South Sudan Primary 3 Social Studies Curriculum

Unit 1: The People of Africa

• Key Inquiry Questions:
• How do ethnic groups in your community reflect the history of South Sudan?
• Why are some cultural activities present today also evident in communities in the past?
• What role do leaders now and in the past have on shaping the way people live?
• What is the importance of National Symbols and how would you describe their value?
• How do National Symbols affect or describe how we live our lives today?
• Learning Activities:
• Research and present on ways people lived in the past (food, clothing, pastimes, jobs, homes, religious practices).
• Identify common everyday activities and events, and explore ceremonies and rituals practiced in the past and present.
• Learn about key leaders of the past who have shaped the present.
• Compare economic activities to ways of life, focusing on trade and farming.
• Investigate the development of early settlements and migration patterns in South Sudan.
• Identify and recognize symbols that describe important features of past life and compare them to National Symbols today.
• Explore the relevance of these symbols to life now, in the past, and in the future.
• Assessment Opportunities: Observation, conversation, and product creation.

Unit 2: The Land of Africa

• Key Inquiry Questions:
• How would you describe the range of physical features on the continent of Africa?
• What physical features would you select from South Sudan that brings the most benefits to the people?
• What do you think is the most interesting physical feature of the continent of Africa?
• How do maps help us to understand our world?
• Learning Activities:
• Describe physical features, name and describe those typical to the African continent.
• Explore the land near where they live and compare it to an unfamiliar place.
• Examine photographs and other visual images to understand land formation.
• Offer suggestions on how physical features came about and check theories using reference books and the internet.
• Build a list of significant physical features in Africa and determine which are particular to their Payam and/or South Sudan.
• Compare the benefits and difficulties presented by certain landforms, including soil erosion, mosquito breeding, and tourism opportunities.
• Suggest how physical features of South Sudan and Africa could be represented on a map or describe existing map symbols.
• Explore maps of their local area and the continent of Africa.
• Learn about different areas of Africa, such as deserts and mountainous regions.
• Assessment Opportunities: Observation, conversation, and product creation.

Unit 3: Environmental Pollution

• Key Inquiry Questions:
• What forms of environmental pollution are around our school?
• What is the most significant contribution to pollution near where you live?
• How can we limit and reduce pollution from rubbish?
• What are good ways of presenting ideas to others about something that is important to us?
• What are the effects of listening carefully to how others respond to our ideas?
• Learning Activities:
• Investigate pollution evident near where they live (rubbish, burning, sewage, water pollution).
• List different types of litter and rubbish around the school and identify their sources.
• Explore other kinds of pollution reported or evident in their locality.
• Investigate sources of pollution and think of ways to prevent them.
• Investigate other sources of information, like news reports, to explore pollution threats in their Payam.
• Ask people to share their views about pollution and how it could be prevented.
• Develop a simple strategy to prevent pollution and present it to their school or wider community.
• Listen carefully to responses to their presentations and use them to improve their ideas.
• Assessment Opportunities: Observation, conversation, and product creation.

Unit 4: What's the Difference?

• Key Inquiry Questions:
• What are the advantages and disadvantages associated with village and town life?
• What factors influence the decision for people to move from one place to another?
• What could be done to minimize migration from a place that you studied?
• What features of where you do you enjoy the most?
• What job or product do you hope to be associated with when you are older? Why?
• Learning Activities:
• Identify advantages and disadvantages associated with various settlements, starting with their own locality.
• Develop a list of features that describe their own locality and create a list of features of a contrasting settlement.
• Use maps and knowledge of other people to investigate places that contrast with where they live.
• Use investigations of contrasting localities to develop knowledge and understanding of land use and economic activity across Africa.
• Represent these elements in various ways, including drawings, descriptive writing, and symbols.
• Organize work that illustrates the range of products and jobs associated with investigated places.
• Use knowledge about places to understand why people migrate.
• Study weather and climate.
• Assessment Opportunities: Observation, conversation, and product creation.

Unit 5: More Problem Solving

• Key Inquiry Questions:
• Describe some effective ways of resolving conflict in your community.
• What are the attitudes that support peaceful communities?
• Can you describe where there is danger near where you live and how to minimize injury?
• What actions can you take to persuade others about the importance of respect and tolerance for difference and diversity?
• Learning Activities:
• Consider and explain the reasons for conflict in their community.
• Share important aspects of maintaining peaceful communities and develop ideas for conflict resolution.
• Reflect on conflict incidents with friends and develop strategies to "make friends" and resolve community problems.
• Understand the need for gender equality in their community and provide examples of relevant situations.
• Understand and explain the risks of mines and unexploded ordnance.
• Understand how conflict led to the placing of landmines and recognize where, how, and why conflict resolution failed.
• Assessment Opportunities: Observation, conversation, and product creation.

Source: