Desert People

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Description:The Sahara and Sahel have been the habitat for nomadic people for over 800 years. Only in the last century has their entire way of life been threatened. Most people envision nomads as men and women wandering over the desert on a camel. This lesson is designed to show students that these groups have an established political and social structure, pastoralist-based economy, and infuse art and religion into their everyday lives.

Grade level(s): Middle                          Standards: OAS, GFL                      Produced By: Jayne Marley

South Sudan: A Tale of Two Countries

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Description: South Sudan is the world’s newest country.  It was a hard-won fight for independence that followed decades of war.  The war began with the discovery of oil and the belief that economically the country of Sudan would be able to rid itself of its Christian African inhabitants.  Years of genocide and ethnic cleansing followed leaving South Sudan with little except for its vast reserves of oil.

Grade level(s): Middle                Standards: PASS, GFL, CC           Produced By: Jayne Marley

Moroccan Movers: Donkeys and Mules

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Description: Students will learn where pack animals continue to serve an important role economically in developing countries and cultures, even in this age of advanced technology.

 Grade level(s): Middle                     Standards: PASS, GFL             Produced By: Glenda Sullivan

Odd Man Out

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Description: The region of the Middle East is not easily defined.  Its boundaries and included countries are determined by which type of region you are describing: economic, cultural, religious, historical or geographic.  For precisely this reason, it is an excellent area of the world to use to introduce students to the different types of regions that we study in geography.

 Grade level(s): Middle                 Standards: PASS, GFL             Produced By: Jayne Marley

All In

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Description: This lesson shows how some countries in the Middle East are alike in many ways and is an anticipatory activity to the lesson Odd Man Out, which was presented at Session II of the 2011 World Geography Academy, October 19.   Our perceptions are that all of the countries labeled as being in the “Middle East” have nearly all of the same regional characteristics.  By beginning with those perceptions, it will be easier to move on to the more complex characteristics in another lesson.

 Grade level(s): Middle                 Standards: PASS, GFL             Produced By: Jayne Marley