Geography · Year 10

Active learning ideas

Challenges of Rapid Urban Growth: Informal Settlements

Active learning works for this topic because students need to move from abstract concepts to concrete solutions that address real urban challenges. When they design green roofs, test smart city tools, or map walkability, they see how sustainability connects to everyday life in informal settlements.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• AC9G10K06

• 25–60 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Inquiry Circle
• 60 min · Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: The Green Roof Challenge

Groups are given a blueprint of a standard city block. They must 'retrofit' it with sustainable features like green roofs, permeable paving, and community gardens. They must justify their choices based on how they improve both environmental health and resident wellbeing.

Analyze the social and economic consequences of inadequate housing in urban areas.

Facilitation Tip

During Collaborative Investigation, assign each group a different city climate challenge (heat, flooding, air quality) to focus their green roof design on one measurable problem.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine you are a city council member. Which strategy for improving informal settlements (e.g., slum upgrading, relocation, in-situ development) would you prioritize for a growing city like Jakarta, and why? Consider the social, economic, and environmental impacts of your choice.'

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

Activity 02

• Stations Rotation
• 45 min · Small Groups

Stations Rotation: Smart City Tech

Set up stations featuring different technologies: Smart Waste Bins, Electric Bus Networks, Vertical Forests, and Greywater Recycling. Students evaluate each tech based on its cost, ease of implementation, and potential to reduce a city's carbon footprint.

Explain the push and pull factors leading to the growth of informal settlements.

Facilitation Tip

For Station Rotation, set a 7-minute timer at each tech station and require students to record one ‘aha’ moment and one question before rotating to the next.

What to look for

Provide students with a short case study of an informal settlement in a developing country. Ask them to identify two push factors and two pull factors that likely contributed to its growth, and one specific social and one specific environmental challenge it faces.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Think-Pair-Share
• 25 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: The Walkable City

Students discuss their own neighborhood: Can they walk to a shop? A park? A library? They pair up to brainstorm three changes that would make their area less car-dependent and share their 'walkability audit' with the class to identify common urban design flaws.

Evaluate different strategies for improving living conditions in informal settlements.

Facilitation Tip

Use Think-Pair-Share to first have students silently map their own neighborhood routes, then discuss with a partner before sharing with the class what makes a path walkable or not.

What to look for

On an index card, students write one sentence explaining the difference between 'in-situ upgrading' and 'relocation' as strategies for informal settlements. They then list one potential benefit and one potential drawback for each strategy.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should approach this topic by grounding discussion in real places students recognize, using systems thinking to connect transport, housing, and waste rather than treating them separately. Avoid presenting sustainability as only about high-tech fixes; emphasize incremental, low-cost improvements that communities can lead. Research shows students grasp complex urban systems better when they first analyze familiar spaces before expanding to global cases.

Successful learning looks like students collaborating to propose practical designs, analyzing data to justify choices, and connecting technical solutions to social and environmental outcomes. They should explain how their ideas improve livability without assuming technology alone fixes problems.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Collaborative Investigation, watch for students assuming green roofs are only for wealthy cities because of the word ‘green’ being associated with high cost.

  Have groups calculate the cost of materials using local supplier data and compare it to the city’s budget for heat-related healthcare costs. Ask them to revise their design to balance affordability with effectiveness.

• During Station Rotation, watch for students thinking smart technology alone will make a city sustainable if citizens don’t change their habits.

  At the smart parking station, ask students to brainstorm how they would communicate the benefits of the tech to skeptical residents, requiring them to link behavior change to the system’s success.

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Methods used in this brief

• Inquiry Circle
• Stations Rotation
• Think-Pair-Share