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
Learn more
- African Voices An online exhibit of historical and modern materials from Africa, as well as selections from contemporary interviews, literature, proverbs, prayers, folk tales, songs, and oral epics that reflect the diversity, dynamism, and global influence of Africa's peoples and cultures.
- Africa focus: Sights and sounds of a continent A searchable collection of African sounds including greetings and songs as well as images of cities, buildings, artisans, and other cultural and natural subjects.
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Related topics
- Learn more about Africa, cultures, geography, mapping, and social studies.
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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
- Scanner
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 additional time needs to be built into the lesson for instruction).
Activities
- Students will select three different nations in Africa to visit within a week.
- Students will research major points of interest in their selected nations (geographic, historical, or cultural) using online resources, encyclopedias, or print resources.
- Students will compile an electronic scrapbook in which they will include pictures, maps, and text to describe the sites that they will visit.
- Students will present their scrapbook to the class in the form of a PowerPoint presentation.
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.
- North Carolina Essential Standards
- Social Studies (2010)
Grade 7
- 7.C.1 Understand how cultural values influence relationships between individuals, groups and political entities in modern societies and regions. 7.C.1.1 Explain how culture unites and divides modern societies and regions (e.g. enslavement of various peoples,...
- 7.G.1 Understand how geography, demographic trends, and environmental conditions shape modern societies and regions. 7.G.1.1 Explain how environmental conditions and human response to those conditions influence modern societies and regions (e.g. natural barriers,...
- Social Studies (2010)
