"Box City" Lesson Plan

Madeline Hunter

Stephen Binko

Christy Keeler

Generic (Other)

Box City

Teacher: Christy Keeler, Ph.D.
Grade Level: K-12
Time: 50 minutes

Overview:

Students are told their city experienced a flood and their citizens have been evacuated to a parcel of land provided by the Bureau of Land Management. They will develop plans to construct a new community as if they are members of the Box City Council. They will construct the community out of boxes (simulating buildings) laid on a sheet (simulating the parcel of land). Students will receive a listing of the buildings in their previous community as a guide to what they may want to include in the new community.

Note: For teacher background knowledge, listen to this lecture titled "Urban Geography" presented by Chris Ryan, Ph.D. on June 14, 2006. It was delivered to teachers attending the Geographic Alliance in Nevada's (GAIN) Alliance Summer Geography Institute (ASGI).

Connection to National Geography Standards:

The World in Spatial Terms

(2) How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments.
(3) How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface.

Places and Regions

(4) The physical and human characteristics of places.
(5) That people create regions to interpret Earth's complexity.
(6) How culture and experience influence people's perception of places and regions.

Physical Systems

(7) The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface.

Materials:

Camera

Each group of 4-6 students will need the following:

White queen-sized sheet or masking tape/chalk
Scissors (1 pair)
Blue, green, and brown scraps of butcher paper (about one 4' X 4' square of each color)
Assorted boxes (about 20 in sizes varying from ring boxes to adult shoe boxes)
Packing tape
Post-it notepad
Pen
Box City Instruction Sheet

Objectives:

Students will

Identify services and facilities necessary to run a functioning community.
Design a community ensuring workable placement of key services and facilities.
Work collaboratively to solve geographic problems.
Define land parcel.
Describe roles of the Bureau of Land Management and local city councils.

Procedure:

Before students arrive, lay out enough white queen-sized sheets on the floor for each group of students participating in the Box City activity. On each sheet, include all materials listed in the "Materials" section.

For larger groups, use masking tape to delineate 6' X 6' plots.

For younger students: Pre-assign building names to boxes using pictures for non-readers.

For older students, add map scales and topographical features (e.g., rivers, hills) to the plots.

For sheets: Attach colored butcher paper with tape or pins to the sheet or draw the features on the sheet using a washable paint/marker. Add foam or batting under the sheet to simulate raised areas.
For outdoor spaces: Use chalk to indicate geographic features.

Opening:

Assign and have a student to read the opening to the memo for Box City residents. Have a second student read the section beginning: "You are on the Box City Council."

Inform students they will work in teams to design the new Box City using the tools available on their assigned "land parcels." Define land parcel and tell students each City Council must work collaboratively because the citizens of Box City are awaiting their new city's plan so they can begin construction. Tell them to use the post-it notes to label the boxes with each building's name. All groups will be expected to present their proposals to the Box City citizens at the upcoming city council meeting.

By groups, release students to their land parcels.

Development:

Circulate among groups assisting as needed and encouraging participation by all group members. If groups finish early, ask them to expand their city by adding additional facilities (e.g., Starbucks) or to talk through their plan in preparation for their presentation to the Box City citizens.

Closing:

Have each City Council present their proposal and take a picture of each council with their design. Once all councils have shared their cities, ask students what they learned from this activity. Next, as a class, discuss what factors contributed to the differences between the designs and what they perceive the next step to be in the construction of the new city.

Assessment:

Provide credit based on student ability to actively collaborate with a group, development of a seemingly workable community, and active participation during class discussion.

Extending the Lesson:

Have students participate in the National Engineer's Week Future City Competition.™
Have students attach "rationalization cards" to each building. They must list the name of the building, reasons for its inclusion in the city, and at least one reason for its particular placement.
Require students to use geometric and economic language to describe their city. For instance, "60% of the land area is dedicated to residential housing." Or, "We anticipate the business district will supply 80% of the goods and service to the local residents."
Study human-environment interaction in terms of water treatment and use of natural resources including wild and open spaces.
Have students write stories about their city, assigning character roles and including vocabulary words relating to geography (e.g., cardinal directions).
Have students prepare in writing and deliver verbally a public presentation to their classmates arguing for their city's design.
Have students recommend a plan for including public art in their city through written justifications and example artistic depictions. The depictions must be accompanied by proportional scales and justifications for their intended locations in their Box City.

This lesson is available at: http://coe.nevada.edu/ckeeler/LessonPlanTemplates/BoxCity.html