California State University, Los Angeles

Department of Geography and Urban Analysis

Cultural Geography -- GEOG 155

Population Pyramid (Exercise One)

Spring 2009

Purpose:

This is the first of a three-part exercise designed to teach students about the cultural geography of their immediate and extended neighborhoods. These exercises have multiple goals. They introduce key geographic concepts to the students, require students to collect and manipulate information from the 2000 census and help students develop quantitative and information literacy skills with hands-on exercises. This has multiple benefits including learning computer skills and gaining insight into the incredible diversity of Southern California. Finally, these exercises allow students to develop their writing skills by giving them multiple small assignments that can be revised and combined into one final project.

Goal:

This component requires students to make systematic detailed analyses of their immediate and extended neighborhoods using population pyramids. Population pyramids are tools used by geographers to gain insight into the population structure of various population groups. Each cultures population pyramid provides insight into those groups past, present, and future. This exercise asks students to explore the population composition of their home neighborhood and that of the county of which it is a part.

Students need to produce a population pyramid for the census tract in which they reside and one for the county in which it lies. The written portion of this exercise should focus on comparing and contrasting the population structures of these two groups. This part of the report should pay special attention to comparing the young, middle-aged and older portions of each population (see descriptions below). This report should also tie in material presented in lecture and the text to describe the characteristics of the neighborhood and the county.

Items to turn in:

ü Two (2) population pyramids.

ü Two (2) population structure tables (use attached tables).

ü A map showing the location of their census tract.

ü Printouts from Census web site.

ü A two to three page paper comparing and contrasting the population pyramids.

Websites:

Census Bureau - http://www.census.gov

Write-up:

Student write-ups should introduce the exercise describe general characteristics of their neighborhood and county and point out striking elements of the pyramids. There should be some discussion of the youth (0 to 14), workers (15 to 64), and seniors (65 and older) for each group as well as some discussion of the sex ratios and dependency rates of the groups. Write-ups should be written in first-person active voice. Students statements should link theory presented in lecture and the text with actual evidence provided in the population pyramids as much as possible.

Instructions for Downloading Census Data and Creating Population Pyramids in Excel

Step 1. Log on to Census Bureau website at http://www.census.gov.

Step 2. Click on link to census 2000.

Step 3. Click on link entitled, “Enter a street address to find census 2000 data”.

Step 4. Enter address information in appropriate boxes and hit enter.

Step 5. Scroll down in the new window and highlight the county (i.e. Los Angeles) and then click “GO”.

Step 6. Continue scrolling down until you find the link to table QT-P1 “Age Groups and Sex: 2000”. Click on this link.

Step 7. Open Microsoft Excel.

Step 8. Highlight the needed data, right click your mouse, and left click “copy”.

Step 9. Right click on cell B4 and left click “paste”

Step 10. Name this workbook with the name county name.

Step 11. Repeat steps 1 through 5 substituting the census tract that you reside in for the county that you selected at the end of step 5. Instead of clicking “GO”, click the “Map It” icon instead.

Step 12. Print this map to include in your assignment.

Step 13. After closing the map, click the “GO” button and repeat steps 6 through 11 substituting “tract” for county in step 5.

Step 14. Insert a new field between the fields containing percent males (column F) and percent females (Column G).

Step 15. In the new blank cell G2, type “=-F2” and press enter.

Step 16. Copy this formula to the rest of the cells in the column.

Step 17. Highlight columns G and H and click the chart wizard icon.

Step 18. Select “Bar” from the chart type list and click the “Next” button.

Step 19. Continue through the wizard, entering the needed information. Save your table as a new sheet with the title County.

Step 20. Format your graph until it looks the way you want it.

Step 21. Save the workbook and repeat these steps for the Tract file.

County Name:
	Number			Percent			Sex Ratio
Age (years)	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female
Under 5
5 to 9
10 to 14
15 to 19
20 to 24
25 to 29
30 to 34
35 to 39
40 to 44
45 to 49
50 to 54
55 to 59
60 to 64
65 to 69
70 to 74
75 to 79
80 to 84
85 to 89
90 and over
Total

Tract Name:
	Number			Percent			Sex Ratio
Age (years)	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female
Under 5
5 to 9
10 to 14
15 to 19
20 to 24
25 to 29
30 to 34
35 to 39
40 to 44
45 to 49
50 to 54
55 to 59
60 to 64
65 to 69
70 to 74
75 to 79
80 to 84
85 to 89
90 and over
Total