THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF MIGRATION

Susan Holderread

Preview of Main Ideas

A permanent move to a new location, migration is a complex process that can be produce profound changes for individuals and societies. The following lesson plan calls upon students to identify and categorize the possible causes of migration, and through the use of film (or text version) of The Grapes Of Wrath, to analyze and evaluate the physical an human causes and impacts of migration on sending areas and destinations.

Connection with the Curriculum

This activity can be used in geography, world and United States history, and economics classes; and is suitable for interdisciplinary literature and social studies classes.

Teaching Level: Grades 9-12 (But it could be adapted to other grade levels.)

Objectives Classification Outline (Also see objectives classification matrix below.)

Objective #1: The student will be able to identify, explain, and categorize possible human causes of migration.

Essential Element: Human Systems.

Standard #9: The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth's surface.

Knowledge Statement #2: The impact of human migration on physical and human systems.

Skill Set #3: Organizing geographic information.

Skill #2: Select and design appropriate forms of graphs, diagrams, tables, and charts to organize geographic information.

Skill Set #4: Analyzing geographic information.

Skill #3: use processes of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and explanation to interpret geographic information from a variety of sources.

Theme: Movement.

Objective #2: The student will be able to identify, explain, and categorize possible physical causes of migration.

Essential Element: Environment and Society.

Standard #15: How physical systems affect human systems.

Knowledge Statement #1: How changes in the physical environment can diminish its capacity to support human activity.

Skill Set #4: Analyzing geographic information.

Skill #3: use processes of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and explanation to interpret geographic information from a variety of sources.

Theme: Human-Environment Interaction, Movement.

Objective #3: The student will be able to analyze a film to identify specific examples of push and pull factors.

Essential Element: Environment and Society.

Standard #14: How human actions modify the physical environment.

Knowledge Statement #2: The significance of the global impacts of human modification of the physical environment.

Skill Set #4: Analyzing geographic information.

Skill #3: use processes of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and explanation to interpret geographic information from a variety of sources.

Theme: Human-Environment Interaction.

Objective #4: The student will be able to analyze a film to evaluate the physical and human impact of migration on sending and receding areas.

Essential Element: Human Systems.

Standard #9: The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on earth's surface.

Knowledge Statement #2: The impact of human migration on physical and human systems.

Skill Set #4: Analyzing geographic information.

Skill #3: Use the processes of analysis, evaluation, and explanation to interpret geographic information from a variety of sources.

Theme: Human-Environment Interaction, Movement.

Materials

1.      Handout #1: Push and Pull Factors- Examples

2.      Handout #2: Film Analysis Sheet: Push and Pull Factors in The Grapes of Wrath.

3.      VCR

4.      Overhead projector.

5.      Film: The Grapes of Wrath.

Suggestions for Teaching the Lesson

Opening the Lesson

1.      Define migration: a permanent move to a new location.

2.      To connect the concept of migration to the students' own experiences, ask if there are any "former migrants" in the class. Have volunteers tell of their own experiences as migrants.

3.      Then ask students, either working alone or in small groups, to brainstorm a list of possible causes of migration.

4.      Discuss these items as a class and record responses on the board or over head.

Developing the Lesson

1.      Tell students that the causes of migration can be classified into two broad groups, Push and Pull factors. Ask students to speculate what each of these might mean (chances are their responses will be rights on target.)

Push Factors: the negative things that induce people to move from a place

Pull Factors: the positive things that induce people to move to an area.

2.      Tell students that Push and Pull factors can be subdivided into two broad categories: Physical (environmental causes) and Human (political and economic causes). Distribute handout #1: Push and Pull factors- Examples. Ask students to think of examples that illustrate each type (using an overhead of the blank copy of Handout #1) or use the examples provided.

3.      Have students re-examine the lists they generated earlier in order to categorize each as Push or Pull-Political, Economic, or Environmental.

Concluding the Lesson

Inform students that they will now have an opportunity to apply what they have leaned to the film, The Grapes of Wrath. Distribute handout #2: Film Analysis Sheet: Push and Pull Factors in The Grapes of Wrath. Roll the videotape!

Extending the Lesson

1.      Have students research the New Deal's response to environmental degradation in Oklahoma.

2.      Have students research migration in their family. Where did their family come from? Why?

3.      Current migrants tend to follow the paths of relatives and friends who have moved earlier. Have students research this chain migration in their own community.

4.      Have students debate whether or not new immigrants to the United States are a wealth of diversity or an economic burden.

5.      Have students research migration of different ethic groups to the United States- where they went, what occupations they chose and what industries they dominated, the neighborhoods they lived in, their housing types, and other examples of material culture.

Assessing Student Learning

1.      Discuss student responses to the videotape. Where were the migrants coming from?

2.      Where were they going? Why? Students should be able to illustrate types of push and pull factors discussed prior to the video viewing.

3.      What were the physical and human impacts of migration on the sending and receiving areas?

Additional Reading

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 1939.

GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS CLASSIFICATION MATRIX – GRADES           9-12 

Title: The Causes and Consequences of Migration          Author:          Susan Holderread

Note:  See also Objectives Classification Outline in the lesson.

Handouts

Handout A

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Handout B

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Handout C

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