In Africa, the big idea we will explore
is the idea of latitude – distance from the equator.
Latitude has an influence on many things,
including rainfall, fires, diseases, building styles,
ancient capitals, trade connections, and so forth.
These materials use examples from Africa
to explore some consequences of latitude.
- BI5 Scaffold – Latitude in Africa
- BI5 Interactive Chapter about Latitude in Africa
- Printable version of chapter
- BI5 Africa big idea presentation
- BI5 Africa clickable map
- BI5 Africa clickable map activity
- BI5 Africa clickable map index
- BI5 Africa Clickable Index and Sample Maps
Day 1: Most students will need to gain some
visual vocabulary about African environments
from photos, videos, or a web image search.
Use keywords such as “Rainforest in Congo,”
“Savanna in Nigeria,” “Grassland in Sudan,”
and “Sahara in Mali” (Unfortunately, the keywords
“Desert in Mali” get you a collection of hat ads!).
It’s better to look at several images
of an environment, and look for the common features,
rather than study one image extensively.
The matrix or card activity is not really intended
as a way to teach about these environments –
it’s simply a way to organize perceptions
you acquire by other means.
- BI5A Africa Matrix presentation
- BI5A Africa Ecoregions and Cultures matrix set
- BI5A Africa Ecoregions Matrix card set
- BI5Ax Africa Mental Map presentation
- BI5Ax Africa Animals and Environments activity set
Day 2: The seasonal movement of the Equatorial Rainy Belt
is the major reason for these environmental differences.
The Africa clickable map has several different ways
to visualize the resulting pattern of precipitation.
To assess their understanding of African climate,
students can match climagraphs with places (see the
North America unit for additional resources about
these useful graphs). Alternatively, they can examine
a table of climate data and identify the rainy season
at each place (trees need at least 4 inches per month,
shrubs can get by with 3, grasses with 2):
- BI5B Equatorial Rainy Belt activity
- BI5Bx Africa Climagraphs activity
- BI5S Africa Climagraph scaffold activity H
- BI5S Africa Climagraph scaffold activity T
- BI5S Africa Climagraph scaffold activity color version
- BI5S Africa N-S Climate Data
Endemic diseases are among the most important
consequences of a hot, rainy equatorial climate.
Options: The clickable pdf about Africa Diseases
is based on the Africa clickable miniAtlas,
which lets students explore relationships
among many things that are directly or indirectly
related to latitude in Africa (e.g., rainfall, plants,
wildfires, animals, land use, trade, language,
and even things like religion and slavery).
Here are a few sample maps that can be printed
from the clickable map:
- BI5X African Languages Dot Map
- BI5E African Empires activity set
- BI5X Africa European Colonies old map
- BI5X Africa European Colonial Claims map
Summary: At the end of the unit,
students should be able to explain
how the number of rainy months
in a place depends on its latitude.
This understanding can provide perspective
for individual inquiries or capstone projects
about environments and land use in Africa
(e.g., shifting cultivation, irrigated farming,
or nomadic herding). It can also provide
perspective for inquiries into the history
of African empires, trade, the spread of Islam,
European colonization, and the trans-Atlantic
slave trade. Finally, it can provide background
for investigations of current-event topics
such as border disputes and civil wars,
climate change and desertification,
diseases such as malaria or Ebola,
the problem of big-game poaching, the
growing religious conflicts in the Sahel, or the
development of African mineral resources
or solar energy in North Africa.