A L I E F
Independent
School District
GRADE 6 SOCIAL STUDIES –CONTEMPORARY WORLD CULTURES
Unit 4: Africa
Time: 6 Weeks
Hook ideas here!
Universal
Generalizations
Where people live
affects how they live
Line ideas here!
Developed 2005
Revised 2006, 2011
Sinker ideas
here!
Unit Understandings
The diversity of
Africa’s geography
has contributed to
its economic and
cultural diversity.
Concepts:
diversity, region,
adaptation, climate,
culture
TEKS
Topics/Content
Unit Questions
(4) Geography. The student
understands the factors that influence
the locations and characteristics of
locations of various contemporary
societies on maps and globes and uses
latitude and longitude to determine
absolute locations. The student is
expected to:
(D) identify and locate major physical
and human geographic features such as
landforms, water bodies, and urban
centers of various places and regions;
(WG Place Geography)
Geographic
Diversity of Africa
 Size and
Climates
 Physical
Features
 Regional
Geography
 Impact of
Geography on
Economic Activity
 Adapting to
Environments
 Culture Regions
How does
geography make a
difference in how
the people of Africa
live and work?
(5) Geography. The student
understands how geographic factors
influence the economic development,
political relationships, and policies of
societies. The student is expected to:
(A) identify and explain the geographic
factors responsible for the location of
Alief ISD 2011
Social Studies Pacing Guide
Grade 6
Resources
Essential Resources
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History Alive!
Contemporary World
Cultures, Mapping the
Physiographic Features
of Africa
Physical Features Map
Activity
Printable Maps
vocabulary:
landlocked,
vegetation, region,
1
economic activities in places and
regions; (WG 11B and 11C)
(7) Geography. The student
understands the impact of interactions
between people and the physical
environment on the development and
conditions of places and regions. The
student is expected to:
(A) identify and analyze ways people
have adapted to the physical
environment in various places and
regions; (WG 8A and 8B)
Supplemental Resources
plateau,
transportation barrier,
climate region,
savannah, nomad,
desert, subsistence
farming, cash crops
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(6) Geography. The student
understands that geographical patterns
result from physical environmental
processes. The student is expected to:
(B) identify the location of renewable
and nonrenewable natural resources
such as fresh water, fossil fuels, fertile
soils, and timber; and
(WG Place Geography)
History Alive!
Contemporary World
Cultures, Adapting to
the Climate Regions of
Sub-Saharan Africa
Text, Activity Atlas (pp.
350-355) (create lesson
plan to focus on uu and
move to essential
resources)
Text, Ch. 19.1-19.3
Text, Ch. 23.2-23.3
Instructional Considerations:
Groups of people
develop customs
and traditions,
whether on their own or by borrowing
from others.
Africa’s diverse
cultures have
developed both on
their own and
through cultural
borrowing.
Concepts :
cultural diffusion,
colonialism, religion
Alief ISD 2011
(17) Culture. The student understands
relationships that exist among world 
cultures. The student is expected to:
(D) identify and define the impact of

cultural diffusion on individuals and
world societies; and (WG 1B)
(E) identify examples of positive and
negative effects of cultural diffusion.
(WG 1B and 18D)
(18) Culture. The student understands
the relationship that exists between the
arts and the societies in which they are
Grade 6
African Culture
Culture Traits by
Region
Sources of Culture
Traits (indigenous,
from colonialism and
other borrowing)
vocabulary:
cultural diffusion,
colonialism, cultural
borrowing
What cultures are
found in Africa and
how did they arise?
Essential Resources
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History Alive!
Contemporary World
Cultures, Discovering
Africa’s Cultural
Diversity
Text, Ch. 20.3
Text, Ch. 21.3
Text, Ch. 22.3
Text, Ch. 22.4
Text, Ch. 23.1
2
produced. The student is expected to:
(A) explain the relationships that exist
between societies and their architecture,
art, music, and literature;
(B) relate ways in which contemporary
expressions of culture have been
influenced by the past;
(C) describe ways in which
contemporary issues influence creative
expressions;
Supplemental Resources
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Text, Regional
Database (pages 602645)
Text, Country and
Regional Profiles
(develop guiding
questions for regional
profiles)
Algeria p. 406
Nigeria p.409
Ghana p. 412
Rwanda and Burundi p.
420
Kenya p.424
Congo p.428
South Africa p.432
Instructional Considerations:
Collecting and
analyzing statistical
information can help
us learn more about
groups of people or
things.
Income, health,
education and other
statistics can help
show which African
nations are rich and
which are poor.
Concepts :
developing nations,
demographic data,
standard of living
(10) Economics. The student
understands categories of economic
activities and the data used to measure
a society's economic level. The student
is expected to:
(B) describe levels of economic
development of various societies using
indicators such as life expectancy, gross
domestic product (GDP), GDP per
capita, and literacy; and (WG 5B)
Statistics and
African Nations
 Data on health,
income,
economy,
education
 Developed and
developing
nations
vocabulary:
standard of living,
statistics, economy,
population density,
GDP, poverty rate,
per capita income,
literacy rate, infant
mortality, fertility rate,
death rate
What differences in
prosperity are there
among the nations
of Africa?
Essential Resources
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Supplemental Resources
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Alief ISD 2011
Grade 6
(Look for resources
and/or lesson plans.)
Infonation (for economic
and other indicators)
CIA World Factbook (for
economic and other
indicators)
EarthTrends (extensive
comparison data on all
nations)
GEOHIVE Main Site
(Extensive world
demographic data of all
kinds)
3
Alief ISD 2011
Grade 6
4