Thursday, June 4, 2015


It is four fifteen here in sunny Middle Tennessee where the thermostat reads 81 degrees. It really doesn't feel like that as there is not a good deal of humidity in the air.

I've spent most of the day researching the African Rift Valley and writing on my different platforms.

Why the ARV? Well, I'm in the process of writing a unit of study on early human origins in Africa. In order to write the unit, I have to research it. I really don't know much about this time in pre-history other than what little I have read on the most recent discoveries by the Leakeys~which isn't much.

So what do you know about the African Rift Valley?

Here is what I have so far in the Unit:


Unit Goal: Students will analyze the geographic, political, economic, and social structures of early Africa through the Neolithic Age which led to the development of civilizations.

Standards taught in this unit:
1.       Identify sites in Africa where archaeologists and historians have found evidence of the origins of modern human beings and describe what the archaeologists found.
2.       Provide textual evidence that characterizes the nomadic hunter-gatherer societies of the Paleolithic Age.
3.       Explain the importance of the discovery of metallurgy and agriculture.
4.       Evaluate the climatic changes and human modifications of the physical environment that gave rise to the domestication of plants and animals and new sources of clothing and shelter.
5.       Summarize the impact of agriculture related to settlement, population growth, and the emergence of civilization.
6.       Identify and explain the importance of the characteristics of civilizations.
7.       Recognize time designations and the abbreviations.

Essential Question:
How do people adapt to their environment?
·         What was life like in the Paleolithic Age?
·         How did people adapt to survive during the ice ages?
·         How did farming change people’s lives?
·         What was life like during the Neolithic Age?
·         What characteristics did early civilizations share?

The Text that I've Researched so far:
Text 1: Textbook Chapter 3 “Early Humans and the Agricultural Revolution

Text 2: Digital collections of early African art and tools, including cave paintings and spears.

So do you have any other ideas for me?



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