Cities as Systems

Cities as Systems Module 1 Lesson 1

LESSON 1: CITIES AS SYSTEMS

OVERVIEW

This lesson is designed to elicit student preconceptions about cities, introduce the idea of

cities as systems, and introduce the driving question for the entire year. The lesson

begins with a brainstorm where the teacher leads a “word splash” about the word city. .

Then in order to encourage students to start thinking of cities as systems, student groups

draw up plans (or construct models) of city neighborhoods and work to fit these

neighborhoods into a city. To understand the time aspect of systems (and cities), these

student groups are provided with imaginary (but possible) events that happen to their

constructed city and asked to construct a past or future for their city. Finally, the lesson

concludes by introducing the driving question for the entire unit – How do we develop

healthy and sustainable cities? This question will be revisited multiple times during the

year as students learn more about urban ecosystems.

SUB-QUESTION

Is a city a system?

WAYS OF KNOWING URBAN ECOLOGY:

Understanding Students will understand that …

• A system is:

-a collection of interrelated parts operating on a number of different

scales, and exhibiting ongoing and dynamic change over time.

• The nature or purpose of the system is different from, and more than, the sum of its unassembled collection of parts.

• A city is a special type of system, an urban

ecosystem.

Talking No specific goals connected with talking

about urban ecology in this lesson.

Doing Students will be able to…

• Construct a two- or three-dimensional model

of a neighborhood.

• Work together to fit these neighborhoods into

a city.

Acting No specific goals connected with acting on

urban ecology in this lesson.

SAFETY GUIDELINES

No specific safety issues are associated with this lesson.

Cities as Systems Module 1 Lesson 1

PREPARATION

Time

2-3 class periods

Materials

Activity 1.1

• Student notebooks

• Chalk or white board (optional: butcher paper or poster board and markers)

Activity 1.2

• Copy or construction paper

• Markers and pencils

• Rulers

• Scotch Tape

• Optional:

 Cardboard

 Boxes (cereal, cookie, cracker, etc.)

 Scissors

 Empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls

 Masking Tape

Activity 1.3

• Student models or plans of neighborhoods

• Contingency Cards (at least one for each group, or ideally one past and one future

card for each group)

• Student notebooks

Concluding the Lesson

• Student Notebooks

INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE

Activity 1.1: Brainstorm Word splash – What makes a city?

1. Tell students that their focus in science class this year is going to be around cities.

Write “CITY” in the middle of a piece of butcher paper or poster board. Ask

students to each think of a word that they associate with the word city. Have

students call out the different words they associate with “CITY” and as they call

them out write the words randomly around the paper. Write down all answers

that are appropriate and on task. Below is an example of what the outcome for

the word splash might look like:

Cities as Systems Module 1 Lesson 1

crime

people

parks

apartments

noise

dirt

flowers

cars lots of stores traffic

jobs

grass

pigeons CITY

trees large

busy exciting

music concerts

Sirens

Stuff to do

buses

School

energy

angry drivers

Fun

trash

2. Ask your students to identify words and phrases that they typically think of as

“science” and words and phrases that they typically think of as “non-science.”

3. Tell them that in urban ecology, we study both the “scientific” and the “social,”

with “scientific” referring to interactions in the environment that are not

exclusively human and the latter referring to interactions that are exclusively

human.

Activity 1.2: Building Neighborhoods and Cities

1. Inform your students that they will be breaking up into groups and building a

model of a neighborhood, and that they will be coming together as a whole to join

their neighborhoods together to make a complete city.

2. Break your students into smaller groups of 3-4 students each. Depending on the

size of your class, your own teaching style, and the needs and preferences of your

students, you may want to break your students into curriculum-long “working

groups.”

Cities as Systems Module 1 Lesson 1

3. Tell your students that each group is responsible for creating a neighborhood of a

city. Based on time and material availability, let them know that they will be

creating 2-dimensional plans (see example) or three-dimensional models (see

photo). Tell them that when every group has completed their neighborhood, the

class will come together to join their neighborhoods in a complete city.

4. Review the city word splash from Activity 1.1. These are the elements that need

to be represented in the city and in their neighborhoods.

5. Provide your students with guidance in terms of the following questions:

a. How will our neighborhoods connect with one another? This is a question

of interrelatedness.

i. Potential responses: streets, waterways, greenways, bike paths,

bus routes, subways or trolleys. More than one response can be

appropriate.

ii. Follow-up consideration: you may decide as a teacher or as a class

that these connections need to “match up” (that is, the streets

exiting and entering the neighborhoods need to physically connect

with streets from other neighborhoods), creating a greater

challenge.

b. How will the elements be represented? This is a question of scale.

i. Potential responses: the student groups work independently so that

each neighborhood has some or all of the elements of a city, or the

groups will work together and ensure that the elements are

represented across the city as a whole.

ii. Follow-up consideration: time and efficiency may be a

consideration. If time is very limited, groups can work

independently; if more time is available, your class can try it both

ways.

Cities as Systems Module 1 Lesson 1

6. Distribute the materials and provide students with the time to complete the plans

or models.

7. When all the student groups have completed their plans or models, come back

together as a class and piece the neighborhoods together. Again, as the teacher,

you can decide how “planned” the city will be: someone (e.g., you the teacher) as

the central planner directing student groups to place their neighborhoods in

specific spots; the class as the whole making decisions; or random placement of

neighborhoods.

8. Once the neighborhoods have been placed, lead a discussion about how the

neighborhoods fit together, what is represented in each neighborhood, and what is

represented in the city as a whole.

Activity 1.3: Systems, Cities, and Time

1. Make sure that you print and cut out enough contingency cards so that each group

receives at least one card (for one event, in the past or in the future). If time

allows, each group may receive two cards: one in the past and one in the future.

2. Tell your students that you will be discussing systems, cities, and change over

time.

3. Ask your students if they have noticed how their city has changed over time.

Allow time for students to share some experiences in this regard.

Grocery

Store

Park and

Playground

Shopping Mall

Apartment Buildings

Factories

Police and

Fire Station

Office Buildings

Apartment

Buildings

Street

Cities as Systems Module 1 Lesson 1

4. Inform your students that one of the defining characteristics of systems is that

they change over time. Ecological systems, such as cities and urban areas, change

in ways that are not always directed with an end goal in mind, and even when

change is directed, the end does not always match what was expected.

5. Remind your students of the neighborhood and city models that they constructed

in the last activity.

6. Pass out the contingency cards to each group. Ideally each group receives one

past card and one future card of a different event. If time allows only one event

per group, distribute the cards randomly.

7. Ask your students to consider the events and discuss their responses to the

questions. They may simply discuss the questions, write responses in their

notebooks, or create a poster with their responses.

8. Allow time for whole class discussion of the groups’ responses, especially if two

different groups received the same card. Remind them that there is no correct

answer.

9. Ask your students if they have seen similar events in their own city, or in other

cities in the news, on television, or on the Internet.

Concluding the Lesson

1. Discuss with your students the defining characteristics of a system:

interrelatedness of parts, scale, and change over time.

2. Remind them of how these characteristics were discussed in terms of their model

city and in terms of the city in which they live.

3. Remind your students of the driving question for the curriculum, How do we

develop healthy and sustainable cities? (or write it on the board). Remind them

this is the big question that they will be exploring over the course of the year.

Ask for questions, comments or feedback on this driving question.

4. Let them know that in the next lesson they will be talking in more detail about the

pieces that make up an ecological system and the place of people within it.

5. HOMEWORK: Hand out the Field Studies Safety Contract. Ask them and a

parent or guardian to sign it. On their way to or from school, ask your students to

note one item which is living, one item which is not living, and one item which is

made by people.

there was an

EARTHQUAKE

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanjoselibrary/4026985542/

in your city’s past

An earthquake ripped through your city

causing buildings to collapse in the past.

Questions to consider: What was your

city like before the earthquake? How has

it changed since the earthquake so that it

looks like it does now?

there was a

FLOOD

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crowt59/2054278016/

in your city’s past

A flood swept through your city causing much

damage in the past.

Questions to consider: What was your

city like before the flood? How has it

changed since the flood so that it looks

like it does now?

there was a

BENEFACTOR

http://www.flickr.com/photos/keenepubliclibrary/4796344402/

in your city’s past

A very wealthy person moved in and has

worked to provide jobs and improve your city in

the past.

Questions to consider: What was your

city like before the benefactor? How has

it changed since the benefactor so that it

looks like it does now?

there was

NO SIGNIFICANT EVENT

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163051209/

in your city’s past

Nothing out of the ordinary has happened in

your city in the past.

Questions to consider: What was your

city like in the past? How has it changed

so that it looks like it does now?

there will be an

EARTHQUAKE

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/1188322224/

in your city’s future

An earthquake will rip through your city

causing buildings to collapse in the future.

Questions to consider: What will happen

to your city after the earthquake? How

will it change after the earthquake from

what it looks like now?

there will be a

FLOOD

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecstaticist/2965754035/

in your city’s future

A flood swept through your city causing much

damage in the future.

Questions to consider: What will happen

to your city after the flood? How will it

change after the flood from what it looks

like now?

there will be a

BENEFACTOR

http://www.flickr.com/photos/janbrasna/3324559528/

in your city’s future

A very wealthy person will work to provide jobs

and improve your city in the future.

Questions to consider: What will happen

to your city after the benefactor? How

will it change after the benefactor from

what it looks like now?

there will be

NO SIGNIFICANT EVENT

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecstaticist/3423689554/

in your city’s future

Nothing out of the ordinary will happen in your

city in the future.

Questions to consider: What will happen

to your city in the future? How will it

change in the future from what it looks

like now?

Field Studies Safety Contract

Please read and sign the following rules contract with your parent or guardian.

By signing this contract, you demonstrate that you and your parent or guardian have read,

understand and agree that you will follow these instructions at all times.

1. Follow all teacher directions. Not following directions will result in spending

the next field visit in the office.

2. Take along your field notebook and something to write with every time we go

outside. Start a new page with the date and time every time we go outside.

3. When we walk out of our classroom, STAY TOGETHER! Cross streets

together to disrupt traffic the least amount possible.

4. At the field site, stay with your buddy. Do not wander off by yourself.

5. Walk, don’t run. Climb, don’t jump. Walk down and up steep inclines using

the side of your foot.

6. Wear appropriate clothes for going outside. Wear appropriate footwear, and

dress for the weather, including a hat and gloves in cold weather, or rain gear

when needed.

7. Use tools and equipment in the manner which they were intended.

8. Point out unsafe situations to your classmates and to your teachers.

9. Never enter deep or moving water

10. We will be picking up trash – please put everything in a bag to return to

school. Leave nothing behind but footprints. NO LITTERING!

11. Make sure you know when and where the group will be meeting.

12. Be aware of your surroundings. Enjoy being outside!

Signing this means that I (student) will follow all of the above rules every time our

class goes outside.

________________________ ______ ____________________________ ______

Student date Parent date