south african lesson

8/8/2019 South African Lesson

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2nd Grade

Inquiry-based LessonSouth Africa vs. Slaton, TXRonelle Howell, Cathelene Thomas Elementary, Slaton TX

[email protected]

1. Posing real questions

2. Finding relevant resources

3. Interpreting data

4. Sharing findingsThe steps above outline an inquiry-based lesson for any topic such as art elements,

a particular artist or style. In this instance the process was applied to

understanding, comparing and contrasting two cultures and environments. I

devised this lesson to fit my students needs, but feel free to adapt any partfor your own needs. See notes below.


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Step 1: Posing Real Questions

What is a topic you are interested in?

What do you know already about this topic

and how do I know it? What do you want to learn about this topic?

What do you need to know?

What might a possible answer be?

Even though the topic of inquiry was set, students were able to pose questions

about those areas that interested them specifically.


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Examining Artifacts

Wire Car and bicycle

Soda Can animals, relief landscape

Wire and Bead decorations

Soap Stone Carvings

Wooden Spear and Broom

Potato Printing, Patterned Shirts and Batiks

Drums, Gourd Rattles, Carved Wood Containers

Books: Galimoto and Siyolo se Trui

The photos following show the actual artifacts students were able to examine with their

5 senses and extract questions based on their perceptions


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Step 2:

Finding Relevant, Valid Resources What kinds of sources might help?

Where do you find them?

How do you know the information is valid? What other information is there?

Even though I was born and raised in South Africa and could have told

the students what I wanted them to know, it was more important for

them to generate questions and find answers from a host of sources.We used printed literature, but focused mainly on a Peace Corps volunteer

in South Africa. Students wrote what they were interested in finding out

and we emailed the questions to our Peace Corps volunteer. An added bonus

is the presentation of experiences given by our Peace Corps Volunteer to

our students upon return to the U.S. [December 2010]


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Questions Posed to Peace Corps Volunteer

What materials are used to build houseswhere [you are living]?

Do kids really make their own toys? Have you

seen toys made from wire, like cars andtrucks?

Do kids go to school like we do? What are theschools like? Do the students really wear

uniforms? What kinds of art do you see?

It was very important to keep the questioning concentrated around students

own experiences. You will quickly see that their line of questioning will relate to

what they understand about their own milieu. Also: the slides following show a

sampling of lessons and contacts through the Peace Corps Volunteers site.


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Sources of Information

Artifacts and Observation Books: Galimoto, My Painted House[by Maya

Angelou] and Siyolo se Trui even though this book is in Afrikaans, thestudents readily understood the story through the illustrations

PowerPoint of Townships see slides of Khayelitsha Examples of artwork and shanty towns. The students immediately saw the

correlation between the art and the surroundings.

PowerPoint of Slaton a virtual tour Peace Corp Volunteer in the village of Mmametlhake, in

South Africa Web Sources:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html http://www.proteacher.com/090062.shtml

Lessons on Africa


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Step 3: Interpreting Data

How is this information relevant?

How does it relate to what else we know?

What parts support the hypothesis and whatparts do not?

What new questions does it raise?

At this point, we had received information from our Peace Corps volunteer in

South Africa. She answered all the questions and with great sensitivity related

her experiences and circumstances to concepts in West Texas. The following

slides show some of the answers that were sent back to my students.


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Answers from South Africa

It is a very sandy area. All roads except for the main tar road that goesthrough the middle of the village is sand.

A regular household chore is raking the sand - as soon as you get itcomplete someone walks through it or the wind blows it around. (As

autumn sets in, we have had many West Texas type windy days.)

Only wealthy people have grass lawns - upkeep is very expensive andtime consuming.

My house/most of the houses in the village are made ofbrick covered

with plaster. The bricks are handmade and appear to be a mixture ofcement and sand.

These answers, for example, gave students the opportunity to begin their

Compare and Contrast exercise. Students were able to frame the answers

In a way that they could understand.


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Some people have slated roofs, but most are roofs of corrugated tin --it gets rather loud during a thunderstorm. The tin roofs also trap heaton hot days creating an oven effect. There are many houses in our areathat are made entirely of corrugated tin. They are ridiculously hot

during summer and ridiculously cold during winter.

Some people set these shanties up as temporary housing until they canbuild a brick house--that may mean saving for years and depending onthe contractor waiting for many months or years for the completion ofthe house. But many more people use the houses as permanentstructures and will live in them majority of their lives due to poverty.

The majority of my students are in situations of poverty and were completely in

tune with the circumstances that students in South Africa faced. Subsequent 2nd

grade classes continue writing letters to our contact in South Africa and have

developed new ideas to pursue.


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We use an outdoor tap for water. My host-family had installed anelectric pump to bring up water from the well. Prior to that, they wereusing a hand pump. We are still waiting for the men to come and installthe Jo-Jo. Ajo-jo is a large plastic tank that stores water. When we have

the tank installed, the pump will pump water into the Jo-Jo and the tapwill deliver water from the Jo-Jo.

I have a plastic barrel that I store water in for use in the house. Itprobably holds about 15 - 20 gallons of water. I have to refill it every 3 -4 days, which is a process of filling up a 5 gallon bucket at the tap andcarrying it into the house. Right now the water is very sandy. Safe todrink, but it needs to be filtered to get the sand out. I use a Britae filter

for this. Every night I filter about 12 liters of water for use the next day. Ihave other buckets that I use to store the filtered water. When the Jo-Jois completed, I will hopefully only have to filter water for drinkingpurposes.

We decided to use a Venn Diagram to graph the information. Each 2ndgrade class

Completed a similar graph [6 2ndgrade classes]. See the following 2 slides.


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Step 4: Sharing Findings

1. What was your experience in this inquiry?

2. What were some of your key learnings?

3. What challenges did you face?

4. What questions do you still have?

This step is a crucial part of the inquiry. In the spirit of the art they saw

and handled from South Africa, students made cardboard and soda

can assemblages about their own town. The 2 day project revealedinsightful expressions of vibrant color and deep connections to the

community. They also wrote about their experience and learning while

in the art room. All of these steps were shared with the school by posting

displays in the hallway. This was later expanded to other writing endeavors

in their homerooms.


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Connections: Literature; Social Studies; Science

Reuse/Reduce/Recycle, Properties of substances.


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Creating an Inquiry Based Lesson

Choose a set of TEKS and design an inquiry-based lesson that will expand studentsperceptual skills in [fine arts].

Prepare the lesson using: The TEKS

Specific skill

Assessment approach Lesson design


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Closing Quote

It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that themodern methods of instruction have not yetentirely strangled the holy curious of inquiry.

It is a very grave mistake to think that theenjoyment of seeing and searching can bepromoted by means of coercion and a senseof duty.

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

south african lesson

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