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This is an introductory activity to the Africa unit of study in Grade 7. Students will use this information to better understand and appreciate the diverse cultures and history of Africa.
*Students will use their prior knowledge to "tag" photographs as photos of Africa or not.
*Students will collect, compile, analyze and interpret the data for their assigned photo in order to graphically represent the class perception of what Africa "looks like".
*Students will draw three conclusions about the preconcieved notions the class possesses regarding those assigned photos of Africa.
*Students will propose steps, if needed, to correct the class' preconcieved notion of Africa: Educate the world.
Classroom Objective: Students will collect, analyze and interpret data on Africa in order to draw conclusions about peoples perceptions of Africa.
Computer Lab
Internet Access
PowerPoint (teacher) [see Supporting Files]
Data Collection Sheet [see Supporting Files]
Pen/Pencil
PowerPoint software
Assessment Directions
1. Teacher will introduce the lesson to the class by accessing the teacher PowerPoint and clicking on the first slide (use all of the animation at the appropriate time).
2. Students will determine which of the two pictures is a picture of Africa and justify their response. The teacher will illicit responses and encourage discussion as to why students chose as they did. The teacher will then click the animation to display the correct answer: they are both pictures of Africa.
3. The teacher will then provide direction on the purpose of the day's lesson which is to determine how much they know about Africa by having them analyze various pictures via the teacher website.
4. As a pre-reading activity, the teacher will distribute the data collection sheet and allow the students 3 minutes to look over the directions and tables needed to complete the assignment. After the 3 minutes, teacher will review the directions and clarify any questions the students may have.
5. Students will then be directed to the teacher homepage in order to access the PowerPoint, "Is This Africa"? Students will work independantly in order to determine if each of the 25 pictures is a picture of Africa or not.
6. After an appropriate period of time has passed, the teacher will review the directions for part 2 of the data collection and move the students into predetermined pairs.
7. In the pair, one student will begin to "prep" for the PowerPoint presentation while the other student collects the data for their assigned number of photos.
8. Once the data collection is complete, the pair willl create a graphic representation of their data in a form of their choice. However, students are encouraged to use the following site to aid them in this portion of the assignment: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx Students will insert the graph into their PowerPoint presentation as slide 1.
9. As an extension, the paired students will create 2 additional slides that illustrate the conclusions they have drawn regarding the class notion of what is Africa based on the data they collected. IE: Pair 1 may find that only 40% of the class thought photo 1 was Africa, while 78% felt that photo 2 was Africa. Therefore, most students in the class believe that Africa has few cities and is very poor.
10. Students will present their PowerPoint to the class. As each Pair presents, the other students are taking notes in order to confirm or refute their own conclusions and to use the class data later in the lesson.
11. After all students have presented, the Paired groupings will analyze the data for all 25 photos and determine if their original conclusion was valid or not. Pairs will make the necessary changes in their conclusions to reflect the new data.
12. The teacher will then engage the students in a class discussion regarding the photos the students identified as Africa and those they felt were not Africa. There should be a comparison of photos and discussion as to why that photo was or was not Africa. Additionally, the teacher should illicit conclusion statements in order to dissect the students preconcieved notions of Africa.
13. To conlcude, the teacher will present the PowerPoint to the entire class and, as each photo is presented, announce that each photo is of Africa. At this point, the students should begin to see that they have particular ideas of what Africa looks like and should lead to a valuable discussion of stereotypes and generalizations. This should also lead into the students drawing inferences as to whether the whole school, community, and country may have the same misconceptions regarding Africa.
14. To conclude the lesson, ask students to generate a list of ways in which these misconceptions regarding Africa may be harmful and how we can correct them.
