Zombie Geography
4 Weeks/ 3-4 Projects (Beginning April 27th)
Entry Event:
-Dead Reckon comic book introduction.
-Fictional Zombie attack scenarios.
-Discuss critical zombie questions.
- How do you stop a zombie?
- How do zombies multiply?
- Establish zombie ability baseline. (Walking Dead)
- Class discussion detailing what they believe they would need to survive the zombie apocalypse.
Week #1: Mapping the Outbreak
*Students will decide for themselves who are the most qualified people for each group and place them accordingly*
-Group #1: Types of Maps and Map Elements
-Group #2: Distance Between, Major Cities of the U.S., and Spatial Relationships
-Group #3: Patterns of Migration and Diffusion
-Group #4: Creating Regions (Criteria for zombie attack warnings and civilization development)
Final Project Week #1: Students will develop a large map of the continental United States in which they will track the different zombie attacks, pinpoint highest population densities, label potential migration routes and identify the various regions of the United in order to determine the highest potential risk areas associated with the zombie apocalypse. They must include appropriate map elements as well as label their maps clearly, effectively and completely.
Week #2: Choosing a Location
**Day #1: All students will develop a Mental Map of their area around their homes.
**Day #2-5:
-Group #1: Physical Characteristics, Landforms and Natural Resources
-Group #2: Climate and Earth/ Sun Relationships
-Group #3: Human-Environment Interaction and Environmental Modification
-Group #4: Natural Hazards/ Causes and Perception of Places
Final Project Week #2: Students will be adding this information to their map from their Week #1 Project as they are completing their research. Using this research and comparing it to their findings from the previous week, they will designate one location in each of their regions that would be best suited for developing a zombie apocalypse civilization. They will choose one of the locations to build their own civilization.
The Final Project for the week is for the students to make an audio or video recording that would be broadcast to other survivors. In this recording students must give the locations of the places within each region that they have designated to be suitable for settlements. They must do this both using the coordinates of the location as well as describing its location in reference to major landmarks. They will then explain why these places were chosen so that those who cannot get there might find a suitable alternative. They can also add a list of necessities and instructions for beginning a new settlement.
Week #3: Building a Settlement
**Day #1: Analyzing Mental Maps
Students will share and discuss their mental maps with one another. They should check the maps to see which places must be important to the person who drew them. Then, they should decide whether or not the maps would be suitable for use during a zombie apocalypse and why. After, students will discuss which elements are important in settlement success and failure. Together, they will then take this information and begin planning a blueprint of their ideal settlement on paper.
**Day #2-5: Building the Settlement Model
-Group #1: City Organization (How are cities organized?)
-Group#2: Boundaries (How are boundaries decided upon?)
-Group #3: Boundary Disputes
-Grou#4: Preserving Natural Resources with Technology
Final Project Week #3: Students will build a model of their settlement. They must include access to natural resources, structures for defense, organization of important places, access to food, some type(s) of natural resource preservation technology as well as some modification(s) to the environment. Settlements should also include all of the items that they listed as important to settlement success, if they have not been listed already.
Week #4: Growing Your New Society (If Time Permits)
**The students will consider this 2 part plan while deciding how best to grow their society in the future.
- A plan to encourage the survival and growth of all cultures in the settlement.
- Decide which potential issues will need to be prepared for over the next 30 years.
-Group #1: Cultural Characteristics
-Group #2: Cultural Landscape
-Group #3: Cultural Diffusion
-Group #4: Geographic Issues
Final Project Week #3: Students will choose on what type of project they would like to use to outline how they propose to accomplish both parts of the plan above in order to grow their society in the future, considering the information that they gathered during their research.
This section of the project could be replaced with a plan to involve the entire campus (and would be my preference). Possibly each class could present their survival plan to the school and have the student body decide which Zombie Apocalypse Settlement they would go to in order to survive a zombie outbreak. They could also describe their Z.E.R.P. (Zombie Emergency Response Plan) to the campus in order to prepare the school for such an event.