|
|  | How Industrialism Affects Culture and the Environment
Overview
Countries want to industrialize. It has become the goal of most of the world's countries. It is no wonder. We identify countries in the world as developed or developing -- first world or third world. The implication is that developed, first-world countries are the model, the goal for the planet. Development means industrialization, and along with industrialization comes hope for millions of the poor and hungry. This lesson attempts to identify the effects of industrialization on culture and the environment. Students will brainstorm the components of industrialization. What makes up an industrialized landscape? Students will identify the effects of industrialization in a case study of the Three Rivers Gorge Project along the Yangtze River in the People's Republic of China, and then will conduct a filed study to determine if industrialization has similar results in local communities. Students conclude by participating in a scored discussion defining the costs and benefits of industrialization.
Authors
Gary Gress, Norman High School, Norman, Oklahoma; and R. Keith Lucero, Denver East High School, Denver.
Time
Five 45-minute class periods.
Inquiry Question
What are the cultural and environmental costs and benefits of industrialization?
Key Words
Industrialization, developed country, developing country, Three Gorges Dam, renewable and non-renewable resources, air pollution, site, situation, environment, infrastructure, hydroelectricity.
Objectives
Students will be able to: - Discuss the environmental and cultural results of industrialization at a variety of scales -- local, regional, national, and global.
- Identify the components of industrialization.
- Evaluate appropriate sites in the local community for collection and evaluation of air pollution.
- Collect pollution samples at sites chosen by students.
- Map data from pollution samples taken from selected sites.
- Analyze and speculate about the distribution of local air pollution patterns.
- Evaluate case study examples of the benefits and costs of industrialization on cultures and the environment.
- Debate the costs/benefits of industrialization during a scored discussion.
Materials
To view and print the handouts and appendix, please see "More," below. - filter paper (from a drug store or a coffee filter)
- large classroom map of the local community
- Appendix 1: Case Study -- China's Three Gorges Dam Project
- Handout 1: China's Three Gorges Dam Project -- Case Study Review Questions
- Handout 2: Score Sheet for Scored Discussion
- Handout 3: Essay Scoring Rubric
- Reference Books
- An Introduction to Human Geography. Rubenstein, James M., Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, N.J. 1996.
- Human Geography: Culture, Society, and Space, de Blij, Harm, John Wiley and Sons. New York. 1996.
- Appendix Articles
- Appendix 1: Case Study -- China's Three Gorges Dam Project
Preparation - Run off enough copies of Appendix 1: Case Study -- China's Three Gorges Dam Project and Handout 1: China's Three Gorges Dam Project -- Case Study Review Questions for students in class.
- Provide a sample vacuum cleaner with an air filter to demonstrate how to collect air samples to visually check for pollutants.
- Assign student reading of the textbook for background information.
- Run off the Handout 2: Scored Discussion Scoring Guide for distribution to students to participate in the discussion. Train them in the use of the score sheet and in how to participate in the discussion to earn the maximum number of points.
- Run off the scored discussion Handout 3: Essay Scoring Rubric for use when students return to class with their essays, and then other students in class can score the essays as well.
Activities - Introduce students to the desire of people in the world to engage in industrialization. But what exactly does that mean? Have students brainstorm the components of industrialization. What does an industrialized landscape look like? What would you need to have an industrialized society? Write student suggestions on the chalkboard and discuss components of industrialization. Make sure that students include in their discussion locational considerations such as site-specific conditions -- raw materials, labor, capital, land, and so on -- and situational conditions -- transportation, energy sources, and the like. Assign students to read a selection of the textbook about how industrialization affects culture and environment. From the AP Summer Institute textbooks, we suggest using the Rubenstein book, An Introduction to Human Geography; assign Chapter 13, "Resource Problems," pages 563 to 605. From the de Blij Book, Human Geography: Culture, Society and Space, assign Chapter 36: "World Industrial Regions," pages 563 to 605. These should serve as the basis for student understanding of the issues being discussed.
- Students will discuss the issues involved with industrialization's affect on culture and the environment through examination of a case study of the effect of industrialization in China -- specifically the Three Gorges Dam Project. (See the background information in Appendix 1 for a copy of the Case Study.) Have students read through the case study. What are the effects of this industrialization on the cultures involved and on the environment? How has the Chinese government reacted to these concerns? Have students answer questions about these issues by assigning the guiding questions in Handout 1: "China's Three Gorges Dam Project: Case Study Review Questions."
- What types of problems are associated with industrialization in the United States? Are they the same as in China? Does industrialization have the same effect in the United States?
- Students will conduct a field study in their local community to identify with one of the problems of industrialization. Using air pollution as an example, a problem that China is trying desperately to correct, students will determine if there is a correlation in their local community.
- Have students brainstorm to see if they believe there is an air pollution problem in the community in which they live. Encourage them to find out. Is it more evident in some places than in others? What conditions might exist in those places where pollution contributes to the higher rates of toxins in the atmosphere?
- Students will conduct an experiment in their local community to determine if air pollution is spatially exhibited in some places more than in others. The first step however, is to determine where those places in the community might be. Have students locate two places they can identify as having high, medium, and low potential for pollutants in the city. Those locations will be their individual collection sites. Every student must identify six sites. That will generate a large enough sample for analysis. Have students explain their selections -- why are they going to conduct their experiment in those particular places? What is it about those places that suggests they might obtain comparative data sets for analysis?
- To conduct the experiment, have students get a portable vacuum cleaner that can be carried outside. There are machines like a Dustbuster that can hold a charge and will give students some flexibility to conduct research in a variety of places. Also, make sure students get filter paper. Filter paper can be bought from a drugstore; students can also use a coffee filter. Cut a piece of filter paper a little bigger than the end of the hose and place it over the hose of the vacuum cleaner. Put a rubber band over the filter to hold it in place. It is now a pollutant collector.
- Instruct students to collect pollutants in each of two places they have identified as having high, medium, and low potential for pollutants in their community. They will collect six samples. Make sure to stress that they should label the location, date, and time of collection. When students return to class with the samples, compare these six samples.
- Have students map the location of their samples, along with the samples collected by their classmates, on a large map of the local community. What conclusions have been reached? Where is air pollution as a result of industrialization the largest problem? Is it around factories, highways, and similar places? What can we say about air pollution in the community? Might industrialization have an affect on the local community? Explain.
Or...
Have students collect air samples in front of their homes using a conventional vacuum cleaner to see if any spatial air pollution patterns exist. Make sure to stress that they should label the location -- even though it is at their home, date and time of collection. When students return to class they will compare these samples.
- Have students map the location of their sample, along with the samples collected by their classmates, on a large map of the local community. What conclusions have been reached? Where is air pollution as a result of industrialization the largest problem? Is it around factories, highways, and similar areas? What can we say about air pollution in the community? Might industrialization have an affect on the local community? Explain.
- Scored Discussion
Students will participate in a scored discussion about the effects of industrialization on culture and the environment. Scored discussions use a fish-bowl type format with one group of participants in the middle of the classroom and the remaining students and teacher watching from a large outer circle. All listen to the discussion while the teacher scores contributions from members of the small groups (see the Model Score Sheet, Handout 2). Discussions should last approximately 15 to 20 minutes. The small group members (in the inner circle) keep the discussion on track with the help of a discussion agenda. Outer circle members are actively listening and scoring their classmates. Discussions are comparatively easy to score, allow students to take responsibility for their learning, and provide flexibility. Students in a scored discussion receive points, either positive or negative, each time they participate in the discussion. Discussion Agenda
The discussion agenda is an essential aspect to the scored discussion process. This agenda, created by the students, structures the discussion based on information students have gathered from class activity and in the readings. For example, a 20-minute scored discussion about "industrialization's effects on culture and the environment" might look like this: - Introduction of discussion topic.
- Review the case studies, readings, and research done on the topic.
- Discuss the benefits/costs of industrialization.
- specific examples from class discussion and individual research
- benefits of industrialization
- costs of industrialization
- Do the benefits of industrialization outweigh the costs? Should countries on earth continue to strive for industrialization?
Scoring
The teacher awards positive points to the inner circle group for such activities as taking a stand on the issue, presenting factual or research-based information, making a relevant comment, and drawing another student into the discussion. Drawing another student into the discussion is a means of ensuring wide participation and reinforces an important social skill -- including others in a discussion. This is an example of one situation in which a student can combine activities to gain additional points. Points are usually awarded for a single activity, such as presenting factual information or stating a position. However, if Bill presents his information and then adds, "Susan, what can you add to this part of the discussion?" an additional point will be added to Bill's score.
Students can also receive points for asking clarifying questions and moving the discussion along. Earning points for politely noting when a speaker has made a contradiction or has contributed irrelevant information reinforces listening skills. The teacher can award positive points for making analogies, also.
The teacher may assign negative points to any student, whether in the inner circle or the outer circle, for the following situations: distractions, interruptions, monopolizing, personal attacks, and so on. Teachers can also use negative points to keep the student audience quiet and attentive.
Culminating Essay
Once every student in class has had an opportunity to participate in the inner circle, assign the final essay question for homework. Do the costs of industrialization outweigh the benefits of industrialization? Should industrialization be one of the goals of states? Make sure students include the following in their essay: establish a position; be thorough, include supporting documentation; and have an organized presentation. (See the rubric that accompanies this lesson plan, Handout Three.) Have students put their names on Post-it® Notes on the papers, but not anywhere else, when they turn in their essays. Assign a number to the student and write the number on the Post-it and the mark the same number on one of the pages of the essay. Remove the Post-it Note and save it so that you can easily identify the essay with the number that is on the Post-it.
Hand out the essays only identified with the number and tell students that they are going to "grade" the paper using the rubric you have run off for their use. Hand out the rubric. Give students about 25 to 30 minutes to read through the essays and assign a score based on what they read. They are to use the rubric to establish the level of proficiency of the paper they were asked to read. (You must make allowances to make sure that students are not reading their own essay.)
Extensions
Discuss urban land use models based on economic stages of development that varies with the amount of industrialization in a landscape.
Evaluation
See the evaluation ideas that accompany this lesson plan for multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions, essay questions, samples for an ongoing student portfolio, and a performance event. Included is a rubric for the scored discussion essay.
Bibliography
Rubenstein, James M. An Introduction to Human Geography. Upper Saddle River, N.J. Prentice-Hall Inc., 1996.
Human Geography: Culture, Society, and Space, de Blij, Harm, John Wiley and Sons. New York. 1996.
"Scored Discussions," John Zola, Fairview High School, Boulder, Colorado. Social Education, February 1992.
|
Course Home Pages