Class Information
Grade: 8–12 (students must be 13 or older to participate in this class)
Lesson timeframe: 2–8 hours, depending on student familiarity with Fortnite Creative
Featured tool: Fortnite Creative
Class / learning environment: A Fortnite-capable device with a one-to-one device-to-student ratio, and with internet connectivity. A computer lab or mobile laptop cart should provide the ideal environment.
The author's classroom is a one-to-one classroom with iPads as the primary device. Students are asked to create videos and pictures from Fortnite Creative for the classroom. The author teaches both general education and special education students.
This lesson is designed to be used with or without access to Fortnite Creative mode in the classroom.
Author Contact
Author: Katie Wright
Email: [email protected]
Twitter:@mrs_katiewright
Lesson Overview
Have you ever thought about how the geography of where you settle could impact your life? There are so many things to consider if you are looking for a place to settle. Where will your people flourish? Where would be best for them to grow crops? What geographic features will be important in terms of defending your settlement?
This lesson is geared toward students studying the influence of physical geography on the interactions of humans. Students will explore how a site’s physical characteristics affect the decisions of those who settle there.
Typically, decisions are based on the situation of the location. In geographical terms, situation means the types of soil, availability of fresh water, the ability to defend the site, and so on. In this case, students will be evaluating the site and situation of a particular island in order to understand why people decide to settle.
The evaluation can lead to a more in-depth conversation as to why a consumer would choose the island to build on. This can easily lead into an economic lesson or conversation.
In this activity, you will explore different areas to determine the best site to build up based on analysis of the pros and cons of each. Your people are counting on you!
Essential Questions/Big Ideas
How does a location’s site and situation influence interactions with others?
Why do people decide to live where they do or to move to other places?
Why is location important?
Learning Outcomes/Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Students will be able to evaluate a location’s site and situation, and explain how it influences interactions with others.
Students will begin to understand why people decide to settle in locations that have specific resources.
Students will begin to learn how a location’s situation affects the ability of that location to grow.
Standards
NCSS Theme Strand III People, Places and Environments—The study of people, places, and environments enables us to understand the relationship between human populations and the physical world.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.4 Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
ISTE Standard 7a Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning.
Assessment Evidence
What will be the evidence of learning and how will that be used to guide instruction?
Assessment Overview
Students will analyze a location’s site and situation in order to better explain how the conditions of a location could affect its ability to grow and to defend its location. Students will analyze the effect of geographical features on a location’s ability to thrive. Students will use Fortnite Creative to create scenarios for which they will explain why their location’s site and situation is the best possible choice.
Fortnite Unavailable: Using the video and website, students will pick one island and prefab to place on their island. Students will defend their choice of island location based on the criteria provided.
Assessments
Formative (Low Stakes):
For groups: Ask students to form groups, or assign student groups. Groups should be no more than four people. Ask students to come up with a team name for their group and report to you.
Using the islands that were picked in Instruction Block 2 (later in this lesson plan), ask students to pick one of the islands listed. You can also assign each group an island or allow all students to use the same island. Students will share codes and allow other students to edit the island they are working on.
It’s important to have a clear understanding how to use Creative before doing this part. Provide time for students to explore Creative if there is a need to do so before beginning the lesson.
Working with their team, students will decide where on their island to build a fort. Students will be asked to focus on the location and why their choice of location is the best possible location. Students will be asked to build their fort, and complete the graphic organizer as they work together. This is a great time for students to familiarize themselves with Creative in Fortnite.
After students have completed their forts and graphic organizer, they will evaluate the site and situation of a different group’s fort. Each group will be assigned to another group’s project.
Students will trade devices in order to play on each other’s islands. It is not necessary to allow for students to edit each other’s island. Students will be asked to complete evaluation (see Evaluation Sheet below).
As a group, they will choose one of four structures to put on the island. After they choose, they will determine which would be the best place to put the structure based on the following criteria:
Is it easy to defend?
Is it near another natural resource?
After building their fort, students will be asked to answer the following questions about the group they evaluated:
Are there any significant geographical features near the fort?
Is the fort itself a significant geographical feature?
Is the fort near trees or a water source?
If you could move the group’s fort, where would you put the fort?
Suggestion: Since this is a low-stakes, formative assessment, using a tool like Flipgrid or a Schoology discussion board makes it more interactive and less like an assessment.
The rubric provided in this lesson plan will be used to grade the reflection video.
Extension: The depth to which the assessment is made will depend on whether the instructor would like to ask students to do a multi-day evaluation.
If Fortnite is unavailable: After students have picked the one island to use, they will choose from four different prefabs available in Creative mode. You can limit these to four different types of prefabs, or to a group of prefabs.
They will fill in the evaluation sheet using one of the six islands in the video. Here is a video of six different islands.
They will use the website listed above to help with prefabs.
Once they complete their sheet, they will exchange sheets with another group. They would complete an evaluation of the group’s choices, either on their own sheet or using any type of app.
Suggestion for student-to-student feedback: I like to use Flipgrid as this allows students to watch and respond to one another.
LEARNING PLAN
Warm-Up/Hook:
The instructor will show the student a map of where major cities are located. The instructor will ask students to rank the top three reasons why people settle in those locations. Students could also use Google Earth or Google Maps.
List of possible cities:
Paris
Phoenix
Hong Kong
Suggestion: Using major cities that the students are familiar with will help for buy-in. You could even use the city or town where the students live.
Instructional Block 1 (Individual, Partners or Group 5–7 minutes)
Evaluating using an example in Creative Meadow Island.
Suggestion: At the start, review with the whole group the definitions of “site” and “situation” below.
Site is the exact location of a place, and the situation of a place involves the surrounding areas and its natural and manmade resources.
Students will explore the Meadow Island in Creative mode, and independently describe the island’s physical geography and the surrounding situation. Students will be instructed to go into Meadow Island 1 in Creative Mode and explore the island to discover its elements. Students will then share out what were some advantages and disadvantages of this island.
Suggestion: This can be done as a partner talk or a group talk.
Instructional Block 2 (Independent/Group)
Assign each student an island from the list provided. There are six islands to choose from:
Meadow Island
Ice Lake Island
Tropical Island
Sandbar Island
Canyon Island
Black Glass Island
This assignment can be random or strategic, based on the dynamic of the students.
Students will be given approximately 4–5 minutes to explore their island and complete their graphic organizer. Once they have completed their own evaluation, they will share with their groups what they discovered about their island (see Evaluation Sheet).
After students independently complete this portion, they will share the advantages and disadvantages of their island. Once they complete their group share, students will be instructed to come to a group consensus as to which of the islands they would choose to build on.
Suggestion: They will report to the class using whiteboards. Whiteboards can be changed to any delivery method of the teacher’s choice, such as any kind of polling website or app.
If Fortnite is unavailable: Students will complete this portion of the lesson by using this video. If you would like to personalize the videos, it’s important to give an overview of the island. There should be as many video options as there are groups in the classroom. The videos should consist of a variety of islands to help students see a different perspective each time.
Once students watch their video, ask them to describe the island in one word. Suggestion: If this is a one-to-one school, the instructor can ask students to pick an emoji that describes their island.
After students share their emojis, they will be asked to give a one-minute “In Defense” speech. Students will deliver a defense for their island.
After hearing about each island, students will vote for the best island using a polling method of the instructor’s choice.
Interdisciplinary and 21st Century Connections
This lesson addresses a student’s ability to think critically about the environments they are examining. They will need to be able to clearly articulate their reasoning for their choice, while proving that other choices are not sound. This lesson requires students to collaborate in a meaningful way by examining each others’ choices and deciding which is the best for all students.
Students would collaborate using technology that connects them with each other inside and outside of the classroom. This connection deepens their understanding of the world around them by providing different perspectives of learning.
Modifications and Accommodations
Students who need accommodations will need more time to provide responses. Number and chunking of the assignment will provide students a clear outline of which item comes next.
resources
Fortnite is available:
Computer or device capable of running Fortnite
Fortnite is unavailable: