LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Traveling through Africa

Students will plan a one-week, three country trip through Africa and create a travelogue of places they will visit. The students will create an electronic scrapbook of highlights of the trip (including cultural highlights, historical points of interest, geographic features, etc.)

A lesson plan for grade 7 Social Studies

By Ren Bryan

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Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this activity, students will be familiar with the geography of the continent of Africa. They will explore the cultural, political, and historic features of a variety of countries. A secondary goal of this activity is to compile the information in an electronic format, using ClarisWorks or PowerPoint.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

10 hours

Materials/resources

  • Instructions
  • Map of Africa
  • Examples of travel brochures or travel posters

Technology resources

  • Computer
  • Internet access
  • CD-ROM resources
  • Scanner
  • Wild Africa CD-ROM Sumeria
  • Nile Passage to Egypt CD-ROM

Pre-activities

The activity is the conclusion to a study of the geography, history, and culture of the continent of Africa. Students will have collected a variety of information in the study of Africa to use in the selection of three countries to visit. In addition to the curriculum basis, students will need to have prior instruction in PowerPoint or Claris SlideShow (or additional time needs to be built into the lesson for instruction).

Activities

  1. Students will select three different nations in Africa to visit within a week.
  2. Students will research major points of interest in their selected nations (geographic, historical, or cultural) using online resources, CD-ROM encyclopedias, or print resources.
  3. Students will compile an electronic scrapbook in which they will include pictures, maps, and text to describe the sites that they will visit.
  4. Students will present their scrapbook to the class in the form of a PowerPoint presentation or a ClarisWorks slide show.

Assessment

A rubric will be used to evaluate the electronic scrapbook of each student, using the following criteria:

  • content
  • variety of sites
  • creativity of presentation

Supplemental information

Primary information about the continent of Africa will be gathered using the student’s textbook (a variety are available throughout the state), as well as individual teacher-developed activities.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Social Studies (2003)

Grade 7

  • Goal 1: The learner will use the five themes of geography and geographic tools to answer geographic questions and analyze geographic concepts.
    • Objective 1.01: Create maps, charts, graphs, databases, and models as tools to illustrate information about different people, places and regions in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
    • Objective 1.03: Use tools such as maps, globes, graphs, charts, databases, models, and artifacts to compare data on different countries of Africa, Asia, and Australia and to identify patterns as well as similarities and differences.
  • Goal 3: The learner will analyze the impact of interactions between humans and their physical environments in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
    • Objective 3.01: Identify ways in which people of selected areas in Africa, Asia, and Australia have used, altered, and adapted to their environments in order to meet their needs and evaluate the impact of their actions on the development of cultures and regions.