Columbian Exchange Lesson

Unit: European Expansion and Colonization

Lesson: Columbian Exchange
Content Objectives: The student will
categorize foods as originating in the Old World or the New World.
analyze the effects of the Columbian Exchange of plants, animals, and diseases on world
history and modern life.
Language Objective: The student will
identify key concepts and vocabulary words related to the Columbian Exchange.
Metacognitive Objective: The student will
develop a graphic organizer on the Columbian Exchange of plants, animals, and diseases
Materials:
Handout: List of Old World and New World Plants, Animals, and Diseases
Handout: Graphic Organizer on Columbian Exchange
Word Wall: Columbian Exchange, Spatial Diffusion
Realia: ear of corn, potato, tomato, etc.
Procedure:
Allow approximately one 50-minute class period for instruction and 10 minutes for assessment.
1. Ask students to list on paper the foods that they ate either yesterday (morning classes) or
today (afternoon classes). [5 minutes]
2. Explain Columbian Exchange vocabulary words and concepts from word wall. [5 minutes]
3. Use realia like an ear of corn or a potato in short explanation of concept of cultural (spatial)
diffusion. [5 minutes]
4. Hand out list of plants, animals, and diseases that came from Old World and New World.
5. Divide students into small groups of about four. Have them working in small groups decide
whether the foods they have eaten recently originated in either the Old World or New World.
Some foods (pizza) may have ingredients from both worlds. [5-10 minutes]
6. Pass out copies of Columbian Exchange graphic organizer. Have students fold the handout
and put title and student name on the front panel. They may also add other pertinent
information and an illustration of a Columbian Exchange product. On the graphic organizer
inside each student should name the continents in the Old World and New World and list
foods they normally eat in either the Old World or New World arrows. Then each student
should add at least one animal and disease from the Old World and the New World. On the
back panel have students write in their own words the definitions of spatial diffusion and
Columbian Exchange and write a sentence or two on the relationship between the two
concepts. [15-20 minutes]
7. Regroup students into their small groups. Have them discuss how the Columbian Exchange
affected each of them personally and at least one impact on world history. [5-10 minutes]
8. If time permits, review the concepts associated with the Columbian Exchange, and the
products from the Old World and the New World.
Technology:
Have students used the Internet to find out more information on the Columbian Exchange. Use
phrases Columbian Exchange or Seeds of Change to search the Internet.
Assessment:
On the second day, do a short review of the Columbian Exchange concepts and products. Assess
students by asking them to list five Old World and five New World contributions. Then ask them
to explain the significance of the Columbian Exchange in history. [10 minutes]
Extension:
Have students select one of the Old World or New World products and research the importance
of and impact of that product on history and the contemporary world.
Columbian Exchange
Vocabulary and Word Wall
Spatial diffusion
Columbian exchange
Old World
New World
The Columbian Exchange
Old World
(Asia, Europe, Africa)
Contribution
New World
(the Americas)
apples, bananas, citrus fruits,
grapes, melons, peaches, pears
Fruits
pineapples, tomatoes, papaya,
strawberries
broccoli, cabbage, carrots, lettuce,
onions, radishes
Vegetables
avocados, green beans, pumpkins,
squash
barley, oats, rice, rye, wheat
Cereals and Grains
maize (corn)
taro, yams
Starchy roots
manioc, peanuts, potatoes, sweet
potatoes
chickpeas, lentils, peas
Legumes
beans, Lima beans
black pepper, cinnamon, cloves,
ginger
Spices
chili peppers, vanilla
coffee, tea
Drinks
chocolate
sugar cane, olives
Other Plants
quinine , tobacco
cattle, chickens, donkeys, goats,
horses, pigs, sheep
Animals
guinea pigs, llamas, turkeys
cholera, malaria, measles, mumps,
smallpox, typhoid, yellow fever
Diseases
syphilis
Plants cultivated by Native Americans and introduced to Europe after 1492
From -- http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/nattrans/ntecoindian/essays/columbian.htm
Resources for the Columbian Exchange
Printed Resources:
Cook, Noble David. Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492-1650. Cambridge;
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Crosby, Alfred W. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492.
Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Co., 1972.
Kiple, Kenneth F. The Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2000.
Kiple, Kenneth F. The Cambridge World History of Human Disease. Cambridge; New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1993.
M
c
Neill, William H. Plagues and Peoples. Garden City, New York: Anchor Press, 1976.
Salaman, Redcliffe N. The History and Social Influence of the Potato. Cambridge; New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Viola, Herman J. and Carolyn Margolis, 1991, Seeds of Change: A Quincentennial
Commemoration, Washington DC, Smithsonian Institution Press.
Internet Resources:
http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/nattrans/ntecoindian/essays/columbian.htm
The Columbian Exchange: Plants, Animals, and Disease between the Old and New
Worlds
http://daphne.palomar.edu/scrout/colexc.htm
Columbian Exchange
http://www.mnh.si.edu/garden/welcome.html
Seeds of Change from the Simthsonian Institution
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/medicine/history/histories/plagues.html
Plagues and Peoples: the Columbian Exchange by Dr. Ian Carr
http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/courses/his111/columb.htm
Columbian Biological Exchange
http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/reggeog/midamer/mmh/mmhenc/encount.htm
Changes Brought About By Encounter Between "Old" And 'New' Worlds
http://teachingcollege.com/courses/hist108/Slideshows/Columbian%20Exchange/
The Columbian Exchange presentation by Thomas M. Heaney
New World
_______________
Old World
________________
The Columbian Exchange
Climates of Africa
Unit: Africa Lesson: Climates of Africa
Authors: Tom Jones from Houston High School, Robert Szczepanki from Lanier High School
Amount of Time: Two class periods
Objectives
Content:
The students will identify the major climatic regions of Africa and their location.
The students will analyze the effect of climate on population and life styles in Africa and the
effect of climate on biosystems.
Language:
The students will identify key concepts and vocabulary words related to the climates of Africa
desertification, savanna, rainforest, Sahel, oasis
Metacognitive:
The students will create a foldable chart with the major climatic zones of Africa.
Materials:
Textbooks
Map of Africa
Colored pencils
Colored cardstock paper
Scissors
Procedures and Activities:
Have students describe how the climate in San Antonio is during the summer months.
Provide students with a blank physical map of Africa. Describe the physical
characteristics of Africa desert, rainforest, grasslands (savanna), coast, highlands. Have
students label these physical characteristics on their blank map of Africa.
Have students prepare a foldable showing the five climatic zones in Africa. Pass out a
sheet of colored card stock paper to each student. Have them fold the paper using a
hamburger fold. Have students divide the front into five equal sections and then write the
five climatic zones of Africa Desert, Semi-arid, Tropical wet, Savanna, Highland. On
the inside at the top have students write Characteristics on the left-hand side and
Location on the right-hand side. Have student cut each of the five climatic sections
apart. Using the textbook, have them describe the characteristics of each climate under
the Characteristics heading and the countries where the climate is located under the
Location heading. On the back of the foldable have students draw an outline map of
Africa and use colored pencils to shade in the different climatic regions of the continent.
Outside Inside
Desert
Semi-arid
Tropical Wet
Savanna
Highland
Characteristics Location
Assessment:
Completion of foldable on Climates of Africa
Technology Application:
none
Extension:
none
SIOP Lesson Plan
Unit: Africa Lesson: Colonization of Africa
Authors: John Chavez, Saundra Morales, and Ron Cook from Fox Tech High School
Amount of Time: Three 50-minute class periods
Objectives
Content:
Categorize the causes of the colonization of Africa
Analyze the causes and effects of the colonization of the countries of Africa.
Language:
Identify vocabulary words related to the colonization of Africa.
Metacognitive:
Compare and contrast how people meet their basic needs.
Develop a time line of trade patterns of African countries and the European controlling nations.
Materials:
Colored card stock paper
Scissors
Markers
Procedures and Activities:
Build background knowledge of students by asking them to write a response to these
questions: Has your parents made you do something (for example, chores) that you
didnt want to do? What was the reason for using you?
Language activity review the vocabulary words related to the lesson: colonialism,
subsistence agriculture, market-oriented agriculture, cottage industries, commercial
industries
Generate a list of goods grown or produced in Africa for example, oil, gold, cotton,
corn, wheat, tomatoes, peanuts, diamonds, phosphate, coffee, salt. Have students draw a
T-chart like the one below and write the African products under the appropriate category.
Review the definitions of the words and the placement of the examples under each
category.
T-Chart
Subsistence agriculture
Cottage industries
Market-oriented agriculture
Commercial industries
Have students create a foldable that will match European countries with their African
colonies (nations) and lists the resources in each region of Africa. Pass out a square sheet
of colored paper to each student. Have each student draw a cross on the sheet that creates
four equal squares (see figure 1) and then fold each point of the paper to the center (see
figure 2).
Figure 1 Figure 2
On the outside of the foldable have students write the four regions of Africa (North
Africa, West Africa, Central-East Africa, and South Africa) and the European countries
that colonize in each region (see figure 3). Open the foldable and on the inside have
students write the main resources for each region and list the African countries in that
particular region (see figure 4). A map of Africa and Europe can be added on the back of
the foldable.
Outside Inside
Colonized by
North Africa
Colonized by
West Africa
Resources
North Africa
Nations
Resources
West Africa
Nations
Central-East Africa
Colonized by
South Africa
Colonized by
Resources
Central-East Africa
Nations
Resources
South Africa
Nations
Figure 3 Figure 4
Have students create a matchbook foldable of the political, economic, and social causes
and effects of European colonization of Africa. Pass out a sheet of colored paper to each
student. Have each one fold the sheet of colored paper using a hamburger fold, leaving an
inch or less strip on the right-hand side of the fold (see figure 1). Have students write
Causes and Effects of Colonizatin long-way along this strip. Then have each student
divide the front of the foldable equally into three parts and write Political, Economic, and
Social in the three parts (see figure 1). Have them open the foldable and on the inside
write at least one cause and one effect for each sections (see figure 2). Have students cut
the fold between each of these sections.
Political
Economic
Social
C
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Causes Effects
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Figure 1 Figure 2
Assessment:
Ask students to categorize African products as either subsistence agriculture/cottage industry or
market-oriented agriculture/commercial industry.
Have students list at least five European nations that colonized Africa and at least five resources
Africa provided these countries.
Have student identify at least one political, economic, and social cause and effect of the
colonization of Africa.
Technology Application:
none
Extension:
Connect the European colonization of Africa to the Spanish and Portuguese colonization of Latin
America and the British colonization of North America.
Cultures of Africas Subregions
Unit: Africa Lesson: Cultures of Africas Five Subregions
Authors: Angelita Toscano of Navarro Academy
Elizabeth McBroom of Alamo Achievement
Amount of Time: Two class periods
Objectives
Content:
The students will identify Africas five subregions.
The students will compare and contrast the cultures of the African subregions.
Language:
The students will identify key concepts and vocabulary words related to African culture.
Metacognitive:
The students will develop an understanding of Africas diverse cultures by completing the
culture chart of Africa.
Materials:
Posters
Teacher chart
Markers
Culture chart
Procedures and Activities:
Day One:
Divide the class into five groups. Each group will focus on one subregion North Africa, West
Africa, Central Africa, South Africa, or East Africa. Each group will identify all the cultural
aspects of their respective subregion. Each group will present their findings to the rest of the
class.
Day Two:
Have each student complete the teacher-made chart using the Internet, the textbook, and other
resources on Africa.
Teacher-made Chart
Subregion:
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Religion
Ethnic groups
Languages spoken
Traditions
Rituals
Art
Music
Role of men
Role of women
Role of elderly
Assessment:
Teacher-made culture chart
Technology Application:
Have students use the Internet to collect information on African cultures to complete the teacher-
made chart.
Extension:
Discuss with students how African culture has influenced American culture.
AIDS Pandemic in Africa
Unit: Africa Lesson: AIDS Pandemic in Africa
Authors: Andrew Huebner, Diana Hernandez, and Dustin Domineue from Jefferson High School
Amount of Time: Two 50-minute class periods
Objectives
Content:
The students will categorize and analyze the effects of AIDS pandemic on life in Africa and the
possible solutions for dealing with the pandemic.
Language:
The students will identify key concepts and vocabulary related to AIDS pandemic.
Metacognitive:
The students will develop a graphic organizer that shows the relationship of the effects of and
possible solutions to AIDS.
Materials:
Colored card stock paper
Markers or colored pencils
Scissors
Procedures and Activities:
Day One:
Create a word wall of key vocabulary and concepts where students can get information in
the future. Words for word wall AIDS, HIV, pandemic, epidemic
Review the word wall with students and check for understanding by having students show
thumbs up.
In order to test their prior knowledge, organize students into small groups and have them
arrange strips of paper with AIDS information (produced by the teacher) as either fact or
myth. When the students are finished, the teacher will list which statements are facts and
which are myths, allowing students to correct their answers and to discuss any statement.
AIDS
Myth Fact
Survey the health care/AIDS section of the textbook (pp. 465-467), making a list on the
board or overhead of five predictions of what students think they will learn from the section.
Lead a reading of the first part of the section, then have students independently read and
finish the reading. While they are reading, the students will keep notes of the effects and
possible solutions on their own paper or a spiral notebook.
Day Two:
Review the word wall and facts about AIDS.
Have students get into small groups to compare and contrast their notes from the reading.
Each group will go to the board and list one effect and one solution to prompt discussion and
debate and to generate a definitive class list.
Have students create a foldable graphic organizer showing the effects of and solutions for
AIDS pandemic. Pass out a sheet of colored card stock paper to each student. Have them
fold the paper using a hamburger fold. Inside have students write Effects of AIDS on the
left-hand side and Solutions on the right-hand side. Underneath these titles have them list
the effects and solutions. On the front have students give the foldable a title, write their
name, and draw an illustration. On the back, have them define key concepts related to AIDS.
Assessment:
Creation of a foldable graphic organizer on the effects of and possible solutions for AIDS.
Technology Application:
Teacher will list websites where students can get more information about AIDS and other pandemic
diseases.
Extension:
Effects of Colonialism in Africa
Unit: Africa Lesson: Effects of Colonialism in Africa
Authors: Amber Acua and Gay Lynn Dickerson from Burbank High School
Amount of Time: Two 50-minute class periods
Objectives
Content:
The students will analyze the causes and effects of colonialism in Africa.
The students will evaluate the impact of colonialism in Africa.
Language:
The students will identify key concepts and vocabulary words related to colonialism in Africa.
Metacognitive:
The students will develop a cause-and-effect relationship chart on the political, economic, and
social aspects of colonialism in Africa.
Materials:
Colored paper
Scissors
Markers
Transparency of PEST graphic organizer
Zaire political cartoon transparency
Procedures and Activities:
Show Zaire political cartoon from p. 471 in textbook and explain what the vocabulary
words on each hut mean. Compare them to the students real life experiences when they
leave home (political boss, economic paycheck/bills, social responsibilities).
Place vocabulary words political boundaries, ambivalence, apathy, neglect, intervention
on the word wall. Review the meanings of these words.
Lead a class discussion about colonialism in Africa with textual references. Show the
video clip related to Nelson Mandela and apartheid. Focus learning on the causes and
effects of colonialism.
Have students participate in a hands-on activity to create a foldable cause-and-effect chart
of the political, economic, and social causes and effects of colonialism in Africa. Pass out
a sheet of colored paper to each student. Have each one fold the sheet of colored paper
using a hamburger fold, leaving an inch or less strip on the right-hand side of the fold
(see figure 1). Have students write Causes and Effects of Colonialism long-way along
this strip. Then have each student divide the front of the foldable equally into three parts
and write Political, Economic, and Social in the three parts (see figure 1). Have them
open the foldable and on the inside write at least one cause and one effect for each
sections (see figure 2). Have students cut the fold between each of these sections.
Outside Inside
Political
Economic
Social
C
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Causes Effects
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Figure 1 Figure 2
Assessment:
Have students complete a cause-and-effect graphic organizer of one cause and one effect for
each of the three categories political, economic, and social.
Technology Application:
Have students use the Internet to find a map of an African country during the colonial period and
a current map of the same country. This will be used as an extension activity.
Extension:
Have students evaluate the impact of colonialism on a particular African country (see above).
Impact of Colonialism on Development of Africa
Unit: Africa Lesson: Impact of Colonialism on Development of Africa
Authors: World Geography Teachers at Highlands High School
Amount of Time: Two classes periods
Objectives
Content:
The students will explain how colonialism impacted the economic development of Africa.
Language:
The students will identify key concepts and vocabulary words related to colonialism in Africa.
Metacognitive:
The students will develop a cause-and-effect relationship on the economic aspects of colonialism
in Africa.
Materials:
Scissors
Markers
Colored paper
Sentence strips
Background handouts
Treansparencies
Procedures and Activities:
Begin class with a discussion on these questions:
Why do people move from one location to another?
Why do groups of people migrate from one area to another?
Why do governments move groups of people to new locations?
Divide students into five groups according to the five regions of Africa North, West,
Central, East, and South Africa
Review vocabulary from word wall. Vocabulary words include region, colonialism, raw
materials, Berlin Conference, and apartheid.
Provide groups with sentence strips of the causes and effects of colonialism on Africa to
sort.
Provide a handout on the appropriate region to each group.
Have the groups brainstorm answers to the Reading Guide questions.
Have each student create a cause-and-effect foldable on colonialism in Africa. Pass out a
sheet of colored paper to each student. Have each one fold the sheet of colored paper
using a shutter hamburger fold. Then have them to divide the top shutter into three equal
parts and write North, Central, and West in the three sections. Divide the bottom shutter
into two equal parts and write South and East in these two sections (see diagram). Have
students write Causes and Effects of Colonialism beneath the Central section of the
shutter. Have students cut the sections apart so that each section opens either up for the
top shutter or down for the bottom shutter. Inside the foldable write Cause and Effect
under each region of Africa.
North Central
Colonization
of Africa
West
South East
Transfer the information on the causes and effects of colonialism in Africa from the
Reading Guide into the cause-and-effect foldable.
Assessment:
Have students list one cause and one effect of European colonization on each region of Africa on
the graphic organizer.
North Africa
Cause Effect
Central Africa
Cause Effect
West Africa
Cause Effect
East Africa
Cause Effect
South Africa
Cause Effect
Colonization
of Africa
Technology Application:
none
Extension:
Color code a blank map of Europe and Africa with each colonizing European country and its
corresponding colonies in the same color.
Geography of Africa
Unit: Africa Lesson: Geography of Africa
Amount of Time: 52 minutes
Objectives
Content:
The students will categorize the different types of climates and landforms of Africa.
The students will explain the distribution of plants and animals in the different subregions of
Africa.
Language:
The students will identify key concepts and vocabulary words related to the climate, landforms,
and ecosystems of Africa.
Metacognitive:
The students will develop a relationship between landscapes and organisms within their
ecosystems.
Materials:
Maps of Africa
Textbook
Video
Realia
Colored paper
Scissors
Markers or colored pencils
Procedures and Activities:
Discuss the regions, climates, and landforms of Africa. Introduce the vocabulary terms
savanna, plateau, Great Rift Valley, Congo, tropical rainforest, desert, Sahara, Nambia
Divide students into small cooperative learning groups. Have students develop the
characteristics and examples of a desert, savanna, and rainforest. Then have students
identify animals that live in each of the three ecosystems.
Have students develop a foldable on the geography of Africa. Pass out a sheet of colored
card stock paper to each student. Have them fold the paper using a hamburger fold. Have
students divide the front into three equal sections and then write the three ecosystems of
Africa desert, savanna, and rainforest. On the inside at the top have students write
Landforms and Nations on the left-hand side and Animals on the right-hand side.
Have student cut each of the three ecosystem sections apart. Using the textbook, have
them identify the landforms and nations of each ecosystem under its heading and the
animals of each ecosystem under its heading.
Assessment:
Have each student develop a list of animals found on the African continent and place each
animals in the correct ecosystem.
Technology Application:
Show video on ecosystems and animals of Africa.
Extension:
Collect information on the demise of the African rhinoceros and elephant because of the world
market for ivory.