Modeling Prompt

The location of the new town should be customized based on student interest if possible. For example, each group could choose a location, or the location could be somewhere nearby.

It is recommended that each group have access to a device they can use to view mapping software so that they can zoom in and out on the map as needed. Students can be given the GPS coordinates of the land so they can easily find it on an online map. The land shown in the task statement has GPS coordinates (35.620371, -104.277026).

Graphing applications such as Desmos can also be very helpful when students are making their grids because it’s easier to zoom in and out. Students may want to print out a few views of the town at different zoom levels, and then draw their plots on the grid by hand.

Here is a piece of land that will be developed into a town.

Your job is to divide up the land into plots that will be sold to people and businesses.

• Decide what you want the town to look like. For example, where should the major roads go? Should there be a downtown business district surrounded by neighborhoods, or will businesses and houses be mixed together? Where should the boundaries of the town be? You do not have to use all the land on the map.
• Many people, such as architects and construction crews, will need to use your plan to communicate with each other while they are working on their building projects. Make a coordinate grid for the town so that everyone will be able to communicate about where things should go.
• Choose the locations for some important buildings in the town: a school, a fire station, and a grocery store, as well as any other buildings you want to plan in advance.
• Then break up the rest of the land into plots. These plots will be sold to other people so they can build on them. Small plots are good for houses, and larger plots could become farms or warehouses.
• Then calculate the sizes of the plots. You do not need to calculate the sizes of every individual plot, if many of them have similar sizes. But you should say how large each type is.

Your final product will be a map showing how you divided the land, and calculations that prove how big each type of plot is.

The location of the new town should be customized based on student interest if possible. For example, each group could choose a location, or the location could be somewhere nearby.

It is recommended that each group have access to a device they can use to view mapping software so that they can zoom in and out on the map as needed. Students can be given the GPS coordinates of the land so they can easily find it on an online map. The land shown in the task statement has GPS coordinates (35.620371, -104.277026).

Graphing applications such as Desmos can also be very helpful when students are making their grids because it’s easier to zoom in and out. Students may want to print out a few views of the town at different zoom levels, and then draw their plots on the grid by hand.

If students may struggle to design the whole town, the work could be divided among several small groups or pairs. For example, a group of six could make the grid and choose the overall structure of the town, and then each of the three pairs could work on a different area of the town and decide how big the plots in that area should be.

Here is a piece of land that will be developed into a town.

Your job is to divide up the land into plots that will be sold to people and businesses.

• First, make a coordinate grid for the town. Many people, such as architects and construction crews, will need to use your plan to communicate with each other while they are working on their building projects, so they will need a consistent way of talking about locations. Having a grid will also help you see how much space there is in the town and decide how to divide it into plots. Choosing a scale for your grid is also important. It will be very helpful if each unit on the grid represents a number of feet that is easy to work with, such as 50 feet or 100 feet.
• Then decide what you want the town to look like. For example, where should the major roads go? Should there be a downtown business district surrounded by neighborhoods, or will businesses and houses be mixed together? Where should the boundaries of the town be? You do not have to use all the land on the map.
• Then choose the locations for some important buildings in the town: a school, a fire station, and a grocery store, as well as any other buildings you want to plan in advance. Before you decide where these buildings should go, research or estimate how big they should be. Towns are usually divided into blocks, so it will also be helpful to know how big a block usually is.
• Then break up the rest of the land into plots. These plots will be sold to other people so they can build on them. Small plots are good for houses, and larger plots could become farms or warehouses. Make sure your plots are a reasonable size for the type of thing they’ll be used for.
• Show how you know how big the plots are. You do not need to calculate the sizes of every individual plot, if many of them have similar sizes. But you should say how large each type is.

Your final product will be a map showing how you divided the land, and calculations that prove how big each type of plot is.