Social Studies

How Was the United States Settled?

Investigating Population Growth Trends in U.S. History

Grades: 4-12 (ages 9-18)
U.S. History Standards
Describes patterns of American
settlement and migration
Understands westward expansion

Description
Students will review InspireDatas Historical
U.S. Population database. They will create an
annotated slide show which explains how
changes in a states population over time
were the result of historical developments in
its history and the history of the nation.

Teacher Instructions
1 Briefly investigate the Historical U.S. Population database as a class. Give students two or

more questions to answer, such as the following:

Ask: What three states had people living in them as early as 1790?

Ask: Which two states have population data beginning in 1900?

 InspireData Classroom Projects

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Social Studies
InspireData Instructions
Start InspireData and click on the Databases icon on the
Starter screen.
Open the Social Studies folder and then select the
Historical U.S. Population database.
InspireData will open a table called State Population Data.
Ask students to review this
information and then search
the table for answers to
questions.
2 Review what students

have discovered and

discuss the reasons why
some states do not have
data for early decades. In addition, assess student understanding of general
history by questioning them about patterns in American population growth.

3 Ask students to choose a state to research and use their findings to explain the changes

in the states population. Working individually or in pairs, students will create a slide
show that explains the changes in a states population over time. Materials that provide
information on state and U.S. history should be accessible, and students should have
access to the Internet to conduct further research.

InspireData Instructions
Click on the State Population Data in Multi-Series
table and ask students to study the data. It is
nearly identical to the data in the first table, but
its easier to plot one state at a time.
Click on the Plot View button
Plot View.

to switch to

Click on the Axis Plot button

on the Toolbar.

Click on the Plot Options button

Choose Instant Plot>Population in Thousands. [Chosen state] by Year and the axis plot
will be animated.

 InspireData Classroom Projects

2007 Inspiration Software, Inc.

Social Studies
Optional: To plot manually, first click on the X-Axis label and select Population in
Thousands, and then Year. Then click on the Y-Axis label and select Population in
Thousands, and then the students chosen state. Click on the Plot Options button
and select Individual Lines.
Finally, click on the Play button

to animate the population growth over time.

Capture a slide of the growth of the total population of the chosen state by clicking on
the Capture Slide button in the Slide Sorter.
Choose File>Save As and enter a file name and location.
4 Students will create slides with notes that explain important event(s) from their chosen

states history. Each year discussed should have two or three sentences that explain the
important event(s) and how the event(s) contributed to the growth (or decline) in the
states population.

InspireData Instructions
With the population of the chosen state plotted in time series, select a year to discuss.
on the Toolbar to open the Notes area. Descriptions of
Click on the Note button
important events in the states history can then be added.
in the Slide Sorter. If the slide
Capture a slide by clicking on the Capture Slide button
was already created, click the Slide Options button and select the Update Slide option
to save the notes that have been entered.
Choose File>Save to save the slides and notes.
5 Students can present their slide shows to the

class and explain their analyses. For closure, the

class can discuss general trends uncovered by
investigations of the various states.

InspireData Instructions
Choose File>Open to open each student project.
If the files were saved in Plot View with the
Slide Sorter and the Notes area open, it will
open in the same view.
Click on each slide in the Slide Sorter pane to view the different slides or choose
Slide Show>Start Slide Show and use the slide show controls or arrow keys on the
keyboard to move between the slides.
 InspireData Classroom Projects

2007 Inspiration Software, Inc.

Social Studies
Assessment
Each students presentation can be evaluated for accuracy based on the information used
to explain the history of their chosen state. Slides should have sufficient detail to explain the
important trends in the state population.
Students can also be evaluated on group participation and engagement during the research
and analysis process.

Adaptations

Students can add slides to explain

the other data in the database, such
as the regional changes and changes
in the urban and rural populations
over time.
Additional fields can be researched
and added to the database, such as
state age distribution data, budget
data, etc. Slides can be added to the
slide shows which explain observable
trends from a historical context.
Students can analyze the U.S. States
database for additional information
about their chosen state. Fields in that
database can be copied and pasted
into the Historical U.S. Population
database if desired.

 InspireData Classroom Projects

2007 Inspiration Software, Inc.