Community Impact Mapping: We love Maps!

Problem Statement: How can we apply geographic literacy, cultural competency, and civic responsibility to identify opportunities for improving sustainable conditions in our community?

Why you should attend…

• You love maps.
• You love it when your students are authentically engaged.
• You think geographic literacy is fundamental to youth agency and local problem solving.
• You value a sustainable future.

About the Lab: Every student knows their street address, but virtually nobody knows their watershed address. And yet every human activity, past, present, and future, takes place in context of a watershed landscape. That’s how indigenous peoples have always understood ecosystem services in relation to economic vitality and social cohesion. If you mess up your watershed, you mess up everything else. What have we forgotten? Learn how to use the fascinating website www.mywater.world developed by Sustainability Ambassadors to support geographic literacy, cultural competency, and civic responsibility right here in our own community. Learn how to support student understanding of issues and opportunities related to GIS cartography, urban planning, green stormwater infrastructure, environmental justice, and watershed management from a local watershed perspective. The Lab features map-based inquiries, lesson plans, project sites with associated case studies, and sample student “map stories.” Students will enhance geographic literacy, reclaim a sense of indigenous knowledge, (belonging to the land), and practice impact projects that align with community goals.

PRACTICE   The fundamentals of problem-based, place-based learning

ANALYZE   Landscape patterns applied to neighborhood-scale improvements

APPLY   Geographic literacy, observation, and intersectional systems thinking

COACH   Student Impact Project development through map-based storytelling

DESIGN   Lessons for application in your classroom

EXPLORE   Career profiles of people who are working on solving this problem

Associated Standards and Frameworks

• OSPI - Environmental Sustainability Standards
• NGSS - High School Human Sustainability Standards 
• OSPI - Social Studies Standards for Civics, Economics, Geography, History,
• College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies 
• Common Core State Standards - English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics

Funded in part by Cascade Water Alliance, King County Wastewater Treatment Division, and The Russell Family Foundation