7th Grade
African Empires & Kingdoms
A Safari to an African Kingdom
An Internet Social Studies WebQuest and Slideshow

Storyboard & Worksheet

______________________________
<Empire/Kingdom Name>

Prepared for 7th Grade
Corpus Christi School
Computer Lab
by

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
<write your team member names here >

January, 2007

All Materials and Resources are available online here. Please use this Storyboard & Worksheet to take notes to help you collect and organize the research process to develop your web site. You are responsible to bring your Storyboard & Worksheet to every Computer Lab class.

Project Instructions

You and a team of explorers have the opportunity to explore one of the following African kingdoms - Axum, Ghana, Mali, Zimbabwe, Kongo, Songhai, Benin, or Swahili. Your group will investigate the kingdom using the Internet resources here.  From your research, you will write information and find appropriate images to create an AppleWorks Slideshow presentation. In this WebQuest, you will use the power of teamwork and the abundant resources on the Internet to learn all about one of these African Kingdoms. Each explorer on your team will be responsible for examining one aspect of the kingdom. Then you will come together to present your findings to the class in your AppleWorks Slideshow.

 

The Quest

How have the geographic, historic, economic, and cultural characteristics of your

African Kingdom influenced Africa and the world?


Process and Resources

In this WebQuest, you will be working together with a group of students in class. Each group will represent a group of explorers sent to Africa to study the kingdom.

 

Phase 1 - Background: Something for Everyone

Use the Internet information here to find information on the geography, history, economy, and religion, art and architecture of your kingdom.

The specific roles and sections of your AppleWorks Slideshow include:

 

 

Section

Team Member
1. Geographer:  
2. Historian  
3. Economist:  
4. Anthropologist:  
5. Project Manager:  
6. Bibliographer:  

 

Phase 2 - Looking Deeper from Different Perspectives

Instructions:

  1. Individuals or from your WebQuest team will explore one of the roles below.
  1. Remember to write down or copy/paste the URL of the file you take the passage from so you can quickly go to Citation Maker and create your Bibliography and go back to it if you need to prove your point.

  2. Be prepared to focus what you've learned into one main opinion that answers the Big Quest(ion) (How have the geographic, historic, economic, and cultural characteristics of your African kingdom influenced Africa and the world?) based on what you have learned from the links for your role.

 

Geographer--You will study the surroundings of your kingdom.

Use the Internet information linked above to answer these questions specifically related to geography:

  1. Where was your kingdom located?
  2. What were its natural surroundings?
  3. How did geography affect your kingdom?
  4. How did your kingdom change its environment?

 

Historian--You will research the history of your kingdom.

Use the Internet information linked above to answer these questions specifically related to history:

  1. How did your kingdom begin?
  2. What factors led to the growth of your kingdom?
  3. Who were the important people?
  4. What caused the decline of your kingdom?

 

Economist--You will investigate the economy of the kingdom.

Use the Internet information linked above to answer these questions specifically related to the daily life of the people in your kingdom:

  1. What were the roles/jobs of women and how were they treated?
  2. What were the roles/jobs of men?
  3. How important was farming to the economy?
  4. How important was trade, what items were traded, and with whom did they trade?

 

Anthropologist--You will examine religion and art.

Use the Internet information linked above to answer these questions specifically related to religion, and art:

  1. What were some of their important religious beliefs?
  2. What types of art were created?
  3. What were some examples of the architecture of the kingdom?
  4. How was art and architecture related to religion?

 

Phase 3 - Debating, Discussing, and Reaching Consensus

You have all learned about a different part of the African Kingdom. You must all now answer the Quest(ion) as a group. Use information, pictures, movies, facts, opinions, etc. from the Web pages you explored as part of your AppleWorks Slideshow presentation.

 

Phase 4 - Real World Feedback

You and your teammates have learned a lot by dividing up into different roles. Now's the time to put your learning into a AppleWorks Slideshow presentation you'll show to the rest of the class for real world feedback. Together you will create a slide show that contains the information and perspectives that you've gained. Here's the process:

  1. You should begin your presentation with a title page.
  2. Your second slide should continue with an introduction.
  3. Your next slides should present information and graphics from each group member.
  1. Your last slide should contain your conclusions rewording the task and you group's answer to your Quest:

How have the geographic, historic, economic, and cultural characteristics of your African kingdom influenced Africa and the world?

  1. Each member of the group is responsible for creating a minimum of 2 slides based on information he or she has gathered.

Conclusion

So you and your team of explorers have completed the safari through an African Kingdom. You have learned about the geography, history, economy, religion and art and architecture of the kingdom. Now you should be ready to share your slide show with the class.

Bibliography

List all Web sites used

 Example Credit Line:
Northwestern University Library, Edward S. Curtis's 'The North American Indian': the Photographic Images, 2001. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/curthome.html

Project Tools & Resources

·        Click on this link. Take some time to go through the links, as they have been created to help you easily find the information you need to create your AppleWorks Slideshow..

·        You will need to download appropriate images to your group folder.  This includes images from the links and websites which are “public domain” or “legal” and available for us to use for school projects.

·        You will use AppleWorks to resize the images so they are resized as necessary as a.jpg.

·        You will create a bibliography using Citation Maker to cite the websites you used Citation Maker will help you present them in the correct format. 

 

 

 

 

Project  Resources

All of your links and resources for this project


SlideShow StoryBoard

Slide #1

 

 

 

Title Slide

 

African Kingdom Name

Team Members Names

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide #2

 

 

 

Introduction Slide

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Manager is responsible for gaining group consensus for creating these two slides

 

 

 

Geographer

Slide #3

 

 

 

 

Geography 1

 

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide #4

 

 

 

 

Geography 2

 

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Where was your kingdom located?
  2. What were its natural surroundings?
  3. How did geography affect your kingdom?
  4. How did your kingdom change its environment?

 

Historian

Slide #5

 

 

 

 

History 1

 

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide #6

 

 

 

 

History 2

 

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

  1. How did your kingdom begin?
  2. What factors led to the growth of your kingdom?
  3. Who were the important people?
  4. What caused the decline of your kingdom?

 

Economist

Slide #7

 

 

 

 

Economy 1

 

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide #8

 

 

 

 

Economy 2

 

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

  1. What were the roles/jobs of women and how were they treated?
  2. What were the roles/jobs of men?
  3. How important was farming to the economy?
  4. How important was trade, what items were traded, and with whom did they trade?

 

 

Anthropologist

Slide #9

 

 

 

 

Religion & Art 1

 

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide #10

 

 

 

 

Religion & Art 2

 

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

  1. What were some of their important religious beliefs?
  2. What types of art were created?
  3. What were some examples of the architecture of the kingdom?
  4. How was art and architecture related to religion?

 

 

 

Conclusion & Bibliography

Slide #11

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide #12

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

 

 

Graphic(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion:  From your research, state:
How have the geographic, historic, economic, and cultural characteristics of your African Kingdom influenced Africa and the world?

 

 

 

African Empire & Kingdoms Timeline

3200 BC-30 BC

Ancient Egypt

2000 BC-300 AD

Kush (Sudan)
   ruled Egypt from 700 - 500 BC

200 BC-700 AD

 The Kingdom of Axum (Ethiopia)

500 BC-200 AD

Nok (Nigeria)

500-700 AD

Nubia (Sudan)

BC-700-1000 AD

Early Ghana

WEST “Sudanic” Empires

700-1000AD

The Kingdom of Ghana

1200-1400 AD

The Kingdom of Mali

1450 AD

Oyo Empire is founded.

1400-1600 AD

 Songhai Empire

EAST (Islamic States)

1000-1800 AD

Karanga (>>Zimbabwe)

700-1800s AD

East Africa Swahili States

 

Maps


Also available online here

 

7th Grade
African Empire & Kingdoms Project

AppleWorks Slideshow Rubric

___________________________________________________________________________________________
write your team member names here

 

10 points

5 points

1 points

Sources and Bibliography

Uses at least 4 sources for information and all are formatted using Citation Maker

Uses at least 3 sources for information formatted using Citation Maker

Uses less than 3 sources for information but did not formatted using Citation Maker

Accuracy of Facts

All facts are clear and accurate

Some facts are not easily understood

Facts are inaccurate or confusing

Organization

Each section contained 3-5 complete sentences with supporting details,

Three sections do not contained 3-5 complete sentences with supporting details,

Did not use 3-5 sentences with supporting details in sections.

Grammar and Spelling

Grammar and spelling are correct

Very few errors in grammar and spelling

Frequent grammar and spelling errors

Photographs & Images

All Photographs and images represent the appropriate section and were resized correctly in Photoshop to be 250 pixels wide, and a .jpg

At least 3 Photographs and images represent the appropriate section and were resized correctly in Photoshop.

Photographs and images do not represent the appropriate section and are not resized correctly

Color Scheme

Your background and font colors are pleasant to look at and easy to read-it does not hurt your eyes

Your background and font colors clash a little or are somewhat difficult to read

Your background and font colors clash and it is difficult to read

Working as part of a cooperative group

 Willing to do their part without arguments.  Able to make compromises and to help others accomplish their tasks

Needed help working in the group.  Unable to make choices without adult guidance.

Could not compromise.  Wanted their  own way. 

Grade

All Members deserve an A

I would give different grades to different group members.

I don’t think we did the best we could.