Social Studies: Where in the world did this come from?

Abstract
In this Explain lesson, students will create artifact and information kits for a specific continent or region. They will be assigned a period in time to explain and address the area’s trade and trading technology and products. Students will then be assessed as to how extensive their research analysis is by having them use their own materials to answer questions.

Objectives
Students will be able to:
i. Research a specific region and its trade history to develop information materials to share with other members of the class.
ii. Creatively represent physical elements of their research using objects, art, drawings, images, and maps to more effectively communicate the diversity of their region or continent.
iii. Successfully answer exploratory questions using their own Kits for information.
iv. Answer questions and provide explanations about their kits during a museum walk.

National Council for History in the Schools:
Historical Thinking Standards

Standard 2E: draw upon data in historical maps.
Standard 2G: Draw upon visual data, literary, and musical sources.
Standard 3C: Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas, values, personalities, behaviors, and institutions.
Standard 3E: Analyze cause-and-effect relationships and multiple causations.
Standard 3J: Hypothesize the influence of the past.
Standard 4A: Formulate historical questions.
Standard 4B: Obtain historical data.
Standard 4C: Interrogate historical data.
Standard 4D: Identify the gaps in the available records, marshal contextual knowledge and perspectives of the time and place, and construct a sound historical interpretation.
Standard 5A: Identify issues and problems in the past.

World History Standards

Era 2, Standard 4A: The student understands major trends in Eurasia and Africa from 4000 to 1000 BCE.
Era 3, Standard 5A: The student understands major global trends from 1000 BCE to 300 CE. (Identify patterns of social and cultural continuity in various societies and analyze ways in which peoples maintained traditions and resisted external challenges in the context of increasing interregional contacts. [Draw comparisons across eras and regions] )
Era 5, Standard 7A: The student understands major global trends from 1000 to 1500 CE.
Era 6, Standard 1: How the transoceanic interlinking of all major regions of the world from 1450-1600 led to global transformations
Era 6, Standard 4: Economic, political, and cultural interrelations among peoples of Africa, Europe, and the Americas, 1500-1750

Teacher Background