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Lesson 1: How is the global population changing?

Discussing global population distribution and growth; identifying which countries are densely and sparsely populated; describing why some environments are more appealing to live in than others.
people crowd illustration - iStock 1152840785

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Learning objective

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Before the lesson

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Lesson plan

1. Recap and recall

Before starting this unit you might want to check that children can recall:

  • The definition of population is the number of people living in a particular place.

  • What might influence where people live including weather, landscape, access to amenities, housing, schools, and jobs.

  • Which countries have a high population (answers may include India, China and the UK).

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Created by
Dr Michael Leach
Dr Michael Leach Geography specialist

Dr. Michael Leach is an author and scientist with more than 60 books, in 20+ languages, to his name. He writes on the environment, endangered habitats and wildlife. His particular areas of interest are complex ecosystems such as rainforests and polar regions. Michael has worked extensively in all 7 continents exploring some of the world’s most remote habitats.

Michael speaks to schools around the world as visiting author/scientist forBook Week, Environment Week, Science Week etc. These sessions look at sensitive habitats such as the Amazon, Antarctic, deserts, tundra and the threat they face through climate change. He presents live online wildlife events for UK and International Schools and is a regular judge for the Association of British Science Writers’ Young Science Writer of the Year Awards and Jackson Wild Film Festival in the USA. His most recent book is Rainforest Pub. DK

Website: www.michael-leach.co.uk.

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Maintained by: Kapow Primary teamLast update: 8 May 2026

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