Unit Plan 28 (Grade 7 Social Studies): The Age of Exploration
Map major explorers’ routes and uncover how motives, technologies, and encounters reshaped global trade, environments, and societies—revealing the lasting consequences of early modern exploration across continents.
Focus: Map major explorers’ routes and evaluate motives, technologies, and consequences of early modern exploration for peoples and environments across the globe.
Grade Level: 7
Subject Area: Social Studies (World History • Geography • Economics • Inquiry)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Students investigate why European (and other) states ventured farther between c. 1400–1700 and what followed. They analyze motives (God, gold, glory, and state competition), enablers (ships, sails, navigation, cartography), and impacts (Columbian Exchange, disease, coerced labor, environmental change, shifting trade networks). The unit centers on thematic maps and short argument captions that link routes to outcomes.
Essential Questions
- Why did exploration expand when and where it did, and who benefited or was harmed?
- How did geography and technology shape routes, encounters, and empire-building?
- In what ways did exploration reconfigure global exchange of people, goods, and ideas?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Create and interpret thematic maps tracing key routes and geographic constraints (Geo.2–3).
- Explain human–environment interactions and diffusion linked to exploration (Geo.4–5).
- Analyze causes and effects of exploration using multiple perspectives, including Indigenous and African voices (Hist.2–3).
- Describe interdependence across emerging global trade networks and shifting markets (Econ.4).
- Communicate a concise claim connecting a route to a consequence with mapped evidence and citations.
Standards Alignment — 7th Grade (C3-based custom)
- 7.C3.Geo.2–5 — Thematic mapping; geographic influences; human–environment interaction; diffusion/global networks.
- 7.C3.Hist.2–3 — Causes/effects; diverse perspectives/experiences.
- 7.C3.Econ.4 — Interdependence through trade networks.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can map a route accurately with scale/legend and explain why it followed certain coasts, winds, or currents.
- I can link a specific motive/technology to a route and a consequence (economic, cultural, environmental).
- I can include at least two perspectives in my explanation and cite my sources.