| dc.description.abstract | One of the main debates in the social sciences disciplines over the last 200 years has been how population growth affects development. Today, the world’s average life expectancy is 70 years. Women give birth to about 2,5 children in average. 9 out of 10 children are going to school. Nevertheless, only a few people of Norway’s population know about these positive tendencies. Studies show that the population of the Western world has a pessimistic view on demographic development and that our thoughts and opinions originate from an old worldview. These preconceptions makes it difficult to teach students about the topic demography and development. Medias focus on catastrophes and that we are learning outdated facts at school, can be some of the reasons for this pessimistic conception that the students have about the topic. This thesis is set out to study how we can find educational, updated and exciting ways to teach about demography and development.
I have tested the visualising software Gapminder on students in the Upper Secondary School. The software converts numbers into moving, interactive and colourful graphs showing international population statistics. Through a pre-post-survey, the students showed great alteration in their answers about demography and development. In total, the classes went from a pessimistic to a more positive and correct worldview. To these students, Gapminder worked as an objection to discourses, media and outdated knowledge. The way Gapminder presented the statistics visually, turned out to be a major factor for the students’ learning process. Nevertheless, the thesis shows that only 30 % of the geography teachers have used Gapminder when teaching. | nb_NO |
