State of the World Atlas
Project description
Note that the atlas is divided into six parts: Who We Are, Wealth and Power, War and Peace, Rights and Respect, Health of the People, Health of the Planet.
Note that each of those six parts spotlights various topics, such as Education, National Income, Terrorism, etc.
Note, too, that each country is given a color-coded score on each topic. For instance, on the Population topic, countries are scored or rated in terms of their rate of annual population change.First, select six countries, one from each continent.
Second, select six different topics, one from each of the atlas’s six parts. Choose topics that you think are related in some way to one another (take time over making this choice€“it’s a key part of the assignment).
Third, make a note of how each of your six countries scored on each of the six topics you selected.
Fourth, plot your results on a table (down the side of the table, list the six countries; along the top of the table, list the six dimensions; in each cell, record how a particular country scored on a particular topic).
Fifth, look for patterns in the data you’ve recorded in the table. Do you see any patterns (for instance, do the countries that score high on one topic also score high on other topic, or do some score high on some topics and low on other topics?).
Sixth, in no more than 250 words, (A) explain why chose you the topics you did, and (B) describe the most interesting patterns you see
AN EXAMPLE OF A TABLE
Patterns
Here spend no
more th
an 25
0 words
(A)
explaining
why
you chose the topic
s you did
(what relationships you expec
ted to
find between the
different topics)
AND
(B)
discussing what patterns you
can see
in
the table.
In
this
example, for instance,
one might note
in part (B)
:
I
t seems that
countries
with a higher degree of
urbanization have a higher quality of life and use more energy per person
than do countries with lower
degrees of urbanization. Established democr
acies seem to have few refugees
. There seems to be no
correlation between type of po
litical system and smoking deaths, which is not surprising. What is a little
surprising is that there seems to be no correlation between smoking deaths
and quality of life.
]
URBANIZATION
(people living
in cities)
QUALITY OF
LIFE
(relative
human
development)
SMOKING
(tobacco
deaths
among
men)
ENERGY
USE
(average
energy [in
tons of oil]
used per
person
REFUGEES
(number of
refugees in
host
country)
POLITICAL
SYSTEM
New
Zealand
Over 80%
Very high
20
–
24%
2.6
–
5
Under
5,000
Established
democracy
South Korea
Over 80%
High
20
–
24%
2.6
–
5
Under
5,000
Established
democracy
Poland
Over 80%
High
10
–
14%
1.1
–
2.5
Under
5,000
Established
democracy
Bolivia
61
–
80%
Medium
Under 5%
0.1
–
1.0
Under
5,000
Established
democracy
China
21
–
40%
Medium
10
–
14%
0.1
–
1.0
100,000
–
500,000
One
–
party
rule
Indonesia
41
–
60%
Medium
15
–
29%
0.1
–
1.0
50,000
–
90,000
Transitional/
uncertain
democracy
