Parable of the Polygons [Interactive Activity]

A big shout out to Dr. Steve Chapman for sharing this one with me. This activity would be very useful for teaching your students about residential segregation.

The 'Parable of the Polygons' is an interactive online activity put together by Vi Hart and Nicki Case It is based on the game theorist Thomas Schelling's segregation simulator.

The interactive graphic allows students to move the shapes around until they are 'happy'. You can change how much diversity the shapes started with and how much they demand.  These changes show some interesting results!

Link: http://ncase.me/polygons/

Hart and Case sum up by reminding students that small individual decisions often result in a much larger collective outcomes, that the past has bearing on the present, and that demanding diversity is important.  These are great points; however, I would also recommend pairing this activity with some sociological readings on residential segregation in housing.  

Poverty by Race, 1980-2010 [Interactive Map]

The Urban Institute's Metro Trends produced a map that allows students to see how the racial makeup of citizens in poverty has changed over time.



Click Here to View the Map

The map uses different color dots to represent ethnic groups. Moving the slider bar across the map allows you to see how the diversity of an area and the poverty rates have changed over time.

Urbanization - A Global Trend [Interactive Map]

This interactive map from the BBC shows the rise of urban centers from 1955 to 2015 (projected).

BBC Maps

You can use the slider bars to watch how the world has changed and to see interactive charts and figures.

Mapping US Mass Shootings [Interactive Map]

This interactive map from Mother Jones is a good tool to use if you want to talk about mass shootings in your class room. If you hover above the shooting location, you can see important details about the shooter including the shooter demographics and information about the guns that were used.

Click here to link to Mother Jones Guide to Mass Shootings

Mapping Racial Segregation [Interactive Map]

This interactive map is very useful for visualizing what racial/ethnic segregation looks like in the US. There is a large amount of data here, all taken from the Census, and so the map can be slow to load.  In addition, sparsely populated rural areas can be hard to find.

-Once you open up the map, I recommend clicking on "Add Map Labels" to help you navigate your way around.

Click Here for Explanation and Methodology of the Map

Click here for the Interactive Racial Dot Map

Here is an example from the map -looking at Minneapolis-St Paul.


FYI - If you are teaching in a large city and just looking for a map of that city  it might help you to use these screen shots that Wired Magazine took.  [This is where I originally saw the link]
Wired Magazine