For this week’s unit you will have an opportunity to learn about William Kamkwamba, a young innovator from Malawi, and major themes around environment and innovation in Africa through the film “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.” Based on a true story and taking place in the early 2000’s in Kasungu, Malawi, it deals with a drought in a small village, which has many of the village’s inhabitants struggling to find adequate sustenance. While delving into this bleak reality, it also provides a light at the end of the tunnel, coming in the form of a young boy named William Kamkwamba. William (portrayed by newcomer Maxwell Simba) is an adolescent growing up in the village of Wimbe. Along with his sister Annie (Lily Banda) and parents Trywell (Ejiofor) and Agnes (Aissa Maiga), the family works as farmers, harvesting grain. Within recent years, drought has caused their crops to fail, leading the family to struggle for adequate food. The village around them is also going through the same, leading to riots and eventually a good portion of the community abandoning the town for more hopeful endeavours (Credit: Filminquiry.com).
You will have the opportunity to dig deeper into the movie’s themes through independent exploration and think about your role as a young innovator in your own community.
UNIT ACTIVITIES:
Intro/Pre-Work (Day 1)
Research (Day 2 & 3)
Create/Innovate (Day 4 & 5)
Extension
SUGGESTED MODIFICATIONS: If necessary, consider introducing the following modifications-
Wherever multiple texts are provided, select only one
Chunk larger texts and continue to check for understanding
Read texts two times through, once to identify the main idea and then a second time for details
Text dependent questions are designed to support bigger ideas, use these as a scaffold to help make connections
Use this Annotation Key
Identify unfamiliar words before starting to read and create a personal dictionary using Vocabulary.com through your Clever account
Create an outline before you begin writing
Use a dictation feature to help support your writing
Make time for revisions and edits when writing
Note: You will need to access your BPS Clever account (www.clever.com/in/bostonpublic) for various activities in this unit. If at any point you are unfamiliar with vocabulary please look it up at vocabulary.com through your Clever account.
Objective: In order to provide context to the film “The Boy that Harnessed the Wind” students will understand the causes and effects of the famine in Malawi that devastated the community and pushed William Kamkwamba towards courageous innovation.
Read and Annotate the BBC News article “Malawi’s ‘worst-ever’ famine” for the cause and effect relationships surrounding the historic famine in Malawi in 2002.
Identify Cause: Something that made other things happen
Identify Effect: The result
Apply your new understanding of the text
Write down questions that you have
Let’s Try It! Read the following passage. The cause is highlighted and the effect is underlined.
“Vice-President Justin Malewezi says warning signs that there was an impending famine started flashing as early as August last year when it was noted that the country, which requires at least 1.8 million tonnes of the staple crop, maize, per year to feed its 11 million people, had a deficit of 400,000 tonnes.
"But we did not think things would be this bad," he admits.
Slow to act
Indeed the government's belated admission that a human catastrophe is looming in the country has caught donors unprepared.
A senior World Food Programme official says it was difficult to convince rich governments to release emergency funds for Malawi without the government acknowledging there was a famine.”
Note the same cause is included in the text in two different ways within the text.
The “belated admission” is included in the first paragraph. What exactly did the government fail to acknowledge?
What is a new understanding now that we’ve understood cause and effect in this text?
What questions do you have?
Read through the rest of the article “Malawi’s ‘worst-ever’ Famine” and identify 5 more cause and effect relationships. Annotating your new understanding along the way. See if you can find the answers to your questions in the text.
Discussion Prompt: Describe the political and social climate of Malawi due to the famine.
Watch the film “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.” This can be watched on Netflix - (you can sign up for a free trial and then cancel if you don't have a Netflix subscription. There is also a Netflix App for your phone) As you watch, answer the prompts below:
What role does the radio play in William's life growing up?
What caused William to decide to pursue science?
How was this viewed by the rest of the family/village?
What happens to devastate farmers in Malawi? How does it impact William’s family?
How does William continue his studies when he cannot afford school?
Where does William get the idea for the windmill?
Locate a country/region to focus your research
Where is famine occurring in Africa?
How extensive is the problem?
What are the effects?
What is being done to address the problems?
Locate a country/region to focus your research
What is deforestation?
Why is it a problem?
How does deforestation impact animals and humans?
What is being done to address the problem?
Locate a country/region to focus your research
What African countries are affected by droughts today?
How extensive is the problem?
What has been the effect of the droughts?
What is being done to address the problems?
What is the literacy rate in Malawi?
What percentage of children graduate high school?
What percentage graduate college?
What is the quality of education?
Is education readily available to all children? Explain.
What other types of educational opportunities exist for youth (outside of the classroom)?
What percentage of the population makes their living by farming?
What crops are grown?
What problems affect the farmers today?
What is being done to address the problems?
What is the Moving Windmills project?
What are the goals of the project?
How successful has it been?
How can people get involved?
As you watch the TED Talk, list out all of the problems that William mentions that he has worked to fix in his community.
William’s community was faced with a famine, leading families who rely on farming, without food because of a lack of water. Think about something that your community could use more of in order to improve the quality of life.
Are there parallels between the research topic you chose and your own community?
What is something simple or small, that if replicated, could make a big difference?
Look at some of the articles and videos below that show students inventing items that solve big problems.
Now its your turn to innovate! For this section you will decide on one idea to create and innovate. If you are having a tough time creating an idea from scratch, try some of the ideas above and build them. The format for creation is below. You can choose how to present your information - We recommend an Infographic, Powerpoint, Lab Report, or Infomercial.
Research
What is the topic? What is its background or history?
What steps or inventions have been used to solve this issue?
What data is there to support that this is a problem in your community?
Hypothesis or Claim
What is your answer to solving this problem? (It should be in the following format: If_______________, then ____________ because__________.
Prototype & Create
What are you going to build or create?
Include a model with measurements
Include directions for building
Include materials used
Build your prototype!
Collect Evidence & Analyze
Test out your Prototype. (This should include multiple trials to collect evidence.)
Include a Chart to organize your data and a graph to show the analysis . Make sure to label your chart, graph, the axis, and include units of measurement.
What are the mean, median, and mode?
How did it go? What needs to be changed? Why?
Revise Prototype
Correct your prototype based on the data collected.
Collect Evidence & Analyze
Test out your Prototype. (This should include multiple trials to collect evidence.)
Include a Chart to organize your data and a graph to show the analysis . Make sure to label your chart, graph, the axis, and include units of measurement.
What are the mean, median, and mode?
Conclusion
How does your prototype work?
What does your data say?
Are there parts that still require further research? What are they?
How much would it cost to create your item? Is there a cost benefit for a family?
Why should your community create your item or purchase it?
Read the book of the same title and draw comparisons between the two works.
Write a review that a teacher could use for their students. Which one would you recommend for an elementary student? Middle School student? Why and what subject matter do you think it fits best in?
Why is William’s story so important to tell to people all over the world?
OR
Read the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.
What are the parallels between the movie and Gladwell’s book?
What little things in your community could be done to solve big problems during COVID-19 quarantine?
