Social Experiment 3 (Northeast Region)
In Social Experiment #3, each group of students was faced with an underlying problem which would lead to the certain doom of their make-believe settlement. These “problems” all fell within the realm of Physical Geography: deforestation, polluted water sources, lack of metal-making technologies, drought, non-fertile soil, etc. While students applied their conditional knowledge from the Northeast Region about landforms, agriculture, and natural resources, the real challenge was working together and collaborating with the other settlements to solve their environmental problems. However, two groups (tropical island and remote arctic village) did not have the ability to talk with other settlements given their physical location. The students drew upon their conclusions from this experiment to help them answer the following question, which is a major curriculum thread in 4th and 5th grade: How can the movement of ideas, goods, and people transform the land and impact the people living there?
Group 1
You are doing quite well. You have the basic needs for survival, and you have developed a settlement that is thriving. You are close enough to groups 2 and 3 to communicate with them.
-You have successful crops and are raising animals for meat.
-You have houses that are strong and heated well.
-You have horses for effective transportation.
-You have an army to protect yourselves from outside forces.
Problem:
-Your drinking water supply seems to be polluted. Every time it rains, people get sick from drinking the water afterwards. Many people have even died. You need to fix this problem. You will find a map on the next page which shows your village’s layout.
1. See if you can fix this problem!
2. Is there another group that can help you?
You are doing quite well. You have the basic needs for survival, and you have developed a settlement that is thriving. You are close enough to groups 2 and 3 to communicate with them.
-You have successful crops and are raising animals for meat.
-You have houses that are strong and heated well.
-You have horses for effective transportation.
-You have an army to protect yourselves from outside forces.
Problem:
-Your drinking water supply seems to be polluted. Every time it rains, people get sick from drinking the water afterwards. Many people have even died. You need to fix this problem. You will find a map on the next page which shows your village’s layout.
1. See if you can fix this problem!
2. Is there another group that can help you?
Group 2
You are doing quite well. You have the basic needs for survival, and you have developed a settlement that is thriving. You are close enough to communicate with groups 1 and 3.
-You have crops and are raising animals for meat.
-You have houses that are strong and heated well.
-You have horses for effective transportation.
-You have an army to protect yourselves from outside forces.
Problem: While all of your animals are fine, all of your crops have started to die. The field has produced healthy crops for years, but this year, all the plants are not surviving despite plenty of water and sunshine. Surely, you will not survive the year without any fruits and vegetables!!!!
Check your map to see if you can solve this problem.
1. See if you can fix this problem!
2. Is there another group that can help you?
You are doing quite well. You have the basic needs for survival, and you have developed a settlement that is thriving. You are close enough to communicate with groups 1 and 3.
-You have crops and are raising animals for meat.
-You have houses that are strong and heated well.
-You have horses for effective transportation.
-You have an army to protect yourselves from outside forces.
Problem: While all of your animals are fine, all of your crops have started to die. The field has produced healthy crops for years, but this year, all the plants are not surviving despite plenty of water and sunshine. Surely, you will not survive the year without any fruits and vegetables!!!!
Check your map to see if you can solve this problem.
1. See if you can fix this problem!
2. Is there another group that can help you?
Group 3
You are doing quite well. You have the basic needs for survival, and you have developed a settlement that is thriving. You are close enough to groups 1 and 2 to communicate with them.
-You have crops but no animals for meat. You rely on hunting for meat.
-You have houses that are strong.
-You have horses for effective transportation.
-You have an army to protect yourselves from outside forces, but you’re only weapons are made of wood.
Problem: Your weapons for hunting and defending yourselves are made of wood, which is becoming a problem. They are NOT effective for hunting, and not effective for fending off other armies with better technology. Check your map!
1. See if you can fix this problem!
2. Is there another group that can help you?
You are doing quite well. You have the basic needs for survival, and you have developed a settlement that is thriving. You are close enough to groups 1 and 2 to communicate with them.
-You have crops but no animals for meat. You rely on hunting for meat.
-You have houses that are strong.
-You have horses for effective transportation.
-You have an army to protect yourselves from outside forces, but you’re only weapons are made of wood.
Problem: Your weapons for hunting and defending yourselves are made of wood, which is becoming a problem. They are NOT effective for hunting, and not effective for fending off other armies with better technology. Check your map!
1. See if you can fix this problem!
2. Is there another group that can help you?
Group 4
You are doing quite well. You have the basic needs for survival, and you have developed a settlement that is thriving.
-You have crops and are raising animals for meat.
-You have houses that are strong.
-You have horses for effective transportation.
-You have an army to protect yourselves from outside forces.
Problem:
You have a deforestation problem. Your group has cut down ALL of the trees within 100 miles of your settlement. Because of the nearby desert climate, and it is surrounded arctic mountains, there aren’t any more trees. Also, because your settlement is surrounded by these huge mountains, it is almost IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to travel in or out of your region. There is no way for you to heat your houses at night, and many people have died. How will you fix this problem? Check your settlement map for help!
1. See if you can fix this problem!
2. Is there another group that can help you?
You are doing quite well. You have the basic needs for survival, and you have developed a settlement that is thriving.
-You have crops and are raising animals for meat.
-You have houses that are strong.
-You have horses for effective transportation.
-You have an army to protect yourselves from outside forces.
Problem:
You have a deforestation problem. Your group has cut down ALL of the trees within 100 miles of your settlement. Because of the nearby desert climate, and it is surrounded arctic mountains, there aren’t any more trees. Also, because your settlement is surrounded by these huge mountains, it is almost IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to travel in or out of your region. There is no way for you to heat your houses at night, and many people have died. How will you fix this problem? Check your settlement map for help!
1. See if you can fix this problem!
2. Is there another group that can help you?
Group 5
You are doing quite well. You have the basic needs for survival, and you have developed an ISLAND settlement that is thriving.
-You collect fruits, nuts, and seeds AND hunt animals for meat.
-You have houses that are strong.
-You harvest fish and other food from the ocean
-You have an army to protect yourselves from outside forces.
Problem:
There has been a 1 year long drought, and the pure springs that flow down from the mountains have started to dry up. Your drinking water supply is running out. Everyone is dehydrated and can’t last much longer! Check your map for help.
1. See if you can fix this problem!
2. Is there another group that can help you?
You are doing quite well. You have the basic needs for survival, and you have developed an ISLAND settlement that is thriving.
-You collect fruits, nuts, and seeds AND hunt animals for meat.
-You have houses that are strong.
-You harvest fish and other food from the ocean
-You have an army to protect yourselves from outside forces.
Problem:
There has been a 1 year long drought, and the pure springs that flow down from the mountains have started to dry up. Your drinking water supply is running out. Everyone is dehydrated and can’t last much longer! Check your map for help.
1. See if you can fix this problem!
2. Is there another group that can help you?
