South Africa/Uganda/Canada project
PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS
Schools from Canada: Don Mills Collegiate Institute and St. Patrick's High School
Schools from South Africa: Jan Celliers Laerskool and Micha-Kgasi High School
Schools from Uganda: Gayaza High school and Namilyango College
Co-ordinator : Yorke Rodda from Jan Celliers Laerskool (Primary school)
Title: OUR HUMAN HABITAT AND THAT OF A SIX LEGGED "FRIEND"
Aims:
For pupils at a few selected schools (e.g. Micha Kgasi High School - GaRankuwa in North West Province of South Africa, Namilyango College in Uganda, Jan Celliers Laerskool in Johannesburg) to appreciate and understand more clearly their our own "living conditions" and community life and learn about how others live. In addition to this main aim we will also aim to get the pupils to know the Insects in their own community better. The pupils should at the end of the exercise be able to identify the components of their their community and their environment and how they relate to each other. The contrasts and similarities between the affluent urban environment and that of a poor rural village should become clear.
Structure:
Pupils from the 3 or 4 participating schools (e.g. Grade 7 at Jan Celliers Laerskool and Grade 11 Biology pupils at Micha Kgasi High School) will be divided into groups of between 4 and 7 members. They will proceed as a team to write about their human and natural environment by firstly focussing on one of the pupil's family and secondly on an insect that they find in their area.
At least one of the projects from each of the schools (and possibly more than one) will be typed into a computer and sent by e-mail to the other school. This will be printed out and placed where all can see it.
Below is an outline to help the groups answer the questions:
The Task
Group Name and names and ages of each members
Each group must give themselves a name that has something to do with the insect or the human they are describing e.g. Parktown Prawns or Kalabatsani Seekers. They need to also identify each member of the group giving their ages in brackets.
Part One: Our Human Environment
Reason for Choice:
The group will then take one of the members of the group and proceed to build a picture of that person's home, community and environment. They may choose the person with a type of family that most closely represents the average family in the group .. or they may choose the one that is most "interesting, way-out and different" - the choice is up to them .. but they must give a reason why they choose that family.
House structure and size:
How many rooms (e.g. bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms, garages), type of roof (e.g. grass, tin, tiles) type of walls (brick, mud, tin) yard around house (e.g. garden).
Family size and structure:
How many members in the household .. and what about the extended family?
Income:
What is the source of family income? E.g. who works in the family and what work do they do.
Food and drink:
What is the main source of energy (food) and water. Where does it come from?
Predators and Protection :
What is the main enemy of the family unit. You can mention drugs, alcohol, crime and divorce but do not go into too much details.
Community Structures
You can mention Church, Youth Clubs, Sport, School etc.
Mass Communication and Information
Communication Technology (ICT) Do you get a regular Newspaper, TV, Radio? Do you have a computer .. and does it have e- mail? Where is the nearest fax and telephone or how many telephones do you have?
Part Two: Our 6 legged neighbours and their habitat
Choose one insect in your environment .You may select any species of insect that you find in your environment, e.g. termites, ants, stink-bug, a beetle.
Describe your Insect .Give a description of the colour, size, appendages etc. of your insect. Also try to work out what sort of life-cycle it has .. like the mosquito that starts its life in water. You may have to do some research to find out more.
Where does it live? Describe it's habitat - where it lives.
What Food does it eats and how is it adapted to get that food? For example the meal moth may eat nothing but the lava gets into flour and meal and can cause a lot of trouble. It may eat other insects ..
What are its main predator and how does it protect itself? The stink-bug uses both camouflage and a unpleasant smell to keep birds away, the ant has a hard shell and it survives by the fact there are so many of them.
How do they communicate or anything else that may be of interest. The sound that a dung-beetle makes .. or the glow of a glow worm .. all of which probably have a communication function.
You are very welcome to illustrate your project with a drawing or a photo. Suggested length is between 2 and 5 pages for both parts unless you have drawings or pictures in which case it may be longer. Suggested time scale: Part One and Two: 8 April 1998
