Reorganizing the City of Polyville
Environmental Justice
Topic: Poverty and Privliege
Lesson Plan #2
Grade Level: ¾
Essential question: what is the relationship between pollution and privilege?
Guiding Question: why are areas separated by income?
Materials
Standards MMSD
3. Identify and locate geographical and political mapping symbols using a legend
Standards NCSS
Goals
Students Will:
Lesson Context: This lesson is to be taught after the first lesson on the Love Canal. The children have had experience working in groups and using their recording journals. It is essential that this lesson needs to be taught only after a solid classroom community is set up. This lesson brings up issues like poverty and income levels and how some people who are experiencing poverty are affected.
Introduction: Tell the students to imagine the following: “You have just finished your meal at a fast food restaurant and you throw your uneaten food, food wrappers, drink cup, utensils and napkins into the trash can.” Ask students where the garbage goes after the garbage collectors come to pick it up. The point is that a student recognizes that their garbage goes to the landfill. Give a definition of a landfill from the following: A method of solid waste disposal in which garbage is buried between layers of dirt so as to fill in or reclaim low-lying ground. Show a picture to supplement understanding. This introduction is meant to just make sure the students have a basic understanding of what a landfill is.
Procedure:
Closing: Journals: At this point in the lesson it will necessary to stop the discussion and allow time for the thoughts to sink in and allow time for children to internalize the material. Have students take out their journals and write/draw (anything) they feel to express how they are feeling or their reaction to the topic. Explain to the students that the topic of parks and landfills will be discussed further in future lessons.
Assessment
Topic: Poverty and Privliege
Lesson Plan #2
Grade Level: ¾
Essential question: what is the relationship between pollution and privilege?
Guiding Question: why are areas separated by income?
Materials
- Map of Polyville
- T Chart Paper
- Image of landfill
- Student recording journals
Standards MMSD
- Geography
3. Identify and locate geographical and political mapping symbols using a legend
- Behavioral Science
Standards NCSS
- People, Places and Environments
- A) construct and use mental maps of locales, regions, and the world that demonstrate understanding of relative location, direction, size, and shape;
- H) examine the interaction of human beings and their physical environment, the use of land, building of cities, and ecosystem changes in selected locales and regions;
- K) consider existing uses and propose and evaluate alternative uses of resources and land in home, school, community, the region, and beyond.
Goals
Students Will:
- Understand the correlation between poverty and location of landfills.
- Understand the correlation between income levels and parks/green space.
- Work as a group to re-organize the society of Polyville
- Use a T chart to record their observations and make statements
- Participate in class discussions
Lesson Context: This lesson is to be taught after the first lesson on the Love Canal. The children have had experience working in groups and using their recording journals. It is essential that this lesson needs to be taught only after a solid classroom community is set up. This lesson brings up issues like poverty and income levels and how some people who are experiencing poverty are affected.
Introduction: Tell the students to imagine the following: “You have just finished your meal at a fast food restaurant and you throw your uneaten food, food wrappers, drink cup, utensils and napkins into the trash can.” Ask students where the garbage goes after the garbage collectors come to pick it up. The point is that a student recognizes that their garbage goes to the landfill. Give a definition of a landfill from the following: A method of solid waste disposal in which garbage is buried between layers of dirt so as to fill in or reclaim low-lying ground. Show a picture to supplement understanding. This introduction is meant to just make sure the students have a basic understanding of what a landfill is.
Procedure:
- Imaginary Place: The teacher will create a map of an imaginary place. There will be two maps that show the following things: location of landfills, parks, income levels and poverty level. Map A will contain the location of landfills and poverty levels. Map B will contain the parks and income levels. This place will be named Polyville.
- Before beginning the activity make sure the students understand the key of the map as well as what the various colors/ symbols mean. Show the map on the overhead and point to the map. Use language like, “ This area over here has a higher level of poverty than this area.” But do not give away the correlation between poverty/landfills and parks/income level.
- Map A will be handed out to the students and they will be told to discuss and record their general observations of this place in their small table groups. Instruction will be as follows: In small groups examine the map of this society.
- If the students need questions to spark their thinking in groups ask them the following: What do you notice about the location of the landfills? What do you notice about the poverty levels of this place? Why could this be?
- Instruct students to record their observations on their recording sheet which should be a T chart. On one side of the T chart is the observations the students have made, the other side is the implications or what their observations could mean. For example, on one side of the T chart the student could write, “I noticed there are more landfills in areas of higher poverty.” On the other side the student may write why they believe that is so. The students have previously worked with T charts and are able to fill them out successfully.
- Map B will then be handed out to the students in their same groups. Ask students what they notice about map B. To help with their thinking ask them: What is the relationship they notice here? Have students record their observations on their T chart.
- Class discussion: After the students have been given time to make observations and discuss in small groups bring the class back together as a whole. As a class discuss what the students have observed. Write the main points of their observations on the board. Ask they what they believed was wrong with the map of Polyville that was shown. To aide in the future: circle the points that can be fixed on the maps of Polyville.
- Re-Organizing the city: Hand out blank maps of Polyville, one large map for each group (same as before). Tell the students that they have been given the chance to re-organize Polyville in any way they see fit and anyway they believe will fix some of the issues with the first map. They are not allowed to add more parks or landfills, they are not allowed to take away parks or landfills. Students will be expected to work cooperatively with their group to produce what they see fit to “fix” the city.
- Presentations: Each group will be given the opportunity to present their map to the group. They will be expected to share the changes they made and the reasoning behind the changes.
- Ask students why they believe their new map is better?
- Teacher instruction: At this point the teacher will lead a guided discussion with questions that are meant to spark students thinking. Explain to the students that in many places there is a correlation between location of landfills and areas of poverty. It is a fact that landfills are many times located in areas of poverty.
- Ask students if they know exactly what poverty means?
- Based on the total amount of money a person can make, if they are under the government decided amount of money they are considered living in poverty.
- Ask students why they think that landfills are located in areas of poverty?
- Don’t have money to fight against the government placing the landfills there. Property is less expensive.
- Discuss with the students how areas of privilege (high income) correspond with the number of parks located in the city.
- More green space in higher income areas. They have more money to pay for parks/green space.
- Ask students why they think this could be the case. Allow time for discussion.
Closing: Journals: At this point in the lesson it will necessary to stop the discussion and allow time for the thoughts to sink in and allow time for children to internalize the material. Have students take out their journals and write/draw (anything) they feel to express how they are feeling or their reaction to the topic. Explain to the students that the topic of parks and landfills will be discussed further in future lessons.
Assessment
- Students will be informally assessed by observing their participation in the group discussion and their contribution to the class list. Their participation in small groups will also be observed.
- Formally the students will be assessed by their production of the re-organized map of Polyville. The students T-charts will also be collected and assessed. Finally, the students response journals will be read and depth of thought, as well as reflection will be graded and recorded.