Green Space

Module 5 Lesson 7

LESSON 7: GREEN SPACE AND PUBLIC HEALTH OVERVIEW:

The purpose of this lesson is to continue exploring characteristics of urban areas that promote public health. Specifically, this lesson focuses on how green space improves neighborhood health by providing space for recreation, which decreases obesity. The lesson begins by having students brainstorm how they typically spend their time during a day off on a snowy day in the winter and a sunny day in the summer. Next, students work in groups either by making calculations using a website or looking at data tables to investigate how living near green space can affect an individuals activities and the number of calories they burn. The students then reflect on their own activities and consider how their choice of activities would change if they lived close to different types of green spaces. Finally, students read and discuss an article from the New York Times which describes the importance and benefits of exercise outdoors.

SUB-QUESTION:
How does the availability of green space in a city impact individual health?

WAYS OF KNOWING URBAN ECOLOGY:

Understand
Students will Understand that increased green space in cities improves health by providing space for recreation. (ecosystem change, forces and drivers) Recognize how different activities impact calorie use. (ecosystem change, forces and drivers) Identify the scientific problems, claims, evidence, and reasoning in an environmental and health science oriented news article. Analyze their own personal activities in relation to green space availability and indicators of health. No specific goals connected with acting on urban ecology in this lesson.

Talk Do Act

SAFETY GUIDELINES
No specific safety issues are associated with this lesson.

PREPARATION:
Time: 1 class period Materials: Activity 7.1 For each student: Copies of student sheet

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Module 5 Lesson 7

Activity 7.2 For each student: Copies of student sheet For each student group Either a computer with internet access or copy of the Activities and Calories student sheet Activity 7.3 (Optional): Computer with PowerPoint presentation software and projector Activity 7.4: Copies of the New York Times article entitled Head Out for a Daily Dose of Green Space can be retrieved at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/health/30brody.html Reflections: Student journals (optional)

INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE
Activity 7.1: Brainstorm Typical Activities 1. Tell students that today they will be continuing to talk about public health in cities. Today they will be focusing on activities that people physically do in cities. 2. Pass out the student sheet. Have students quickly brainstorm a list of activities that they would typically do in the winter and in the summer. After students have finished writing down their lists, have a couple of students share what they wrote down. You may want to make two lists on the board (one for winter and one for summer) with some examples of typical activities. 3. Tell students that you will revisit this list at the end of class, but first they will take a look at some other high school students and how where they live impacts what they do during a typical day off. Activity 7.2: Activities and Green Space 1. Place students into small groups to work on the activity. 2. Distribute the student sheet for the version of this activity you would like students to complete. There are two versions of this activity. One version has the students use an Internet Calorie Burned Calculator to calculate how many calories were burned (Says Internet Version in Header). The second version includes a completed table with the calories for each activity. In this version the students only need to add up the calories to find a total. 3. Tell students that after they have completed the prediction they should share their predictions and rationales with the other members of the group before going on to calculate the number of calories burned for the three high school students.

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Module 5 Lesson 7

4. After students have completed the activity come together as a class to discuss the conclusions. Ask students What is the relationship between green space and park and individual health? Why do you think this relationship exists? Individuals who live closer to green space and parks are more likely to be more active and burn more calories. Green space and parks provide a location where people can get together and engage in different types of activities. Even just walking a couple of blocks to a park burns more calories than watching TV. 5. You may also want to connect this back to the previous lesson on food consumption. You may want to ask students Which of these three high school students do you think probably ate healthier food and why? You could predict that Student C ate the least healthy because the student sat in a pizza shop for 2 hours and 20 minutes. Teaching Alternative If you are using the Internet version of this activity, you may want to have students calculate the number of calories they would have burned for the various activities they said they would typically do on a winter day and on a summer day in Activity 7.1. This can help them realize the impact of their own personal decisions on their health. Activity 7.3: Learning about Type 2 Diabetes (Optional) 1. Use the PowerPoint presentation (M5_L7_T2Diabetes.ppt) to present background information about Type 2 Diabetes to your class. The notes in the PowerPoint contain further information, aspects to highlight, and suggested questions to ask your students. Activity 7.4: Reading the News Items 1. Tell students that recently research has been done to look at the impact that parks and greens spaces have on the health of children, including the incidence of type 2 diabetes. They are going to read a summary of this research from the New York Times. 2. Have students read the New York Times article entitled Head Out for a Daily Dose of Green Space. You can either have students read this individually or aloud as a class. If reading aloud as a class, write any terms that your students have difficulty with on the board as they are reading. Before moving on, define the terms as a class, first soliciting ideas from the students and then guiding them to an accurate definition and understanding of the terms. 3. Write four columns on the board as depicted below: Problems Claims Evidence Reasoning

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Module 5 Lesson 7

4. Ask your student to name one or more problems described by the article. Appropriate responses include outdoor deprivation disorder, lack of activity or exercise, a range of health problems (including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, asthma, depression, etc.). 5. Ask your students to name some of the claims made in the article for addressing or fixing these problems. Appropriate responses include getting outside, moving around, exercising outside, creating more green spaces for people to go to, making policies that encourage people to go outside (such as Great Outdoors Month, a daily green hour, etc.) 6. Ask students to name some of the evidence provided in the article to support these claims. Appropriate responses include the impact of exercise on health, the impact of outdoor play on health, the increase of cognitive functioning by children who moved to greener areas, and that getting outdoors leads to a more consistent exercise regimen. 7. Ask you students to name some of the reasoning used to support claims with evidence. Appropriate responses will vary depending on the claims and evidence that your students provide. You may wish to guide your students to consider the appropriateness and sufficiency of the evidence. Does the evidence appropriately back up the claims? Does the evidence sufficiently back up the claims? Much of the evidence in the article is appropriate and comes from peer-reviewed journals and identified experts, lending to the idea of being sufficient evidence. Teacher Background Knowledge The New York Times article references a research article published in the journal Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care in 2010 entitled Using Nature and Outdoor Activity to Improve Children's Health. We have included a copy of the research article to provide you with a deeper understanding of the science and epidemiology involved. Concluding the Lesson 1. Have students look back at the list of activities that they brainstormed that they would typically do in the winter and summer (either on their own sheets or if there is a list on the board have them look at this). Have students answer the following reflection question either as a class discussion or in their journals How do you think your personal activities are impacted by the green space or parks near your home? If you lived somewhere else in the city, do you think your activities would be different? Why or why not? The purpose of this question is to get students to think about the available green space or parks and how it influences their own decisions. You also may want to encourage students to consider possible actions around this topic. Are there areas near their home or school that could be turned into parks? Do they think that would change the actions of the children or adults who live in the neighborhood? Why or why not?

Green Space Name: _________________________________ Date: _________

Module 5 Lesson 7 Class/Period:________

Lesson 7.1: What do you typically do on a winter day? summer day? 1. In January, it snows 6 inches early in the morning and school is cancelled. Around 9 am it stops snowing and it is beautiful and sunny the rest of the day with fresh snow on the ground. You have the whole day free. What are some typical activities that you might do? List them below.

2. It is a Saturday in August and you have the day off. It is 80 degrees and sunny out. You have the whole day free. What are some typical activities that you might do? List them below.

Green Space

Module 5 Lesson 7

Name: __________________________ Period/Class: __________________ Date:__________ Lesson 7.2: How does the availability of green space in a city impact individual health? Purpose In this lesson, you will investigate the activities of three high school students all of whom live in the same city, but in different areas of the city. Prediction Think about different areas of your city. Do you think where someone lives in the city influences how physically active they are? Why or why not?

Procedure 1. Three high school students all live in the same city in different areas and they all have the day off. The schedules of these three students are described below. Student A: o Location: Lives 0.2 miles from a small park with basketball courts and a playground. Lives 1 mile from a large park with a pond, large grassy areas, basketball courts, tennis courts, baseball field, soccer field and other activities. o Activities: In the morning, watches TV (1 hour). Goes across the street to play basketball. Shoots baskets (30 min). Then plays basketball (1 hours). In the afternoon, walks over to the large park (30 min). Sits and hangs out with friends (1 hour 30 min). Talks a walk around the pond (45 min) and throws a Frisbee with a friend (45 min). Walks back home (30 min). Student B: o Location: Lives 0.75 mile from a small park with basketball courts and a playground. o Activities: In the morning, sits and watches TV (2 hour 30 min) and talks on the phone (30 min). In the afternoon, walks to the park (20 min). Plays basketball (1 hours). Stands around and hangs out with friends (1 hour 50 min). Walks back home (20 min). Student C: o Location: Lives 2 miles from a small park with basketball courts and a playground. o Activities: In the morning, sleeps late (1 hour) and then watches TV (2 hours). In the afternoon, talks on the phone with friends (30 min). Walks to the pizza shop on the corner (10 min) and sits and hangs out with friends (2 hour 20 min). Walks back home (10 min) and runs into friends. Stands on the street corner and talks (40 min).

2. Go to the Calorie Burned Calculator - http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

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Module 5 Lesson 7

3. Enter each students activity to determine how many calories the students burned during the day. All three students weigh approximately 165 pounds. Enter 165 pounds at the top of the calculator before entering activities. Record the calories in the table below. Results: Time of Day Morning Student A (Close to 2 parks) Sitting. 60 min. Calories = ________ Basketball shooting baskets. 30 min. Calories = ________ Basketball game full court. 90 min Calories = ________ Walking 2 mph 105 min Calories = ________ Sitting 90 min Calories = ________ Frisbee playing 45 min Calories = ________ Student B (0.75 miles to 1 park) Sitting. 150 min. Calories = ________ Talking on phone. 30 min. Calories = ________ Student C (2 miles to 1 park) Sleeping 60 min. Calories = ________ Sitting. 120 min. Calories = ________

Afternoon

Walking 2 mph 40 min Calories = ________ Standing 110 min Calories = ________ Basketball game full court. 90 min Calories = ________

Talking on phone 30 min Calories = ________ Walking 2mph 20 min Calories = ________ Sitting 150 min Calories = ________ Standing. 40 min Calories = ________

Total Calories Conclusion 1. How did where the students live impact their activities and number of calories burned?

2. What conclusions can you make about the impact of green space and parks on health?

Green Space Name: _________________________________ Date: _________

Module 5 Lesson 7 Class/Period:________

Lesson 7.1: What do you typically do on a winter day? summer day? 1. In January, it snows 6 inches early in the morning and school is cancelled. Around 9 am it stops snowing and it is beautiful and sunny the rest of the day with fresh snow on the ground. You have the whole day free. What are some typical activities that you might do? List them below.

2. It is a Saturday in August and you have the day off. It is 80 degrees and sunny out. You have the whole day free. What are some typical activities that you might do? List them below.

Green Space Name: _________________________________ Date: _________

Module 5 Lesson 7 Class/Period:________

Lesson 7.2: How does the availability of green space in a city impact individual health? Purpose In this lesson, you will investigate the activities of three high school students all of whom live in the same city, but in different areas of the city. Prediction Think about different areas of your city. Do you think where someone lives in the city influences how physically active they are? Why or why not?

Procedure 1. Three high school students all live in the same city in different areas and they all have the day off. The schedules of the three students are described below. Student A: o Location: Lives 0.2 miles from a small park with basketball courts and a playground. Lives 1 mile from a large park with a pond, large grassy areas, basketball courts, tennis courts, baseball field, soccer field and other activities. o Activities: In the morning, sits and watches TV (1 hour). Goes across the street to play basketball. Shoots baskets (30 min). Then plays basketball (1 hours). In the afternoon, walks over to the large park (30 min). Sits and hangs out with friends (1 hour 30 min). Talks a walk around the pond (45 min) and throws a Frisbee with a friend (45 min). Walks back home (30 min). Student B: o Location: Lives 0.75 mile from a small park with basketball courts and a playground. o Activities: In the morning, sits and watches TV (2 hour 30 min) and talks on the phone (30 min). In the afternoon, walks to the park (20 min). Plays basketball (1 hours). Stands around and hangs out with friends (1 hour 50 min). Walks back home (20 min). Student C: o Location: Lives 2 miles from a small park with basketball courts and a playground. o Activities: In the morning, sleeps late (1 hour) and then sits and watches TV (2 hours). In the afternoon, talks on the phone with friends (30 min). Walks to the pizza shop on the corner (10 min) and sits and hangs out with friends (2 hour 20 min). Walks back home (10 min) and runs into friends. Stands at street corner and talks (40 min).

2. Read the table below to find out how many calories the three students burned for the various activities. All three students weigh approximately 165 pounds so they burned 2

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Module 5 Lesson 7

similar numbers of calories for completing the same activity. Add up the number of calories for each activity to determine the total number of calories for each student. Results: Time of Day Morning Student A (Close to 2 parks) Sitting. 60 min. Calories = ___79___ Basketball shooting baskets. 30 min. Calories = ___168___ Basketball game full court. 90 min Calories = ___1233_ Walking 2 mph 105 min Calories = __364___ Sitting 90 min Calories = __119___ Frisbee 45 min Calories = ___171__ Student B (0.75 miles to 1 park) Sitting. 150 min. Calories = ___198__ Talking on phone. 30 min. Calories = ___40___ Student C (2 miles to 1 park) Sleeping 60 min. Calories = ___69___ Sitting. 120 min. Calories = ___158__

Afternoon

Walking 2 mph 40 min Calories = ___139__ Standing 110 min Calories = _163____ Basketball game full court. 90 min Calories = __1233__

Talking on phone 30 min Calories = ___40___ Walking 2mph 20 min Calories = ___69___ Sitting 150 min Calories = __198___ Standing. 40 min Calories = ___59___

Total Calories Conclusion 1. How did where the students live impact their activities and number of calories burned?

2. What conclusions can you make about the impact of green space and parks on health?

Green Space Name: ___Teacher Version________________ Date: _________

Module 5 Lesson 7 Class/Period:________

Lesson 7.1: What do you typically do on a winter day? summer day? 1. In January, it snows 6 inches early in the morning and school is cancelled. Around 9 am it stops snowing and it is beautiful and sunny the rest of the day with fresh snow on the ground. You have the whole day free. What are some typical activities that you might do? List them below. Students responses will vary. They could include activities such as watching TV, hanging out with friends, sledding, shoveling snow, talking on the phone, surfing the internet, etc.

2. It is a Saturday in August and you have the day off. It is 80 degrees and sunny out. You have the whole day free. What are some typical activities that you might do? List them below.

Students responses will vary. They could include activities such as going to a park, playing basketball, going for a walk, watching TV, hanging out with friends, talking on the phone, etc.

Green Space Name: _________________________________ Date: _________

Module 5 Lesson 7 Class/Period:________

Lesson 7.2: How does the availability of green space in a city impact individual health? Purpose In this lesson, you will investigate the activities of three high school students all of whom live in the same city, but in different areas of the city. Prediction Think about different areas of your city. Do you think where someone lives in the city influences how physically active they are? Why or why not? Students responses will vary. They may think it does not matter where you live, but rather what you are interested in or they think it might matter whether or not you live near parks or basketball courts. Procedure 1. Three high school students all live in the same city in different areas and they all have the day off. The schedules of the three students are described below. Student A: o Location: Lives 0.2 miles from a small park with basketball courts and a playground. Lives 1 mile from a large park with a pond, large grassy areas, basketball courts, tennis courts, baseball field, soccer field and other activities. o Activities: In the morning, sits and watches TV (1 hour). Goes across the street to play basketball. Shoots baskets (30 min). Then plays basketball (1 hours). In the afternoon, walks over to the large park (30 min). Sits and hangs out with friends (1 hour 30 min). Talks a walk around the pond (45 min) and throws a Frisbee with a friend (45 min). Walks back home (30 min). Student B: o Location: Lives 0.75 mile from a small park with basketball courts and a playground. o Activities: In the morning, sits and watches TV (2 hour 30 min) and talks on the phone (30 min). In the afternoon, walks to the park (20 min). Plays basketball (1 hours). Stands around and hangs out with friends (1 hour 50 min). Walks back home (20 min). Student C: o Location: Lives 2 miles from a small park with basketball courts and a playground. o Activities: In the morning, sleeps late (1 hour) and then sits and watches TV (2 hours). In the afternoon, talks on the phone with friends (30 min). Walks to the pizza shop on the corner (10 min) and sits and hangs out with friends (2 hour 20 min). Walks back home (10 min) and runs into friends. Stands at street corner and talks (40 min).

2. Read the table below to find out how many calories the three students burned for the various activities. All three students weigh approximately 165 pounds so they burned

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Module 5 Lesson 7

similar numbers of calories for completing the same activity. Add up the number of calories for each activity to determine the total number of calories for each student. Results: Time of Day Morning Student A (Close to 2 parks) Sitting. 60 min. Calories = ___79___ Basketball shooting baskets. 30 min. Calories = ___168___ Basketball game full court. 90 min Calories = ___1233_ Walking 2 mph 105 min Calories = __364___ Sitting 90 min Calories = __119___ Frisbee 45 min Calories = ___171__ Student B (0.75 miles to 1 park) Sitting. 150 min. Calories = ___198__ Talking on phone. 30 min. Calories = ___40___ Student C (2 miles to 1 park) Sleeping 60 min. Calories = ___69___ Sitting. 120 min. Calories = ___158__

Afternoon

Walking 2 mph 40 min Calories = ___139__ Standing 110 min Calories = _163____ Basketball game full court. 90 min Calories = __1233__ 1773 Calories

Talking on phone 30 min Calories = ___40___ Walking 2mph 20 min Calories = ___69___ Sitting 150 min Calories = __198___ Standing. 40 min Calories = ___59___ 593 Calories

Total Calories

2134 Calories

Conclusion 1. How did where the students live impact their activities and number of calories burned? The two students who lived close to parks burned more calories. Student A lived close to two parks and he/she engaged in a variety of activities in both parks, which caused him/her to burn a high number of calories. Student B lived near one park. He/she did not burn as many calories, but did play basketball in the afternoon so burned a number of calories. Student C lived the farthest from a park and never went to the park. He/she spent most of the time sitting or hanging around and burned very few calories. 2. What conclusions can you make about the impact of green space and parks on health? Green spaces and parks provide a place where people can be physically active, which allows them to burn more calories and promotes greater health. Even just walking to and around a park is going to burn more calories than sitting down and hanging out all day.