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Art and Life in Africa Project

Lesson Plan Databank

Plan Number: 031

Title/Lesson/Theme: African Cultures

Designed by: D.Rehmke

Grade level/Discipline: Secondary/Social Studies

Estimated Time: 2 weeks

Objectives (what will be assessed?):

• The learner will gain understanding of various aspects of African culture.
• The learner will select a research topic relating to cultures in Africa.
• The learner will use a variety of research tools and techniques to locate and evaluate and extract relevant information.
• The learner will synthesize the information.
• The learner will develop a 20 minute presentation for the class, using visuals to enhance the presentation (e.g. ALA Slide Show, PowerPoint, video clips, transparencies, realia).
• The learner will reflect on the research process s/he used.

Description/Background:

The unit will be introduced a month into this elective course. Students will have gained background on the history of various African countries through readings, lecture, and videos. Guest lecturers will have presented programs dealing with African art, religion, culture. Students will have visited the Stanley Collection at the UI Museum of Art.

Step by Step Procedure:

1) Students will select 3 very broad research topics of interest.

2) Students will explore and do preliminary background reading on each of the three topics, to browse and refine topics.

3) The librarian will demonstrate/model using several electronic tools to help in the exploration of topic process.

• Art and Life in Africa CD. Explain general navigation tips and scope of information included. Describe different access points/techniques for browsing: broad topic; table of contents; essays; bibliography; peoples; database; countries; database; images; database; media; database.
• Encyclopedia Americana 98. General interest electronic (CD) encyclopedia with links to the WWW. Describe different access points/techniques for browsing: country; peoples; art form.
• Britannica Online. General interest online (WWW) encyclopedia. Describe different access points/techniques for browsing: country; peoples; art form.

4) The students will select one topic of interest to research, and submit a thesis statement to the teacher for refinement/approval.

5) The librarian will distribute a comprehensive PATHFINDER suggesting relevant print, non-print, and electronic resources, including reference books and CDs, periodical indexes and full-text sources, and selected WWW sites.

6) The students will access various resources, extracting information.

7) The librarian will demonstrate how to create and present a Slide Show within the Art in Life in Africa CD.

8) The librarian will demonstrate how to extract images from the WWW to import into a PowerPoint slideshow.

9) Students work independently for 3 days, doing research and production.

Assignment in CD (essays, chapters):

Students will use CD in several ways: to browse/explore for preliminary background information; and as a reference (text, images, video).

Studio Materials Needed:

none

Vocabulary:

Evaluation/Assessment tool (how will objectives be assessed?:

The teacher will use the standard presentation with multimedia assessment guide. In addition, three students will be asked to complete evaluations on each student's presentation (3 different students for each presenter). The students will also describe and reflect on the research process used.

Bibliography/Alternative resources:

• Art and Life in Africa (CD and online)
• Encyclopedia Americana 98 (CD)
• SIRS Renaissance (CD)
• Praeger's Encyclopedia of Art
• Books in library collection (Africa art and culture)

Websites:

• Art and Life in Africa Online http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/
• Britannica Online (WWW) http://www.eb.com/
• Magazine Article Summaries (WWW)

Submitted 7/28/98