This is the Annual Teaching Plan for Grade 7 Social Sciences, with separate plans for Geography and History. In Geography the year covers map skills, volcanoes, earthquakes and floods, population growth and change, and natural resources and conservation in South Africa. In History it covers the kingdom of Mali and Timbuktu, the transatlantic slave trade, colonisation of the Cape, and co-operation and conflict on the Cape frontiers.
Each term is set out over 11 weeks for Geography and for History, with content and concepts, skills and values, resources, informal assessment and the formal SBA task for the term.
Download the ATP
What the Social Sciences Grade 7 ATP covers
Term 1
- Geography: map skills with a world focus
- Geography: latitude and longitude, places in the news
- Geography: sketch maps and explaining routes
- Geography: scale and calculating distances
- History: the kingdom of Mali
- History: Mansa Musa and trade across the Sahara
- History: Timbuktu as a trade and learning centre
Formal assessment: Geography: project on local maps, 50 marks. History: test with source-based questions and paragraph writing, 50 marks.
Term 2
- Geography: structure of the earth and plate movement
- Geography: volcanoes and earthquakes
- Geography: causes and effects of floods
- Geography: reducing the impact of disasters
- History: West Africa before the slave trade
- History: slavery in the American South
- History: resistance and the Underground Railroad
Formal assessment: Geography: controlled test, 50 marks (map skills, source-based and paragraph writing). History: controlled test, 50 marks (source-based and paragraph writing, no essay).
Term 3
- Geography: birth, death and growth rates
- Geography: world population growth over time
- Geography: diseases, pandemics, war and population
- Geography: scientific developments and healthcare
- History: Dutch settlement at the Cape in 1652
- History: slavery at the Cape
- History: trekboers and expanding frontiers
- History: essay writing structure
Formal assessment: Geography: test on data-handling, case study and paragraph writing, 50 marks. History: test with source-based questions, paragraph and essay writing, 50 marks.
Term 4
- Geography: natural resources and their use
- Geography: conservation areas and eco-tourism
- Geography: water in South Africa
- Geography: river health and catchment areas
- History: frontier wars on the eastern frontier
- History: British immigration and abolition of slavery
- History: trade on the northern frontier
- History: Robert Moffat at Kuruman
Formal assessment: End-of-year examination in Geography and in History, 50 marks each (Term 3 content 15 marks, Term 4 content 35 marks).
Source: Department of Basic Education, 2023/24 Annual Teaching Plans. DBE Circular S19 of 2025 keeps the 2023/24 ATPs in use, with some exclusions, so check with your school or district for any changes.