Curriculum

The Exploring Africa! curriculum is divided into units, modules, and learning activities. Each unit covers a major topic or theme in the study of Africa, which is then divided into thematic, disciplinary, regional, or country modules. Each module is comprised of learning activities, which are each aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The learning activities in each module vary in length of time needed for completion. Both students and teachers should feel free to navigate through the units, modules, and learning activities autonomously, or communally with a class, study partner, or teacher. Feel free to select one or two learning activities from a module, or complete all of the learning activities in the order in which they are presented.

For students, Exploring Africa! can be a wonderful learning tool, right at your fingertips. You may guide yourself through the informative lessons and interactive learning activities.

For teachers, we offer an Exploring Africa Lesson Plans digital booklet in our store if you want to bring Exploring Africa! into your classroom. The Exploring Africa Lesson Plans digital booklet consists of numerous lesson plans designed around our curriculum, and includes homework sheets, information sheets, and additional helpful text and information to supplement your lesson plans. Each lesson plan is only one way to teach this curriculum, so please feel free to adapt each lesson to your unique classrooms as needed. Once you have purchased the lessons you can access them here: http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/curriculum/lesson-plans-3

Unit One: Why Study Africa

Module One Exploring the Diversity of Africa
Module Two Learning about Africa
Module Three Examining Africa’s Diversity
Module Four Examining Africa’s Global Connections
Module Five Looking Back

Unit Two: Studying Africa through the Social Studies

Module Six African Geography
Module Seven A. African History until 1500
B. African History 1500 to the Present
Module Eight Culture and Society in Africa
Module Nine African Economies
Module Ten African Politics and Government

Unit Three: Studying Africa through the Humanities

Module Eleven African Literatures
Module Twelve African Art
Module Thirteen African Music
Module Fourteen Religion in Africa
Module Fifteen Africa and the World

Unit Four: Regional Perspectives

Module Sixteen North Africa
Module Seventeen West Africa
Module Eighteen Central Africa
Module Nineteen East Africa
Module Twenty Southern Africa

Unit Five: Country Case Studies

Module Twenty One Egypt
Module Twenty Two Ethiopia
Module Twenty Three Senegal
Module Twenty Four Ghana
Module Twenty Five Nigeria
Module Twenty Six Tanzania
Module Twenty Seven Congo
Module Twenty Eight Kenya
Module Twenty Nine South Africa
Module Thirty Zimbabwe

Additional Curriculum

South Africa: Overcoming Apartheid, Building Democracy

The African Studies Center and MATRIX digital humanities center at Michigan State University have created an online curriculum resource about South Africa with multimedia primary materials, including many interviews and video clips.