Before viewing the video programs for Workshop 5: Sub-Saharan Africa, please read the National Geography Standards featured in this workshop. You may read the standards here on the Web, in your print guide, or in Geography for Life. We encourage you to read Geography for Life in its entirety as you move through the workshops. It contains further background on the National Standards, numerous examples and rich illustrations aiding interpretation, valuable tools for strengthening and developing lessons, and additional insight on geography's significance to our daily lives.
The National Geography Standards highlighted in this workshop include Standards 9, 13, 15, and 16. As you read the standards, be thinking about how they might apply in lessons you have taught.
Also, prior to attending the workshop, you should explore the associated Key Maps and Interactive Activities and read the Video Program Overviews below, paying close attention to the Questions To Consider.
In 1994, after the first democratic elections in South Africa, the government began to redress issues of land ownership under apartheid. Previously, South Africa's 90% black population was relegated to what were known as "the homelands," a mere 15% of the available land, often located in marginal, undesirable areas. Consequently, black farmers struggled to survive on their meager harvests while white farmers prospered. Today, black South Africans are very excited about the prospect of land reform, but ultimately, they will receive much less than what was lost at the time of their removal to the homelands.
Geographer Brent McCusker investigates the disparity in productivity between the land operated by black and white farmers. We follow him as he uses GIS-based field study and personal interviews to uncover the comparative lack of resources and government support for black farmers in South Africa. His research raises questions concerning the relationship between geography and politics.
Following commentary on regional and human geography, our classroom segment features teacher Maureen Spaight using a role-playing activity to help her students understand land allocation decisions.
Objectives
Participants will be able to:
Questions To Consider:
Ms. Maureen Spaight, ninth-grade civics teacher, East Providence High
School, East Providence, Rhode Island.
Maureen Spaight has taught a variety of social studies subjects but believes
that geography is the integrating force behind all of them. In 1998, she was
named Rhode Island Teacher of the Year. She traveled to Africa for research
as a Fulbright scholar in 2001. For Teaching Geography, Maureen leads
a role-playing lesson on South Africa.
This program examines disease in Sub-Saharan Africa and how geography can play a role in developing strategies to reduce loss of life. Our case study takes us to Kenya, where malaria and river blindness have always been a threat. But today, the HIV-AIDS pandemic is taking a terrible toll on the Kenyan population with dire implications for the future of that country's development.
We see how geographer Veronica Ouma maps the patterns of disease diffusion in order to understand the spread of HIV-AIDS infection. What effect do access to resources, migration and settlement patterns, and cultural practices have on the rate of infection? And how do these factors affect attempts to reduce disease transmission?
Armed with geographic data, geographer Ouma can begin to assess the impact of location and other factors on the success or failure of strategies aimed at disease control. The case study also investigates how other countries in the region, such as Uganda, have responded to the HIV-AIDS crisis, as well as the emerging role of the international community.
Following commentary by Gil Latz and Susan Hardwick, Jim Binko introduces a teaching segment featuring Shirley Hutchins and her eighth-grade class. Using a case study approach, Shirley's students demonstrate their understanding of HIV-AIDS in Kenya through multiple methods of analysis.
Objectives
Participants will be able to:
Questions To Consider:
Ms. Shirley Hutchins, eighth-grade geography teacher, West Point Junior
High School, West Point, Mississippi
Shirley Hutchins has 13 years of teaching experience and a BS in social science
education from Jackson State University. She is a member of the Mississippi
Geography Alliance, the Mississippi Association of Educators, and the Mississippi
Social Studies Council and a teacher consultant for the National Geographic
Society. In our program, she leads a lesson on HIV-AIDS diffusion in sub-Saharan
Africa.