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Overview:
A geographic perspective is a lens students can use to analyze virtually anything that has a spatial distribution—that is, anything that can be mapped. In this lesson, students will come to understand the interdisciplinary nature of geography and the tools offered by this discipline. Geography offers students a unique way to understand the ever-changing relationship between humans and the environment and thus make predictions and even propose solutions to current problems. This lesson will introduce students to a geographic perspective and gives students the opportunity to practice using this perspective by analyzing current issues facing Africa.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, social studies
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 1: "How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective"
Standard 3: "How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth’s surface"
Standard 18: "How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future"
Time:
Two or three hours, depending on how much research is done in class and how much is assigned for homework.
Materials Required:
- Computers with Internet access
- Blank map of Africa
- Materials for creating visual aids: markers, poster board, transparencies, etc.
- Copies or overheads of HIV/AIDS data from resources provided
- Copies of student handout: A Geographic Perspective
Objectives:
Students will
- identify the kinds of questions that can be answered using a geographic lens;
- understand a geographic perspective and be able to apply it; and
- analyze current issues facing Africa using a geographic perspective.
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Guiding Questions: What is a geographic perspective?
Begin by telling students that anything existing in Earth space can be mapped. Students may be quite familiar with maps of population densities, roads, topography, climate, and political boundaries, for example. However, they have probably never considered the infinite number of physical and cultural phenomena that have a spatial distribution and can therefore be mapped. Challenge students to think of something that exists that cannot be mapped. Tell them that the geographer’s first task is to assess spatial distributions by asking who, what, where, and when.
Next, explain that once you know the way in which something is distributed over Earth space, you can try to understand why it is distributed that way. Thus, the geographer’s next task is to analyze the underlying spatial processes that are responsible for the observable distributions by asking why and how. Only after the distributions and processes are understood can the geographer use a geographic perspective to ask what if and how can to make predictions and decisions that may positively impact the future. Note that this perspective is interdisciplinary; it is unique in not being limited to a specific subject matter. The geographer is free to examine all relevant information to make a good prediction or decision.
Development:
Let students know that they will now practice applying a geographic perspective. The topics they will examine using this perspective are current issues facing Africa.
Activity #1: Example
To be sure students understand what they have learned so far, give them an example. Go through each step in the geographic process with them using the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa as a model. Use the following resources to help students answer the questions raised during this process. Work with students using the following on-line resources, or make your own overheads or power point slides of data charts and maps:
1. Spatial Distribution (Who? What? When? Where?)
Have students brainstorm questions that will help them understand how cases of HIV/AIDS are spatially distributed throughout Africa. Examples:
- What is the number of HIV-positive people in Africa? How has this number changed over time?
- When were they infected?
- Where do they live?
- What is the age range of those infected?
- How many of each gender are HIV positive?
- What countries and/or regions of Africa have the highest numbers of people who are HIV positive?
- How do the numbers of people infected with HIV/AIDS compare with those in the United States and other parts of the world?
2. Spatial Processes (Why? How?)
Have students brainstorm questions that will help them understand spatial processes related to HIV/AIDS in Africa. Examples:
- Why and how did so many Africans become infected with HIV?
- How is it that sub-Saharan Africa is the region of the world most severely impacted by AIDS?
- What underlying processes may have contributed to the spread of AIDS in Africa?
- Why do certain regions and countries of Africa have higher numbers of people who are HIV positive?
3. Spatial Prediction and Decision Making (How Can? What If?)
Have students brainstorm questions that will help them make predictions about HIV/AIDS in Africa. Examples:
- Is the spread of HIV/AIDS likely to continue? Why or why not?
- What should leaders do to slow or halt the spread of this disease in Africa?
Have students discuss answers to the questions they brainstorm. Then conclude the activity by discussing what’s involved in using a geographic perspective and how it differs from other perspectives. Ask students to offer other explanations of the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa (historical, political, economic, scientific, etc.). Note how a geographic perspective is interdisciplinary, and makes use of all available data and evidence to examine complex issues.
Activity #2: Group Project
Tell students they will now have the opportunity to use a geographic perspective to examine another issue facing Africa. Explain that they will work in groups to ask questions, identify spatial processes, and make their own predictions and decisions. Once they have done so, they will present their work to their peers orally.
Divide students into small groups, and have each group select one of the following contemporary issues (alternatively, you may assign topics).
- Poverty/employment (example: persistent poverty in South Africa)
- Warfare/conflict/refugees (example: genocide in Darfur, Sudan)
- Desertification (example: Sudano-Sahelian region)
- Deforestation (example: rainforests in Congo Democratic Republic)
- Wildlife conservation (example: protecting Madagascar’s biodiversity)
- Access to clean water (example: rural water projects in Ghana)
- Education and literacy (example: lifelong education in Botswana)
- Urbanization (example: Nigerian cities)
- Corruption/government (example: multipartyism in Kenya, corruption under Haile Selassie in Ethiopia)
- Status of women (example: female circumcision in Guinea)
Provide students with the A Geographic Perspective handout, which will guide them through the process they will undertake in their groups. In addition, provide them with blank outline maps printed from the Xpeditions Atlas and materials for creating visual aids (such as markers, poster board, transparencies, or access to computers with PowerPoint) to use in making oral presentations to the rest of the class. After giving students an opportunity to meet in their groups, brainstorm questions, and divide the research task among themselves, you may wish to assign research on their topics for homework, provided students have access to computers with Internet access outside class. Tell students to begin their research at the National Geographic Web site.
Closing:
Have students make presentations on their findings and predictions. Once students have given their oral reports, discuss what they learned about Africa and about using a geographic perspective. What surprised them? What questions do they now have? Discuss how "doing geography" differs from working in other fields and disciplines. Note once again that geography offers an interdisciplinary approach and important tools for solving complex, real-world problems.
Suggested Student Assessment:
You may wish to have each student turn in his or her A Geographic Perspective worksheet and any other notes or evidence of research, or you may simply ask that one student from each group turn in a representative sample for the group. You may also evaluate each group’s oral presentation.
Suggested scoring rubric
Handout
Questions reveal understanding of the geographic process—3
Evidence of research—3
Quality of analysis—3
Oral Presentation
Reveals understanding of assigned topic—3
Reveals understanding of the geographic process—3
Visual Aids (with maps and graphs)—3
Overall quality, clarity, and organization—2
Total—20
Extending the Lesson:
Inquiry Extension
Have students follow up on what they learned about contemporary African issues by taking action in some way. Have them begin by asking how they might change or impact the challenges or effects they discovered. Once they have determined how to effect change themselves, ask them to take action. They might write letters to leaders, learn about conservation efforts, write an article for the student newspaper, or form a club, for example.
Cross-Curricular Extension for Further Explanation:
For a connection to math, have students map spatial distributions of African demographics. Begin by brainstorming questions students might ask about the population of Africa. Examples of questions include the following: Where are Africa’s people located? What is the distribution pattern of Africa’s population? What are the characteristics of population growth rates in different parts of Africa? Next, ask each student to select a different African nation and find raw data about the population of that nation on the National Geographic: People and Places Web site. Have students map their data using blank country maps printed using the Xpeditions Atlas. Conclude by discussing the decisions students had to make when determining how they would map their data. What challenges did they have? Have students share and compare their maps. Discuss possible explanations for the differences between nations and the distributions shown on their maps.
Try This at Home
Have students demonstrate how to use a geographic perspective at home with their families. They might show them the skill using popular vehicles and answering the following types of questions: What are they? Who owns them? Next, look at why these are the most common vehicles. How might the topography, economy, and climate of your area impact vehicle purchases in your area? Finally, predict and make decisions. Are these vehicles likely to continue to be the most prevalent in your area? What might someone do who wanted to change the vehicle-purchasing trends in your area?
Adaptations
This lesson may be adapted to address different learning needs by adjusting the sophistication required of student responses and the amount of direction and assistance given to them while they are working in groups.
Group members may be assigned roles such as leader and recorder and given some structure in terms of how to manage their time, or they may be left to organize themselves, depending on their age and experience level with cooperative learning.
You may also wish to provide students with specific resources (see related links below) or simply point them in the direction of useful Web sites, depending on their ability level when it comes to conducting Internet searches.
Related Links:
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