Title of Unit

Curriculum
Area
Developed By

Understanding by Design Lesson Plan

African
7th Grade
Grade Level
Governments
Social Studies
3 55-Minute Sessions
Time Frame
Jeannie Pittman

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

Content Standards
Georgia Performance Standards
SS7CG1 The student will compare and contrast various forms of government.
a. Describe the ways government systems distribute power: unitary,
confederation, and federal.
b. Explain how governments determine citizen participation: autocratic,
oligarchic, and democratic.
c. Describe the two predominant forms of democratic governments:
parliamentary and presidential.
SS7CG2 The student will explain the structures of the modern governments of Africa.
a. Compare the republican systems of government in the Republic of Kenya
and the Republic of South Africa, distinguishing the form of leadership and
role of the citizen in terms of voting and personal freedoms.
b. Explain how political, economic, and social conflicts resulted in the
independence of South Sudan.
SS7CG3 The student will analyze how politics in Africa impacts standard of living.
a. Compare how various factors, including gender, affect access to education
in Kenya and Sudan.
b. Describe the impact of government stability on the distribution of resources
to combat AIDS and famine across Africa.
Georgia Literacy Standards for Reading and Writing in Social Studies
L6-8RH4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
L6-8RH7 Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or
maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
L6-8WHST8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources,
using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source;
and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding
plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
L6-8WHST9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection,
and research.
Understandings

Essential Questions

Overarching Understanding
Students will understand that when
there is conflict between or within
societies in Africa that change will
result.
Students will understand how the type
of government people live under can
affect their lives in many ways.

Overarching Questions:
How does Africas past shape the present?
How have the lives of the people of Africa
been shaped by the type of government
under which they live?
Topical Questions:

Related Misconceptions

Africa is one large country.

All African politicians are corrupt.
Africa is not technologically
advanced.
All African nations are poor.

How do unitary, confederation, and federal

governments distribute power?
How do citizens participate in autocratic,
oligarchic, and democratic governments?
What is the difference in parliamentary
and presidential governments?

Knowledge

Skills

Students will know

Students will be able to

The difference between the two

main forms of democratic
government parliamentary and
presidential
The definition of the vocabulary
terms government, constitution,
theocracy, and constitutional
monarchy
How the type of government
under which they live affects the
daily life of the people of Africa

Identify the three branches of

government and their functions.
Explain the distribution of power in a
unitary government, a
confederation, and a federal
government.
Explain citizen participation tenets in
autocratic, oligarchic, and
democratic governments.

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Task Description
After the lessons, students will successfully be able to describe
how various forms of government distribute power, describe
citizen participation in various forms of government, and describe
Goal the difference in parliamentary and presidential governments.
They will also be able to describe how politics in Africa impacts
the African peoples standard of living and be able to explain the
structures of the modern governments of Africa.

Under the guidance and instruction of the teacher and media

Role specialist, students will be responsible for creating their own
newspaper and graphic organizer.
Audience 7th Grade Students, Teacher, Media Specialist
Students will work in both a classroom environment and the
Situation
media center computer lab.
Students will create a graphic organizer to help them learn
Product/
government terms and create a newspaper to help them learn
Performance
more about the governments of Africa.
AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
1.1.7 Make sense of information gathered from diverse sources
by identifying misconceptions, main and supporting ideas,
conflicting information, and point of view or bias.
1.2.1 Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and
investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial
facts.
1.2.4 Maintain a critical stance by questioning the validity and
Standards accuracy of all information.
1.4.4 Seek appropriate help when it is needed.
2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful.
2.2.4 Demonstrate personal productivity by completing products
to express learning.
2.3.1 Connect understanding to the real world.
2.3.2 Consider diverse and global perspectives in drawing
conclusions.
3.1.5 Connect learning to community issues.

Other Evidence
Information Literacy will also be addressed in this learning unit. Students will
review the Ethical Use of Information for Students lesson found on Blendspace
(http://edcvs.co/12jK27c) to review what plagiarism is and how to avoid it as they
work to create their newspapers.

Stage 3: Learning Plan

Where are your
students headed?
Where have they
been? How will you
make sure the
students know where
they are going?
How will you hook
students at the
beginning of the unit?

Students will use the knowledge they already have about

the American federal government to relate to how the
different types of governments of Africa operate. The
students will be presented with a test over the terms at
the end of the unit that will be compared to their review
quiz results to assess their growth.
The lesson will begin with a CNN Video
(http://youtu.be/qhH_wJebT-U) on the Bring Back Our Girls
campaign of the people of Nigeria. The video will be
followed by a brief classroom discussion of the
government of Nigeria and the response to the
kidnappings. The students will be asked to propose how

the government could have better responded to the crisis

they are facing.

What events will help

students experience
and explore the big
idea and questions in
the unit? How will you
equip them with
needed skills and
knowledge?

How will you cause

students to reflect and
rethink? How will you
guide them in
rehearsing, revising,
and refining their
work?
How will you help
students to exhibit
and self-evaluate their
growing skills,
knowledge, and
understanding
throughout the unit?
How will you tailor and
otherwise personalize

After hearing a lesson and participating in a class

discussion with the teacher with assistance from the
media specialist, Day One will involve the students
creating a graphic organizer that will cover the definition
of government, the three branches of government,
distribution of power, citizen participation, parliamentary
and presidential governments, general definitions, and
examples of different types of government.
On Day Two and Day Three, the students will work with
a partner (or by themselves if they prefer) and use
Microsoft Publisher to create their own newspaper for
their chosen nation in Africa. They may choose South
Africa, Sudan, Kenya, or South Sudan. They will use the
pathfinder created by the media specialist to guide their
studies.
(http://keyassessments.weebly.com/pathfinderforafricanstudie
s.html)

The newspaper should include several sections some of

which include government, headline news, help wanted,
political cartoons, travel, weather, community events,
and real estate. Each section will highlight some aspect
of life in the African nation including culture, location, or
government. Students should make the connection
between the aspect of the African nation highlighted and
the way it influences the people who live there. Students
will be given the opportunity to review the Ethical Use of
Information curated list of resources as a reminder not to
plagiarize their sources. The newspaper must be at a
minimum two pages front and back.
As they complete their research for their newspaper,
students will be encouraged to look for bias in the articles
they are incorporating into their paper. The teacher and
media specialist will encourage the students to carefully
examine their sources to identify articles that are a point
of view versus articles that are reporting of facts.
As students perform their research and write their
newspaper articles, they will be encouraged to ask
themselves: Is the resource I am using free from bias?
Am I avoiding plagiarism in my writings? Do I truly
understand the various forms of government or do I just
have the terms memorized? Am I approaching my
research in an objective manner?
Students will be given the option of working in pairs or
alone if they choose. Students will be allowed to select

the learning plan to

optimize the
engagement and
effectiveness of ALL
students, without
compromising the
goals of the unit?
How will you organize
and sequence the
learning activities to
optimize the
engagement and
achievement of ALL
students?

the nation they want to use in their newspaper rather

than being assigned a nation. Students will be given the
freedom to select from the list the types of articles they
wish to include in their newspaper. Information will be
presented in a variety of formats including discussion,
video, print, and online to reach the maximum number of
students.
The lesson will be sequenced in the following way:
1. Class Discussion on Types of Government and Important
Terms
2. Creation of the Graphic Organizers
3. Discussion of the Governments of Africa and
Instructions for the Newspaper Assignment
4. Review of the Ethical Use of Information for Students
5. Presentation of the Pathfinder on African Governments
for the students to explore
6. Creation of newspapers based on the students
selected African nation
This lesson was designed to keep students involved and
interested by presenting the information in a variety of
formats and moving from one topic to the next in a timely
manner.

From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development.