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Overview:
Students will examine their own modern culture and compare it to other cultures around the world. They will focus on the items, such as computers and soda cans, that are prominent parts of their culture. They will draw pictures of themselves and their parents in their daily lives and write paragraphs discussing the items that are important to their culture and explaining whether other cultures use these items as well.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, social studies, history
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 10: "The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics"
Time:
Two to three hours
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access
- Drawing materials
- Photos of different cultures
Objectives:
Students will
- list and discuss their favorite belongings and whether these items are unique to their culture;
- look at the Tale of Three Cities page, and list the items that are familiar in modern culture;
- view pictures of people in different cultures around the world, and note the similarities and differences between these cultures and their own;
- draw pictures of themselves and their parents on a typical day;
- discuss how their pictures represent their country's modern culture; and
- write paragraphs explaining which items in their pictures are the most important and whether people in other cultures have these items.
Geographic Skills:
Asking Geographic Questions
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:
Ask students to list their favorite belongings. They might include clothes, video games, or scooters. Then discuss the reasons why students value these items. Do they think these items are unique to their own culture, or do they think kids in other countries have these things as well?
Development:
Have students look at the main page for National Geographic's Tale of Three Cities. Ask them to state or list the items they see in this picture that look familiar in today's culture.
The students will probably point out the computer, water and soda bottles, and other objects on the right side of the screen. Explain that the other parts of the picture show people who lived in Spain and Egypt one and two thousand years ago. If there is time, allow them to browse the individual sections of this site.
Show the class pictures of people in their daily lives around the world. Good places to look are National Geographic Magazine (the August 1999 issue is particularly relevant), National Geographic's Globalization, and Vanishing Cultures Photo Gallery Web sites. Ask students to point out the similarities and differences they notice between these cultures and their own. Which culture seems the most similar to their own? Which looks the most different?
Give each student two blank pieces of paper, and ask them to draw a picture of themselves on one page and of one of their parents on the other page. On each page ask them to draw a picture representing what that person does on a typical day. For example, they might draw themselves sitting in a classroom and their parent sitting in front of a computer or talking to a customer. Ask students to add details to their pictures, such as computers, soda cans, books, or anything they think would fit into the scene they have drawn.
Closing:
Students may be surprised to learn that things are not necessarily that different elsewhere. In most countries people go to schools, offices, and stores. Some countries and cultures, however, do have very different customs and routines from our own.
Explain that all the things they have drawn are examples of their country's modern culture. Do they think these pictures would look different if they were set in different countries? Have students share their pictures with the class.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Have students refer to their pictures and choose three items that they think are the most important to their lives. Have them write paragraphs explaining why each of these items is so important in their modern-day culture. Then have them write additional paragraphs explaining whether the other cultures they saw on the Web are likely to have these items. If so, would they use the items in the same way as students do? If not, what types of items might they use instead?
Extending the Lesson:
Read the class a fairy tale or story of your choice. It should take place in a different culture and, preferably, at a different time. You can the use Grimms' fairy tales found at National Geographic or at the sites listed in the Related Links section below. Discuss the main events and themes of the story to make sure students understand what it is about.
Ask students to modernize the story into a play that takes place in the world they are familiar with, and then have them perform it.
Related Links:
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