Presenting Social and Natural Histories of Land Use Over Time

Lesson 6

Lesson 6: Presenting Social and Natural Histories of Land Use Over Time Overview:
In this lesson students will present and discuss what they learned from interviewing community members, and by writing social and natural history reports. Students are encouraged to consider the similarities and differences between the reports and presentations. Students are also encouraged to complete a self-evaluation and compare their self-evaluation with the teachers evaluation.

Sub-Question:
How has land use changed over time in a particular community or neighborhood?

Ways of Knowing Urban Ecology:

Understand Talk Do
Students will 1. Understand the nature of local land use change through the eyes of local residents, leaders, neighbors, and family members over time (ecosystem state and structure, forces and drivers). 1. Discuss the similarities and differences of the local social histories of land use presented in class. 1. Analyze cultural journalism data collected from local residents, leaders, neighbors, and family members on local land use over time. 2. Construct a cohesive story of land use over time. 3. Present the social histories of the local area that they construct through their ongoing cultural journalism. No specific goals connected with acting on urban ecology in this lesson.

Act

Saftey Guidelines:
No safety precautions associated with this lesson

Preparation:
Time: 1-3 class periods, depending on the number of presentations, plus ongoing meetings with students. If you are providing in-class time for students to prepare their presentations, allow 1-2 class periods for the preparations prior to the presentations themselves. Materials: Activity 6.1 Butcher paper or poster board OR Computer(s) with PowerPoint, Keynote, or other presentation software, or Windows Movie Maker or iMovie

Presenting Social and Natural Histories of Land Use Over Time Activity 6.2 Office Hours sign-up sheet (optional)

Lesson 6

Instructional Sequence:
Activity 6.1: Presentations 1. If you havent already done so, students social history reports from the interviews should be handed in. 2. Provide students or student groups the opportunities to present their reports to the class concerning land use in the neighborhood over time. The main points of their presentations should include: o The name and location of the neighborhood if different locations were investigated; o Information about their interviewee if different people were interviewed; o Claim(s) concerning the land use over time at the location; o Overview of the social and natural histories; o Connections with the Ecosystem Services Model; o Conclusions. 3. Students are invited to use posters or other presentation aids to make their points. They are also welcome to use presentation or video-making software if computers are available at home or at school. Instructional Strategies You may wish to require or forbid the use of computer-based presentations based on the equity of the access to technology. In addition, if individual reports and presentations were done, you may wish to set up the class so that students present to each other in small groups of 3-4 students and then lead a class-wide discussion afterwards. 4. If computers are used, in order to encourage concise, engaging, and fun presentations, you may require the Pecha-Kucha () format for presentations. Teacher Background Knowledge Originating in Japanand originally used primarily by architects, urban planners, and designersPecha-Kucha are highly-visual presentations composed primarily of photographs and consist of exactly 20 slides which are displayed for exactly 20 seconds. After 20 seconds, the slide automatically advances. Therefore, no presentation is longer than 6 minutes and 40 seconds. PowerPoint templates for the Pecha-Kucha format already set to advance slides at 20 seconds are included with this curriculum (pechakucha-20x20.ppt for the typical 20 slide format and pecha-kucha-10x20.ppt for an even more condensed 10 slide format, for a presentation time of 3 minutes and 20 seconds). Movie making software such as Windows Movie Maker and iMovie can also be used, as long as the timings are set for 20 seconds. For more information and examples, see: http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/powerpointtips/powerpoint_tip_stay_focused_pe cha_kucha.html http://www.pecha-kucha.org/what http://www.pecha-kucha.org/presentations/ 5. Between presentations, or as a class as a whole at the end if presenting in small groups, encourage students to ask questions of one another, such as clarifications

Presenting Social and Natural Histories of Land Use Over Time

Lesson 6

on claims or ties to the Ecosystem Services model. Also encourage students to think about similarities and differences between different presentations. Activity 6.2: Self-Evaluation and Office Hours (Optional) 1. Provide students with the opportunity to evaluate themselves after the presentations are complete. 2. If you wish, you may post office hours for students to come to you and compare their self-evaluation with your evaluation of their report and presentation. This can be done outside of class time or during class time. 3. When meeting with students, highlight areas of strength and provide concrete ways to improve. Conclusion/Reflection 1. In concluding this lesson, remind them of or point out the model city that they constructed in the first lesson of Module 1. Ask them ifbased on what they have learned about the first-person perspective on land use over timethey would make changes or keep in mind other considerations when designing their model city. 2. Inform them that in the next lesson they will be discussing a case study based centering on the idea of environmental justice.