Neighborhood Design
There is an empty space in a neighborhood — and urban planners need help deciding what to build there. Students explore real maps and take a neighborhood walk to study their own community, noticing how places meet people's needs and wants, before building a 3D model of their existing neighborhood. In the final lessons, they design and build new places for the empty space and write a letter to the city planners presenting their solutions and the reasoning behind them.
What Students Learn
The difference between needs and wants, and how neighborhoods are designed to meet both
How to read and use maps to understand and plan spaces
How economic thinking connects to community design decisions
How scientists and engineers ask questions, gather evidence, and defend their thinking through the Science and Engineering Practices
What's Included
10 slide-based lessons with embedded graphics and media
Step-by-step teacher guide with facilitation notes
Student worksheet packet with pre/post assessment
All hands-on building materials
Maker skill video tutorials
ELA extension built into unit
Standards Alignment
NGSS: K-2-ETS1-2 · K-2-ETS1-3
NY State Social Studies: Standard 3: Geography · Standard 4: Economics