Introduction: Climate and weather are terms that are sometimes confused. The average temperature and rainfall in an area over an extended period time refers to the climate of that area. The atmospheric condition on a given day is the weather for a particular place. By using climographs, students can examine patterns of temperature and precipitation for regions of Africa.

Grade Level: 5-12

Connection to National Geography Standards: The geographically informed person knows and understands:

#1 How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective

#3 How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface

#4 The physical and human characteristics of places

#7 The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface

#8 The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth's surface

#15 How physical systems affect human systems

Objectives: Students will be able to:

• chart statistical information on graphs
• interpret the information and use it to explain spatial relationships
• identify the relationship between climate and vegetation
• distinguish characteristics of various climates in Africa
• explain how various climates have an impact on human populations

Materials:

• Large physical map of Africa
• Large political map of Africa
• Temperature and precipitation data sheets
• Blank climographs
• Slides showing vegetation patterns of Africa

Introducing the Lesson: Ask students to look at the physical map of Africa and to make some generalization about the vegetation patterns. Have them consider the effects of temperature and rainfall on vegetation. What do the vegetation patterns suggest about the temperatures and rainfall near the Equator? What does the sparse vegetation in the northern region of Africa imply?

Procedure:

• Explain to students how geographers graph temperature and rainfall patterns. Each graph illustrates the temperature and precipitation of a particular city. The line graph represents the temperature and the bar graph represents rainfall.
• Have students complete ten climographs of various cities in Africa using the information provided on the temperature and precipitation data sheets. The climographs should represent different climatic regions.
• Students should find the cities they graphed on the political map of Africa and then find their location on the physical map of Africa.
• Review the findings with the class and discuss that starting at the Equator and going both north and south the climatic regions have the same pattern.
• Show students slides of Africa showing the patterns from tropical rainforest along the Equator to savanna to desert regions.
• Discuss with students how the climate in an area affects the people who live there.
• As an extension, students could find data on the city where they live, complete a climograph and compare it to cities in Africa to find which one shares the most similar characteristics.

Assessment: Students should accurately complete the climographs and be able to interpret the information provided by the graphs.

Temperature Data

Cities	Lat.	Long.	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Aswan	24deg.N	33deg.E	59	63	70	78	85	90	91	90	88	82	72	62
Walvis Bay	23deg.S	14deg.E	65	66	66	65	62	60	59	57	58	60	61	64
Cairo	30deg.N	31deg.E	55	57	63	70	76	80	82	82	78	74	65	58
Kayes	14deg.N	12deg.W	77	81	89	94	96	91	84	82	82	85	83	77
Mogadishu	2deg.N	45deg.E	77	79	81	82	80	77	75	76	76	77	76	77
Bulawago	21deg.S	29deg.E	71	70	69	66	61	58	57	61	67	71	72	72
Algiers	37deg.N	3deg.E	53	55	58	61	66	71	77	78	75	68	62	57
Cape Town	34deg.S	18deg.E	70	70	68	63	59	56	55	56	68	61	64	68
Addis Ababa	9deg.N	39deg.E	60	62	65	64	66	64	62	61	61	62	59	59
Yaounde	4deg.N	12deg.E	74	74	74	72	72	71	70	71	71	71	72	73
Kananga	6deg.S	22deg.E	76	76	76	77	77	76	77	76	76	76	77	77
Mombassa	4deg.S	40deg.E	80	80	82	81	78	77	75	76	77	78	79	80
Nairobi	1deg.S	37deg.E	64	65	66	65	63	61	59	60	63	66	64	63