Unit Plan 20 (Grade 7 Social Studies): The Printing Press and Information Revolution
Analyze how printing technologies—from paper and block print to movable type and the press—revolutionized communication, reshaped markets, and shifted power across regions in this 7th-grade world history and economics unit.
Focus: Analyze how new information technologies (paper, block print, movable type, press) changed communication, markets, and power.
Grade Level: 7
Subject Area: Social Studies (World History • Economics • Geography • Inquiry)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Students examine the press as a turning point in world history. They trace earlier technologies (paper, woodblock, movable type), map diffusion of print shops, study the economy of printing, and evaluate how faster, cheaper texts shifted authority and public discourse. By week’s end, students argue how technology and ideas interacted to spark broader transformations.
Essential Questions
- Why is printing considered an information revolution—what changed, and what continued?
- How did printing’s costs, credit, and markets shape what people could read and who could publish?
- How did print networks and geography spread ideas and disrupt or bolster power?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Explain the printing press as a turning point while noting important continuities with manuscript culture (Hist.4).
- Describe how printing fit within systems of exchange (inputs, labor, credit, taxation, demand) (Econ.3).
- Map and interpret diffusion networks of printing, showing routes, hubs, and constraints (Geo.5).
- Evaluate sources (broadsides, colophons, censorship edicts) for purpose, audience, and bias, using evidence in claims.
- Communicate a clear argument that weighs technology, markets, and power with cited examples.
Standards Alignment — 7th Grade (C3-based custom)
- 7.C3.Hist.4 — Turning points and legacies (Renaissance/Reformation/Enlightenment).
- 7.C3.Econ.3 — Systems of exchange (money, credit, taxation) and roles in growth.
- 7.C3.Geo.5 — Global networks of exchange and diffusion of ideas/goods/beliefs.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can identify what changed and what stayed the same when printing spread.
- I can explain how printers financed, produced, and sold books/pamphlets.
- I can map diffusion and use routes/hubs to explain how ideas traveled.
- I can support a claim with specific sources and explain audience/purpose/bias.