Subject: Social Studies

Lesson Length: 50 - 55 mins

Topic: Effect of Trade on Technological Advances

Grade Level: 6

Standards / Framework:

Brief Description: Students will learn how trade between regions contributed to advances in technology.

Know Before You Start: Have maps available that show various transregional trade routes. 

Hook:

  • Discuss how a specific technology developed over the past five years, ten years, and fifty years.

    • Why was that technology developed?

    • What need called for the development of this new technology at the time? For example, Uber Eats, SmartPhone, Social Media, Radio. 

  • Read and discuss the sample comic.

    • How did trade help new technology develop?

Activity:

  • Display a map showing these major trade routes: Trans-Saharan, Silk Road, Indian Ocean Routes and Mediterranean Sea Routes.

  • Have students select one of these transregional routes to research. 

  • Using the sample comic as a guide, have students create a three-panel comic illustrating the technology developed at that time as a result of traveling that route. 

  • The comic should include:

    • information about the route selected

    • the technology developed

    • how it helped or impacted other societies

Closure:

  • Discuss finished comics as a class.
  • You may choose to group students using a Jigsaw grouping, with at least one person in every group representing each trade route. 

  • Have students discuss their new technologies for each route. Then, decide as a group which technology has had the most impact on their own lives.

Differentiation:

  • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
  • Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.
  • Use Think-Pair-Share strategy during whole group discussion. 

Resources:

  • Comic to print or display: Comic.

Suggested Content Packs: