| | Built Environment Education |
 Built Environment education focuses on using the places where we live, work and play to introduce students to the institutions, economics and culture that make up our society. This often overlooked piece of social studies education can be included at all levels from Kindergarten through the University. It is an important missing link in many social studies classrooms. Our citizenry is generally under-educated about the way that the built environment effects and is effected by society. By including various forms of built environment education in school curricula and intergrating themes into science, mathematics and language arts curricula, today's students will have a better understanding of how human's both create the world they live in and are subject to natural processes. |
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| | | Link: Article: Teaching about the Built Environment. ERIC Digest.
| Critical thinking, responsible citizenship, cultural literacy, social relevancy; these concerns of educators in the social studies can be addressed through teaching and learning about the built environment. The tangible structures that humans have created (e.g., bridges, houses, factories, farms, monuments) constitute the built environment. |
| | PDF: Town Plan Activity
| This classroom activity for high school consists of students completing a design plan for a small town in a group. The limited time available for students to accomplish the task mirrors the deadlines that professional planners work under. The activity should be part of a larger built environment unit. |
| | PDF: Lesson Plan: StreetSections.com
| This lesson is designed to introduce students to StreetSections.com and is designed to take place over 3 days of one hour periods. |
| | Case Study: Harbor City Internation School: Town Planning Symposium
| Harbor City International School is a charter high school in Duluth, MN. The final three weeks of the school year are dedicated to intensive, full day syposium classes where students choose from a variety of topics to deeply delve into. |
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