Fun and Interesting Lesson Plans on Africa

CIVITAS http://civiced.rutgers.edu/CIVITAS/Africa-TOC.shtml This website has great lesson plans to meet the NJ social studies requirements at a variety of different grade levels, including units on geography, ancient Mali, the slave trade, contemporary constitutions and democracy, and the global economy.

PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/africa This site includes cross-curricular lessons for grades 3-12. It covers topics such as music, geography, science and culture. Downloadable materials are also available. The site includes an interactive section with maps and both interviews and testimonies from the perspective of African children. and Journey with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Wonders of the African World http://www.pbs.org/wonders/main.htm This site has great information for everyone, but is especially great for teachers who have internet access in their classrooms! This incredible site explores six facets of ancient Africa and includes many tools for your classroom activities: lesson plans, video clips, images, interactive games and fun downloads.

Michigan State University http://africa.msu.edu/projects/project.php?id=85 This "Exploring Africa" site consists of five lesson plans, all of which respond to the question "Why Study Africa?" This site also has brief overviews of each African country and a section on current events in Africa.

University of Indiana http://www.indiana.edu/%7Eafrist/curriculumunits.htm This is a great site for French language teachers! It includes unit plans on francophone Africa. All the lessons focus on Cameroon, offering material on food, traditions, folktale and culture.

Ancient Egypt http://www.dia.org/education/egypt-teachers/ The works here demonstrate the basic principles of Egyptian sculpture in its symbolic formality. For over three thousand years the Egyptians adhered to a prescribed set of rules as to how a work of art in three dimensions should be presented. Resources also include a selection of cross-curricular lesson plans created by local teachers.

Gender and Cultural Contact in South Africa http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/lessons/lesson7/lesson7.php?s=0 This site brings to life and personalizes the African and European encounter in Southern Africa, while focusing on gender dynamics. The site includes primary documents and lesson plans for high school students, as well as the following helpful resources: techniques for analyzing sources, strategies for teaching about gender and culture in Africa, and bibliographies.

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign http://www.afrst.uiuc.edu/Outreach/K-12/teachermaterials.htm This site has numerous links to resources and materials, including interactive visual arts lessons, African newspapers, magazines and radio stations, and reviews of child materials and maps. and World History Connected http://worldhistoryconnected.press.uiuc.edu/ Volume 2 # 1 November 2004 of this free, on-line tool for teachers of World History features a forum on "Teaching Africa in World History: Issues and Approaches." A multitude of substantial contributions are included and range from discussions of how African and World History might influence one another to nuts-and-bolts strategies for putting more Africa into your World History survey. WHC is published by the University of Illinois Press; its institutional home is Washington State University.

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