Blog Day Fifty- One: The In- Class Essay

Today in class I wrote an essay as part of the exam that we will finish on Wednesday. Thankfully I did finish writing my essay during in class. I was afraid that I was not going to because when I finished typing my essay last night I noticed it had over 1,100 words! I don't think I wrote that much today just because I cut a few parts unessential parts out to save time. Have fun grading my essay Mr. Schick! I did take up a lot of space to write my essay, using 1 and 3/4 of paper to write my essay. I was very proud of myself when I did finish. Half way through, I thought my hand was going to fall off because I was writing so quickly. Thankfully it didn't and I was able to finish my essay with a few minutes remaining. Though Mr. Schick did not let us write our entire essay out on our notecard, I used the strategy of writing cues for each sentence in each paragraph and therefore had very small handwriting to fit everything. I think that strategy worked really well because I was able to remember or come up with what to write for each sentence in each paragraph. Overall I think my essay writing went well and I hope I get a good grade on it.

Blog Day Fifty! In Class Essay Prep

Today in class I worked on the in class essay we have to write tomorrow. I choose the third prompt to write about demographic transition. In class yesterday and last night I wrote two out of the five paragraphs. In class today I wrote the third paragraph and during my free mod today I wrote the fourth paragraph. Later tonight I plan on finishing up the essay. I am very thankful that Mr. Schick is allowing us to use a notecard full of facts that will help us write the essay during the time we are given to write the actual essay. I am nervous that I won't be able to write the essay in the time given to me in class because I have typed a lot for the essay on my computer. That is also why I am thankful for the notecard that way I can spend as more time writing than thinking about what to write. I hope that pre-writing my essay will help with that as well. I think that I will be well prepared for tomorrow's essay. 

Blog Day Forty- Nine: Essay Preparation and Demographic Transition Quiz

Today in class I took my demographic transition quiz that I missed yesterday. The quiz was challenging and I hope I did well on it. Some of the questions were easy and others were hard and I had to sit and think about them before I could answer the question. I did all the things Mr. Schick told us to do in his blog to prepare for the quiz. I rewatched the three videos about demographic population, I looked at the graph I made about demographic transition, and finally I reread the first reading Mr. Schock gave us about demographic transition. The article was much easier to read after I'd learned more about demographic transition. I understood what the text was saying the second time around reading it and therefor it was easier for me to comprehend. After the quiz I started working on the essay I have to write for this class for the exam. We have to write the actual essay by hand on Friday. To make sure I do well I plan on typing my essay out for someone then to peer review during Thursday's class.

Blog Day Forty- Eight: Not in Class

Today I was not in class because I was sick.

Blog Day Forty- Seven: Review for Demographic Transition Quiz

Today in class we studied for our demographic transition quiz that we have on Monday. To study we watched the Khan Academy video about demographic transition. Although not everyone wanted to watch this video to study, the majority of the class, including me, want to watch this video. To study even more for this quiz I plan to reread the textbook passage we got about demographic transition and rewatch all the videos Mr. Schick gave us to make sure I know everything about demographic transition. During the video we talked about if John Carroll was worth all the money we will invest into it over the next four years. I think that it is worth the amount of money we put into the school. Eventually John Carroll will help me get into the college I want to be in and that is important to me. Anyway, I will have to remember to study over the weekend for the demographic population quiz as it will probably be the last grade put in before exams and Christmas break.

Blog Day Forty- Six: In-Class Assignment

Today in class we watched three videos and had to pick which one was our favorite. Here is my assignment.

Why Populations Grow

1.  In European countries, women are having fewer children than the replacement rate and the only thing keeping those countries population up is the high net migration rate. 
2.  A country's birth rate can decline because of the fact that families no longer live on farms, so parents dont need to have as many kids to use for labor work. 
3.  Most more economically developed countries are in stage four of the demographic transition model. 

Khan Academy Video

1.  The second stage of the demographic transition model is seen as a country reaches its developing stage. 
2.  In stage three of the demographic transition parents tend to have less children because of contraceptives and a bigger social trend towards smaller families. 
3.  The fifth stage of the demographic transition model is a speculation and some believe that the world population will forced to stabilized because of a potential resource shortage. 

Video From Kim Smith, Ph.D.

1.  The world's population now grow 67,000 people every 6-7 hours
2.  In stage three of the demographic transition, fertility rates drop because children are redefined as liabilities rather than assets. 
3.  The space between the fertility rates line and mortality rates line on a demographic transition model is called the demographic trap. 

My favorite video was the Khan Academy video. I choose this video because it was the right amount of talking and graphics. The video about why populations grow was hard to hear and understand. The video from Kim Smith was okay but it only showed occasional pictures and was mainly just a lecture. The Khan Academy video was nice because you could see how the population pyramids differ in each stage and got to visualize on screen what the lady was talking about. Out of the three videos the Khan Academy video was my favorite. 

Blog Day Forty- Five: Demographic Transition Videos

Today in class we read out loud the reading we read during class yesterday. While other people were reading the material I decided that it would help me if I wrote down the information about demographic transition in my notebook to make sure that I knew the information and that it would stick with me for the quiz we have next Monday. In class we also watched two videos about demographic transition. The first video was just a lady talking about demographic transition and what might happen in stage five and why. The second video we watched I liked better because it was a visual that the viewer could look at, not just a person lecturing through a video. I liked the format of the second video better and it also used population pyramids to show the stages of each countries population in each stage of the demographic transition. I can't wait to learn more about demographic transition and what happens after the different stages tomorrow.

Blog Day Forty- Four: Demographic Transition

Today in class we read from an excerpt from a textbook about demographic transition and reviewed our religion quiz. This is the first time in the class where we have read from a textbook to get our information. Usually we take notes of a PowerPoint, but this time we highlighted information from the text. We will have a quiz on this information next Monday. The demographic transition is defined as a process with four stages and every country is in one of them. In stage 1 the country has a very high CBR and CDR with a very low NIR. For most of human history all countries spent their time in the first stage, yet no countries remain there today. In stage 2 the countries have a high CBR, a rapidly declining CDR with a very High NIR. The Industrial Revolution and the medical revolution both many countries to go from stage 1 to stage 2. In stage 3 the county has a rapidly declining CBR, a moderately declining CDR, and a moderate NIR. In the final stage, stage 4, the country has a very low CBR, a low or slightly increasing CDR, with a zero or negative NIR. At the end of stage 4 one can say that the country has completed a cycle. This was a cool topic to learn and I can't wait to learn more about demographic transition.

Blog Day Forty- Three: Quiz on Five Major Religions

Today in class we took a quiz about the Five Major Religions we have been learning about in class. I think I did okay on this test because I did study but there were a few questions about the times of the religions that I don't remember discussing so I don't think I got them correct. I hope I guessed correctly on them because I wanted to get a good grade on this quiz. There was also one other question that I am second guessing myself on but I can't remember what that question was about. The quiz itself was pretty easy and I liked the way it was formatted with the questions and the answer. Thankfully Mr. Schick gave us ten minutes the the beginning of the mod to study for the quiz. Whenever teachers give study time I greatly appreciate it because it is always nice to refresh your mind on information you may have forgotten over time. Today was the last time we have this class before Thanksgiving Break and I am looking forward to the next class we have after break.

Blog Day Forty- Two: Five Major Religions Review

Today in class we studied for our Five Major Religion quiz we have on Monday. We used a quizlet made by someone in the class and went through all the questions she had put on the quizlet. Tomorrow I plan on finishing my own quizlet to help myself study even more for the quiz. I am really hoping for a hundred on this quiz because it would really help my grade. Other than the quizlet I probably will look at the PowerPoint Mr. Schick has posted on his blog and study/ review from that as well for the quiz. Since studying did not take up all of class Mr. Schick told us stories about his film career. What I found super interesting was that he worked with Macaulay Culkin and even has a Valentines day card from when Mac was seven. What was even more interesting was to see all the films he worked on through some website he showed to us. I never knew that Mr. Schick had worked on so many movies, I mean I knew he did the Television stuff for school, but I would have never guessed that he did all of that. Today was a very educational and fun class especially because it is Friday.

Blog Day Forty- One: The Five Major Religions

Today in class we finished taking notes on the five major religions of the world. Thankfully Mr. Schick moved the quiz on this to Monday instead of having it tomorrow. I think I would have been okay taking this quiz tomorrow just because we finished the entire PowerPoint today in class and got all the information we needed for the quiz. Although, the extra day and weekend will be plenty of time to study for this quiz. I already started to make a quizlet with the information from the PowerPoint on it and I plan on using that to study for this quiz. A fact that I found interesting from the presentation is that most likely in my lifetime Islam will have a larger following than Christianity. This is because Islam is located mainly in Indonesia, the Middle East and north Africa. All of these countries have a high birth rate causing their population to grow and therefor growing the following of Islam. This is also because Christianity is mainly practiced in Europe, the Americas, and south Africa and all these places have a low birth rate causing then the following of Christianity not to grow as fast as the Islamic following. Another thing I found interesting was that with Buddhism has a very large range of followers. This is because Buddhism is not an exclusive religion. The followers of Buddhism believe in following the Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path. These two things can be followed in regular life by main people, in summary it basically says that if you are a good person you will reach a state free of suffering. I found the part about not being an exclusive religion very interesting just because all the other religions we studied were very exclusive in their beliefs. Today was a cool class learning about the five religions and I can't wait to learn more next class.

Blog Day Forty! Test Review and Advice

Today in class we reviewed the answers to the test we took last class. I do enjoy reviewing the answers. It helps to have the right answers to the questions you got wrong in order to study correctly for the exam. For this test everyone got to read two questions, and some people got to read three questions. With one question I got wrong, I was confused by the numbers and in the moment didn't realize what that number ment. With the other question I got wrong I just didn't know that fact and went with the best answer I could think of in the moment. I think my chance at getting that question correct was 50- 50 after eliminating two of the other answers, and I just picked incorrectly. Mr. Schick also gave us some helpful insight into getting a better test grade next time, and just overall advice when taking a test. Mr. Schick told us that we should try covering up the answers to multiple choice answers and answering the question before we see the options for answering the questions. I think I am going to use this strategy because it will really test me to see if I know the information. Mr. Schick also told us that we should not rush through any tests we take. I usually am one of the last people to finish the test in any class really. I try not to rush myself ever, unless I am under a time crunch, because I think if the teacher gives us all the time we need then I might as well use the time that is given to me. I also consider myself a slow reader, so it takes me a few seconds to read and comprehend what the question is asking me. I also always check my answers before I turn in a test which tends to put me behind the rest of the class when I take a test. Today was a good class and I look forward to having a one-day unit on Thursday about five major religions.

Blog Day Thirty- Nine: Population Test

Today in class we took a test on population. I thought that I did okay on this test. The test wasn't too hard and it did have questions on this test from the previous test. This was nice because I knew the answers to those questions. There were a few questions that I don't think I got correct, but overall I think that the test went well. I really appreciated the ten minutes Mr. Schick gave us at the start of the mod to refresh/ cram any extra information we think we need to know. I really wished I had looked over the PowerPoint from last unit more thoroughly because there were a few questions from that presentation that I may have gotten wrong. And there was also one section later in the test that I am not so sure about because the questions were confusing, but hopefully it doesn't take down my grade to badly.  Overall the test was okay and I hope it helps my grade rather than hurting it.

Blog Day Thirty- Eight: Review for Monday's Test and Jeopardy

Today in class we rewatched the Ted Ed video from the beginning of the unit. Just as Mr. Schick said, the video did make more sense after our research project. At the beginning of the unit the basic concept of the video made sense to me, but after having watched it again after the project the concept and information from the video was easier to absorb and understand. Even though I had a whole notes sheet from the first time I watched the video I took more notes again today. This was just to make sure I know what is going to be expected to know for the test we have on Monday. To study for this test I plan on reviewing the vocab words on the PowerPoint from the last unit/ test just to have the words and definitions fresh in my mind. I also plan on reviewing and memorizing the notes we took in class from the Ted Ed video and the video by Hans Rosling. With this I will hopefully get a good grade on this test. In class today we also watched the tail end of last night's Jeopardy game. The past two weeks have been the Tournament of Champions. In class we watched as Francois Barcomb claimed his spot in tonight game. I am planning on watching tonight's game and can't wait to see who wins the Tournament of Champions 2019.

Blog Day Thirty- Seven: Presentation Reviews

Today in class we finished the last presentation of our Solution Projects. Overall I liked watching these presentations. It was interesting to see all the different problems and potential solutions people came up with for their country's. I liked the group work because I feel like it takes the stress off of presenting and being up in the front of the class alone. But depending on the project, I usually like to work alone. On this specific project I enjoyed working with my group because it was nice to split up the project and work with others. Also in class we graded ourselves and our groupmates. Doing this after a project is always stressful. You need to think back to what people did/ didn't do and give them a fair grade for the work they did. On our next project my goal is to be more prepared and make sure I am always working in the time given to me in class for the project. I hope the grading I gave to my group was fair and matches up to what they gave themselves as well. Today was a good class as I am typing and finishing my blog/ homework in class.

Blog Day Thirty- Six: The Solution Project Presentation

Today in class we presented The Solution Project to the class. Our group went first, as one member suggested our group to go first and it happened. It was nice to start off as the first presentation of the day because it gets rid of any stress and just gets the hard part over with to start. I think our group did a good job because we all knew the topic we had to discuss and knew all the facts to support our ideas about the problems and solution of our two countries. For next time I think I need to be more prepared and maybe write on note cards the important facts I want to include . Overall I like these types of presentations because it acted more as a discussion than a presentation. The audience was able to interact with the presenters and that provide a less stressful environment. Today class was a good class and I can't wait to finish the presentations tomorrow.

Blog Day Thirty- Five: Group Presentation Tomorrow

Today in class we finished working on our PowerPoint slides for our presentation tomorrow. I think that our group worked efficiently and we were successful in researching and completing our slides today. For tomorrow's presentation I will be presenting the slide about the problems in our developed country, Japan. At first it was a struggle picking a problem. In the end we went with Japan's declining population being the problem. In my presentation I will explain what Japan's problem is and why it is a problem. The rest of the group will be presenting an overview to the presentation, a solution to Japan's problem, and a problem and solution for our developing country, Vietnam. The expected time for our presentation is ten minutes. That means that each person in the group has to talk for about two minutes. For me that means explaining my slide thoroughly and not speeding up to much when I present.  I am nervous for this project, but I think my group is prepared for the presentation.

Blog Day Thirty- Four: A New Project

Today in class we started working in small groups on our next project. The project is to find a solution to a problem that a developing and post industrial country has. This is our speech grade for this quarter and I am looking forward to presenting this. Our group picked Japan and Vietnam as our two countries. Now to how the groups were formed. Mr. Schick decided that four team captain would choose who would be in their group. And instead of saying them outloud the captains went up to the front and choose silently who they wanted in their groups. And guess what, yours truly was pick to be a team captain. To say the least, this job was very stressful and made me think on the spot. Now sadly, I think I let myself sympathize for people to much when picking the groups and may have made a bad decision when choosing the members of my group. But it's too late now and I think with the right motivation my group will be successful with this project. I am excited for this project and can't wait to continue researching on Monday.

Blog Day Thirty- Three: A Pop Quiz?! aka. A Review

Today in class we review vocabulary and facts about Population and Migration. Mr. Schick was planning on giving these questions as a pop quiz, but thank goodness that he didn't. If this was given as a pop quiz, I probably wouldn't have done amazing. I did know most of the terms like birth rate, death rate, total fertility rate, and net migration rate. What tripped me up mostly were the questions that asked about what country was in what place for what rate. We also had a shadow who participated in our class today. It made the class fun to see the shadow take part in our class and I hope she enjoyed herself. Back to the review, we mainly reviewed this because our final exam is six weeks away from today. That is crazy to me. I can't believe that we are more than halfway through Human Geography already! The review helped me today and put exams into perspective for me.

Blog Day Thirty- Two: Population and Migration

Today in class we are completing an assignment on our blog.
Five pieces of information about Population and Migration.

1. Syria's net migration rate is 57 migrants/ 1000 population. I found this surprising because I didn't expect Syria to have the highest net migration rate. What is even more surprising is that the difference between Syria's rate( #1) and the British Virgin Islands( #2) is 40.9. That is a very big gap and I found it surprising. Most of the migration rates we talked about in class were under 10, so 57 is a very shocking number. 
2. The Pitcairn Islands have a population of 54 people. This is the smallest population in the world. I was shocked by this number. I knew the number would be low, I just didn't expect the number to be below the hundreds. The population pyramid for this country must be really small compared to the country with the world's largest population, China.  
3. Liechtenstein has the largest GDP per capita at $139,100. I found this surprising because normally you don't hear people talking about Liechtenstein's economy. From class I know that this means Liechtenstein's good and services are worth a lot of money. 
4. Afghanistan has the highest maternal mortality rate at 396,638 deaths/ 100,000 live births. I was somewhat shocked about this. Also the difference between the number one spot and number two spot is 395,488. I think having this rate is just another push factor of why people don't want to stay in the country. 
5. India has a net migration rate of 0 migrants/ 1000 population. I found this surprising because India has the second highest population in the world. In class we learned that the net migration rate is found by taking away the people leaving from the people coming into the country. Either this means the people leaving the country is equal to the people coming in the country, or it means that no one leaves at all and no one comes into the country as well. 

Five different population pyramids and predictions.

1. Cyprus- I think the population will decrease. The actual growth rate is 1.27%.
   
2. Latvia- I think the population will rise slowly. The actual growth rate is -1.1%.
   
3. Oman- I think the population will rise fast. The actual growth rate is 2%.
   
4. Portugal- I think the population will decrease. The actual growth rate is -0.27%.
   
5. Spain- I think the population will decrease. The actual growth rate is 0.73%. 
   

Blog Day Thirty- One: Small Quiz to Start Q2

Today in class we took a small quiz to start second quarter grades. The quiz was on the video we watched last class which was the growth of the world's GDP per capita and life expectancy in the last 200 years. I did well on th quiz which is good because it sets off my second quarter grade on the right foot. In class we also talked about answers to the main questions of the course. One of the questions is why is the world's population increasing. I said that the populations increase is do to the advancement of medicine and all things health related. With technology being as advanced as ever medicine and our health is better off. This shows because in the past 200 years most of the world's life expectancy has risen. I am excited for the second quarter. My goal for the next quarter in this class is to get a better grade then I have now. To do this I plan to take better notes and study more for tests we have.

Blog Day Thirty: 200 Years of Progression of The World

Today in class we watched a video about the relationship between a country's lifespan and the country's GDP per capita. Hans Rosling showed us this data of 200 years in four minutes. In this video Rosling was trying to animate the data he collected in real space. To start in 1810 almost every country was in the bottom left corner of the graph, the lowest life span and smallest GDP per capita. At the time the UK and the Netherlands were at the top with the highest life span and GDP per capita. This mainly because the Industrial Revolution started to develop in these countries. As the graph started to go past the next few years you saw that the African and Asian nations are still stuck in the same corner all the other countries started in. This is because these countries were not involved in the Industrial Revolution. Moving forwards a few years, you saw many nations drop because of the Spanish Flu Epidemic and the First World War. Around 1930 China and India are still some of the poorest countries with the lowest life expectancy and the biggest population. Coming up to the most recent times, when the video was made, in 2009 almost every country has moved out of the poor and sick section of the graph. Rosling thinks that eventually all countries will be able to reach the top corner because of aid, trade, green technology, and peace. I really enjoyed watching this video. It was cool to see all the data progress on the graph. And since today is the 31st, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Blog Day Twenty- Nine: Population Pyramids

Today in class we finished going over the test. We also started to watch a video about population pyramids. In the video I learned that Russia and Nigeria have the same population, only Nigeria is one- sixteenth the size of Russia. Then the video started to discuss population pyramids. I learned that the pyramids are split in half based on gender, and that males are on the left where females are on the right side of the pyramid. The pyramid is also split in five-year increments. With those five year increments the entire chart is split into three different groups. The first at the bottom of the pyramid being pre-reproductive, which runs from ages zero to fourteen. The next group on the middle of the pyramid is the reproductive group, which runs from ages fifteen to forty-four. The last age group at the top of the pyramid is the post reproductive age group, which runs ages forty- five and up. Overall population pyramids are a cool way to track a country's population and I look forward to finishing the video tomorrow.

Blog Day Twenty- Eight: Reviewing Test and Population Pyramids

Today in class we went over the test we took on Friday. I was very happy with my grade. I feel like I was more prepared for this test and I am happy to end the quarter with my test grade. Even though I did get a good grade I think I could have studied even more to get an even better grade. After looking over the test I saw that I did get the question that I was unsure about wrong. But that is okay because you can't get them all right all the time. Also in class we started to independently learn about population pyramids. Some things I found interesting about this way of measuring population is that it is split between male and female. The pyramid is also split by age groups. 0-14 is prereproductive,15-44 is reproductive, and 45- 100+ is post reproductive. Today was a good class, especially because it was an early dismissal day.

Blog Day Twenty- Seven: Test Number Three

Today in class we had our third test. I felt much more prepared for this test. I also felt as though I studied more thoroughly for this test. I liked the format of this test. I liked that we were tested on using the CIA World Factbook because is was pretty easy to navigate once you got the hang of using the database. So far I would say that this has probably been the easiest test we have had this year. Even though I thought it was easy I do think that I may have messed up on one or two of the questions. To improve for the next test I think I just need to look over the PowerPoint and my notes even more than I did this time. I feel like I did well on this test because the unit wasn't very long. Since the unit wasn't long I didn't have to remember things that we may have learned more than two weeks ago. I am excited for the next unit and I hope it will be just as fun to learn about as this unit was.

Blog Day Twenty- Six: Test Day Tomorrow

Today in class we went over questions for the test we have on Friday, tomorrow. It was very nice to have a review and now I know what to study, for the test. Tonight to study I plan on reviewing how to use the CIA world factbook in order to find and answer the questions on tomorrow test more efficiently and in the given time amount. I also plan on looking over my notes, that we took in class for the past few days, multiple times and making sure I know everything that I starred during class today. Finally, I plan on planning out some of the answers that I know will be on tomorrow's test. In order to do that I have to look for push and pull factors that different countries have. Over all I really liked having this review day as I think it will really help in my efforts to get a good grade on this test.

Blog Day Twenty-Five: Reviewing Questions

Today in class we discussed answers to the questions we completed in yesterday's blog. I found it very interesting that both India and China their population is almost greater than the United States by one billion people. The crazy part is that the area of each country is very similar and what is even more interesting is that the United States is almost three times bigger than India. That means that the people in India are more crowded than the people in the United States because India has more people but less land. I also found it interesting that only 76.2% of the United States populations has and uses electricity. That means that about one fourth of our population in the United States does not have access to electricity. I found this so shocking because our society is advanced compare to the rest of the world and having about 25% of our population not having electricity makes me think we are not as advanced as we could be.

Blog Day Twenty Four: Answering Questions with the World Factbook

  Today in Class we answered the Following Questions. 

1. What is the population of China, and of India? 
   The population of China is 1,384,688,986 and the population of India is 1,296,834,042.

2. What is the Total Fertility Rate in Japan?

The TFR in Japan is 1.42 children/ woman 

3. What is the death rate in El Salvador?
   The death rate is 5.8 deaths/1,000 population.
4. What percentage of the French identify “none” as their religion? Is this statistic verifiable, and why?
   23-28% Is the percentage of French that identify their religion as none. This statistic is not verifiable because the last census was took in 1872 and it has not been taken since. 
5. What percentage of Mexicans identify themselves as Roman Catholic?
   82.7 % of mexicans identify themselves as Roman Catholics.
6. What is the GDP - per capita (PPP) in the United States?
   $59,800 is the United States GDP per capita.
7. What is the GDP - per capita (PPP) in Nigeria?
   $5,900 is Nigeria's GDP per capita.
8. What is the GDP - per capita (PPP) in Luxembourg?
   $105,100 is Luxembourg's GDP per capita.

9. What percentage of the United States’ population are Internet users?
   76.2% of the United States population uses the Internet.

10. What is the number of airports in Russia, and in the United States?
    There are 1,218 airports on Russia.

11. How many people in the world do not have electricity?

1.201 Billion people don't have electricity.

12. What is the Infant Mortality Rate in Canada, Cuba, and the United States? 
    The IMR for Canada is 4.5 deaths/ 1000 live births, for Cuba is 4.4 deaths/ 1000 live births, United States is 5.7 deaths/ 1000 live births.
13. What is the literacy rate - total, for men, and for women - in Afghanistan?
    The total literacy rate is 38.2% for the total population, 52% for males, 24.2% for females.
14. What three countries have the highest life expectancy?
    Monaco, Japan, and Singapore have the highest life expectancy.
15. What three countries have the lowest life expectancy?
    Lesotho, Zambia, Afghanistan have the lowest life expectancy.
16. What nation has the sixteenth highest Net Migration Rate?
    Monaco has the sixteenth highest NMR.
17. What is the unemployment rate in Vietnam, South Korea, the United States, India and Kenya?
    The Unemployment rate in Vietnam is 2.2%, in South Korea is 3.7%, in the United States is 4.4%, in India is 8.5 %, in Kenya is 40%.
18. Military Expenditures are listed by the percentage of each nation's GDP spent on defense.

What percentage is spent by Germany, China, and the United States?
Germany is 1.24% GDP, China is 1.87% GDP, the United States is 3.16%

19. What three countries produce the most crude oil, and how much do they produce?
The United States produces 10,692,000 BBL/ day, Russia produces 10,759,000 BBL/ day, Saudi Arabia produces 10,425,000 BBL/ day.

20. What three countries import the most crude oil, and how much do they import?
The united States imports 7,969,000 BBL/ day, China imports 6,710,000 BBL/ day, India imports 4,057,000 BBL/ day.

21. What percentage of the world’s people speak Spanish? Chinese? English?
           12.3% speak Chinese, 6% speak Spanish, 5.1% speak English. 

Blog Day Twenty-Three: NMR, RNI, and Push/ Pull Factors

Today in class we talked about push and pull factors, net migration rate, and the rate of natural increase. Push factors are things that happen in your country that are so bad that they drive you out of your own country. Pull factors are positive things that attract you away from your home country to another country. Net migration rate can be found as either a positive or negative number. If it's found as a positive number then it is an immigration rate. If it's found as a negative number then it is a emigration rate. The difference is that an immigrant is someone who is coming into a country other than their home country. An emigrant is someone who is exiting or leaving their home country. The rate of natural increase is the annual growth rate of the population. This rate is found by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate. Today's class was fun and I am really enjoying this unit so far.

Blog Day Twenty-Two: Life Expectancy

Today in class we talked about life expectancy. Life expectancy is defined as the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year. America is ranked number 42 in the world for the length of our populations life expectancy. The average American life expectancy is 79.68 years. The average male life expectancy in the USA is 77.32 years, whereas the average female life expectancy is 81.97 years. The highest average life expectancy in the world is held by the country Morocco. The average amount of years is 89.52 years. The average male life expectancy is 85.93 years whereas the average life expectancy for females is 93.58 years in Morocco. In class we also talked about whether Mr. Schick's generation's life expectancy would be longer than our generation's life expectancy. Many good points were brought up. Someone mentioned that our medicine now is much more advanced and developed than the medicine used when Mr. Schick was a kid. Another support to the student's generation is that we also now know the effect of cigarettes, tobacco, and nicotine to humans. To counter that argument there are a lot of things in the students generations that would not have happened in Mr. schick's generation or even be researched yet. For example Mr. Schick's generations never had a opioid epidemic, whereas we are growing up with signs outside of every police station reminding us of how many people have had an overdose and/ or died from it. Also Mr. Schick generations never had vapes and juuls. There is plenty of advertisement to us kids to get us hooked at an early age where most of us know there is little research does on this very harmful nicotine device. In the end, only time will tell who's generation lives longer. P.S. I really like this unit so far! 

Blog Day Twenty-One: Population and Settlement

Today in class we started to take notes on Population and settlement. Here are some notes I took:

• 7.6 billion people live on the planet
• 2.5 people are born every second 
• 149 people are born every minute 
• 8377 are born every hour 
• 200,00 are born everyday
• 90% of this reproduction takes place in developing countries such as Africa, South and East Asia, and Latin America

We also talked about how sad some of the information in this unit will be. For example when we looked at the world population we saw that one person dies every 11 seconds, which is very sad when you think about it. I am excited to start our new. It seems like there will be lots of interesting, fun and maybe even sometimes sad information that we will learn about. 

Blog Day Twenty: Reviewing Test Two

Today in class we got back our tests and reviewed them. I thought that most of the test was fair and I am happy that Mr. Schick is curving the tests for the two questions that a lot of people got wrong. I feel like for the next test it would be nice to have more warning and be told about the test out loud rather than it be one the blog a few days before the tests. I feel like I would have been able to study more if I was given more time in between when Mr. schick announced the test and when we were supposed to take the test, my score could have been higher. I do realize that I could have spent more time studying so I am not made with my grade as I feel it was a fair score to the amount of time I spent studying. For the next test I hope to study more and take better notes on all the PowerPoint slides we discuss.

Blog Day Nineteen: Test Two

Today in class we had a test. Test two of the course! I think I did okay considering I had a late night last night with not a lot of time to study. In future tests it would be nice to know a few days ahead of time that we have a test coming up. This time Mr. Schick didn't tell us until a day before the test itself. I know it is posted on his blog but many people, myself included, don't check his blog every day. Usually teachers always tell us to start studying a few days before the test that way we can absorb the information, but if we don't learn about the test until a day before we won't have as much time to absorb and remember the information we learn in the beginning of the unit. Back to the test. I thought I did well, not my best though. I was very happy to learn today that I got a ten out of ten on the pop quiz so hopefully I do just as well on the test itself. Overall it was a challenging test and I hope I did well.

Blog Day Eighteen: A Pop Quiz?!

Today in class we had what every student dreads. A pop quiz. I do not think I did too poorly on this quiz, at least I hope I didn't. It was a nice preparation for the test we have tomorrow. Thankfully I guessed correctly that longitude it the one that runs up and down and latitude is the one the one that is parallel and runs side to side. I had a fifty-fifty shot and for once I guessed correctly. We also finished are discussion on Time Zones. In the end, as I said in the last blog, I ended up choosing the side to keep time zones. I am glad we had this debate and I am glad that Mr. Schick thought we handled it like adults. I hope that I do well on this test. There is one side of me that likes that fact that we don't have to write an essay but, there is another side of me that really doesn't like Scantron Sheets. Other than the pop quiz, today was a good class.

Blog Day Seventeen: The Time Zone Discussion

Today in class we had a discussion about Time Zones. As I said in my blog before this, I was on the undecided side. By the end of the discussion I think I am  leaning more towards keeping Time Zones. Although I do see reasons to get rid of time zones, I do think keeping them is the better option. I also picked this side because more practical reasoning was presented during the discussion. I personally think that no matter what happens with the time zones, the position of the sun to the Earth will always be the same. You can't change the position of the sun and when you change the time zones it will not change the fact that it will be day somewhere and night somewhere else. Also it would be extremely hard to change the entire time zone system. If the United Nations even wanted to change the time zone not all countries on the Earth would want to as well. There is no rules to time so really any country can do whatever they want. The system right now is confusing but, it has work for the past 200 or more years. That is why I have picked to now be on the keeping time zones side of the argument.

Blog Day Sixteen: Preparation for Time Zone Discussion

Today in class we started to research for a discussion we are having in Friday's class. The topic was time zones and if we should keep them or not. There were three different points of view that the class could take. You could be for keeping the time zones the way they are now, against the time zones and wanting to abolish them, or you could right in the middle and not really have a solid opinion on what we should do with the times zones. I chose to be in the group that didn't yet have a say in the matter. I am quite intrigued to see what the two opposing sides say on Friday. I am not really leaning towards any specific side because I can personally see reason to keep and get rid of time zones. Our undecided group did have to take notes on both sides that way we have a fair view and knowledge of each opposing group. On thing that I remember typing was that time zones are not all consistent. Some are off by the half hour and others by the hour and, since time zones aren't a huge deal compared to everything else going on in the world right now, there isn't any law saying how they should work. Some time zones are not even in the same rate as the sun, meaning it can be seven o'clock and dark somewhere where it could also be seven o'clock and light somewhere else. I am looking forward to seeing and hearing counter arguments and the discussion bright and early on Friday morning.

Blog Day Fifteen: Time Zones

Today in class we started to learn about Time Zones! Before today, I do not think I have ever seen the real time zone map with how all the timing works. The map is very confusing. All though some parts of the division of the map makes sense, the overall look of the map is confusing.

A time zone is a region of the globe that observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purpose. As the map shows, the time zones tend to follow the boundaries of the country they cross over in. The time zones on the map look so crazy because they work for the convenience of areas in close commercial communication to keep the same time in the same general area. With the system of time zones we have the concept of adjusting the boundaries to the location does make sense. For example, somewhere in the world the original time zone division probably cut through a city. This would not work because all of the subways would be on different times, confusing most of the city. You would have to know the exact time in each location in every part of the city. This would be highly inconvenient. Since time zones have no rules on them countries were free to change and adjust them, so they did. Overall, time zones are confusing but important to learn about. 

Blog Day Fourteen: Grids, Location, Latitude

Today in class we started and almost finished the PowerPoint Grids. We talked about how geographers use grids as a way of describing where things are. We also learned that the first map written down was made by a cartographer named Eratosthenes. Eratosthenes made the map in 195 BCE. The map looked like this:

Maps serve two purposes; one being a reference tool to identify an object's absolute and relative location. The second one being a communication tool to convey the distribution of human activities or physical features. Now, back to absolute and relative location. Absolute location is a position as expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude and longitude. Relative location is a regional position or situation of a place relative to the position of other place. Absolute location uses latitude and longitude, which we learned next. Latitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies north-south position of a point on the Earth's surface. All lines of latitude are parallel and never touch each other; they also get shorter towards the poles and the Equator is the largest line. We lightly touched on longitude, but I will save that for tomorrow's blog.  

Blog Day Thirteen: Situation

Today in class we continued to learn about "Site and Situation." In class we mostly talked about Situation. Situation is the location of a place relative to other places. For example if someone didn't know where Bel Air is located I would tell them it is northeast of Baltimore. Mostly likely said person has heard of Baltimore and therefore has a general, relative area that Bel Air would be found in. Geographers use Situation to help us find an unfamiliar place by comparing its location with a familiar one. They also use Situation to help us learn about the importance of a location. Some places are more important because of their accessibility; like Chicago. Chicago is such a big and populated city because it was very easily accessible back when America was growing into the country it is now. Chicago was being accessed by roads, railways, waterways, etc. This caused it to be a main center of trade and increasing its importance in society because of it's center in trade. Site and Situation are two very important things when geographers describe where things are.

Blog Day Twelve: Site

Today in class we started on the PowerPoint Site and Situation. We mostly focused on the Site part of Site and Situation. One thing that I found kind of interesting was that the Bel Air area is across the globe from North Korea. This means that we have about the same climate. I found that really cool and I guess I never really thought about climate that way. Any way, we also talked about how Site describes the physical characteristics of a place. For example things like climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation all are used when describing the physical characteristics of a location. People also want to live where they are used to living. When they move/ migrate they look for similar characteristics in their past and future homes. I do think this is human nature because if a place isn't like our old home we have the ability to change it. And of course, we do change it. In fact in order to increase land sizes people would dump old ships and trash into the water source nearby, put some sand and dirt on top of it and call it land. I found this almost unbelievable. I mean it obviously worked but who would have thought to make "fake land." With all of that, class( and my blog post) sadly ended.

Blog Day Eleven: Test Country Scores

Blog Day Ten! Mercator vs. Peters

Today in class I took notes about the difference between the Mercator World map and the Peters Projection World map.
The Mercator World Map

Facts

• It was used to help people navigate the world
• Created by Gerardus Mercator
• Created in 1569
• Type of map projection
• Distorts the sizing of each country
• Cylindrical Projection map
• Meridians are equally spaced parallel vertical lines
• Enables navigators to plot a straight-line courses
• Less practical for being used as a world map

Peters Projection World Map

• All countries are in correct size in relation to each other
• Created by James Gall and Arno Peters
• Started to gain more popularity in 1974
• Introduced during a press conference in Germany by Arno Peters
• Created in 1885
• Has distortion, Because any flat map won't be able to be a perfect match to a globe 
• Yet has less distortion the Mercator's World Map 
• Accurately shows how Africa is 14x bigger than Greenland