The Problem.
If I were to speak in general terms, I would say that most students do not know very much about the continent of Africa. If I were to elaborate, I could say that most students do not understand the size and diversity of Africa either. More alarming is the fact there is a tendency for students to confuse Africa as a country.
The Solution.
The above map found on the website Information is Beautiful might help many students make a visual connection with the size, scope, and diversity of Africa. This map does a number of things to help students (and teachers).
- It clearly communicates the size of the continent by including many countries students are more familiar with, especially the United States.
- By comparing its size with other countries, it is a way to show students that Africa is indeed a continent made up of many different countries.
- The map reveals the enormous amount of landmass taken up by Africa and as a result students can understand the variety of environmental and cultural diversity that accompanies such areas of land. As mentioned by a comment left by Lisa students can be asked to “imagine the number of different environments and land types in the US… and now think about how much variation there can be in geology, rainfall, vegetation in an area” as big as Africa.
- Lastly, and probably most obviously, it offers an opportunity to discuss distortions found in map projections and the problems connected with placing a 3D spherical image on a flat piece of paper.
There is also a pdf available of the file –
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