Geography · Year 12

Active learning ideas

Informal Settlements & Slums

Active learning works for this topic because students often hold surface-level views about informal settlements, shaped by limited exposure to structural causes and consequences. Through collaborative tasks like mapping and debates, they confront real-world complexities and build empathy for marginalised groups by analysing causes beyond stereotypes.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• AC9GE3K08

• 30–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Jigsaw
• 50 min · Small Groups

Jigsaw: Settlement Factors

Divide class into expert groups on causes, characteristics, challenges, and solutions. Each group researches one area using provided sources, then reforms into mixed groups to teach peers and co-create summary posters. Conclude with whole-class synthesis discussion.

Explain the socio-economic factors leading to the proliferation of informal settlements.

Facilitation Tip

For the Jigsaw Research activity, assign each expert group a distinct factor (e.g., rural-urban migration, land scarcity) and provide one annotated source per group to ensure focus and prevent overwhelm.

What to look for

Pose the following question to small groups: 'Imagine you are a city council member. You have limited funds. Would you prioritize upgrading an existing informal settlement with services or relocating residents to new housing? Justify your decision, considering the perspectives of residents, the city, and the environment.'

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 02

• Document Mystery
• 40 min · Pairs

Debate Pairs: Upgrade vs Relocate

Pair students to prepare arguments for upgrading informal settlements or relocating residents, using evidence from case studies. Pairs debate against opposing pairs, with audience voting and reflection on strengths of each approach.

Analyze the health and safety risks faced by residents of slums.

Facilitation Tip

During the Debate Pairs activity, require students to present a counter-argument before making their own case, which builds critical thinking and reduces polarisation.

What to look for

Provide students with a short case study description of an informal settlement. Ask them to identify: 1) Two socio-economic factors that likely led to its formation. 2) Three specific risks faced by residents. 3) One potential challenge of relocating the settlement.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making

Activity 03

• Document Mystery
• 30 min · Whole Class

Mapping Whole Class: Slum Evolution

Project satellite images of a specific slum over time. As a class, annotate changes in extent, infrastructure, and risks using digital tools. Discuss driving factors and predict future scenarios based on trends.

Critique different approaches to upgrading or relocating informal settlements.

Facilitation Tip

For the Mapping Whole Class activity, provide students with a base map that includes key features like water sources and transport routes to guide their analysis of settlement growth patterns.

What to look for

On an index card, have students write: 'One cause of informal settlements is ______. A major challenge for residents is ______. A common approach to address this is ______. This approach can be problematic because ______.'

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making

Activity 04

• Document Mystery
• 45 min · Individual

Role-Play Individuals: Stakeholder Perspectives

Assign individual roles like resident, planner, NGO worker, or politician. Students prepare monologues on slum challenges from their viewpoint, then share in a town hall simulation to negotiate solutions.

Explain the socio-economic factors leading to the proliferation of informal settlements.

Facilitation Tip

In the Role-Play Individuals activity, give each student a role card with specific constraints (e.g., budget, time) to make the trade-offs in decision-making tangible.

What to look for

Pose the following question to small groups: 'Imagine you are a city council member. You have limited funds. Would you prioritize upgrading an existing informal settlement with services or relocating residents to new housing? Justify your decision, considering the perspectives of residents, the city, and the environment.'

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making

A few notes on teaching this unit

Research suggests students learn best when they analyse real-world cases through multiple lenses, rather than memorising definitions. Avoid presenting informal settlements as a single problem with a simple solution; instead, frame them as complex socio-ecological systems where interventions have unintended consequences. Use role-play and debates to move students from abstract understanding to empathetic problem-solving, while grounding discussions in geographic and economic data.

Successful learning looks like students moving from broad generalisations to precise, evidence-based arguments about informal settlements. They should articulate socio-economic drivers, evaluate intervention trade-offs, and recognise the human impact of policy decisions through collaborative outputs.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Mapping Whole Class activity, watch for students who assume informal settlements only exist in countries far from Australia.

  Use the mapping activity to plot local examples of informal housing, such as temporary migrant worker camps or urban fringe settlements, and ask students to identify shared patterns in access to services and infrastructure.

• During the Debate Pairs activity, watch for students who believe relocating residents is always the best solution due to safety or hygiene concerns.

  Have students role-play residents during the debate and require them to present the social and economic costs of displacement, using the debate structure to test the assumption that relocating is straightforward.

• During the Jigsaw Research activity, watch for students who attribute slum formation to individual choices rather than systemic factors.

  Ask each expert group to present one policy or economic factor that enables slum growth, and have students synthesise how these factors interact in a class mind map.

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Methods used in this brief

• Jigsaw
• Document Mystery