To be serious about preparing students for their futures, the culture of the classroom has to mirror aspects of life outside the classroom. In the Design-Based Learning methodology, a student-built, tabletop City and the classroom itself become student-centered micro worlds, parallel hubs of active student participation.

As they build their City (always based on an actual location), students are taught real-world decision-making skills. These skills can be reinforced by having students learn to compare the functioning of their City to the functioning of their classroom. In this back-and-forth flow of Non-Specific Transfer of Learning, between their roles in the City and in the classroom, they learn how subject matter can have multiple applications.

Ten years into my teaching career, when I first ventured into having my elementary school students roughly build a City in my classroom in the 1969–1970 school year (see Chapter 2), I asked them if they wanted to run it as if they lived there. They jumped at the chance to be in charge and their eagerness to learn about government and civic responsibility enabled me to teach those subjects far beyond what was required at their grade level. I had them role-play as citizens of their City and choose volunteers for leadership positions. While they grappled with complex issues about governance of their City and wrote descriptions of the jobs needed to make it work, I taught them to make comparisons between their roles in the City and the classroom.

To teach my students how to manage their City and the classroom, and to give everyone a job, I divided the City and the physical classroom into the same five Council Districts. I had the “citizens” in each District elect a Council representative and an alternate in case of absence. I had them research the jobs in an actual city and different types of governments. I guided them to select a democratic government for their City. I made a chart of their government structure, taught them to conduct meetings and how to make and follow simple agendas, and to plan, record, and evaluate required tasks.

Things took off when I had them invent parallel jobs in the classroom and “apply” for a job of their choice. I asked the Mayor of the City to call the class to order. I had the Commissioner of Housing work with his committee to make certain that the desks were orderly inside and out. The City's Commissioner of Recreation and her committee were in charge of distributing and storing playground equipment. I showed the City Clerk my own daily teaching agendas and I taught her how to make separate agendas for meetings about the City and the classroom. I had her keep a list of lessons accomplished each day in the classroom and make a log of events in the City. I kept this City and classroom governance going because my problems with a messy classroom and bad behavior stopped.

The leaders of the Council Districts met with their citizens to identify problems in the City (pollution, for example) and what a counterpart might be in the classroom (messiness). I taught them to post advance notices on the bulletin board saying when City Meetings would take place and how long they would last. The students worked together to decide how to revise the City to solve the problems they identified. They learned and practiced the skills for making oral presentations and for listening and questioning. After approval from their committees and the Mayor, they proceeded with their plans. They couldn't wait to “fix” things.

One of the problems the students identified was the construction of City Hall, built by Portia. The Housing Commission's Building Inspectors said it didn't meet their criteria. At a City Meeting, the other “citizens” voted unanimously to reject Portia's three-story creation, pointing out that it would be dark inside because there were no windows. (The class knew that windows and skylights brought light into buildings. I had recently had Ralph Knowles, an American Institute of Architects gold medalist and a USC professor, come to class to speak with them on the subject.) Portia disagreed with her classmates' criticism of her craftsmanship.

I was ready to step in and stop the agony if it went too far, but I felt that learning about democracy required experience with the democratic process, which is not always smooth! Instead of putting my arm around Portia and scolding the other kids for making her feel bad, I met with the Building Inspectors and had them review their decision and practice how to write a letter to Portia politely explaining why the building was unacceptable.

After hearing from her peers in a kinder, gentler way, Portia redesigned her building to meet the requirements set by the Building Inspectors. She received high praise from the whole class for her outstanding effort—to such a degree that, when election time rolled around, Portia was voted Mayor of the City and she became the leader of the classroom.

I didn't let the students think that because they held positions of authority in their City and classroom government, they could do whatever they wanted. I taught them manners, protocol, and even went over “Robert's Rules of Order” with them. I required that they schedule a time limit for each item to be discussed, and had them present the agenda to me for final approval. They responded to this structure and learned to adhere to the rules while running their meetings.

In a Design-Based Learning classroom, as students build and run a City and use what they learn through Guided Lessons, shared decision-making becomes organic, coordinated, and facilitated by the teacher. Students role-play to learn about the process of governance, internalizing and applying what they learn as they present and vote on rules and regulations. They learn to seek information from multiple resources, document their experience, give presentations, and to collaborate, working together and with their teacher. The result: a student-centered classroom. (Although teachers of single subjects are not required to teach about government, setting up a government structure for the City enhances classroom management and increases student buy-in to subject matter.)