This inquiry explores how communities develop and sustain themselves by examining the positive and negative impacts of development on community environments. In considering the idea that communities grow and change over time, students develop an argument with evidence that answers the compelling question “How do we shape our environment?”
How Do We Shape Our Environment?
Watch a time-lapse video of a city being built and discuss what is changing and why.
How do we modify our environment over time?
Formative TasksComplete a graphic organizer demonstrating how people have modified the environment of a location in New York State.
SourcesSource A: Image bank: New York City in 1609 versus 2009
How do we use land in different ways to shape our community?
Formative TasksCreate a community map classifying land as residential, industrial, commercial, or recreational.
SourcesSource A: Image bank: Various uses of land<br /> Source B: Google Maps
How does our use of land improve or harm our community?
Formative TasksComplete a T-chart demonstrating the pros and cons of building the Tappan Zee Bridge.
SourcesSource A: Image bank: Historic and current images of the Tappan Zee Bridge<br /> Source B: Tappan Zee Bridge: Life in Rockland before the Span
Research Opportunity: How has a local development improved or harmed our community?
Formative TasksCreate a group pictorial essay demonstrating how a local development has helped or harmed the community, and invite local officials to class.
SourcesSource A: Teacher- and student-generated sources on a local community-development project
Argument: How do we shape our environment? Construct an argument supported by evidence that addresses how we shape our environment and/or are shaped by our environment.
Extension:
Understand: Accomplished through Performance Tasks 1 and 2
Assess: Accomplished through Performance Task 3
Act: Accomplished through Performance Task 4
C3Teachers.org facilitates open collaborative conversations among teachers as they tinker with their own instructional practice as it relates to the C3 Framework.
If you are interested in offering more professional development opportunities, rethinking or redesigning your social studies curriculum, we’d love to talk.
