Climate Land Interaction Project (CLIP) - East Africa

Lesson 1 : Physical and Agricultural Geography of Kenya (Grade 7)

To utilize this lesson, please download the following files.
Further instructions are given in the lesson plan.

    Lesson Plan             Lesson              Google Earth KMZ         


Overview:
    Using Google Earth and some custom digital maps, students will explore the physical and agricultural geography of Kenya in east Africa. An engaging "flight" along a portion of the Rift Valley in Tanzania and Kenya will highlight some of the spectacular landforms associated with Plate Tectonics in this area.
    Students will explore several maps of the population distribution and precipitation climatology of Kenya. Students will investigate the concept of moisture availability (average annual precipitation divided by potential evaporation) as it applies to the spatial distribution of crop failure risks in Kenya.
    Students will learn the major cash crops of Kenya and discover their spatial distributions. Lastly, using recent simulations from an NSF-funded research project at Michigan State University (www.clip.msu.edu), students will explore the impact of climate change on the agricultural geography of Kenya from present conditions to those predicted to occur by the year 2050.