Modeling Prompt

Show students an image like this of a city from above. This example is Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Ask, “What shapes do you see?” (Polygons, triangles, circles, straight lines, curves.) Choose a feature on the map such as a group of buildings or a bridge, and ask students what they would need to know in order to figure out how large that feature is. (If I knew the scale of the map, then I could take measurements and multiply them by the scale factor to find the real size.)

Tell students that in this task they will make a town of their own.