Carl McLaughlin

World History, 9th Grade

2nd+7th Period, 42 Minutes
Trade Unit, Lesson 3
Overview/Rationale
In this lesson, students will conduct a simulation to understand at an
organic level how trade benefits the societies involved. This simulation
builds off of a lesson on Indian Ocean trade.
Enduring Understandings

Trade is not a zero sum proposition.

The richer and more diverse a market, the better the returns for
all involved.

Goals/Objectives

Students will be able to meaningfully interact with the trade

simulation and make connections to Indian Ocean trade.

Materials: Laptop, Google Presentation, Projector, Handout

Procedures
Welcome work: Sit in a desk group; no more than 5 people at a cluster.
Then, elect a group leader. (4 Minutes)
Body of Lesson
I will introduce the rules of the game. Students all have a goodie
bag with treats that represent trade goods involved in Indian
Ocean trade. (Pretzels for timber, Animal Crackers for
hides/Ivory, Smarties for porcelain etc). The first step is rating
the value of the goods in your bag. Each student will do this on a
scale of 0-20. Students rate the contents based on how excited
they are about them. Then, group leaders tabulate the total
trade value of the goods from that society (each cluster is a
society such as China, India, Arabia etc.). I record these totals
next to each society on the board. (7 minutes)
The next step is limited trade. Students are allowed to trade
within their own society. They can trade entire bags of goods or
any amount of any single good within their bags. Goods are
somewhat homogenous, so trade is indeed limited (this is

intentional). Still the total value of their goods should increase.

Students re-value their goods; group leaders record it and I
display this on the board. I will pause to ask students what they
notice. (Hopefully, they will notice that the numbers have
increased!) (7 minutes)
The final step is unlimited trade. Students get up and can trade
with any society in the room. Now trade is truly heterogeneous
and the total value of trade goods should advance across all
societies. Students make a final evaluation of their goods and
group leaders tabulate. I will record the final ratings and
hopefully they will be able to see clearly that trade increased the
wealth of all societies involved and values went up across the
board. (12 Minutes)
Closure

I will ask students what they learned about how trade works. I
will ask questions like, What did you find frustrating? What
surprised you? What did you find rewarding? Was there a
difference between local and global trade? Then, students will
get the opportunity to consume their treats. (12 minutes)

IEP Accommodation

Student will receive written and verbal instruction as well as peer

mentoring.

Assessment
Indian Ocean trade will be formatively assessed as part of a quiz on
2/23.