lesson plan changes

Consumer products provide evidence of cultural diffusion in many households. Analyzing the items that are found in a home's cupboards and closets can tell us much about the residents' cultural heritage and what cultural influences affect their lives. This lesson will help your students to identify some of the cultures new to their part of the world and to understand more about cultural diffusion.

Connections to the Curriculum: Geography, math, language arts

Connections to the National Geography Standards: Standard 10: "The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics"

Time: Two to four hours

Materials Required: Blank Xpeditions outline maps of the world, one for each group and colored pencils.

Objectives: Students will be able to locate on a world map the places of cultural origin of many of the items in their homes; and analyze the cultural diffusion that explains how those items got where they are today.
i'm not sure if the students are looking at actual maps of the world first or not, but i would make sure that happens first. then i would have them find the country on a blank map and draw different colored lines connecting all the countries to the united states

Geographic Skills: Acquiring Geographic Information, Organizing Geographic Information, Analyzing Geographic Information.

S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e :

Opening: Have your students bring from home ten things that they feel represent their culture. These items could include foods, apparel, music,religious items, decorative objects, and so on. If you know a student's cultural background, help him or her to select something especially significant to that culture. Each student should bring the items in an opaque bag. (You may want to discourage your students from bringing extremely valuable items to school for this exercise.) Introduce the concept of cultural diffusion—the spread of elements from one culture to another. This was a slower process in previous eras when cultural groups typically had less frequent contact with each other than they do today. How have the increased speed of communications and easier international travel affected cultural diffusion?
i would show a video or have the students read an article and introduce the topic this way. then i would have them bring in at least 5 things that represent their culture. they can bring more if they want, but ten things seems very overwhelming, especially for younger students.

Development: Number each bag and then number and letter each of the items in the bag. Divide the students into groups of four or five. Exchange bags among the groups so that every student has another student's bag. Have the groups open the bags one at a time and examine the items they contain. Students should note their best educated guess at the place of cultural origin (which may not be the same as the site of manufacture!) for each of the items in the bag. The groups should map the location of origin for each item by sketching the items on blank outline maps of the world.
having the students sketch is a good idea, but if that takes too long, they can write it too. the students will have to have cultural backgrounds of a few different countries in order to make an educated guess. i would want to make sure the video or article i show at the beginning will touch upon that. i think talking about where these items are manufactured and their cultural origin may become confusing, so i would want to focus on cultural origin OR manufacturer location, and then switch. when doing the maps, they can have 2 then, one for cultural origin and one for manufacturer location. then at the end they can look at both maps and tie in all of their ideas. they can use corresponding colored pencil colors on both maps to represent the same item.

Closing: Groups should discuss the movement of each item to their local communities and draw this diffusion with colored pencils. When did each item (and the culture with which it is associated) reach their community? Did the item come with a group of people that moved to the area? Did the product come by way of modern retailing, including advertising? Do the items typically reflect the cultural roots of thestudents who brought them in, or a smorgasboard of world cultures?
colored pencils is a good idea as i said up above. i would want the students to do more of an opinion analysis. they can look at what they use from other countries, and see how we need these other countries to make these things for us. it could also lead to a discussion about different cultures around the world. maybe i could relate it back to the video or article i was showing as my introduction to the topic i did a similar assignment to this in my college geography course, and it was very interesting. it can definitely be used in elementary schools, on a simpler level.