There are many ways of seeing a community. Mapping is a means of experiencing and expressing its features in a way that deeply engages the mapmaker. Used in education programs, it is a tool of discovery that helps students build connections to their home places and promotes an ethic of caring for the community that is rooted in a knowledge of local ecology and history.

Besides its many possible curriculum links, the mapping of special places and things in students' lives gives validity to personal experiences outside the classroom. It also captures students' imagination by giving them opportunities to share ideas about the quality of life and develop a vision of what an ideal community would be like.

Mapping objectives and activities are easily adapted to different ages and backgrounds. The following model has been used with adult and high school English-as-a second-language (ESL) students. Just as the urban dweller increasingly feels a sense of isolation from the physical landscape, newcomers are faced with the formidable task of navigating a foreign landscape.

A Model

The goal of the mapping projects is to facilitate participation by students in community issues they are concerned about. The outline below describes the initial activities used. The activities typically last for two hours, but could be easily spread over several class periods. The features of the local area and the interests and concerns of the group subsequently drive the choice of content and activities within the given framework. The key is to clarify your mapping objectives before you begin.

Materials

A 3' x 3' map of the local area showing the streets and buildings (may be available through city's planning department or university library or map store); 8 1/2" x 11" field maps for each pair of students, photocopied from the large map; colored markers and flip chart paper.

First classroom session

Start by introducing the basic tools of community mapping with definitions of key words like map, community and neighborhood with the aid of visuals (maps, photographs, etc.) and, if appropriate, the use of dictionaries. A readily available city transit or tourist map can be used to assess students' familiarity with the general area. Have students work in groups to answer questions such as: What street divides the city between east and west? Where is the school located? Which direction is north? Where are the parks?

Now begins the process of identifying what contributes to an individual's sense of community. Guide the students through an activity in which they draw their own neighborhood. Have students discuss (in partners or as a group) their most and least favorite things about their communities.

The next activity introduces the concept of "quality of life." Encourage students to think beyond basic needs such as a place to live and a place to work, to what makes them feel good about living in their community and what they consider to be elements of "quality of life."

Distribute color markers and flip chart paper to groups of five or six students. Ask them to draw their version of an ideal community, incorporating and building on the elements they have identified up to this point. Allow at least a half hour for this, as it often takes ten minutes before all students are participating in the drawing. Debrief by generating a flip chart list of the important quality-of-life indicators (QLIs) from each group's drawings.

Once a list of 20 or so QLIs has been generated, review each one to ensure that students understand its meaning and ask them to give a tangible example of each. Write each QLI on a separate piece of paper and place them up around the classroom. Distribute three sticky dots to students and ask each student to place them on the three elements they think are most important for a high quality of life in their community.

Select the top 10-12 (depending on the number of students) and assign a pair of students to each QLI. This is the element in the community that each pair will be locating and mapping as a homework assignment.

Give a field map to each pair and illustrate the boundaries that they will be expected to map (the field map can be a reduced photocopy map from the large map). Make sure that the students understand what and how they are going to represent the QLIs on their maps. For example, if green spaces or parks are the QLI, students could include private gardens or tree-lined streets. The purpose of the field activity is to determine if the community in the proximity of their school has a high quality of life according to the indicators they selected.

Lists of QLIs have included: good public transportation; parks and green spaces; clean air; clean water; friendly neighbors; places to meet people; safe to walk at night; beautiful surroundings; schools close by; easy commute to work; place where people help one another; community services such as medical and police; and shops close by. You may point out to students that their lists reflect many of the elements commonly expressed by people across the country.

At this point have the students generate three columns of information on a flip chart, so that it can be added to later, under the following headings: Know, Wonder and Learn. The "Know" column lists features of the community about to be mapped that they already know. The "wonder" column is for additional questions they have about the community, and the "Learn" column will be a compilation of what they learn through the mapping project. For instance, if students are mapping the location of police services and they already know where the police station is located, they can then look for other examples of security-oriented programs in the area such as the Neighborhood Security Watch.

Second Classroom Session

The next step is to transfer the information from the field maps onto the large map. Use symbols such as found in the Symbol Resource Book (by H. Dreyfuss, 1984. New York: Van Nostrand-Reinhold) and from magazines. While some students are working on the large map, others can be adding information to the appropriate columns of the Know, Wonder, Learn chart.

Have students discuss some of the issues or problems they noticed in the community that detract from the quality of life according to their selected indicators. Working in small groups, have them pick an issue and brainstorm things that an individual could do to address the problem in that community.

Afterwards have each group share their ideas with the class. A homework assignment could involve students interviewing people who live in the community about their views on one or more of the selected issues.

Extension or optional activities include: (1) A neighborhood walk led by a community person such as a representative from the city planning department or a community improvement or a heritage organization who can talk about the issues and how members of the community have organized groups or services to address them. 2) A community service project for school or neighborhood that students can develop and benefit from the practical experience of volunteering to improve the quality of life. (3) Photographs of various sites in the community can be gathered for students to identify and added and placed on the large map. (4) A pre- and post-survey can be administered to students to evaluate changes in their knowledge and perceptions of the community. (5) A wrap-up celebration with a map display can be an excellent culminating activity that you may wish to invite guests from the community to participate.

Community mapping is potent because it is very personal. It highlights the link between students and their physical surroundings and helps them make sense of their world. The basic premise is that the better we know our communities and experience our connection to them, the more willing we are to act to ensure that they are socially and environmentally healthy places to live.

Project Summary

* Decide on mapping project objectives
* Identify themes around which to focus excursions
* Draw upon resources in the community
* Record growth of community knowledge
* Create opportunities for community participation
* Celebrate results
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* This article was condensed with permission from Green Teacher magazine, Issue 55, Spring-Summer 1998. For more information, visit the Green Teacher website.