Students will examine and interpret a population chart published in 1898 — depicting changes in the makeup of the United States across time in three categories, “foreign stock,” “native stock,” and “colored” — as well as an 1893 political cartoon about immigration. Students will also explain the causes and effects of population change in the late 19th century.

Students will use the Census Business Builder: Small Business Edition data access tool to gather and analyze information that entrepreneurs may consider when opening a business. This introductory activity assumes that students have limited experience using data access tools.

Students will look at data showing how the “millennial” generation differs from other generations. They will analyze and evaluate social changes evident in the data. Then they will work with a partner to compose a newsletter.

Students will explore maps containing census data from 1950 through 2000. They will analyze how education levels and median household incomes have changed over time and determine how the two might be correlated. Students will also come up with ideas for policies that could help address issues related to income and education.

Students will read an informational text about variations in college completion rates for people born in different years. To help students better understand the text, the teacher will model how to annotate the first half. Students will then annotate the second half themselves. After that, students will answer a series of questions about the text, drawing inferences from what they’ve read and citing textual evidence to support their responses.

Students will examine a table of 1850 Census data on employment to understand the professions of free men across the United States at the time, calculating the percentages working in different industries. Students will also compare and contrast economies in the North and South during the Antebellum Period.

Students will use state and regional unemployment data for various education levels to create scatter plots and calculate correlation coefficients. Students will then compare scatter plots with different strengths of linear relationships and will determine the impact of any influential points on the correlation coefficient.

Students will use images, U.S. Census Bureau data, and interactive maps to visualize and calculate arithmetic (population), agricultural, and physiological densities at local, regional, and national scales. They will also transfer their calculations to bar graphs.

Teachers will engage students in a discussion about what the Census Bureau does and what types of information it collects. Then students will read and annotate informational texts from the Census Bureau and work with a partner to answer questions about the texts. Students will also analyze an infographic of people with different professions to determine how each of those people might use the data gathered by the Census Bureau; students will be asked to use evidence from the infographic text to support their answers. Students will then complete a wireframe (similar to a graphic organizer) for an online resource about how census data can help their own community.

Students will analyze a variety of county-level census data, including on employment, technology, and transportation, in histograms to compare and contrast the shapes of their distributions and to interpret measures of center and spread in context.

Students will learn about their state as they collect and organize business information using State Facts for Students, a U.S. Census Bureau data tool. Students have the opportunity to examine data about kids their age, as well as a variety of other facts selected to appeal to young students. Students will create a bar graph to represent how the numbers of selected business types have changed between 2010 and 2016.

Students will calculate various measures of central tendency using data on the number of people who bike to work in select states. Students will then create a box plot to represent the data set and answer conceptual questions about the impact of the data set’s outlier.

Students will compare data for two states using comparison symbols and both rounded and unrounded (exact) numbers. Students will then write their own question to compare the data.

Students will learn about the nature and importance of qualitative research as a complement to numerical data — specifically how sociologists use in-depth ethnographic research to study specific places and groups. After students investigate census data on the demographics of their school’s ZIP code, they will observe a location at their school (e.g., a student center or cafeteria). Students will record their notes, understanding the importance of reflexivity in field research. Then they will write a short paper about their field study.

Students will create box plots to make inferences about the percentages of people who walk to work in cities of different population sizes (small, medium, and large). Students will use these findings to write a short report.

Students will develop, justify, and evaluate conjectures about the relationship between two quantitative variables over time in the United States: the median age (in years) when women first marry and the percentage of women aged 25–34 with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Students will write a regression equation for the data, interpret in context the linear model’s slope and y-intercept, and find the correlation coefficient (r), assessing the strength of the linear relationship and whether a significant relationship exists between the variables. Students will then summarize their conclusions and consider whether correlation implies causation.

Students will analyze and compare census data on the education levels of African-Americans in 1850 and in 1880. Students will also discuss how historical events can affect data.

Students will examine how human actions and population changes can affect the environment. Students will examine a series of photographs that compare famous landmarks (Times Square, the Saltair Pavilion in Utah, Laguna Beach, and Niagara Falls) across time, and then they will identify human-generated changes in the physical environment, such as the addition of bridges and roads. Students will also examine U.S. Census Bureau population and housing data to see how population changes can contribute to changes in the physical environment. In addition, students will describe the impact of these changes on the environment.

Students will examine historical photographs and a data table related to 19th-century industrialization and child labor. They will observe and analyze the primary sources and ask questions. This activity could be used near the beginning of a unit on industrialization or the Progressives.

Students will explore the sampling variability in sample percentages of states and the District of Columbia where people aged 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree in 2014, to determine values over 30 percent.

Students will examine maps to explore changes in population density in the United States during three decades: 1920–1930 (Post-Progressive Era), 1930–1940 (Great Depression), and 1940–1950 (World War II). They will then determine what happened during each decade that likely influenced geographic mobility. Students will also examine a map of more recent population data (for 2000–2010) to understand trends in population movement.

To introduce demographic characteristics to students, teachers will help them create a population pyramid. Then, students will use an online tool called QuickFacts to find census data on demographic characteristics for a county in 2017. They will compare it to older data from the same county to find changes and trends over time. They will then use QuickFacts to examine data about their school’s county. Students will use this information to help them understand how business owners and community leaders use data on demographic characteristics to make decisions.

Students will create and compare dot and box plots that show the percentages of single-mother and single-father households in different regions of the United States.

Students will use U.S. Census Bureau data to learn how population pyramids describe population structures and to calculate age range population percentages for a selected state that will help them create a population pyramid.

Students will collect, organize, and compare data about the number of girls and the number of boys in their classroom who play sports, take lessons, and participate in clubs. Then students will compare these classroom data with U.S. Census Bureau data for girls and boys across the United States. Teachers may choose to adapt this activity for different data if other categories are more applicable to their students.

The teacher will facilitate a class discussion for students to share their opinions about young adulthood before they start the activity. After some teacher modeling, students will read, annotate, and answer questions about a technical document—including tables and graphs—to gather evidence to support conversations with their classmates about young adulthood. Then, students will write a paragraph about how their generation defines young adulthood.

Students will analyze census data and graphs that demonstrate how certain aspects of the lives of African-Americans have changed since civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. Students will select a fact from these data, facts from other sources, and a historical photograph to include on a poster about King.

Students will examine data on the number of immigrants in the United States, to create bar graphs and line graphs with appropriate scales. Students will then compare and analyze their graphs to draw conclusions about the data.

Students will examine population density maps of the United States during the 1800s. They will learn about the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to make and evaluate predictions about the changes in population density that resulted from this event, identifying shifts in boundaries and in areas of population density, and drawing conclusions. Students will then write a paragraph summarizing the impact of the Louisiana Purchase on the United States.

Students will use tables and visualizations of data about geographic mobility to explore rates and patterns of migration within, and immigration to, the United States. Using Census Bureau data tools, students will learn about past reasons for migration and immigration and understand the internal and external stresses of fluctuations in population.

Students will analyze and compare census data on the earnings of people with different college majors. Then they will write their own word problems and draw conclusions about the data.

Students will count items in their classroom, record this information in a data table, and analyze and understand uses for such data.

After looking at census data, students will determine the birth years of children who were aged 8 through 11 in 2017. Then they will use their data to create a line graph, with an appropriate scale and axes labels, to compare and contrast the estimated number of births in their state and in another state during each year.

Students will examine data from the 1990–2010 censuses — and U.S. Census Bureau projections for 2010–2020 — on population changes in the U.S. island territories to make observations about the populations’ demographics and to make inferences about the purpose of such data.

Students will examine tables of data from the 1820 Census to understand the implications of the Missouri Compromise, specifically in Maine and Missouri.

The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the Missouri Compromise and the issues associated with the expansion of slavery in the Antebellum period of United States history. Students will begin the activity by creating a map that represents the Missouri Compromise’s impact on the United States. This map will serve as a backdrop for the activity while introducing students to political and cultural sectionalism (northern and southern states and the issue of slavery) in the early 1800s. After students complete the map, they will answer several questions using it. Students will also be prompted to examine aggregated data from the 1820 Census and a map titled “Mapping Slavery in the Nineteenth Century” to make comparisons and draw conclusions about slavery, specifically in Missouri.

Students will learn why families are important social institutions and how family structures, household sizes, and living arrangements have changed substantially since the 1970s. In part 1, students will work in groups of three to four to analyze census data so that they may understand these changes. In part 2, students will watch a clip from the show “Modern Family” and compare their observations with census data.

Students will analyze and interpret American Community Survey (ACS) data on housing characteristics in the United States, comparing these data with those they collect from their classmates. Students also will determine what their dream home would look like and will use flat, two-dimensional shapes to construct it.

This activity serves as an introduction to a narrative writing assignment. To provide context for this activity, teachers will give students an overview of the Census Bureau. Then, students will complete a Quickwrite about their name and its history. After that, students will examine and answer questions about census data on popular last names, listen to a story about names, and complete a Quickwrite about that story. To further prepare for their narrative writing assignment about names (which is not part of this activity), students will jot down their thoughts in a graphic organizer.

In this activity, students will look at historical images to learn about three types of Native American dwellings — teepees, pueblo adobe structures, and hogans. Students will make observations about the types of dwellings in the images. Then students will discuss their observations as a class.