Overview of Lesson		Activity One and Student Assessment
Connection to the Curriculum,Standards and Skills		Activity Two and Student Assessment
Grade Level		Activity Three
Purpose of Lesson		Activity Four and Student Assessment
Primary Geographic Question		Activity Five
Secondary Questions		Assessment of Lesson
Materials		References
Body of Lesson - Procedure & Assessment

Overview of the Lesson

The South has had a distinct culture, partly due to its heat and humidity.  The introduction and implementation of air conditioning to this region has dramatically changed it in terms of population, industry, lifestyle, and economy.

Geography Standards

Standard 10:  Characteristics of cultural mosaics, how cultures change, how cultures influence regional characteristics, how technology affects standard of living.

Standard 14:  How human actions modify the physical environment, how societies can devise solutions for environmental change.

Standard 18:  How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future, to solve problems, and make decisions.

Alabama Course of Study:  Social Studies Content Standards (Grade 7)

Standard 10:  Relate the use of technology to the way culture groups perceive and use places and regions.

Standard 14:  Identify changes over time in a nearby ecosystem resulting from human intervention.

Standard 23:  Identify the significance of major technological innovations that have been used to modify the physical environment, both in the past and in the present.

Geographic Skills

Asking geographic questions:  how is the South demarcated and what common characteristics contribute to its unique customs?  Analyzing geographic information:  trace the spread of air conditioning in the South and make a connection between its growing use and the way the region has changed.

Grade 7

To analyze the use of a human technology, air conditioning, and to determine how the employment of that new device has improved and or done damage to the South.

How did the invention and introduction of air conditioning into the South change the region in terms of economy, population, human traditions, and cultural distinctiveness?

What is the South and what is its main common characteristic?

How did the South get relief from the intense heat before air conditioning?

Who invented air conditioning and what were the milestones in its development?

What were the first places to use air conditioning and why?

• Map of the United States
• Colored Pencils
• Goodes Atlas
• Chalk Board
• Overhead Projector

Activity One

Secondary Question # 1:  What is the South and what is its main common characteristic?

Divide the students into small groups.  Have them to look at a map of the United States from the atlas and list what states they think are part of the South.  Have them to list some characteristics that would put that state in the Southern region.

Share with each group the map of the South found in the Goodes Atlas and help them to understand the meaning of the maps and discuss how that shapes the lifestyle of the South.

Assessing Student Learning: Activity One

Have each group appoint a leader and that leader presents findings to the class.

Activity Two

• Secondary Question # 2:  How did the South get relief from the intense heat before air conditioning?
• Divide into groups and give each group a different assignment.  Group #1:  draw the kind of houses they would build.  Group #2:  draw an evening activity to cool off.  Group #3:  describe cooking habits.  Group #4:  describe working habits.  Group #5:  draw a weekend activity.

Assessing Student Learning: Activity Two

Have each group to present their creative work to the class.

Activity Three

• Using the drawing guide, draw on the chalk board pictures of a "dog trot" house and a "blowing tree".  Ask the class how these pictures reflect the need for escaping heat.

Activity Four

• Secondary Question #3 & #4: Who invented air conditioning and what were the milestones in its development.  What were the first places to use air conditioning and why?  Use the overhead projector and the prepared transparency to share this information.  Encourage the students to take notes.

Assessing Student Learning: Activity Four

Put the students in pairs and have them to check their notes with each other for accuracy.

Activity Five

• Using the Discussion Guide, lead a class discussion on how the South has changed because of air conditioning.

Ask students to write a paragraph in response to the primary question.

Goode's Atlas

The Journal of Southern History, Vol. L, No. 4, 1984.

World Book, Vol. 1