Geography · Year 10

Active learning ideas

Challenges of Squatter Settlements in NEEs

Active learning works for this topic because students need to move beyond abstract facts and grapple with the human realities of rapid urban growth. By mapping, debating, building models, and analyzing data, they connect global patterns to local lives, making challenges tangible and solutions meaningful.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• GCSE: Geography - Urban Issues
• GCSE: Geography - Urbanisation

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

Activity 01

• Case Study Analysis
• 30 min · Pairs

Mapping Exercise: Settlement Growth

Provide satellite images or maps of a city like Lagos over time. Students in pairs trace squatter settlement expansion, annotate challenges like flood-prone areas, and predict future growth. Conclude with a class share-out of patterns noticed.

Explain the challenges faced by residents of squatter settlements in NEEs.

Facilitation Tip

For the Mapping Exercise, have students overlay settlement growth on topographic maps to highlight flood risk zones and informal housing density.

What to look for

Provide students with a map of a fictional squatter settlement. Ask them to identify and label three key challenges faced by residents (e.g., lack of clean water, poor sanitation, insecure tenure) and suggest one potential self-help scheme for each challenge.

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

Activity 02

• Case Study Analysis
• 45 min · Small Groups

Role-Play: Self-Help Debate

Assign roles as residents, officials, or NGOs. Groups prepare arguments for or against self-help schemes, then debate effectiveness using evidence cards on costs and benefits. Vote and reflect on key factors.

Analyze the environmental costs of rapid, unplanned urban growth in these areas.

Facilitation Tip

During the Role-Play Debate, assign roles like community leader, government official, and migrant family to ensure diverse perspectives are heard.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Is rapid, unplanned urban growth in NEEs more of an economic opportunity or an environmental disaster?' Facilitate a class debate, encouraging students to use evidence from case studies to support their arguments regarding both the benefits and costs.

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

Activity 03

• Case Study Analysis
• 50 min · Small Groups

Model Building: Squatter Challenges

Using recyclables, small groups construct a squatter settlement model showing poor sanitation and overcrowding. Add labels for environmental issues, then 'upgrade' with self-help features and discuss changes.

Assess the effectiveness of self-help schemes in improving living conditions in informal settlements.

Facilitation Tip

When running the Model Building activity, provide limited materials (e.g., 10 sticks, 20 blocks) to force trade-offs that mirror real resource constraints.

What to look for

Present students with two contrasting images of informal settlements, one before and one after a self-help intervention. Ask them to write down two specific improvements they observe and one ongoing challenge that might still exist, referencing concepts like land tenure or access to services.

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

Activity 04

• Case Study Analysis
• 35 min · individual then pairs

Data Analysis: Living Conditions

Distribute tables comparing squatter vs formal areas on water access and health stats. Individuals graph data, then pairs assess self-help impacts and present findings to the class.

Explain the challenges faced by residents of squatter settlements in NEEs.

Facilitation Tip

In the Data Analysis task, start with raw numbers before infographics to build students’ ability to interpret unprocessed information.

What to look for

Provide students with a map of a fictional squatter settlement. Ask them to identify and label three key challenges faced by residents (e.g., lack of clean water, poor sanitation, insecure tenure) and suggest one potential self-help scheme for each challenge.

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

A few notes on teaching this unit

Experienced teachers approach this topic by grounding abstract concepts in lived experience. Avoid presenting squatter settlements as purely environmental or economic issues; instead, frame them as overlapping social, political, and ecological challenges. Research shows that when students engage with multiple perspectives—through role-play and data—they develop deeper analytical skills and avoid simplistic moral judgments. Keep case studies central, using Lagos as a touchstone but encouraging comparisons to other NEEs like Mumbai or São Paulo.

Successful learning looks like students explaining causes of squatter growth, identifying specific hardships using case study evidence, and evaluating self-help schemes with nuance. They should move from seeing settlements as problems to understanding systemic barriers and partial solutions.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Role-Play Debate, some students may assume migrants choose poor living conditions freely.

  During the Role-Play Debate, pause the simulation to ask each character to justify their choices with evidence from the case study, forcing students to confront structural barriers like lack of income or legal protections.

• During the Model Building activity, students might believe self-help schemes solve problems instantly.

  During the Model Building activity, have groups present their upgraded structures and explicitly state one limitation they couldn’t overcome, such as cost or land rights, to highlight partial solutions.

• After viewing settlement photos, students may assume environmental harm is minimal.

  During the Mapping Exercise, require students to overlay waste sites or flood zones onto settlement maps, then discuss how these overlaps reveal unseen environmental risks.

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Methods used in this brief

• Case Study Analysis