Two social studies units for sixth grade provide information and learning activities about Africa and Russia. Both units contain lists of concepts to be learned, skills, objectives, learning activities, common misconceptions, vocabulary, maps, objective and essay tests, and bibliographies. The unit on Africa helps students understand the wide variety of cultures within the continent as well as realize the similarities in man's basic physical needs and universal outgrowths of society such as religion and government. By making geological relief maps, independently researching individual countries, or analyzing folk tales, students develop map and research skills while learning about the forces that have shaped the continent's history. Student reading material and teachers' lectures cover topics such as apartheid and tribalism. The unit on Russia emphasizes its cultures, geography, historical development, and role in the 20th century. Teachers are encouraged to select from 70 learning activities including field trips, role-playing historical characters, and comparing pollution problems of Lake Baikal and Lake Erie. Identification of the political and economic characteristics of Communism is one of the unit's objectives. Teachers should be able to incorporate part or all of both units into existing social studies course plans. (AV)