Click Here to access the PDF view of resource list.
N’Gen TV Africa Science videos for elementary school:
N*Gen TV Africa Science Videos. Check out the Viewing Guide and Geographical Contexts of the videos in the “Videos” drop-down below.
The Lebombo bone: oldest mathematical artifact
The Lebombo bone (top) is the oldest known mathematical artifact. It is a tally stick with 29 distinct notches that were deliberately cut into a baboon’s fibula. It was discovered within the Border Cave in the Lebombo Mountains of Eswatini. The Lebombo bone (bottom) resembles a calendar stick still used in Namibia. See more about these artifacts under “Other Resources” below.
Storytelling & Science
“The oldest technology of the world is storytelling… We tell stories as a way to make sense of reality…” Listen to author Ben Okri’s eloquent analysis of the intersection of science and stories as a keynote for Strata Europe in 2014.
Books & Articles
Find myriad lessons, activities, and ideas in these books and articles. When the full text is available, it is indicated.
Ethnomathematics and Education in Africa. Gerdes, P. (2014).
Africa Counts. Zaslavsky, C. (1994) This book covers counting in words and in gestures; measuring time, distance, weight, and other quantities; manipulating money and keeping accounts; number systems; patterns in music, poetry, art, and architecture; and number magic and taboos. African games such as mankala and elaborate versions of tic-tac-toe show how complex this thinking can be.
More math games and activities from around the world. Zaslavsky, C. (2003). Math, history, art, and world cultures come together in this delightful book for kids, even for those who find traditional math lessons boring. More than 70 games, puzzles, and projects encourage kids to hone their math skills as they calculate, measure, and solve problems.
Number sense and nonsense. Zaslavsky, C. (2019). More than 80 games and activities help kids ages 8 and older go beyond just memorizing rules! They will instead learn to think critically about math and how numbers work. Group and individual games teach fun, useful ways to manipulate odd and even numbers, prime and composite numbers, common and decimal fractions, and factors, divisors and multiples of numbers.
Documenting the History of Black Mathematicians – American Mathematical Society event on October 9, 2020, Nira Chamberlain, Edray Goins, Talitha Washington, John Weaver, and Scott Williams discuss this history.
An ethnomathematician who studies the ways math and culture interact on the African continent. Eglash’s work as Fulbright scholar was published as African Fractals: modern computing and indigenous design. His NSF-funded research on “Culturally Situated Design Tools” allows youth to simulate indigenous and vernacular arts using “heritage algorithms” from those traditions. This is one component of his “generative justice” project, which seeks ways to shift science and innovation in service of a just and sustainable circular economy.
Gizo-Gizo at the Library of Congress – meet Emily Williamson Ibrahim, the author of Gizo Gizo and listen to the read-aloud of this place-based education book set in the Zongo Lagoon in Ghana.
African Mathematical Union. Professional in Rabat in 1976 during the first pan-African Congress, it aims to promote quality research, teaching, and outreach on mathematical activities in Africa.
Background on African Mancala Traditions.Mancala games involve strategy, skill, and are a great way of developing students’ arithmetic. This workshop from the Savannah African Art museum presents useful background, instructions for playing and includes even an online Mancala game!
Drum Beating and Foot Stomping (PBS) In this lesson, students watch African dances and calculate tempo along with other mathematical functions. It draws on this video of E Sin Mi d’Africa whereby Bi-Okoto Drum and Dance Theatre performs a welcome dance that combines movements from several traditional dances of the Yoruba people of Nigeria.
Rethinking Mathematics, an excellent publication from Rethinking Schools, features activities and articles to draw on.
Click HERE for the folder of resources on Storytelling science, compiled by Susan Douglass, featuring stories on Human migration and DNA, Iron, and technologies in the Niger River Inland Delta
Science and Storytelling, a Ted Talk by Lyucy Hawking, daughter of the famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. Not Africa-related, but worth checking out for inspiration.
The story of Onesimus: 9th grade students at Foxborough Regional Charter High School researched, wrote, and read the story of Onesimus, the pioneer West African who spread his wisdom and knowledge of inoculation, as an enslaved person in Boston.
Africa Writes, The Royal African Society: Launched in 2012, Africa Writes showcases established and emerging talent from the African continent and its diaspora in what is now the UK’s biggest celebration of contemporary African writing taking place over an exciting summer weekend. *Free online creative writing classes for young learners
Play Africa: Play Africa has developed an open-source toolkit, which supports local adaptation and implementation of Play Africa’s “Designing with Children” workshop. We developed this toolkit to build the capacity of placemakers, educators and others to lead a participatory workshop to positively influence the development of more child-friendly, safe and playful urban environments, with a focus on African cities and towns. This toolkit can be used by everyone to create a playful learning experience for children while empowering them to imagine an improved community.
Catchlight supports the power of visual storytelling to foster a more nuanced and empathetic understanding of the world, with the goal to discover, develop and amplify visual storytellers.
Children and Youth Books
Africa Access is always a great place to look for books!
For a select list of books having to do with sciences, math, technology and environmental sciences, see here:
Picture Books
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Kamkwamba, William. Published 2012
William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger, and a place where hope and opportunity were hard to find. But William had read about windmills in a book called Using Energy, and he dreamed of building one that would bring electricity and water to his village and change his life and the lives of those around him. His neighbors may have mocked him and called him misala—crazy—but William was determined to show them what a little grit and ingenuity could do.
Enchanted by the workings of electricity as a boy, William had a goal to study science in Malawi’s top boarding schools. But in 2002, his country was stricken with a famine that left his family’s farm devastated and his parents destitute. Unable to pay the eighty-dollar-a-year tuition for his education, William was forced to drop out and help his family forage for food as thousands across the country starved and died.
Yet William refused to let go of his dreams. With nothing more than a fistful of cornmeal in his stomach, a small pile of once-forgotten science textbooks, and an armory of curiosity and determination, he embarked on a daring plan to bring his family a set of luxuries that only two percent of Malawians could afford and what the West considers a necessity—electricity and running water. Using scrap metal, tractor parts, and bicycle halves, William forged a crude yet operable windmill, an unlikely contraption and small miracle that eventually powered four lights, complete with homemade switches and a circuit breaker made from nails and wire. A second machine turned a water pump that could battle the drought and famine that loomed with every season.
Soon, news of William’s magetsi a mphepo—his “electric wind”—spread beyond the borders of his home, and the boy who was once called crazy became an inspiration to those around the world.
* Also made into a movie.
Seeds of Change : Planting a Path to Peace. Johnson, Jen Cullerton. Published 2010
A picture book biography of scientist Wangari Maathai, the first African womanand first environmentalistto win a Nobel Peace Prize (in 2004), for her work planting trees in her native Kenya. Planting the Trees of Kenya. Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Green Belt Movement, grew up in the highlands of Kenya, where fig trees cloaked the hills, fish filled the streams, and the people tended their bountiful gardens. But over many years, as more and more land was cleared, Kenya was transformed. When Wangari returned home from college in America, she found the village gardens dry, the people malnourished, and the trees gone. How could she alone bring back the trees and restore the gardens and the people?
I Will Be a Hummingbird – an exquisite short folktale, by Wangari Mathai, on environmental action
Listen to Kenyans tell of how Wangari Maathai & the environmental movement changed their lives.
Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted a Million Trees – Frank Prevot. Published 2015. Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts to lead women in a nonviolent struggle to bring peace and democracy to Africa through its reforestation. Her organization planted over thirty million trees in thirty years. This beautiful picture book tells the story of an amazing woman and an inspiring idea.
I Am a Farmer – Baptiste and Miranda Paul. Published 2019.
When Tantoh Nforba was a child, his fellow students mocked him for his interest in gardening. Today he’s an environmental hero, bringing clean water and bountiful gardens to the central African nation of Cameroon. Authors Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul share Farmer Tantoh’s true story.
I Am a Farmer – in a brief video, meet the real Cameroonian farmer in the picture book “I Am Farmer “
The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela – Christina Kessler. Published 2006.
In the mountains of Ethiopia, a young girl named Almaz vows that one day her honey will be the best in the land. But the other beekeepers laugh her away and tell her it’s men’s work. Determined in her goal, Almaz decides to use her brains to prove them wrong.
One Plastic Bag: Isatou Cessay & the Recycling Women of the Gambia- Miranda Paul. Published 2015.
Plastic bags are cheap and easy to use. But what happens when a bag breaks or is no longer needed? In Njau, Gambia, people simply dropped the bags and went on their way. One plastic bag became two. Then ten. Then a hundred.The bags accumulated in ugly heaps alongside roads. Water pooled in them, bringing mosquitoes and disease. Some bags were burned, leaving behind a terrible smell. Some were buried, but they strangled gardens. They killed livestock that tried to eat them. Something had to change. Isatou Ceesay was that change. She found a way to recycle the bags and transform her community. This inspirational true story shows how one person’s actions really can make a difference in our world.
Famous Dinosaurs of Africa. Chinsamy – Turan, Anusuya. Published 2008
Although African dinosaurs make a significant contribution to palaeontology, they are often omitted from books in favor of better-known species like T. Rex. But their fossils have been discovered across the continent from the Sahara Desert and the dusty plains of Kenya and Tanzania to the sandstone flats of the Karoo and they are no less magnificent or fascinating than their ‘celebrity’ cousins.Famous Dinosaurs of Africa is written for children, but has broad appeal for anyone interested in learning more about dinosaurs. A brief general introduction is followed by short chapters on dinosaur species, among them those that were fish-eating, sociable, predatory, etc, as well as those that were cannibals, and the biggest meat-eating dinosaur of all time the thread being that they all come from Africa. Details are given about where they were found, the meaning of their scientific names, and their size and diet. Spectacular, colorful illustrations bring the creatures vividly to life; photographs, maps and line drawings further illustrate the subject, while ‘Unsolved’ and ‘Up close’ panels add to the intrigue. With a large, pullout poster, this is a most attractive and inspirational book.
Fatuma’s New Cloth. Bulion, Leslie. Published 2002.
Young Fatuma and her mother visit a contemporary African market to buy fabrics and teas and learn about life. A great book to pair with a geometry lesson that uses African textiles.
Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia. Paye, Won-Ldy. Published 2002.
Head is all alone. Body bounces along. Arms swing about. Legs stand around. They can’t do much by themselves, so they try to work together. But how? This vibrant, joyous retelling of a traditional Liberian creation story shows how much can be accomplished with a little cooperation.
Jamela’s Dress. Daly, Niki. Published 1999. Jamela gets in trouble when she takes the material intended for a new dress for Mama, parades it in the street, and allows it to become dirty and torn. But there is a happy ending in store for “Kwela Jamela African Queen,” and just in time.
Technology of Ancient Egypt. Kaplan, Leslie. Published 2004.
For older readers:
Transcendent kingdom. Gyasi, Yaa. Published 2020
Gifty is a fifth-year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after a knee injury left him hooked on OxyContin. Her suicidal mother is living in her bed. Gifty is determined to discover the scientific basis for the suffering she sees all around her.
But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family’s loss, she finds herself hungering for her childhood faith and grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive. Transcendent Kingdom is a deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief–a novel about faith, science, religion, love. Exquisitely written, emotionally searing, this is an exceptionally powerful follow-up to Gyasi’s phenomenal debut.
The science of the Dogon : decoding the African mystery tradition Scranton, Laird, 1953-
Published 2006
A look at the close resemblance between the creation and structure of matter in both Dogon mythology and modern science
Reveals striking similarities between Dogon symbols and those used in both the Egyptian and Hebrew religions
Demonstrates the parallels between Dogon mythical narratives and scientific concepts from atomic theory to quantum theory and string theory. The Dogon people of Mali, West Africa, are famous for their unique art and advanced cosmology. The Dogon’s creation story describes how the one true god, Amma, created all the matter of the universe. Interestingly, the myths that depict his creative efforts bear a striking resemblance to the modern scientific definitions of matter, beginning with the atom and continuing all the way to the vibrating threads of string theory. Furthermore, many of the Dogon words, symbols, and rituals used to describe the structure of matter are quite similar to those found in the myths of ancient Egypt and in the daily rituals of Judaism. For example, the modern scientific depiction of the informed universe as a black hole is identical to Amma’s Egg of the Dogon and the Egyptian Benben Stone.
The Science of the Dogon offers a case-by-case comparison of Dogon descriptions and drawings to corresponding scientific definitions and diagrams from authors like Stephen Hawking and Brian Greene, then extends this analysis to the counterparts of these symbols in both the ancient Egyptian and Hebrew religions. What is ultimately revealed is the scientific basis for the language of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, which was deliberately encoded to prevent the knowledge of these concepts from falling into the hands of all but the highest members of the Egyptian priesthood. The Science of the Dogon also offers compelling new interpretations for many of the most familiar Egyptian symbols, such as the pyramid and the scarab, and presents new explanations for the origins of religiously charged words such as Jehovah and Satan.
Sacred symbols of the Dogon: the key to advanced science in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Scranton, Laird, 1953- Published 2007
Caravans of gold, fragments in time: art, culture, and exchange across medieval Saharan Africa. Berzock, Kathleen Bickford (editor). Published 2019. Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time draws on the latest archaeological discoveries and art historical research to construct a compelling look at medieval trans-Saharan exchange and its legacy. Contributors from diverse disciplines present case studies that form a rich portrayal of a distant time. Topics include descriptions of key medieval cities around the Sahara; networks of exchange that contributed to the circulation of gold, copper, and ivory and their associated art forms; and medieval glass bead production in West Africa’s forest region. The volume also reflects on Morocco’s Gnawa material culture, associated with descendants of West African slaves, and movements of people across the Sahara today.
Ken Saro-Wiwa. Doron, Roy; Falola, Toyin. Published 2016
Hanged by the Nigerian government on November 10, 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa became a martyr for the Ogoni people and human rights activists, and a symbol of modern Africans’ struggle against military dictatorship, corporate power, and environmental exploitation. Though he is rightly known for his human rights and environmental activism, he wore many hats: writer, television producer, businessman, and civil servant, among others. While the book sheds light on his many legacies, it is above all about Saro-Wiwa the man, not just Saro-Wiwa the symbol.
Roy Doron and Toyin Falola portray a man who not only was formed by the complex forces of ethnicity, race, class, and politics in Nigeria, but who drove change in those same processes. Like others in the Ohio Short Histories of Africa series, Ken Saro-Wiwa is written to be accessible to the casual reader and student, yet indispensable to scholars.
Remembering Green. Beake, Lesley. Published 2010.
It is the year 2200. Global warming has covered most of the Earth in sea. The Tekkies survive on dwindling resources, but they need rain. A sacrifice is needed, something wild. But one African girl with her lion cub, Saa, still carries the old knowledge and is determined to thwart the Tekkies.
