Jackson Pearson Unit on African Geography

You should complete this for each performance task

Performance Task Blueprint

What understandings will be assessed through this task? Students will understand that the colonization of Africa inhibited the ability of modern nations to access resources, develop infrastructure, and internally develop their economies. Students will understand that the geography of Africa has played a role in the pockets of population and how the concentrations of population have affected the political development of the nations in Africa. Students will understand how the geography of Africa has affected the economies in the developing nations of Africa and how the geography has inhibited the ability of nations to maximize the resources that are available to them. What goals will be assessed through this task? The goal of having students locate cultural hearts in Africa will be assessed. Describe the authentic performance task that will be used to assess the understandings and/or goals listed above: The U.N. General Assembly has nominated six groups of four representatives to go and research the economic, infrastructural, and environmental issues that have plagued six different regions in Africa since their colonization. The representatives need to identify key geographic areas within their assigned region and use their geographical knowledge to aid in their proposing solutions to the issues. The students goal is to discover the issues that colonization caused and then propose solutions that could possibly fix the problems. The students will be given a map packet with a climate, physical, resource, and topographical map of their area. The students will use their maps to propose solutions and illustrate their ideas for accessing resources. The students will organize their findings into a presentation that they will give to the U.N. General Assembly. The presentation should be six to eight minutes long. The roles will be as follows: the engineer will be responsible for looking at the infrastructural issues of the region. They will be responsible for researching the issues that relate to the access of resources within the assigned region. They will use their map skills to propose new roads that provide better access to the resources located within the region. They will also be responsible for technological aspects of the presentation and they will take one of the lesser speaking roles. The ecologist will be responsible for identifying the climate, terrain, and important geographical aspects of the region. They will be responsible for finding any issues that have hampered the environment and they must propose solutions to these issues. They will be responsible for provide the geographical information in the presentation and take one of the lesser speaking roles. The economist will be responsible for researching and finding issues that relate to the economy in the area. They must utilize the geography in the region to propose solutions to strengthening the economy of their region. They will be responsible for locating the resources within the region and deciding which resources should be exported. They will be responsible for the one of the major speaking parts in the presentation. The geologist will be responsible for identifying the issues related to the mineral deposits in the region. They will propose solutions to better access the deposits and whether they should be used internally or exported. They will be responsible for drawing the proposed solutions on the maps. They will be responsible for overseeing the presentation and taking the main speaking role. There will be six regions which students could be assigned to research. The first region will consist of the modern countries of Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, and Kenya. The second region will consist of Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. The third region will consist of Namibia, Botswana, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo. The fourth region will consist of Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Chad. The fifth region will consist of Nigeria, Niger, Benin, Ghana, Togo, and Burkina Faso. The sixth region will consist of Mali, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Senegal. Tasks may include student products, student performances, or both. Describe all below :

Describe student products that will be used to provide evidence of the desired understandings and student proficiency on the stated criteria:

Jacksonville State University, Secondary Education Unit Plan Template

Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook 2004

Jackson Pearson Unit on African Geography

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The students will use their map packets to illustrate proposed changes to accessing resources in their regions. They will illustrate how the resources could be exported through the terrain. They will turn in these illustrations after their presentation. Describe student performances that will be used to provide evidence of the desired understandings and student proficiency on the stated criteria: o Students will present their findings to the class. They will identify a minimum of four issues and propose solutions to these issues. The students will present the key geographic features of the area and how they are a part of either the issue or solution. Students must provide evidence of researching the economic, infrastructural, or environmental issues of their region.

Describe the criteria you will use to determine students level of understanding (these will be stated and/or implied in the standards, goals, and understandings of the unit): Attach a rubric(s) that will be used to evaluate this performance task. Be sure the rubric(s) address all of the criteria listed above.
Geographical Information 4 Students include all of the key geographic information of their assigned region. The provide detail in regards to the geography and how it affects the region. Students identify four issues in their region and thoroughly describe how the issues are affecting the area. Students provide possible solutions to each of their issues. These solutions are logical and clearly explained. The students present their information in a clear, logical manner. They provide clear explanations for their findings and their presentation fits into the allotted time. 3 Students include most of the key geographic information but forget to include one or two of the geographic features of the region. They forget to provide some of the details for how the geography affects the region. Students identify three issues in their region and provide some detail but not a thorough description of how the issues affect their region. Students provide solutions to most of their researched issues. Their solutions may be somewhat illogical or not clearly explained. The students present their information in a mostly clear and logical manner. Their explanations are mostly clear. The presentation is either a little short or a little over the allotted time. 2 Students forget to include most of the key geographic information and do not provide adequate details for how the geography affects the region. 1 Students do not provide any geographic information and they do not provide explanation for how the geography affects the region.

Issues

Solutions

Students identify two issues in their region and fail to provide adequate information in regards to how the issues affect their region. Students provide one or two solutions that are not logical or clearly explained. The students present their information in a confusing or illogical manner. The explanations provided are not thoroughly explained. The presentation well outside of the allotted time.

Students recognize a maximum of one issue and do not provide any details in regards to how the issue affects their region. Students fail to provide proposed solutions or the solutions do not match their issues. The students do not present their information in a logical manner and they fail to explain their information. The presentation does not fit into the allotted time.

Presentation

Jacksonville State University, Secondary Education Unit Plan Template

Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook 2004