Curated OER
Land Use and Lawmaking in California
High schoolers design a plan for a housing development in their city. In this house development lesson plan, students observe pictures of land use, research lawmaking, and develop a plan for an environmentally friendly housing...
Curated OER
What is Public Use?
Explore the Fifth Amendment by examining the meaning of "public use" as learners read a scenario and role play their assigned parts to determine "public use." They also read Supreme Court Cases regarding the amendment and present their...
Curated OER
Create the Ideal City
Students examine the significance of city planning. They analyze maps, develop a crossword puzzle using vocabulary terms, and create a diagram of an ideal city and describe the features that make it healthy for the economy, the...
Curated OER
Land Use
Students brainstorm lists of land uses, gather pictures of them, and create a collage. They research land uses in their communities by contacting local agencies. They make charts of the land use planning systems and their impact on...
Curated OER
Land Use Change Over Time
Learners use historical aerial photographs and current aerial photographs to compare the change over time to the land. For this land changing lesson plan, students analyze, compare, contrast, and list the land change in their own community.
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Valentine Village
Students build a small city by using a half-gallon milk or juice carton to "build" a miniature home. They decorate their buildings with construction paper, yarn, beads, or whatever they have and become mailmen, delivering Valentine's to...
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Land Assessment
Students work in small groups on a problem based learning activity. Students are presented with a problem of buying land to use for educational purposes only and must determine if it is feasible to buy it based on soil analysis and plant...
American Institute of Architects
Architecture: It's Elementary!—Fifth Grade
Young citizens construct an understanding of urban planning in this cross-curricular unit. Covering every aspect of city development from the political, economic, and social influences to sustainable building practices, this 10-lesson...
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Land Use Competition
High schoolers represent a specific interest in the business community and present a plan to develop a 4 square mile area into a productive venture that benefit the community.
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Development on the Edge of a City
Students explore and analyze examples of changing relationships between patterns of settlement and land use in the state of Minnesota. They view different avenues of transportation, cities, suburbs, city planners and suburbanization.
Curated OER
The Eagle Has Landed: Aztecs Find a Home
Students investigate the Aztec civilization and locate it on a map. They explain the legend of the city of Tenochtitan and investigate the symbolism of the Mexican flag.
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The Planning Commission
Students design a sound community. In this communities lesson, students take on the role of city planners and identify the needs of the community. Students develop a blue print to meet the needs of the community and include new...
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Growth of a City
Students discuss the needs of any city. They view and analyze a 1923 aerial picture of Beverly Hills and discuss possible needs for the city. They draw in facilities to meet the needs they have listed and then compare these needs to a...
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Social Studies: Towne Planning in Tidewater
Young scholars discover how European values dominated colonial life. They also examine the effects of slavery in the Americas. Students compare the planning of their home town with that of colonial Williamsburg. They locate key sites...
Curated OER
The Eagle Has Landed: Aztecs Find a Home
Pupils examine the Aztec civilization in what is now Mexico. Using a map, they locate the empire and explain the legend of the founding of Tenochtitlan. They explore the symbols on various Mexican flags and what they meant to the Aztec...
Curated OER
The Geometry Of An Ox Skin
High schoolers investigate the concepts of area and perimeter. The activity uses a legend to create a context for the proposed word problem. They use the skill of estimation in order to create an ox skin that is found in the story.
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Understanding Zoning: Its use on the High Line in West Chelsea
Learners are introduced to zoning. Evaluating information and reading a land-use map is enclosed in this lesson. List new development projects that they could propose for a given area.
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City Lesson Plan
Students examine the patterns and processes of urbanization and describe patterns of urban land use. They choose one of five cities using riddles and research why this city is desirable. The groups make quizzes for each other on the city...
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The 400-acre wood
In this forest planning lesson plan, students visit the 400-acre wood website and work in groups to learn about the specific aspects of forest development. Students create, label and color a forest planning map and present their map to...
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Country Mouse, City Mouse?
Students recognize the characteristics of a rural area. They analyze land use to determine whether the map is of a rural (country) area or an urban (city) area.
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The Middle East: Land of Contrasts
Students explore the ancient city of Petra. In this Middle East lesson, students watch "The Royal Tour of Jordan," and then discuss the history of Petra. Students conduct research on selected sites in the city and use their findings to...
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Public Land
Students examine the needs of their community for public space and determine the solutions to math problems related to planning landscape designs. They read and discuss an article from the New York Times, create their own designs for a...
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Take a Look at Nature With Landscape Lesson Plans
Let local nature inspire original art with these landscape lesson plans.
Curated OER
Land as a Valuable Resource
Students investigate why the soil is important to our lives. In this natural resources lesson, students have a farmer as a guest speaker. Students begin to understand how farmers use and protect our natural resource. Students write...