A Unit of Study

on

Africa

Prepared by

Mr. Stephen Holthaus

for the students at

Morton Middle School

Introduction

To learn well in school, to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities, to get along well with people who live in my neighborhood, and to get along well with people in general, it helps to have an understanding of cultural differences. By studying cultural differences found on the continent of Africa and comparing them to my own culture, I can get along better with people around me.

Task

Using the five themes of Social Studies, your team will investigate a specific region of Africa. The final task of this unit is to prepare and present a PowerPoint presentation of your investigation to your classmates. The PowerPoint presentation must have a minimum of seven slides - a title page, a page for each of the five themes, and a bibliography page. Each student must participate in the presentation in some way. Each student will be responsible for at least one of the five themes - although the investigation of each theme should be a cooperative effort involving all team members.

Themes

Geography

History

Economics

Culture & Society

Government & Civics

Process

Step 1: Pick one of the five themes to begin your investigation.

Step 2: Click on the appropriate theme in the block above.

Step 3: Using the questions and/or directions, proceed to investigate your assigned region using the resources listed for this theme.

Step 4: Complete the PowerPoint Worksheet for this theme.

 

Teacher Tips

1. Remember that you will be preparing a PowerPoint presentation based on your research. As you find interesting pictures or graphics, right-click on the item and click on Save Picture As... You may save these items to your folder on the server or to a floppy disc so that you can insert them into you PowerPoint presentations later.

2. Once you have gone into a site on the Internet and are ready to come back to the WebQuest, click on the Back button in the upper left corner.

3. Click here to get information on citing your Internet sources!

Evaluation

 

 

 

Excellent

Good

Fair

Unsatisfactory

Cooperative Learning

Students do an excellent job of getting along and sharing responsibilities

Students get along, but do not always share responsibilities

Students have some problems getting along and/or sharing responsibilities

Students do not do well in getting along and/or sharing responsibilities and the teacher must intervene

PowerPoint Worksheets

Shows excellent and strong effort

Shows a good amount of effort

Shows inconsistent effort

Shows unsatisfactory effort and/or is not complete

PowerPoint Presentation

Each task is completed, shows an understanding of the theme, contains interesting and meaningful pictures and information 

Each task is completed, shows an understanding of the theme, contains  pictures and information, but are not particularly interesting and interesting

Each task is complete with minimal information and pictures.

All tasks are not completed and/or shows little effort

Presentation to Class

Each member participates equally, concepts are explained clearly, interest is maintained throughout

Each member participates, but not equally, concepts are explained, but interest is not maintained

Not all members participate but all concepts are explained, interest is lacking or minimal.

Not all members participate and/or not all concepts are explained, interest is lacking or minimal.

Conclusion

Upon completion of this unit, you should examine the purpose of this assignment as described in the introduction. Hopefully, you will see some examples from your own life, where what you have learned from this unit has helped you to get along with others. Share and discuss this with other participants in this project.