Electronic Resource Magazine
Volume 7: Summer 1: Global Education Project: Child Mortality: South Africa's AIDS Epidemic	Printer Friendly Version

South Africa's AIDS Epidemic

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/fyi/teacher.resources/lesson.plans/08/17/aids.haven/index.html

This lesson comes from the CNNFYI.   In it, students will examine the social stigma that comes from having HIV/AIDS, and take a look at the situation with orphaned children in South Africa.   There, HIV/AIDS has ravaged the adult population, leaving thousands of children on their own.  

Students begin with by reading a CNN article from 2000 dealing with the plight of children.   Students are presented with open ended questions regarding what they have read and their feelings about the treatment people living with AIDS receive.   This is followed by group work that sees students researching the long-term social, political or economic consequences of this disease.

The lesson plan refers to the International Conference held in South Africa in 2000.   A link to the conference web site is provided, but it is no longer active.   Another conference was held in Toronto in 2002.   Information on that conference can be found at http://www.aids2006.org/ .   The XVII International Conference will be held in Mexico City in August ( www.aids2008.org ).  

This lesson would be suitable for students in Social Studies 11, Unit 2:   Population.

Curriculum Links and Objectives

Social Studies 20, Unit 2:   Population

• Know that the rate of natural increase in a population is the difference between the birth rate and the death rate.
• Know that population growth rates vary from region to region and that regions with different population compositions make different demands on social policy.
• Is progress achieving the goal of:
• allowing as many people as possible to live;
• giving as much wealth and power as possible to as many people as possible; or,
• learning to live in harmony with the environment?

Evaluation Links

Saskatchewan teachers have been provided support resources for student assessment and evaluation from the provincial ministry of education, Saskatchewan Learning. Specifically, teachers have been provided with the document Student Evaluation: a Teacher Handbook, in print format. Chapter 4 on specific student assessment techniques contains a variety of ready-made rubrics, rating scales, checklists, portfolio set-ups and templates that could be adapted to each task developed in your classroom. This resource is available on-line at: http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/evergreen/policy/studeval/chap4001.html. The simple templates outlined on this Saskatchewan Learning site, will help you tailor your assessment to match any activity and ensure that your objectives are being met.

Another source of easily adaptable evaluation material is Discovery School located at http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html.  The site has both subject specific evaluation tools and evaluation instruments for process oriented tasks.  You will also find rubric builders, portfolio evaluation instruments, graphic organizer evaluation strategies, etc. all at this site.

Another rubric generator can be found at http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/.  And, for a discussion on the value of using rubrics in the middle grades, teachers may want to go to http://www.middleweb.com/rubricsHG.html.

Produced with the support of the Government of Canada through
the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).