Plan It...Build It! Teachers’ Notes

Introduction
Plan It…Build It! is an exciting citizenship resource for teachers working at KS3 and KS4. It provides a set of teaching materials which give students the opportunity to research, plan, market, design and “build” a fictional housing development in teams within an imaginary community called Newtown.

Plan It…Build It! gives teachers the opportunity to explore a relevant current issue – the UK housing shortage – within the context of all three strand of the National Curriculum Programme of Study for Citizenship at KS3 and KS4.

The project gives excellent opportunities for developing communication skills, learning about becoming informed citizens and developing skills of participation.

For maximum flexibility, the resource can be used in both a short course format (1-2 lessons) or in a long course format (up to six weeks).

There are two PowerPoint presentations available to you: The Housing Presentation and the Newco Presentations.

The first tackles the issue of housing in the UK:

• Is there a housing shortage, if so, why?
• How do we provide low-cost affordable housing?
• How important are the environment and green spaces?

The second presentation runs through the background to Plan It…Build It!

• Where do you start when planning a new housing development?
• How do you meet the needs of your target customers?
• How can you enhance/preserve the local environment?

Provided below is a suggested short course and long course lesson plan for you. There are also information sheets available as pdf’s for you to download and help you develop this work further.

• For short course click here
• For long course click here
• For PowerPoint presentation on UK housing issues (1) click here
• For PowerPoint presentation on the Newco project (2) click here
• For curriculum coverage click here