This may fall more into the category of Business or Economics but there is a fascinating interactive that shows how land use drives local economies in the U.S..

The designer creatively used a map to give readers some sense of the percentage of land used for each of these purposes. For example, the amount of land used for cow pasture/range would take up much of the midwest. (Note: This is only one of the 13 different graphics so please go to the link to find other surprising map): 

Questions: 

• Based on the map, what are the three top purposes that land is used for? 
• Think about your own community: which of the land uses described above exist in your town/city?
• How do you think land use affects economic activity? 
• Does anything in the chart surprise you? Explain. 
• Which of these land uses do you think are increasing the most? decreasing the most?

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Check out our NGPF Interactives for more great games to engage your students.  

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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