lesson by asking the students to brainstorm what they know about U.S. immigration. Then ask if they have any ideas about how U.S. immigration may have changed over the last 100 years. Explain that dramatic changes have taken place and students will be looking at immigration data to analyze changes and trends to better understand the reasons for the changes.

2. Explain to students that they will use available educational resources and the Internet to research immigration history. One excellent web site is the Flow of History which includes a timeline of U.S. Policy on Immigration and Naturalization: www.flowofhistory.org/themes/movement_settlement/uspolicytimeline.php. Discuss the resources available to the students and explain that they will use them to research and complete the activity.

3. Divide students into as many groups as there are computers available. Direct them to open the U.S. Immigration database from the InspireData Starter Screen>Databases>Social Studies and discuss the information contained in the tables. The database contains one table with overall immigration data from 1820-2004, another with information about the origins of the U.S. foreign-born population from 1850-2000 and a third with the top source countries of today's immigrants.

4. With the first table, Total Immigration, 1820-2000 selected, demonstrate how to create an Axis Plot of Year vs. Total Immigration. If desired, a line graph can then be created with the line type options button in the lower-left. Explain to students that they will be looking for trends in the data and creating Slides with Notes to explain changing immigration patterns. Show the students how to Title the plot appropriately and add a Note containing a discussion of the overall changes in U.S. immigration through history. Lastly, demonstrate how to Capture a slide.

5. Select the Percent Distribution of U.S. Foreign-Born Population table and demonstrate how to create an Animated Time Series plot of Year vs. Percent of Total Immigration. Explain to students that they will again be looking for trends with this set of data and creating Slides with Notes to explain changing patterns in the U.S. foreign-born population. Discuss any initial observations students have about the first year (1850) and record them as Notes. Add an appropriate Title to the plot, and then Capture a slide.

6. Review how students will use their research to write Notes with formed commentary in their Slides. The timeline on the Flow of History web site is an excellent source for this information.

7. Divide students into as many groups as there are computers available. Direct them to open the U.S. Immigration database and use the plots Year vs. Percent of Total Immigration and Year vs. Total Immigration to create a Slide Show that analyzes trends in U.S. immigration from 1850 to present. Specify a minimum number of slides that students are expected to create, and a minimum number of immigration laws that should be referenced to explain changes in the data.

8. Close with a discussion about the exercise. What interesting trends were discovered, and what was likely to account for them? How is immigration today similar to and different from how it was in the past? What region of the world did most immigrants come from 100 years ago, and where do they come from today?

Assessment

1. Students can be assessed on the quality of their plots and the recorded observations. Completed projects can be printed and turned in or saved to a common folder on the school network.
2. Students may also be assessed on their participation in the class discussion.

Lesson Adaptations

• For younger students, fewer Slides and Notes with less detailed information could be required.
• For older students, more Slides and more detailed information could be required. For example, high school students could be expected to discuss how changing immigration trends have impacted social and political issues.
• Class presentations can be assigned to explain three interesting observations with the likely historical and policy reasons for the developments. Presentations could be assessed on successfully relating the information, speaking clearly, developing rapport with the audience, etc. Students can take notes on their classmates’ presentations which can be submitted for credit, or they could be expected to integrate their classmates’ observations into their own InspireData projects.
• This lesson can also be adapted for high school students.