Home PublicationsL&LIssuesVolume 26 (1998-1999) May (No. 8)

Microsoft Corp., One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052; 800.426.9400; www.microsoft.com

Subject:	Social science
Grade Level:	4–college (Ages 9–adult)
Cost:	$69.95
Hardware:	Windows PC with Windows 95 or higher
Reviewers:	Uche Ukeje, graduate student in counseling at Longwood College; supervising professor Dr. Judi Mathis Johnson

Because I am from Isulo, Anambra State, Nigeria, I was asked to assess the accuracy of the content of this CD-ROM encyclopedia, analyze its presentation for usefulness in the classroom, and reflect on the program’s potential for use with American students of African heritage, whether he or she is one or more generations removed.

Instructional design students can explore the content of Encarta Africana by reading the articles, watching videos, and listening to famous Americans of African descent; exploring the time line; and selecting locations from an interactive map.

Slavery is treated thoroughly, vividly, and honestly. Students can learn about the practices in Africa that sent slaves to Mexico, Peru, Brazil, and many other areas in the Americas, including the United States.

Material is organized along many lines that form a complex but navigable web of exploration. For example, a student may learn about apartheid by selecting De Klerk and Mandela on the timeline or by doing a search for the word apartheid.

Content

The five categories on the main menu are Articles, Welcome, Features, Timeline, and Overview. In the Welcome video we meet Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (no relative to Bill Gates, so I understand), and Kwame Anthony Appiah—both professors at Harvard. Although Encarta Africana is clearly their project, there is a sense of humility and an understanding that this is a work that has been begging to be created and that they are the fortunate ones to guide this inevitable product. Additional videos in this first section include interviews with Toni Morrison and Muhammad Ali.

I begin by describing the Timeline, because viewing the entire sweep of 4.1 million years in one continuous movement is an eye-opening, awareness-raising experience. Let the time scroll past as key events and key individuals come into view and put everything into a temporal frame. Begin at Lake Turkana in Kenya to learn about a young boy, learn about the many civilizations B.C., study the African diaspora, and read about current changes that are providing new hope around the world.

Now visit the Overview to see descriptions of the various components. That will help you plan how you want to cover the extensive information. It is difficult to see every video and read every article before wanting to use them with students, so you may want to explore these sections one at a time.

The Features section shows the main ways in which students can explore Encarta Africana’s contents. In order, they are Africana on Camera, Interactive Africa Map, Historic Sites in Africa, From Africa to the Americas, Virtual Tours, Topic Treks, and Media Gallery.

Select Africana on Camera to view the videos of Maya Angelou, Kofi Annan, Whoopi Goldberg, Quincy Jones, Cornel West, and the aforementioned Gates and Appiah. I suggest using each video as a beginning point for a lesson using this reference. For example, Whoopi Goldberg talks about the definition of race, and the clip could be used before starting an anthropological examination of the information.

In Maya Angelou’s video she defines diaspora, the dispersal of Africans to various parts of the world. In the Virtual Tour students can learn about many specific examples. One point that becomes key is that Africans did not leave behind their customs, languages, talents, morals, or emotions. Each place to which Africans have dispersed has changed because of their presence.

Students can view interactive geopolitical and topographical maps as well as those focusing on fauna, art and architecture, and ethnicities. Graphic courtesy of Microsoft Corp.

One interesting lesson might be to compare Africans who settled in Harlem, New York, to Africans who settled in Paris. Students could study travel times, the two countries' attitudes, and the people who contributed to the arts of both cities and communities.

Use the Interactive Africa Map to teach geography. The links teach about the politics of the various countries. Students can listen to national anthems and see each national flag. Most students know the meaning and history of the Stars and Stripes, but because Encarta Africana does not give the meaning of the symbol, this research task might be more appropriate for the Internet.

Teacher Support

Students can take a virtual tour of a slave fort on Garée Island in western Africa. Graphic courtesy of Microsoft Corp.

The CD-ROMs come in a box, with cardboard and air. There is no binder full of exciting classroom activities. Because the content is so extensive and presented in many different ways, however, teachers would appreciate lessons, worksheets, additional resources, and suggestions for classroom use.

Many school districts teach world history in sixth grade. Microsoft should hire a multicultural group of teachers to prepare a set of lessons that meet the suggested national standards for teaching social studies. The amount of information can be overwhelming without lessons to focus on specific trends, highlights, and so on.

Technical Quality

Navigating the program is similar to using a Web browser. Students can click the back button to return to the page that provided a video link or a text resource. These CD-ROMs could be difficult to network because some links take students to the second CD-ROM.

One navigational problem that needs to be explained to students is how to use the window within a window. On most pages, students press the arrow in the upper left corner to return to a previous page, and the X in the upper right corner to quit. But if students are viewing an open window, such as a linked video, then they must use the navigation on the upper right corner. This problem makes it too easy to quit the program unintentionally.

The captions under the videos are just short explanations of what is contained in the videos. It might help students and challenge their reading abilities if a complete text caption for each video was included with a simple toggle that would turn the text on and off.

Strengths

Most important, Encarta Africana fills a void that many educators may not have even noticed: a lack of scholarly material on Africa, the cradle of life. Encarta Africana is well done, thorough, professional, and artistic. The well-developed artistry is excellent for its realism.

The first thing I checked was current information on Nigeria. Most references do not even acknowledge that the country’s capital moved to Abjuga a few years ago. I was pleased to learn that Encarta Africana is current about the country’s political aspects—and it cited some major structures in Abjuga.

Weaknesses

Islam is more represented than Christianity. The amount of information on the eastern regions of Africa is less than that provided for the western region. Countries were described more for their politics than for their wealth and natural resources.

When children explore Games of the World (a software program from Edmark), they get to learn African words and how to count. It would enrich this Encarta package if students could learn how to count and speak common phrases from many of the countries in Africa. Such a feature might help convey the continent’s cultural diversity.

There are no videos of Abjuga. Yes, that sounds self-serving, but it is important to show that change is occurring as well as to portray the variety of cultures within each country and the continent as a whole. The art and music tend to reflect more of one or two regions, rather than the whole continent, but with so many varieties it would be difficult to provide a complete set of examples.

I would like to see Encarta Africana reach its full potential in the classroom. To achieve this, a binder of reproducible materials and activities is critical.

Conclusion

The content is current, contains the elements we stress when teaching social science, and presents the information in a way that is accessible for students. The various topics and webs allow teachers to integrate the material into different parts of the curriculum, not just restrict it to Black History month. I believe that students who examine the program and reflect on African history and its effects on the world will feel a sense of awe and interest. This applies equally to all students regardless of color or race.

Recommendations

Encarta Africana portrays the extensive history of a complex continent in a coherent and interesting fashion. The colors and designs provide a visual feast. My pride in my homeland is natural, and now students who grow up many thousands of miles from their ancestral point of origin can learn about the cultures and people who helped shape the world. Encarta Africana provides an inviting and acceptable resource to teach about a continent with a rich and exciting past.

Working in counseling, I hope every library acquires at least one copy and that every school counselor becomes aware of the information on these CD-ROMs. Maybe that information can promote more understanding between races and between cultures.

Editor’s Note

Often students are surprised to learn how large the African continent is—larger than the United States. Recently, Jane Elliott (of the excellent brown-eyes, blue-eyes classroom exercise) gave a presentation at Longwood College. She reminded us that most classrooms contain the commonly accepted world map, which prominently portrays North America and Europe, and downplays anything below the equator. Check your map. Where is the equator? Is it located halfway between the top and bottom? How large is Greenland? Is it larger than Australia? If you are interested in a map that makes an effort to present the world in a more balanced perspective, check Friendship Press, PO Box 37844, Cincinnati, OH 45222; 513.948.8733 or 800.889.5733.

Copyright © 1999, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.