Scientific Inquiry: The Land on Which We Stand: Nature Wastes Nothing
Grade Level & Duration: 9th Grade. Environmental Futures 1. One 50 Minute Class Period Prepared by: Fee Mtshiya
Subject: Land Use and Urbanization ~ The Land On Which We Stand: Nature Wastes Nothing (looking at 3 cities as case studies)

Overview & Purpose (STEMcinnati theme)

What will be learned and why it is useful:
There are two primary objectives: One is to illustrate how nature deals with issues such as filtration and how nothing is ever wasted. The other objective is to learn about how land use has changed over time as places have become more ‘urbanized’, in other words the transition from rural to urban. This is in direct response to a common misconception that students usually have about nature; this is that ‘nature’ (or any aspect of the natural world void of human influence) is no good or of no quantifiable benefit until humans have altered it. Environmental engineers, for example ultimately seek to mimic how nature filters and purifies water when they design wastewater treatment systems. To demonstrate these objectives, 3 Cities are used as case studies; Topeka, KS, Las Vegas, NV and Cincinnati OH. Students are divided into three groups and given sets of pictures specific to each city. The pictures come in pairs and illustrate different ‘facts about the cities’ that the students are supposed to figure out and be able to describe in short paragraphs. For instance, Las Vegas wasn’t always the hustling and bustling city that it is today, so students are given a picture of the Mojave Desert without any human interference and another picture of the ‘Vegas Strip’ as we know it today. Their task is to recognize and write about what life in that location would have been like then versus now and to of course note the changes. It is important for the students to understand that in different towns and cities, urbanization occurs at different rates and physical attributes such as climatic conditions and topography play an important role in the type and rate of urbanization therefore using these 3 case studies helps us put this into perspective. After the groups have created their 3 posters, comparing and contrasting different pictures, representatives come up and present the posters and the class can visually and audibly appreciate the differences. The subject matter addresses science with regards to Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM).
Applications to the real world: The lesson deals with how urbanization changes the face of a place/area/region. In this context, the ‘application to the real world’ is direct as a case study is being used to teach the students about a common and widespread real world phenomenon.
Societal impact: As a city becomes more ‘urbanized’ the social, economic, political and even demographic make-up of the city changes. The students address these changes as they compare and contrast their pictures and make summative assessments on their posters.
Career connections: As the many land uses in the 3 cities are explored, the faces behind the scenes so to speak are also revealed. This is especially important for a class that focuses on Environmental Futures. For instance one very directly -related career is that of land use planner; determining in advance where people will settle, where businesses will be established, which land will be preserved as parks etc.

Education Standards Addressed

What state/county education standards that this lesson satisfies.
The State of Ohio. Hamilton County ~ Cincinnati Public Schools.

Specific State of OHIO Science Academic Education Standards Addressed.

9-10 program. Life Sciences:
Describe how human activities can impact the status of natural systems.
9-10 program. Earth & Space Sciences :
Describe the finite nature of Earth’s resources and those human activities that can conserve or deplete Earth’s Resources.
9-10 program. Science & Technology:
Explain the ways in which the processes of technological design respond to the needs of society.
Select Goals and Objectives /

Teacher Guide

Goals and

Objectives

(Specify skills/information that will be learned.) / The Goal or Overall Arching Idea is to have the students Learn about land use and how urbanization affects the environment. In order to do this the students should understand how the environment was prior to human influence and how nature operates. The students should be able to Discuss the different aspects of urbanization and from that deduce what are positive and negative ramifications. By the end of the lesson the students should understand enough about the different aspects of urbanization and resulting implications to Apply their knowledge to Topeka, Las Vegas and Cincinnati as case studies.
Recognize that urbanization is something that invariably causes changes to the physical environment Students should be able to recall what these environmental changes are whether they are direct or indirect results of urbanization. Highlighted terms are under ‘Knowledge’ in Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Explain how a city changes as the process of urbanization unfolds and from that perspective discuss what is happening to the physical environment as the changes are taking place. All in all the students should be able to discuss what are the inevitable environmental impacts?; which of those environmental impacts can be controlled/monitored?; what impacts are positive/negative and why we should care? In other words, we appreciate the environmental concerns but what are the human/social implications > how does this subject matter affect our daily lives. Highlighted terms are under ‘Comprehension’ in Bloom’s Taxonomy. /

Materials Needed

·  Stationery, particularly bright eye catching crayons/markers
·  Scissors
·  3 Poster Boards/Construction Sheet(number depends on number of groups in class)
·  Tape
·  Pictures of the 3 cities (see activity section for details)
Utilize Technology
·  Power point presentation, Creative fly ins

Select Instructional Strategies –

Information

(Give and/or demonstrate necessary information) / Brief Lecture to Introduce Topic, Teacher Guided Discussion followed by interactive Group Discovery Learning Activity
The lesson begins with the teacher giving a very brief lecture familiarizing the class with the topic and highlighting the goal/overall arching idea. This mini-lecture leads into a teacher guided discussion where the students give their input , which the teacher records on the board to provide a framework for the main class activity. The activity is an interactive group discovery learning activity in which the students are moving around, interacting with each other and with the teacher.
Catch / Telling a Mini ‘Bill- Board’ Story (approx 5 minutes)
The teacher shows the class four pictures (with tape stuck to the back); a picture of a family, a farm, an outlet mall and bulldozer and a sheet of construction paper. He/she tells the following very short and hopefully funny story out loud as he/she tapes the pictures onto the ‘bill-board’ and draws arrows to represent the connections between pictures. Here’s the [students provide name] family living in [funny fictitious name given by students], they live off the land with little to no technological intervention in their lives. However, the world around them is changing and a big company [students provide name] is ready to buy them off and put an outlet mall on their land. This means bringing in heavy bulldozers and changing this place forever.
The teacher lets the students know that they’ll be creating similar billboards in the lesson except theirs will be much larger; theirs will show and tell the history of Las Vegas, Topeka and Cincinnati as they have become more urbanized and instead of simple arrows they’ll write short paragraphs to briefly explain what the connections between their ‘natural’ and ‘urban’ pictures are. /

Other Resources

(Book Reference: Environmental Science by Karen Arms. 2000. Holt, Reinhart & Winston.)

Additional Notes

Require Learner Participation

Activity

(Describe the independent activity to reinforce this lesson) / In Class Pre-Assessment Quiz; (approx 5 minutes)
Questions handed out by instructor. Students work individually and answer questions to the best of their ability. Multiple Choice and One Word Answers. Student volunteer collects papers once quiz is completed.
Questions:
1) The growth of cities as people move from rural to urban areas is known as:-
o  Moving
o  Urbanization
o  Suburban Sprawl
2) ALL of the things that a society BUILDS for public use (roads, sewers, railways, schools, hospitals) is known as: -
o  Machines
o  Infrastructure
o  Land - Use
3) Is the following statement True / False? Circle the correct answer.
Nature doesn’t waste anything. Everything is re-used or recycled. Nothing becomes trash/waste.
4) Where you find a lot of people (hundreds of thousands or even millions) living together in cities, you get more of the following: -
A) Water Pollution
B) Water Shortage
C) Water Management Problems
D) All of the above
5) Fill in the missing letters to complete the word;
We as humans are trying to make sure that we can enjoy all the man-made things we have built but as the same time keep a health environment and good economy. In other words, we a re trying to be more
S S A NABLE
Interactive Group Discovery Learning Activity
Creating ‘City Bill-Boards’
(approx 20 minutes);
Poster Boards/Large sheets of construction paper are handed out to the student groups which are based on seating arrangements (or pre-assigned at teacher’s discretion).The students are divided into 3 groups and provided with pictures of places and activities in Las Vegas, Topeka and Cincinnati. The pictures are of distinctly different time periods. The task is for the students to make clear connections between pairs of pictures and give as much information about what is going on in the pictures with the ultimate goal of telling a story about the city through the pictures and accompanying text.
Las Vegas, NV:
·  Central Picture of Rain Falling on Pavement & Picture of Rain Infiltrating into the Soil.
·  Picture of Air Conditioner & Picture of Wind Blowing Mojave Desert Plants such as the Desert Willow and Shrub Live Oak.
·  Picture of Vegas Skyline and Distant View of Mojave Desert.
·  Close up picture of desert clearly showing the dryness of the land & picture of the water fountains at Bellagio outside the Bellagio hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Boulevard.
Topeka, KS:
·  Central Picture of a Pipe Burst and dripping waste into the Kansas River & Picture of the Kansa River and Floodplain.
·  Picture of Kansas Grassland without human influence & Picture of Coal miner at work.
·  Picture of Leaf Rotting on the ground and picture of The Green Point Landfill.
·  Picture of cars filling up the road in several lanes in Topeka during a rush hour & another picture of the Kansas Grassland.
Cincinnati, OH:
·  Central Picture of Rain Falling on Pavement & Picture of Rain Infiltrating into the Soil.
·  Picture of Hills, Bluffs and Low Ridges & Picture of Cincinnati Skyline during the Day.
·  Picture of Rabbit Decomposing on the ground & Picture of Rumpke Waste and Recycling Company.
·  Picture of Cincinnati Skyline at Night emphasizing paces with a lot of bright, neon lights & Picture of Sun-Setting on a low ridge with no infrastructure.
·  Picture of Fire-place; burning fossil fuels for heat & Picture of The Sun Blazing Brightly.
Presentation of Posters and Questions: (approx 10 minutes).

Evaluate (Assessment)

(Steps to check for student understanding) / In Class Post-Assessment Quiz; (approx 5 minutes)
Questions handed out by instructor. Students work individually and answer questions to the best of their ability. Multiple Choice and One Word Answers. Teacher collects papers once quiz is completed.
The Post-Assessment is the same as the Pre-Assessment.
REVIEW ~ Essential Concepts: (approx 5 minutes)
Urbanization changes the faces of an area/region in many ways. Humans have to come up with ways to deal with aspects of life in the ‘urban environment’ that are easily dealt with in the ‘natural environment’ such as decomposition and recycling of nutrients, infiltration and light and heat from the sun. We are not saying that Urbanization is bad as the many luxuries and amenities we enjoy everyday are a direct result of it but we clearly see that Nature Wastes Nothing.
Approximate lesson Time: 50 minutes