Inquiry techniques are described in which students investigate geographic phenomena in microcosm. The objective of this strategy is to enable students to examine geographic concepts and generalizations on a level which they can easily understand. Specifically, strategies for investigating and analyzing self-contained buildings and planned communities as micro-geographic phenomena are presented. Ways in which self-contained buildings and planned communities, which provide opportunities for residence, employment, and recreation within a controlled and easily observable environment, can be used as models for study of metropolitan regions are specified. First, students would be introduced to the nature of self-contained buildings and planned communities. Second, they would be presented with a three-dimensional self-containment matrix, which provides a framework in which to place answers to basic questions such as who, what, where, when, and to what extent certain functions, people, and percentages interact in certain ways. Working with the variables in the matrix expands the students' understandings of geographic concepts such as population density, personal interaction, and residential area. References are included in the document. (Author/DB)