Land Use Lesson 4 : Reflecting on How the Land Is Used
Enhancements
1. Expert in the Classroom.
Many of Michigan’s counties have an office of the MSU Agricultural Extension Service. The office may be contacted to arrange for a visiting speaker to discuss land use issues. It may be possible to have the Extension Office refer two people with different positions regarding land use in the community. One person could visit on one day and the other another day. The students can take notes and then compare and contrast the positions presented by each speaker. Note that each speaker should be informed that the other will also participate in the study of the topic, but on a different day.
Other resource persons in the community may serve as speakers. Real estate agents, Farm Bureau or Grange members, developers, farmers, and other businesspersons to present their particular point of view on land use issues.
2. Identifying Values that Impact Land Use.
Ask students to list some of their own values. What do they believe is right, important, or good? Tell each student to create a poster showing the relationship between individual values and views on land use, using one of their own values as an example. Encourage students to think beyond the ideas discussed in this lesson. For example, valuing education might influence someone to want to devote more land to schools, outdoor learning labs, etc.
Extensions
1. Farmland Development.
In this lesson from the curriculum This Land Is Your Land: Lesson Plans for Land Use (United Growth for Kent County and the Michigan State University Extension), students graph and interpret trends in farmland and population data. They also plot land use scenarios and evaluate the pros and cons of developing farmland. This lesson can be found at http://msue.anr.msu.edu/uploads/236/66856/landuse.pdf
2. Investigating Land Use Research.
Introduce students to the idea that land use is a topic for scientific study. Researchers study patterns of land use, how land use changes, and the effects of such changes. They also develop tools for improving land use planning. Lead students in brainstorming a list of questions they would like to ask a land use researcher. Encourage students to think of questions related to the topics covered in this lesson—the impact of values on land use, changing uses of land that was formerly agricultural, and conflicts about land use. Arrange for such a researcher to visit the class and be interviewed by students. Local college or university departments of geography, urban planning, and resource management/ development, the Michigan Land Use Council, and nonprofit organizations interested in land use issues are potential sources for researchers.
There are numerous options available. For example, a discussion with a researcher can be completed by telephone between the class and the researcher. Class questions should be prepared before the researcher either visits or has a telephone conversation. Written questions may be submitted and responded to by e-mail. Video stream on the World Wide Web is also possible if both locations have the necessary technical capabilities. Research on land use usually takes place in government agencies, universities, and private firms. The agricultural extension service at Michigan State University may be able to put a class in contact with a researcher.
3. E-Mail Discussion with Local Resource Planner.
Contact a resource planner in your local area (such a person may work for city or county government) and ask whether that person would be willing to take part in an e-mail discussion with your students. Students would develop and e-mail questions to the planner, who would answer the questions. Be sure to inform the planner of your students’ grade level and what they are learning about land use through this curriculum. Once these arrangements have been made, work with students to develop several questions for the planner. Small groups can be assigned the responsibility for certain questions; those groups will e-mail the questions to the planner and then report the answer to the rest of the class.
4. Opposing Viewpoints on Land Use Planning.
Invite a local land developer or real estate representative to talk with the class about the business aspects of land use planning. The next day, host a land conservancy or land use protection advocate to talk to the class about land use issues from that perspective. Following the two visits, help students create charts comparing and contrasting the views of the two visitors. What values seem to be most important to each person? How are those values reflected in their views on land use?