Materials - OMSI



Map Your Neighborhood

|Program Type: Classroom program | | |

|Audience Type: Grades 6–12 | | |

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| | | |

|Description: Students use maps of their neighborhood to identify sustainability-related resources such as schools, bus stops, | | |

|bicycle shops, and gardens. | | |

| | | |

|Topics: Maps, sustainability, neighborhood layout, transportation | | |

| | | |

|Process Skills Focus: Observing, communicating, classifying | | |

| | | |

• Students explore their neighborhoods via maps and identify sustainability-related resources in their communities (parks, bus stops, public gardens, etc.).

• Students will feel they are making a difference in their communities and see the benefits of community building.

Advance

Preparation Set Up Activity Clean Up

[pic] [pic] [pic] [pic]

10 minutes 10 minutes 60+ minutes 10 minutes

• A classroom with a whiteboard or blackboard and desks to work on

• Internet access and computer projector (optional)

| | | |

|Segment |Format |Time |

|Introduction |Instructor-led Activity |10 min |

|Map Your Neighborhood |Group Activity |40 min |

|Wrap-up |Instructor-led Activity |10 min |

| | |

|Major Consumables |Amount |Location |

|Neighborhood map that shows the location |One map per 4–5 |Portland: Request free copies from |

|of the school |students | |

| | |Other metropolitan Oregon cities: |

| | | |

| | |General locations: |

| | |Google maps, AAA |

|OMSI transportation stickers |One sheet per 4–5 |Request from OMSI (503.797.4633) or print from this document |

| |students | |

|Blackboard and chalk or whiteboard and | | |

|markers | | |

• Obtain maps and stickers from the sources listed above. If stickers cannot be located, they can be printed from this document on regular printer paper. Similarly, maps can be printed from the internet.

SET UP

• Arrange desks in groups of 4 or 5 so that a single large work surface is created for each group of students.

10 minutes

Suggested script is shaded. Important points or questions are in bold. Possible answers are shown in italics.

Let students speculate before offering answers to any questions. The answers given are provided primarily for the instructor’s benefit.

Listen to one of the following “sustainability stories” on the “Voices” section of the Local Voices, Clever Choices website:

Dorothy, Frugal Fashionista

Dorothy moved to Portland from Jamaica when she was 22. When life in the US got difficult, she drew on her faith and ingenuity to start a new business making fabulous children’s clothing using whatever resources she could find.

Deysi and Ivonne, Two-Wheel Duo

By learning about bicycle maintenance and safety education through the Community Cycling Center's programs, Deysi and her daughter Ivonne discovered their personal potential. Deysi received hands-on bike maintenance training while a member of Andando en Bicicletas en Cully, a bike committee in the Cully neighborhood. Ivonne gained confidence through Community Cycling Center's Bike Club program.

Mark, Roadside Revolutionary

This is Mark. He and his neighbors transformed a typical intersection into Share-It Square—a collective space that now brings their whole community together.

What “sustainable choice” did the storyteller make?

[Answers for Dorothy, Frugal Fashionista] She decided to sew children’s clothing to save money. Dorothy also used recycled materials to reduce waste.

What are some of the sustainable choices you’ve made?

Riding your bicycle instead of asking your parents to drive a car, cooking food at home instead of eating at a restaurant, borrowing books from a library, donating clothes to a thrift store.

What is sustainability?

We can divide this concept into three parts, or pillars.

Draw this Venn diagram on the board for the students to see:

[pic]

Sustainability is composed of the environment (air, water, animals), society (education, health, safety), and the economy (money, jobs, businesses).

What are some examples of each pillar?

Environment: Parks, gardens, reducing pollution

Social: Community groups, schools, after-school sports

Economic: Jobs, houses, going to restaurants

What environmental impacts did the storyteller’s choice have? How about social and economic impacts?

Dorothy saved cloth from going to waste by re-using it (environmental). She contributed to a stronger community by providing handmade, quality clothing for people (social). Dorothy sold her clothes to make money (economic).

Repeat this same analysis using another video from the Local Voices, Clever Choices website.

Show one of the maps and point out the cardinal directions (west, east, north, south).

Where on the map is our school located? We’ll be using these maps to locate places that help make our community more sustainable. What places could we include?

Parks, bus stops, community gardens, thrift stores, libraries, etc.

Some maps have several places already labeled.

Show that the top of the Portland maps contains a key showing symbols for parks, stores, etc., which looks like:

[pic]

Other maps may also contain a similar key. If so, point it out to the students.

Map Your Neighborhood

40 minutes

Divide students into groups of 4–5 individuals; give each group a map.

We’ll be talking about four groups of community resources – food, transportation, waste/stuff, and health.

How often do you use these resources and why are they important?

Ways to meet new people, enjoy tasty food, commute to work and school, do fun activities, save money.

How do these resources tie into the three pillars of sustainability?

Environmental: growing a garden makes for a beautiful neighborhood

Social: riding the bus is a good way to meet friends

Economic: buying less new stuff saves money

Copy the following table onto the blackboard or whiteboard and challenge students to fill in examples in each column:

|Food |Transportation |Waste/stuff |Health |

| | | | |

For example:

|Food |Transportation |Waste/stuff |Health |

|Grocery store |Bus stops |Thrift store |Park |

|Fruit tree |Bus routes |Library |Playground |

|Garden store |Bike lanes |Tool library |School |

|Community garden |Bike shop |Recycling center |Community center |

|Restaurant with healthy options | | | |

Each one of your groups will investigate one of these community resources – you’ll place stickers on your map corresponding to that community resource.

If your class contains more than four groups, you can break up the community resources into more groups. For example, you can divide the “Food” group into two groups:

Food stores: grocery store, garden store, restaurant with healthy options

Gardens: fruit tree, community garden

Use the OMSI website Local Voices, Clever Choices – omsi.edu/choices – and the internet to locate these different resources on your maps.

If internet access is not available, students can use the map’s key to locate some of these resources and their knowledge of the area.

After the groups have finished, bring all of the students together and compare the maps.

10 minutes

Post the maps on your classroom wall.

How can you use the information provided in the maps?

Navigate to school using public transportation, take a trip to the library to learn about a new subject, visit a community garden to see what’s growing.

Which theme – food, transportation, waste/stuff, health – has the most resources on the map?

Bus stops are plentiful, so students might find that the transportation theme has the most entries on the map.

Which resources are closest to the school?

Which resources are missing around the school?

What resources would make the area around the school more sustainable?

• Pick up any extra maps or stickers left and put them in a designated bag or basket.

• Each student can complete his or her own map, with all of the resources around his or her home indicated with stickers.

• Lead a walking tour of the neighborhood around the school, visiting several places indicated on the maps.

• Prompt students what resources are missing from their community (a park? a grocery store?). Have students write a letter to their local representative asking for these resources (find contact information for representatives on the Local Voices, Clever Choices website: ).

• Students can explore the Equity Atlas map () to see how resources are distributed throughout the Portland metropolitan area. Downloadable maps show how food stores, access to healthcare, education levels, and transportation options are distributed throughout the greater Portland metropolitan area.

Clever Together (Juntos somos ingeniosos) is a permanent bilingual exhibit at OMSI in the Earth Science hall that focuses on the small but important choices we make every day that impact our environment, community, and economy.

Local Voices, Clever Choices website: the online companion to Clever Together

features stories of people who are already making inspiring choices in their everyday lives to contribute to a more sustainable Portland:

|Practices |Crosscutting Concepts |

|1. Asking questions and defining problems |1. Structure and function |

|2. Planning and carrying out investigations | |

|3. Analyzing and interpreting data | |

|4. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information | |

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

TIME REQUIRED

SITE REQUIREMENTS

PROGRAM FORMAT

SUPPLIES

ADVANCE PREPARATION

SET UP

INTRODUCTION

GROUP ACTIVITY

WRAP-UP

CLEAN UP

OPTIONAL EXTENSIONS

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

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