Lesson: Stereotypes in Africa

Source: Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit

Created by: Jennifer Hutchison, Germantown Friends School

Subjects: Social Studies

Grade Levels: 3-5

View or download this Lesson Plan.

Overview: It is important that we as educators advocate a feeling of understanding and appreciating other cultures and societies. Often, we tend to judge other people’s actions and ways of life by things we see in the media, movies we watch and books we read. In teaching about Africa, stereotypes and biases arise and students need to challenge preconceptions and reflect on the stereotypes they carry about Africa. This lesson is intended to open their eyes to the diversity of the African continent.

Objectives: To raise students’ awareness about stereotypes of Africa, help students understand the importance of authorship and sourcing when learning about another culture, help students practice identifying important details, making logical inferences, and drawing informed conclusions from visual documents, and give students an appreciation for the diversity of the African continent.

The Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit

This lesson is one of 29 lessons (K-12, all subjects) in the Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit. The goal of the Tool Kit is to help educators and their students develop a transnational analysis in their classrooms by using complex themes of world heritage as a framework to understand global regions across disciplines. These themes include shared architectural, cultural, economic, environmental, political, recreational, religious, and social heritage features.  Real teachers created these lessons and based their work on “best practices” that reflect student collaboration and the broad goals of young people in ways that support care and understanding of others who may be very different in background and history.