Grade 7 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 6, Lesson 3

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
Across the Centuries

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 6, Lesson 3: The Rise of the Zimbabwe State (pp. 145-148)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Interconnectedness In the interior of south-central Africa, the Shona built a thriving kingdom based on the mining and trading of gold.

Tell students that although the Shona didn't value gold highly, they learned that coastal traders did. Discuss with students how Shona enterprise created a wealthy trading kingdom. Then divide the class in four and have one group represent the Shona gold miners, one the Shona gold traders, one the coastal Africans, and one the Arab sea traders. Have students create a skit showing how Great Zimbabwe became wealthy.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Ask students to think of themselves as historians and make lists of what we know and don't know about Great Zimbabwe. Have them make their own hypothesis as to the function of the cone-shaped tower.
Have students use the Portuguese historian's description of the king's compound on page 148 to make a drawing of it.

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