Globalization, Cultural Migration and its Impact on the Ndjukan Rain Forest Tribe

Social Studies Review, Spring 2007 by Carano, Ken

Grade Level:

* High School: 9-12

Social Science Disciplines:

World Geography, Global Studies

NCSS Thematic Strands:

(A) I. Culture

(B) IX. Global Connections

Performance Expectations: Grades 9-12

(A) I. d. Compare and analyze societal patterns for preserving and transmitting culture while adapted to environmental or social change.

(B) IX. c. Analyze and evaluate the effects of changing technologies on the global community.

(C) I. f. Interpret patterns of behavior reflecting values and attitudes that contribute or pose obstacles to cross-cultural understanding.

NETS-S National Educational Technology Standards for Students:

(A) 4. Technology communications tools

(B) 5. Technology research tools

Performance Expectations: Grades 9-12

(A) 4. (10). Collaborate with peers, experts, and others to contribute to a contentrelated knowledge base by using technology to compile, synthesize, produce, and disseminate information, models, and other creative works.

(B) 4, 5. (7). Routinely and efficiently use online information resources to meet needs for collaboration, research, publication, communication, and productivity.

(C) 5. (8). Select and apply technology tools for research, information analysis, problem solving, and decision making in content learning.

Introduction:

This lesson focuses on two broad goals: cultural migration, and global perspectives. These goals will primarily be attained through the incorporation of technology and the inquiry method. During the lesson, the social studies class will initially discuss similarities between a tribe in the Suriname rain forest to tribes in Africa. Second, the class will determine why they share these similarities and the reason this culture continues to survive in the present day. As a conclusion to the lesson, students will have a two-week dialogue, by blogging, with two Surinamese nationals. Immediately prior to being introduced to the blog activity, the teacher and students will engage in an Internet safety issues discussion and activity.

Objectives:

(A) Students will develop a theory and understand why present-day Ndjukan tribes in the South American rain forest have similar lifestyles and traditions of many tribes in Africa.

(B) Students will develop global perspectives by interacting with Surinamese nationals during a classroom established blog.

Time:

Two 85-minute sessions (block schedule). In addition, students will participate in a two-week blog activity.

Instructional Steps:

(a) Technology - DVD: Students will watch a ten-minute DVD clip of an Ndjukan South American rain forest tribe, but will not be told where the tribe is located. The footage will serve a dual purpose. First, it will be a lesson attention getter. Second, it will provide a segue for a discussion in determining why the Ndjukans have so many similarities to "traditional" African tribes.

(b) Modeling: Teacher will demonstrate the steps of the inquiry method, which students will use to determine why Ndjukans have similarities to "traditional" African tribes. Teacher will model that students may ask a question only when called upon. It will be explained that questions must be phrased so that teacher can answer with a yes or no response. Once the question/answer session is over the class will develop theories explaining why they are similar.

(c) Inquiry Method: Students will receive a sheet explaining the DVD they have watched is an Ndjukan tribe in the Suriname, South America rain forest. Despite being the twenty-first century, they still practice many "traditional" African practices. The students' job is to discover why a present-day Ndjukan tribe in South American shares many similarities in lifestyle and traditions of many "ancient" tribes of Africa. After reading the problem statement, students will ask the teacher fifteen questions, which can be answered yes or no in an attempt to develop a theory to answer the question.

(d) Research: Each student will decide which theory they accept. As a conclusion to the first day of the lesson plan and for homework they will be required to do research on teacher preapproved Internet sites. The objective of the research is to determine accuracy of student theories. The results will be discussed at the beginning of class the next day.

(e) Guided Lecture: Teacher will give a ten-minute lecture about how Africans came to Suriname, South America and reasons the Ndjukans continue to share similarities with many "traditional" African tribes. Students will not take notes during this lecture. At the end of the ten minutes, students will write down all the information they can recall. Next, students will work in groups to reconstruct the concepts of the teacher lecture. To conclude, students will have a discourse with the teacher regarding any additional information they would like to know about the Ndjukans.

(f) Google Earth & Thematic Map: At the conclusion of the guided lecture, students will be provided two maps. The first map will show where in Africa many of the Ndjukans originated from and the second map will show the migration patterns of the Ndjukans in Suriname. Google Earth will then be shown on the projector. Suriname and the West coast of Africa will be focused on to show the migration patterns in relation to where students are located.