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Digital
History>eXplorations>Columbus & the
Columbian Exchange
Teacher
Resources
This
page contains specific resources developed for teachers using
this Exploration.
Entire
Unit | Who Was Columbus?
| Mapping | Columbian
Exchange
Focusing
Event for Entire Unit:
Web search
for pictures of Christopher Columbus
1. First,
ask students (individually or in small groups)
to search for alternate images of Christopher Columbus.Assign
a different search engine for each group of students:
2.
Print the pictures the students find for a Columbus Gallery
and hang them on the wall.
3.
Ask students to choose the most ‘correct’ representation
of Columbus and justify why they chose that representation.
4.
Compare choices and discuss student reasons for their choices.
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Activity
1: Who was Christopher Columbus?
After
students have researched and written their biographies of Christopher
Columbus have them refer to these and other encyclopedia biographies
of Columbus.
Discussion
questions:
- What
their biographies leave out about the life of Christopher Columbus?
- What
are the similarities presented in the articles on Columbus?
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Activity
2: Historical Maps as Window into the Past
Just
as these maps evolved, have the students create a series of maps
to their house from school.
Map
1:
Ask
students to draw a map to their home using streets but include
no street names and no labels and no cardinal directions.
Ask
students to share the map with another student and solicit suggestions
on how the maps could be improved.
Map
2:
Ask
students to change the map by adding all the suggestions.
Ask
students to share the map with a different student this time,
and ask for more suggestions on how to improve it.
Map
3:
Ask
students to complete the map, adding all suggestions.
Ask
students to reflect in writing on their thoughts on the final
map:
- Were
the suggestions helpful or hurtful?
- Why
do you think so?
- Why
did the students suggest what they did?
Summary
Ask
students to defend or refute these statements:
- Mapmaking
is a reflection of the person who made the map.
- The
cartographer actually creates the world.
- The
cartographer creates a map for political purposes.
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Activity
3: The Columbian Exchange
Here
are some suggestions for mock trials (or persuasive essays):
Exercise
1:
You
are charged with the malicious
transfer of an addictive substance across
international borders.
Defend your introduction of coffee into America.
Resources
for caffeine addiction (or use a search engine to search for
"caffeine addiction"):
Exercise
2:
You
are charged with animal abuse
because of your introduction of the chicken to the New World.
Defend yourself against this charge.
Resources
for chicken farming (or use a search engine to search for "chicken
farming broilers"):
Exercise 3:
You
are charged with murder
because your introduction of smallpox into the New World caused
the death of 60% of the native population in a certain village.
Defend yourself against the murder charges and clear your name.
Resources
for spread of infectious diseases in the New World (or use
a search engine to search for "smallpox"):
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