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Community Broadband Planner

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Grades 9-1290 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Teens plan internet coverage for a mock town, modeling how signal strength drops with distance and terrain to figure out the fewest towers or access points needed to cover everyone within budget. It's applied geometry with a real equity angle.

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Every level teaches the same core idea — pick the one that fits your time, budget, and energy today.

Prep: 10 minActivity: 30 min1 session~$2/groupOne table for the Community Broadband Planner evidence and prototypeBeginner-friendly

Setup

Print or handwrite the four Community Broadband Planner challenge steps and place common paper supplies on one table. Prepare one small sample, dataset, scenario, or recycled-material model drawn directly from the project description; no device, paid tool, room decoration, or purchased kit is required.

Activity

  1. Read the Community Broadband Planner challenge aloud, then study a map of a mock town's terrain and population and predict where signal will be weakest.
  2. Use paper, index cards, recycled objects, or facilitator-provided sample data to place candidate tower or access-point locations and draw coverage circles to see how much of the town is reached.
  3. Run one tabletop trial and discover a low-income or rural neighborhood is left out of coverage under the current budget, and revise the plan to include it.
  4. Finish by present the final broadband plan to a mock town council, showing coverage percentage and cost per household reached; record the evidence that supports the decision.

Done when: The group completes a defensible Community Broadband Planner solution, records at least one test result or comparison, changes one claim or design in response, and supports its final decision with that evidence.

Materials

printed town map, colored pencil set, graph paper, drafting compass and ruler set, calculator

Shown for the Quick Start version — switch tabs above to see what changes.

Disclosure: Materials links below go to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Steps

  1. Study a map of a mock town's terrain and population and predict where signal will be weakest.
  2. Place candidate tower or access-point locations and draw coverage circles to see how much of the town is reached.
  3. Discover a low-income or rural neighborhood is left out of coverage under the current budget, and revise the plan to include it.
  4. Present the final broadband plan to a mock town council, showing coverage percentage and cost per household reached.