Lesson 10: Trade Connections and the Economy
Rationale:
This lesson will teach students about the regional and global connections of the commodities traded throughout the world necessary for the stability and growth of the U.S. economy. This lesson will show how each region depended on another for their success.
Curriculum Frameworks:
· Massachusetts Frameworks: USI.35 Describe how the different economies and cultures of the North and South contributed to the growing importance of sectional politics in the early 19th century. (H)
· NCSS Theme: Global Connections-“At the high school level, students are able to think systematically about personal, national, and global decisions, and to analyze policies and actions, and their consequences. They also develop skills in addressing and evaluating critical issues such as peace, conflict, poverty, disease, human rights, trade, and global ecology.”
Learning Objectives:
Students will know how various regional economies depended on another region. Students will understand that regions that didn’t use slave labor directly still depended on the use of it for the success of their trade. Students will understand how various regions and countries are connected through trade and successful economies.
Teaching Methods: Role-play
Procedure:
1. Divide classroom into four main geographic areas and label each (Northern U.S., Southern U.S., Africa, Western Europe)
2. Each geographic area can be divided into various sections as needed (Industrial/factory section; homes of rich merchants; slave quarters/crop fields; plantation owner’s homes, etc.)
3. Spread students equally throughout the classroom making a large circle. There should be students spanning all of the geographic areas.
4. A large bundle of yarn will begin in Africa (one student should hold onto the end of the string). Ask students what commodity would be coming from Africa, and where would it be going?
5. As students answer that slave labor is the commodity and most of it would be going to southern regions of the U.S., pass the yarn bundle over to a student in the southern region.
6. Next ask students where the commodities from the south would be traded to and as students continually hold onto the string in Africa and the south, the bundle of yarn should move to the northern factory area.
7. In the industrial/factory region, ask students what the commodity would be used for and who would be using it. Cotton would be used to create textiles.
8. Ask students where the textiles would be traded to next and as students continue to hold the string, the yarn should move to the New England merchants and back down to the plantation owners (they would get paid for their cotton)
9. Continue to introduce new topics and areas of the trade of goods/labor and continue to move the bundle of yarn around with each group still holding on to part. (New topics could include plantation owners buying more slaves, European immigrants moving to the northern U.S. to work in factories, goods created in factories being shipped out to Europe, etc.).
10. For the end of the activity, each region should have received the yarn bundle at least twice and all regions should somehow be connected to another.
11. Ask students what this activity demonstrates? (Economic connections).
12. Conclude activity with a discussion on the importance of global/regional connections for an economy. Both the north and the south depended on the other for the stability and advancement of their economy. Ask students to imagine what would happen if all of the factory workers quit, or if slavery ended sooner. How would the economy have been affected? Ask students to imagine what various people’s fears were concerning the economy and slavery.
13. As an exit ticket, students will write down what inferences they could make about these economic fears and the effects on the nation as a whole (students should be able to make predictions and connections to a division of the country and ultimately to the Civil War).
Assessment:
Formative assessment will be based upon their participation in the discussion and completion of their exit ticket.
Materials:
Regional labels, yarn, paper for exit tickets.
This lesson will teach students about the regional and global connections of the commodities traded throughout the world necessary for the stability and growth of the U.S. economy. This lesson will show how each region depended on another for their success.
Curriculum Frameworks:
· Massachusetts Frameworks: USI.35 Describe how the different economies and cultures of the North and South contributed to the growing importance of sectional politics in the early 19th century. (H)
· NCSS Theme: Global Connections-“At the high school level, students are able to think systematically about personal, national, and global decisions, and to analyze policies and actions, and their consequences. They also develop skills in addressing and evaluating critical issues such as peace, conflict, poverty, disease, human rights, trade, and global ecology.”
Learning Objectives:
Students will know how various regional economies depended on another region. Students will understand that regions that didn’t use slave labor directly still depended on the use of it for the success of their trade. Students will understand how various regions and countries are connected through trade and successful economies.
Teaching Methods: Role-play
Procedure:
1. Divide classroom into four main geographic areas and label each (Northern U.S., Southern U.S., Africa, Western Europe)
2. Each geographic area can be divided into various sections as needed (Industrial/factory section; homes of rich merchants; slave quarters/crop fields; plantation owner’s homes, etc.)
3. Spread students equally throughout the classroom making a large circle. There should be students spanning all of the geographic areas.
4. A large bundle of yarn will begin in Africa (one student should hold onto the end of the string). Ask students what commodity would be coming from Africa, and where would it be going?
5. As students answer that slave labor is the commodity and most of it would be going to southern regions of the U.S., pass the yarn bundle over to a student in the southern region.
6. Next ask students where the commodities from the south would be traded to and as students continually hold onto the string in Africa and the south, the bundle of yarn should move to the northern factory area.
7. In the industrial/factory region, ask students what the commodity would be used for and who would be using it. Cotton would be used to create textiles.
8. Ask students where the textiles would be traded to next and as students continue to hold the string, the yarn should move to the New England merchants and back down to the plantation owners (they would get paid for their cotton)
9. Continue to introduce new topics and areas of the trade of goods/labor and continue to move the bundle of yarn around with each group still holding on to part. (New topics could include plantation owners buying more slaves, European immigrants moving to the northern U.S. to work in factories, goods created in factories being shipped out to Europe, etc.).
10. For the end of the activity, each region should have received the yarn bundle at least twice and all regions should somehow be connected to another.
11. Ask students what this activity demonstrates? (Economic connections).
12. Conclude activity with a discussion on the importance of global/regional connections for an economy. Both the north and the south depended on the other for the stability and advancement of their economy. Ask students to imagine what would happen if all of the factory workers quit, or if slavery ended sooner. How would the economy have been affected? Ask students to imagine what various people’s fears were concerning the economy and slavery.
13. As an exit ticket, students will write down what inferences they could make about these economic fears and the effects on the nation as a whole (students should be able to make predictions and connections to a division of the country and ultimately to the Civil War).
Assessment:
Formative assessment will be based upon their participation in the discussion and completion of their exit ticket.
Materials:
Regional labels, yarn, paper for exit tickets.