China's Economic Growth and the Environment

Today, the students analyzed and discussed this graph. When I asked them to tell me what accounts for China's increase in GDP, many of the students said, "education"!
We have been discussing GDP per capita and the sectors that are contributing to China's economic growth. Next,  we will discuss environmental and social issues in China and how they are connected to the economy.

There will be a major assessment on Thursday covering key physical features, vocabulary and the issues mentioned above.

Buddhism, the British in India and Gandhi

This week we have been discussing the origins of Buddhism and the teachings of Siddartha Gatama. We watched part of a documentary on Buddhism that I highly recommend, if you are interested in the topic. PBS Documentary on Buddhism

The students will also be learning about British Imperialism and colonial India. We will watch a scene from the movie Gandhi (1982) and touch (briefly) on Gandhi's influence in India and throughout the world. While it is lengthy, it does a wonderful job of depicting the circumstances in India and the origins of non-violent protest. If you (or your child) have not seen it, it would be a great way to spend an evening as a family.

India

We will spend the rest of this week on key physical features of India. The students will work with a partner to "investigate" an assigned feature. In addition to finding the location, students will research industries/jobs associated with the feature, main population centers, natural resources, and problems associated with the features. Each pair of students will create a poster to present the information.  Then students will use the posters to record information about all of the features on a graphic organizer.

India Resources

The movie Gandhi (1982) is excellent and available on Netflix.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/gandhi/

This PBS website includes information about culture, history and religion of India and includes a timeline and photographs.

http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/resources/websites/

BBC website profile of India.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12557384

This website provides the history of the partition of India including an annotated timeline.

http://english.emory.edu/Bahri/Part.html

This is the website of an Indian scholar that includes information about the culture and history of India as well as his blog.

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/

This website has a map of a virtual Indian village that you can roam.

http://virtualvillage.wesleyan.edu

 

 

 

 

Colonialism and Africa

The students have finished working on their projects and are going to learn about colonialism and Africa. Today, we discussed the concept of colonialism and the reasons that European countries established colonies in Africa. The students will also learn how the colonial boundaries that were established in the "Scramble for Africa" led to conflicts.

I am attaching a link to an article on "Conflict Minerals" that demonstrates how the history of colonialism impacts the DRC today.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/conflict-minerals/gettleman-text

News on Kenya

Many of the students have commented on news of the attack on the mall in Kenya.

http://theweek.com/article/index/250012/kenya-mall-siege-did-al-shabab-just-shoot-itself-in-the-foot#

This Week in World Geography

This week the students are expected to work on (and complete) the Sub-Saharan Africa Issues Project. Today, I checked in with the groups to determine how they are progressing. Some are further along than others. In fairness to my third period class, they have not had computer access until today. Each student is responsible for answering research questions on their topic and their groups have assigned each person some tasks to complete. Due to the limited availability of computers at school, the students may have to spend time on their research at home.

Project and Current Events

The students received the instructions for the Sub-Saharan Africa Issues project. Each student will be assigned specific tasks within their group for the next 2 weeks. The first task is to answer their assigned research questions (Due Friday). We will be spending time in the computer lab so that they can find the information that they need. Here is a link to current events in Africa. I will also add a page of websites that are good resources on Africa to Schoology.http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/africa/