Tour of African History

Objective: Students will identify and evaluate the contributions of significant African Americans and discuss their impact on history.

Materials Needed: Classroom set of I Pad Mini's [30], statues of historical figures, student processing journals, floor maps-Africa and World, geography and culture cards, cultural artifacts from the Africa Baskets program.

Preparation:
1) I Pad's will be pre-loaded with student journals, Pod-casts of museum tour video clips and information regarding each significant individual; map tours of the geography and significant locations in Africa; and contacts/field trips arranged for Face Time interaction. [*Using I-Tunes U program to create course material/journals, etc.]
*Previous class- train students on how to use the programs/apps on the I Pad
2) Museum statues of historical figures will be prepared and stationed along the gallery walk near the floor maps of Africa and the World. *Several historical figures will also be represented by volunteer actors.
3) Print cards, and pull artifacts for the program.
4)This program will have several versions to adapt to varying grade levels and requirements. Three versions of the maps, cards and I Pad lessons/information will be utilized.

Procedure:
1) Teacher will provide a brief overview of the geography of Africa and very early history, including slavery using visuals, artifacts, and video clips.
2)Using the floor maps, I Pads, and cards students will travel across the continent of Africa exploring its geography.
-Place students into color coded teams. Each team will follow a specific pathway mapped out on their I Pad that corresponds with the floor map. Students will receive clues describing major landforms and geographic features of Africa, important cities, significant points of cultural interest, etc. and will use this information to guide them to finding the location on the floor map. Once there the students will use their color coded cards to place the location and identify it on the floor map.
-Teacher will monitor student progress in mapping locations.
- Students will record locations on the map within their journals as well as part of the formative assessment.

3) The teacher will give a brief introduction to the museum and provide background information regarding the beginning of African American History month. Then, students will be given an I Pad mini and headphones to explore the museum/gallery walk. Students will travel to each African American historical figure- click on the icon on the I Pad and through interactive video / audio and Podcasts information they will learn about the contributions of these individuals. At certain stations, students will interact with the historical figure [actor] as well and can use the I Pad to record interview questions. Students will briefly record ideas in their journals as they travel through the museum.

4) Finally, students will use the I Pad mini for a virtual field trip. Using Face-Time, students will communicate with international students from Africa to explore life in the region today.

5) Assessment: Students will be given several choices [a writing prompt, significant individual, theme, etc.] for creating a presentation. Students will conduct their own research using the programs on their I Pad's [imovie, Keynote, Podcasting, etc] and information gathered during the lesson to create this assignment.