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The Columbian Exchange

Driving Question: What were the causes and effects of the Columbian Exchange?

The connections between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas created a truly global network that would forever change the course of history. After 1492, plants, animals, people, ideas, and diseases crisscrossed oceans in a process called the Columbian Exchange.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Evaluate how the Columbian Exchange transformed human communities and systems of production and distribution.
  2. Use the historical thinking skill of sourcing to assess the impacts of new global networks.
  3. Identify the crops and animals that moved to new places and the impacts they had on human populations in those places.
STEP 1

Opener: The Columbian Exchange

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 3 of the Lesson 6.8 Teaching Guide Locked .

Want to map out the Columbian Exchange in more detail? You can download OER Project maps here External link .

The Columbian Exchange moved plants and animals all around our world, forever reshaping the foods we eat.

STEP 2

What Caused the Columbian Exchange?

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 3 of the Lesson 6.8 Teaching Guide Locked .

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and launched an era of connections linking Afro-Eurasia and the Americas. In this article, graphic biography, and activity, you’ll track some of the many causes and effects of this exchange.

STEP 3

Food and the Columbian Exchange

Teaching Tools

Human vs. AI Research Battle: The Significance of Foods

  • Have students list foods that spread during the Columbian Exchange, then prompt AI to expand it.
  • Then, have students ask AI which one food had the greatest historical impact.
  • Finally, challenge students to do some of their own research to evaluate and critique the AI response.

What makes this effective? Students get to learn about historical significance using AI as a research partner. But rather than simply accepting the AI results, they use their own research to challenge or confirm its responses using evidence they gather, providing a valuable exercise in information literacy.

Can food change the world? Explore how the Columbian Exchange moved crops and animals to new places, forever changing cuisine, culture, and populations around the world.

STEP 4

Consequences of Exchange

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 7 of the Lesson 6.8 Teaching Guide Locked .

For more on the Aztec Perspective External link , check out this thread in the Community Forum.

The Columbian Exchange reshaped the world—but not all its effects were positive. Use the article and activities to explore its lasting consequences.

STEP 5

Closer: The Columbian Exchange

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 10 of the Lesson 6.8 Teaching Guide Locked .

What are the positive and negative impacts of interconnection? This blog post may bring new insights as you prepare to teach this closer.

In this final activity of the lesson, you’ll consider the pros and cons of the Columbian Exchange as you determine where you stand on its effects.

Extension Materials
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Dive deeper into the impacts of the Columbian Exchange—focusing on one powerful example: the spread of religion. Then, use the writing activities that follow to deepen your understanding of the Columbian Exchange.
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Colonizing Mesoamerica

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 11 of the Lesson 6.8 Teaching Guide Locked .

As European empires colonized the Americas and established transformative new connections, religions also changed. The materials provided give a sense of the many ways that beliefs changed during this period.