Activity
2 Days
1. Begin the lesson by reading “The Negative Effects
of Urban Sprawl.”
2.
After the reading, ask students to list the main forms
of transportation in their city.
In order to verify their
answers and locate the infrastructure in their city,
tell students they will be researching the development
of their community in terms of land use.
3.
Based on their research the students must answer the
following
questions:
a.
What are the main forms of transportation in your city?
b. In what area of the city are freeways located?
c. In what area of the city is the airport(s) located?
d. In what area of the city are the industrial and
commercial sites located?
e. In what area of the city is the city dump?
f. In what area of the city is the sewage plant?
g. Find where the heaviest concentration of pollution
is in your city.
*Students can check the internet websites of their
local Chamber of Commerce, city government, or
Urban Planning
and Development Commission to obtain answers to
these questions. Also, students may use the Environmental
Protection Agency’s website at http://www.epa.gov/eg/.
4.
Students will sketch a map of their city and label
the areas researched. The map should include a
legend that closely resembles an actual map. They should
also include a rough scale.
5.
Provide a Question and Answer opportunity as an entire
class for students
to share and discuss
their
results.
What patterns can students identify? Why might
there be patterns? What factors might affect
the concentration
of pollution in an area? What preliminary ideas
do they have about how to reduce pollution? Students
should write
a 1 paragraph summary based upon the discussion
and
their map creation addressing the aforementioned
questions.
Homework
Students should then research at least one city in another
country in the same way. They should keep to relatively small
cities. Students will provide a sketch of this other city
including a legend and a paragraph about this city including
a comment about how this compares to their city. |
Embedded
Assessment
Students’ ability
to use multiple resources, including maps, to locate
and gather information about the infrastructure
of a city can be assessed by their responses to the questions.
During the question and answer portion of class, students
can be informally assessed as to their ability to use and
process information from multiple sources including maps.
They maybe more formally assessed through the paragraph summary
and map sketch.
Students’ ability to apply this information can be
assessed through the homework.
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