Designing Liveable Places

Year Level

Year 7

Duration

40 minutes (Lesson 1 of a 2-lesson sequence)

Class Size

30 students

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Curriculum Alignment

Australian Curriculum v9 – Humanities and Social Sciences – Geography Year 7

• Content Description:
  AC9HG7S02 — Collect, organise and represent data and information from primary research methods and secondary research materials, using geospatial technologies and digital tools as appropriate
  AC9HG7S06 — Create descriptions, explanations and responses, using geographical knowledge and concepts about liveability and planning liveable streets and sustainable cities
  AC9HG7K08 — Explore strategies used to enhance the liveability of a place, including for diverse groups, drawing on studies from Australia or Europe

• Key Concepts: Place, Liveability, Sustainability, Interconnections, Space

• General Capabilities: ICT capability, Critical and creative thinking, Personal and social capability

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Lesson Overview

Students will use Minecraft Education Edition (a geospatial and digital tool) to design a liveable residential place. This digital, collaborative task supports the key geographical inquiry skills of data collection, representation, and spatial understanding, linked explicitly to concepts of liveability from the Australian Curriculum.

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Learning Objectives

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Identify and explain key features that contribute to the liveability of a place (AC9HG7S06, AC9HG7K08).
2. Use Minecraft Education Edition to design and organise a virtual neighbourhood including elements that enhance liveability such as green spaces, transport, and community facilities (AC9HG7S02).
3. Collaborate effectively with peers in a digital environment to plan and build a space that considers diverse community needs (General Capabilities: ICT and Personal and social capability).
4. Begin to analyse how their design decisions influence liveability for different population groups (e.g. young people, elderly, people with disabilities) (AC9HG7K08).

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Lesson Structure (40 Minutes)

1. Introduction & Context Setting (5 minutes)

• Begin with a brief whole-class discussion to define liveability and what makes a place liveable. Highlight important features such as accessibility, green spaces, safety, facilities, transport, and inclusivity for all ages and abilities.
• Share examples of liveability improvements in Australian or European contexts (as per curriculum elaborations).
• Explain that students will be using Minecraft Education to create their own liveable place incorporating these elements.

2. Demonstration of Minecraft Education Task (5 minutes)

• Quick live demonstration or video showing the Minecraft Education interface for building and designing environments.
• Highlight how to add houses, roads, parks, transport stops, and community facilities.
• Explain how they can work in pairs or small groups to design a neighbourhood with liveability in mind.

3. Planning Phase (10 minutes)

• In pairs or small groups, students brainstorm and sketch a plan for their liveable place on paper or a digital note-taking tool.
• Prompt students to consider:
  • Location of key features like schools, parks, medical centres, transport.
  • How to make the place accessible for diverse groups (children, elderly, disabled).
  • Sustainability features such as water recycling gardens or renewable energy.
• Teacher circulates to prompt thinking with targeted questions based on AC9HG7K08 elaborations on diverse groups and strategies to improve liveability.

4. Minecraft Design Task (15 minutes)

• Students begin building their liveable place in Minecraft Education.
• Encourage them to incorporate their brainstormed ideas, including spatial organisation and essential features that contribute to liveability.
• Teacher supports with technical help and encourages digital collaboration and discussion on design decisions, linking back to the geographical concepts.
• Use geospatial language such as "location," "space," "environment," and relationships between places during observation and feedback.

5. Reflection and Mini-sharing (5 minutes, or start of next lesson)

• Each group briefly explains one key feature they included to improve liveability and why it is important.
• Teacher ties the sharing back to the conceptual understanding of liveability and diverse needs in places.
• Set expectation to continue or refine in the next lesson.

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Assessment and Evidence of Learning

• Formative: Observation of group discussions and planning to assess understanding of liveability concepts.
• Formative: Evaluation of Minecraft designs to see if key liveability features and inclusive considerations are represented (linked to AC9HG7K08).
• Reflective: Student explanations of their design decisions regarding liveability during the sharing phase.

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Resources Required

• Computers or devices with Minecraft Education Edition installed.
• Paper/digital tools for sketch planning.
• Projector or screen for demonstration.
• Teacher prepared prompt questions relating to liveability strategies.

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Teacher Notes & Tips

• Ensure all students have basic skills in Minecraft prior or schedule a separate introductory session.
• Encourage creativity while grounding designs in realistic and curriculum-aligned liveability principles.
• Use student reflection to introduce deeper geographical concepts in subsequent lessons, such as environmental sustainability and social inclusion.
• Incorporate First Nations perspectives on place and liveability in follow-up lessons where appropriate (linking AC9HG7K07).

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This lesson integrates digital geospatial tools with conceptual geographical learning, enabling students to explore Place and Liveability interactively and collaboratively, while fully aligning with the Australian Curriculum v9 Geography standards for Year 7.