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History, Civics & Social Studies · Grade 6

African and American Societies in Comparative Context

Learners investigate Kush and Aksum in northeast Africa, the Nok culture and the Bantu expansion, and the Olmec, Maya, Chavín and Ancestral Puebloan societies of the Americas. They compare societies with a clear framework and ask a deeper question: how does the kind of evidence that survives shape what we can know?

  • 4 lessons
  • About 100 minutes
  • African and American societies check: 9 questions
  • Ways to answer: fill in the blanks, choose an answer, highlight a text, pick map regions, match pairs and type a number
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What learners will discover

  • Describe the kingdoms of Kush and Aksum, the Nok culture and the Bantu expansion, including their economies, governments and connections.
  • Describe the Olmec, Maya, Chavín and Ancestral Puebloan societies, including their environments, achievements and descendants.
  • Compare an African and an American society using a framework of environment, economy, government, belief and records.
  • Explain how the kinds of surviving evidence (writing, archaeology, language and oral tradition) shape what historians can know.

Lessons

  1. Kush, Aksum and the Bantu expansion 7 steps4 practiceabout 26 min
  2. Societies of the Americas 6 steps4 practiceabout 26 min
  3. Comparing across continents 5 steps3 practiceabout 24 min
  4. Uneven evidence 5 steps3 practiceabout 24 min
  5. African and American societies check 9 questions at the end

Keep exploring

More 6th grade social studies

Guide for grown-ups