Population Growth Worksheets

Human Population Growth
        Population growth workshets and population ecology lesson plans that are designed for high school, middle school, and elementary school life science teachers. NGSS Life Science offers many great lessons. Click the Free Lesson Plan (PDF) link below or become a member to get access to the answer key and editable file. Free population growth curriculum includes:
  • Multimedia Recently Updated
    Building a Dam: Changes to Populations Simulation
    Free Lesson Plan
    Free Student Handout
     
    High School Multimedia
    Students will investigate how adaptive traits can become non-adaptive traits when the environment changes. Students can change the amount of water to simulate how producers (grasses) affect different consumer (rabbit) populations. Students graph the population changes and write a CER paragraph to explain the observed phenomena.
    NGSS Standard
    HS-LS2-2
    HS-LS2-7
    		  
    Published by Concord Consortium
  • Lab Experiment
    Population Growth Rates Lab
    Published by NGSS Life Science. Free Lesson Plan (PDF)

    Lesson Plan (DOCX) & Answer Key with Membership
     
    High School Lab
    A fun predator prey activity that focuses on removal of a limiting factor and how that affects the resilience of the prey population and its environment. Students participate in an activity that models a population of rabbits. Students learn how density-dependent factors affect a population size.
    NGSS Standard
    HS-LS2-1
    HS-LS2-2
    HS-LS2-6
    MS-LS2-4 (Ecosystem Affect on Populations)
    		  
    Published by NGSS Life Science
  • Lab Experiment
    Populations & Ecosystem Stability Lab
    Published by NGSS Life Science. Free Lesson Plan (PDF)

    Lesson Plan (DOCX) & Answer Key with Membership
     
    High School Lab
    In this population and ecosystem stability lab, students participate in an activity that models predator-prey and how resilient a population can be when limiting factors are introduced or removed. Students will model biotic and abiotic factors and how those factors affect population size. At the end of the experiment, students will make a population growth graph based on the experiment and calculate the growth rate through many generations.
    NGSS Standard
    HS-LS2-1
    HS-LS2-2
    HS-LS2-6
    		  
    Published by NGSS Life Science
  • Multimedia Recently Updated
    African Lions: Modeling Populations Q&A
    Free Lesson Plan
    Free Student Handout
    Free Teacher Notes
     
    High School Multimedia
    Students will read and answer questions to distinguish between exponential and logistic population growth, identify carrying capacity, differentiate density-dependent and density-independent limiting factors, apply population models to data sets, and determine carrying capacity from population data. Students will also make predictions based on graphs and interpret graphical data to analyze factors that influence population growth.
    NGSS Standard
    HS-LS2-1
    HS-LS2-2
    HS-LS2-6
    		  
    Published by Concord Consortium
  • Worksheet
    Graphing Deer Populations Worksheet
    Free Lesson Plan
     
    High School Worksheet
    Students use data about deer populations to create a graph and answer conceptual questions based upon the data.
    NGSS Standard
    HS-LS2-1
    HS-LS2-2
    MS-LS2-4 (Ecosystem Affect on Populations)
    		  
    Published by Shannan Muskopf
  • Worksheet
    Human Population Growth Worksheet
    Free Lesson Plan
     
    High School Worksheet
    In this worksheet, students will create a graph of human population growth, use it to predict future growth, and identify factors that affect population growth.
    NGSS Standard
    HS-LS2-1
    HS-LS2-2
    		  
    Published by Shannan Muskopf
  • Lab Experiment
    Food for Thought Lab
    Free Lesson Plan
     
    High School Lab
    Students model how populations of different regions of the world compare with regards to numbers and food availabilty. Students will be divided by regions, and given food. The amount of food is based on statistics of each region.
    NGSS Standard
    HS-LS2-1
    HS-LS2-2
    		  
    Published by Shannan Muskopf
  • Lab Experiment
    Human Population Growth Lab - Spread of an Infectious Disease
    Free Student Handout
    Free Teacher Notes
     
    High School Lab
    In this human population growth lab, students simulate the exponential growth of an infectious disease in a population. Students then discuss how human diseases spread and their exponential and logistic growth curves. Lastly, students graph the simulated results.
    NGSS Standard
    HS-LS1-2
    		  
    Published by Ingrid Waldron and Jennifer Doherty
  • Worksheet
    Population Growth Worksheet
    Published by NGSS Life Science. Free Lesson Plan (PDF)

    Lesson Plan (DOCX) & Answer Key with Membership
     
    High School Worksheet
    In this population growth worksheet, students will build their vocabulary about density-dependent limiting factors and density-independent limiting factors that affect population growth and carrying capacity. The focus of this worksheet is for students to provide definitions for the vocabulary words and compare and contrast density-dependent factors and density-independent limiting factors.
    NGSS Standard
    HS-LS2-1
    HS-LS2-2
    HS-LS2-6
    MS-LS2-4 (Ecosystem Affect on Populations)
    		  
    Published by NGSS Life Science
Earth Science


Population Ecology Concepts

  • Populations - size, density, dispersion.
  • Population Growth Model - exponential growth, carrying capacity, logistic growth, r-strategists, K-strategists.
  • Limiting Factors - carrying capacity, density-dependent factors, density-independent factors.
  • Human Population Growth - growth rate, ecological footprint.
  • Hardy-Weinberg Equalibrium - allele frequencies


Lessons Organized by NGSS Standard