by
THEMES: 1- Examine and apply the five themes of geography to
human affairs
in particular
regions of Africa. 2-Compare
cultural approaches to similar human predicaments in various and diverse parts
of the World.
GRADE:
Ten.
TITLE: Geography and culture in Africa
OVERVIEW: After introducing the five themes of geography and the
elements of culture I want students to see how they are applied. These lessons will be an introduction
to a larger unit on Africa and early human history. We will look at
human behavior in a fictional account, compare socialization in a couple
of cultures and then follow human development on to early civilizations.
TIME: The
five lessons described here should take 10 to15 days depending on fire drills
and pepfests.
SUBJECTS: These
lessons are a synthesis of geography, history and sociology. They could easily be expanded to
include English, writing, art, anthropology and evolution(science).
REQUIRED MATERIALS: Africa
pull-out maps from National Geographic, September 2001, National Geographic
magazine/article September 2001 Without Borders, large sheets of blank paper, film The Gods Must
Be Crazy, markers, colored pencils,
scissors, glue, tape, some ethnography (I used Growing Up in Acholi Anna Apoko) that details the raising of children in a
particular African culture, sand.
OBJECTIVES:
Lesson #1:
Students will demonstrate knowledge/understanding of the five themes of
Geography with a visual product.
Lesson #2:
Students will apply the 5 themes to a fictional African character’s life;
consider how geography impacts the
San people.
Lesson #3:
Students will describe how conflict shapes and is shaped by geography.
Lesson #4: Students
will examine the roles women and men have in their own families.
Lesson #5:
Students will compare their families to Acholi families, pointing out
similarities and differences.
LESSON #1: what
can you learn from a map?
OBJECTIVE:
Students will demonstrate knowledge/understanding of the five themes with a
visual product.
TIME: One
class period.
RESOURCES: Africa pull-out map from National
Geographic, large sheets of
paper, markers, pencils,
glue, tape.
OPENER: Ask students
to brainstorm a list of what can be learned from studying a map. This can either be done as a group
activity or individually. Allow
about
five minutes. Discuss what they say briefly. Hand out Africa maps to groups of
four to five students. Students should already have been
introduced to the five
themes of geography (in my classes we made posters to
illustrate the themes), and request that they look for those themes on the
Africa maps.
Allow students time to
examine the maps, noting the various subjects each theme
illustrates.
ACTIVITIES: Most
likely you have 5 or 6 groups of students. Instruct each
group to make 5 maps, each
map illustrating one of the themes of geography.
The maps should be of Africa,
or parts of Africa, using the information
provided by the pull-out
map. They should include relevant
physical and cultural
details, symbols, shading and
color to clearly reveal the concepts. (Provide each
group with materials: markers, colored pencils, sheets of
paper.) Maps should have TOADS (Title, Orientation, Author, Dare, Symbols and
legend.)
CLOSURE: Have each group present some of their
maps to the class, explaining
how each theme has been illustrated.
FEEDBACK ACTIVITY: Put
maps on display; create a class or small group atlas.
DIFFERENTIATED: require fewer maps, have students work
in pairs (one map/
pair), posters instead of
maps, collages of map data.
LESSON# 2: THE
GODS MUST BE CRAZY (film)
TIME: About 3 to 4 days.
RESOURCES: Film The
Gods Must Be Crazy film guide.
OBJECTIVE: Students will apply the five themes to
a fictional character’s life; consider how geography impacts the San
people.
OPENER: Set up the film. There are probably not too many San or
K’ung
people who have never met Europeans
or someone from another culture, or who use no manufactured goods. The San
people lived in sparsely populated desert regions
of southern Africa.
There are other cultures that encroach on or dwell in the
area where the San live. What might each think of the
others? What possibilities
or problems might each pose
for the others? How can we use the
Five themes of
geography to organize/explain
these experiences? Which elements
of culture
might be dramatically
different? Give some examples of
the five themes from the
film.) Hand out The Gods Must Be Crazy study guide (included). Tell students to
take notes on the guide.
ACTIVITY: Students view the film, dutifully
taking copious and insightful notes on the guide. Stop the film from time to time to check what students are
finding. At the end of the film
discuss the guide with the students..
Stop the film from time to
time to check what students are finding.
CLOSURE:
Students should complete the study guide, answering the Big
Question individually.
FEEDBACK ACTIVITY:
Assemble students into groups of six. Have discussions
of the answers to The Big Question.
DIFFERENTIATED
INSTRUCTION: Have the study guide focus on the Five
Themes only; OR, two of the five themes; more frequent pauses in the film to
check on comprehension.
LESSON #3:
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ARTICLE:
WITHOUT
TIME: About
three days.
RESOURCES:
National Geographic Sep. 2001 issue, sheets of paper, markers, pencils,
magazines for cutting pictures, glue, art supplies, scissors.
OBJECTIVE:
Students will describe how conflict shapes and is shaped by geography.
PREREQUISITE:
Students should have viewed The Gods Must Be Crazy and should be conversant with the five themes of
geography.
OPENER: Distribute copies of the magazine (or
copies of the article Without Borders) to students – the magazine is best because of the color features
on the maps. Tell the students to
look at the photos and read the captions in the article; to mentally connect
with scenes from the film:
animals, open land, military conflict. Refer to the border crossing scene in the film with the
character “Frank”.
ACTIVITY: Make a vocabulary list with definitions
using terms from the article and hand it out to the students. (I chose about 10 terms: cordon, biodiversity, ecosystem,
transfrontier, communal, slash-and-burn agriculture, unilateral, nocturnal,
sustainable, controlled burn.)
Have the students add an animals mentioned list to this. Go over the terms and definitions with
the students. Instruct them to add
5 to 10 new terms and definitions to the list as they read, and to make a list
of all the animals that are mentioned.
Write a description of the animals or explain what they might be (a
bird, a frog, a kind of antelope, etc.).
Locate Botswana on the map on
page 11 of article, read the caption, make of the population density (s) of
Botswana. Compare group maps from lesson #1 to maps on pages 11,21.
Read the article, using and
adding to the vocabulary list and creating the animal list.
ISSUES/CLOSURE: Answer
this question: How does human
conflict link with any of the five themes? Cite specific examples from the
article or from the film.
FEEDBACK ACTIVITY: Compare
answers in class and note differences.
Discuss the notion of creating transfrontier parks; what obstacles
continue to exist? Would it be
possible for the US and Canada or the US and Mexico to create transborder
parks?
DIFFERENTIATED
INSTRUCTION: Edit/reprint the article. Have students read in pairs or
groups. Have map activity or
posters as closure. Simplify
closure question.
TIME: about 1
class period
RESOURCES: Paper
for charts, overhead projector, possibly family charts for students.
OBJECTIVE:
Students will examine the roles women and men have in their own
families.
OPENER: Ask
students: What roles do females
and males have in your family?
What kind of structure does your family have? Who does what in your home? In families with which you are most familiar? Brainstorm things males and females do
in a similar way, differently.
Make a list.
ACTIVITY: Make a
chart (copy included) showing: child
female, adult female, child male, adult male. Down the left hand side list: work, discipline, authority,
education.
Instruct the students to fill
this out for their own families (1) and for what they perceive to be their
culture (2).
Tabulate in class to
generalize.
CLOSURE: Make a
chart on the board or overhead, drawing on the contributions of the class. Note contradictions and differences.
FEEDBACK: What
things does this chart show about roles people have? What kinds of predictions can you make about jobs, schools,
families.
DIFFERENTIATED
INSTRUCTION: Simplify the chart. Include a column identified as female and a column
identified as male. Have three boxes under each: work, discipline and play.
Have students work in pairs
or groups.
ODENDAHL
LESSON #5: GROWING UP IN ACHOLI
TIME: About 4
days
RESOURCES: Copies
of Growing Up in Acholi or other
ethnography, reading/study guide, comparison paper rubric (included).
OBJECTIVE:
Students will compare their families to Acholi families (or the families
of another African ethnic group), pointing out similarities and differences.
OPENER: Use the
Africa pull-out map from National Geographic to look at northern Uganda and southern Sudan. This is the area where the
Acholi live. What conditions
– physical, climatic, cultural, political – prevail there? Think about the Five Themes; how can you apply them or identify them
in this area?
Make a pre-reading vocabulary
and definitions list from the reading you will use. I used an old article called Growing Up in Acholi by Anna Apoko. Have the students go through the vocabulary list, add to it
as they read.
ACTIVITY: Hand
out copies of the reading/article along with the reading guide (included). Go through the guide with them
quickly. Warn them there will be
new and unfamiliar words in the text and that they should learn what these new
terms mean to better understand the reading. Assign the reading and have students complete the guide as
they go. (I stop them every 4
– 5 pages and briefly discuss what they have read and their
reactions. Sometimes I force them
to sing the songs contained in the text.)
The reading may take two class periods. Read and complete the study guide.
CLOSURE: Assign
the comparison paper (rubric included).
With homework and in-class time this may take two days or so to
complete. You can beef this part
of the work up by having students do a research project, create surveys and
questionnaires, create a more formal profile.
FEEDBACK: Have
students share parts of their papers in class. Discuss similarities and differences; make comparisons to
Acholi.
Ask them which themes they
see illustrated in the article.
What themes stand out in the experiences of their own families?
DIFFERENTIATED
INSTRUCTION: Break paper down into paragraphs, with
each paragraph directed at a specific element: discipline, socialization, toys, work, etc. Edit or re-write the article to make it
shorter. Have students write about
their own families only and make verbal comparisons to Acholi.