The Challenges of Urban Sprawl

Accessing this lesson online:

It is not necessary to print out these lesson materials! Go to http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/341

and click on the Suburban Sprawl icon to view this Power Point presentation, which includes live links to the resources in slide show view.

Objective

Students will demonstrate their understanding of urban sprawl by examining online resources about urban sprawl and recording written responses to teacher-generated questions.

AASL Standard

1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.

Vocabulary

• Urban sprawl• Suburban sprawl

Rubric

Suggested: Cornell Notes

Summary:

Name:Topic:

How does urban sprawl affect our lives?

Questions1. In your own words, write a definition of urban sprawl.2. Name three causes of urban sprawl.3. What are the statistics concerning urban sprawl?4. How did World War II trigger urban sprawl near Baltimore?5. What are the pros and cons of urban sprawl?6. Describe four ways that urban sprawl negatively impacts the

environment.7. What effect will the changes that occur as a result of building a8. community have on the different species that live in that9. environment?10.What financial problems have been created in Queen Anne’s County as a

result of urban sprawl?11.Why is it necessary for people to plan communities instead of just12.building houses, businesses, and services as they are needed?13.How is Columbia, MD an example of a carefully planned community?

Resources

• http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/urban-sprawl/

• Read page two of this site to get the statistics on urban sprawl.

• http://geography.howstuffworks.com/terms-and-associations/urban-sprawl.htm

• Read pages three and four of this web site to determine the pros and cons of urban sprawl.

• http://tclf.org/landscapes/aero-acres• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa

/2002/11oct_sprawl/

More Resources

• http://tclf.org/landscapes/aero-acres• Read this web site to find out how urban sprawl

began near Baltimore during World War II (9141-1945).

• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2002/11oct_sprawl/

• This site contains a really cool animation of how Baltimore City was grown dramatically since its beginning.

More Resources

• http://www.mdp.state.md.us/PDF/OurWork/AKRF_QAC_%20Final_Report.pdf

• This web site explains how Queen Anne County (on the other side of the Bay Bridge) is suffering because of urban sprawl.

• http://wd.northwestern.edu/assets/Watersheds-7-Urban-Sprawl-article-questions.pdf

• A quick overview of urban sprawl.• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia,_Maryland• About Columbia, MD (a planned community)

Extension Activity: SIRS Researcher

1) www.bcpss.org2) Login=your lunch number.3) Password=your first name (first letter capitalized).4) Click on the “Resources” tab.5) Click on SIRS RESEARCHER.6) Search for “urban sprawl.7) Read one or more of the following articles:• What You Don't Know About Sprawl• Sprawl: The New Manifest Destiny?• Subdivide And Conquer

For Further Planning:

http://www-tc.pbs.org/teachers/ecoinvestigators/EcoInv_LandLessonEight.pdf