Albuquerque's
Environmental StoryAlbuquerque's
Environmental StoryResearch your community's history.
When was it settled?
Who were its early leaders?
How did the community get its name?
Is it considered an established area or a developing area?
Within your community, do you have adequate open space and public facilities?
Are you dependent upon the automobile for transportation, or can you walk, bike, or take a bus to many of the places you want to go?
Does your family shop in a strip shopping center, in a small shopping area within your community, or in a major shopping mall farther from your home?
Has your community become a better place to live now than it was in its earliest days? On what do you base your opinion?
Draw a cognitive map of your community. A cognitive map is one which shows an area as you see and remember it. Include all the places which are special to you. Write notations on the map about your feelings for some of these places or your experiences with them
In what ways are the cognitive maps of different students in the class similar? Different?
What, if any, significant differences in scale or perception exist between the your cognitive maps and real map of the community?
Which feature of the community does the class mention with the greatest frequency?
Using a map of your local community, locate the sites of early landmarks such as:
the first school
the first church
an original major business
an early home
the first park
Do any of the original landmarks exist on their original sites? If not, what is on the site now?
Does the group that originally used the landmark use a new site somewhere else in the community? Why did they move?
Make acetate overlays for a map of your community. On one overlay, show where the landmarks were originally. On another, show the present locations of schools, churches, public buildings, businesses, and homes. How do you explain the new locations?
After you have researched your local community landmarks, prepare a Historic Landmark Discovery Trail for your community.
Make a place mat for local restaurants of the landmarks in your community.
Take photos for the place mat of local landmarks.
Study your local community's economy. Obtain information by interviewing business owners, community leaders, the Chamber of Commerce, and old time residents. Present findings in charts table and graphs. Use a spreadsheet program to help you.
On what was the community's economy based when it was founded?
What changes occurred in the economy base? When? What were the probably explanations?
What is the condition of the community's economy at present? How does it relate to the rest of Albuquerque Bernalillo County? New Mexico? The country as a whole?
Conduct a survey of people in your community. If each of you survey your parents and two others, your class will have close to 100 people. How many people are employed? What kinds of work do they do? What patterns exist among those who are unemployed (ethnic groups, sex, age, etc.). What assistance is available for unemployed people?
Develop a survey to assess opinions of community residents concerning strong and weak points of the area. Interview people who have lived in the community for varying lengths of time (35 years, 15 years, 5 years, new residents). Include such questions in the survey as :
What do you know about the history of this community?
Do you have many friends or relatives in this community? Do your children live here?
Do you feel that this community has an identity as a Sense of Place?
Do you feel at home in this community?
Do you like living here? Would you move away if you could?
Which of the following activities are available in this community?
food shopping
other shopping
medical and dental services
church
recreation
walking whether for exercise and pleasure or as a means of transportation
What do you see as the future of your community?
How were the perceptions of the community the same among people who have lived there varying amounts of time, like a short period, all their lives, just moved there? How were they different?
How does knowledge of the community's history compare among the various groups?
How do the visions of the future of the community compare?
Conduct a survey in the community to determine the ethnic origins of its residents. Compile the results in a bar or circle graphs. Compare the results of the survey to those of the country as a whole and to other communities. Use a computer spreadsheet to help you.
Can any reasons be listed to explain the ethnic breakdown?
Has the ethnic composition of the neighborhood changed? When did it change? What caused the change? How do the residents feel about the change?
Write a mock issue of "Trends" or "Parade" containing articles about recent developments in your community. These articles should discuss the ways in which the changing conditions are affecting the neighborhood and what may be in store for the future. Include
_________ economic hardships (inflation, unemployment) _________ environmental destruction
_________ increased land development _________ pollution
_________ crime/gangs/graffiti _________ historic preservation
_________ new buildings or amenities
(Up to Section II, Back to Eye Opener Worksheet 3, On to Aditional Activities 3)