Teacher Use of Economics and Cultural Geography for a Middle School Social Studies Class: Planning a Trip to Kenya and Tanzania.

This unit was designed by a certified Media and Social Studies teacher to help middle school students in Prince George's County, Maryland, plan a trip to East Africa and specifically to Kenya and Tanzania. Each school has a 90 percent African American student population in grades seven and eight, and both are magnet schools. The teacher has had a longstanding interest in bringing Africa into the social studies curriculum. By using geography, economics, and language skills, students educate themselves and experience social studies in a fresh manner. The paper provides guidelines for middle school teachers in methods of social studies application and gives specific information on planning and implementing the African trip. Specific information concerns activities, goals and objectives, a general overview, procedures, support resources, a model for student activity, Swahili vocabulary terms, and a list of African wildlife. (DB)