Community GeographyProject-Based Learning on Community and Access for Middle/High School

Objective

✤ Get students thinking about their communities and how they are structured.

✤ What is a food desert?

✤ What problems with access can you see in our community?

SMART Objective:

By the end of the unit, students will demonstrate a clear understanding of community resources and access. Student will design and present a neighborhood based on features community needs and accessibility.

Materials

✤ Computers with internet access to Google Maps and Google Earth

✤ Neighborhood design templates for project and presentation.

Steps:

✤ As a large group, students brainstorm what makes a community with guidance from instructor.

✤ Break into smaller groups: students measure geodesic distance from community resources. Small groups are encouraged to reach out to one another.

✤ Given instruction on how to use Google Maps to record distances.

✤ In small groups, students use the United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) materials to research “food deserts” in the United States.

Steps (continued):

✤ In small groups: students evaluate walking distances from community resources

✤ In small groups: students walk some distances and observe access/journey

✤ In small groups: students design and present a neighborhood using provided templates

Guidance

Brainstorm: Guide students towards what’s important to have access to at home.

✤ Food/Grocery

✤ School

✤ Healthcare

✤ Community centers

✤ Work

✤ Transportation

Food Deserts

Defined by the USDA ERS as:

✤ Low Income area

✤ Low access to a supermarket or large grocery store (more than a mile away in urban areas, more than ten miles away in rural areas)

Definition of a Food Desert. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2015, from http://www.ers.usda.gov/dataFiles/Food_Access_Research_Atlas/Download_the_Data/Archived_Version/archived_documentation.pdf

Adaptation

At international schools - resources, community and distances may be valued differently. As a teacher:

✤ Look into different community values in your location to better guide your students

✤ Look at community services/necessities that may be necessary

✤ Have students brainstorm other “deserts” that might affect the way people live their lives i.e. access to sanitation, access to drinkable water, etc.

Project Question

✤ How far is your home from community needs?

✤ How does the geodesic distance differ from accessible distance?

✤ Brainstorm ideas about what a well-planned and accessible community will look like.

Final Product

✤ Students create and present a “community design” based on templates provided in small groups.

✤ Presentation includes rationale behind the placement of community resources and

References

Accessible Products and New Technology. (2014). Retrieved May 15, 2015, from http://www.designingaccessiblecommunities.org/

Dannenberg, A., Jackson, R., Frumkin, H., Schieber, R., Pratt, M., Kochtitzky, C., & Tilson, H. (2003, September 1). The Impact of Community Design and Land-Use Choices on Public Health: A Scientific Research Agenda. Retrieved May 15, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448000/

Definition of a Food Desert. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2015, from http://www.ers.usda.gov/dataFiles/Food_Access_Research_Atlas/Download_the_Data/Archived_Version/archived_documentation.pdf

Image.“Cub Foods.” Retrieved May 10, 2015 from http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2014/08/15/supervalu-data-breach-stores-list-cub-foods-mn-nd.html?page=all

Image. “Kona Village.” Retrieved May 15, 2015 from http://www.placemakers.com/stories-from-the-fields/honokohau-village-kona-hawaii-2/ on

Image. “Neighborhood Design.” Retrieved May 15, 2015 from http://www.palgrave-journals.com/udi/journal/v16/n4/fig_tab/udi201114f1.html

Image. “Screenshot.” Retrieved May 15, 2015 from www.google.maps.com

Image. “Screenshot.” Retrieved May 15, 2015 from http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas.aspx

USDA ERS - Go to the Atlas. (2015, March 11). Retrieved May 15, 2015, from http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas.aspx