NY Social Studies 6.7a
The Standard
The Silk Roads, the Indian Ocean, and the Trans-Saharan routes formed the major Afro-Eurasian trade networks connecting the East and the West. Ideas, people, technologies, products, and diseases moved along these routes.
New York State K–12 Social Studies Framework
Key Idea 6.7
INTERACTIONS ACROSS THE EASTERN HEMISPHERE (ca. 600 C.E. – ca. 1450): Trade networks promoted the exchange and diffusion of language, belief systems, tools, intellectual ideas, inventions, and diseases.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students map major trade routes and label the goods, beliefs, technologies, people, and diseases that moved along them. They explain how geography and resource locations shaped trade and compare the goals and effects of major travelers.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can identify each network on a map and connect traded items to their places of origin. They can use evidence to explain why a traveler went to certain places and what changed through those contacts.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think traders traveled each route from end to end or that only goods were exchanged. They may confuse the three networks, place travelers on the wrong routes, or ignore how deserts, seas, and resources shaped trade.
How to Assess It
- Give students a blank Afro-Eurasian map and six item cards. Ask them to draw one route, place three items, and explain one geographic reason for that route.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups yarn, a wall map, and product cards; have them connect origins, routes, and destinations for silk, salt, gold, and spices.
Ask students to write: Which traveler had the greatest effect on exchange, and what evidence supports your choice?
Play a route-matching game where pairs match travelers, products, technologies, beliefs, and diseases to the correct trade network.
Have students trace a modern imported product from its source to a local store, then compare its path with an older trade route.
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Printable 6.7a Worksheet
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