#867. How to build a slave ship.

Social Studies, level: Senior
Posted Mon Mar 1 09:37:07 PST 1999 by William Kachmarik ().
Eagle Point High School, Eagle Point, USA
Materials Required: 10 sheets of butcher paper - 7-10 different colored magic markers - Masking tape
Activity Time: Block schedule - l period
Concepts Taught: Slavery - Historical Perspectives - Economics - Integrated Curriculum

On ten sheets of butcher paper write the following questions:

1. How would you construct a wooden boat to sail across the ocean?
2. Who would you hire to construct a wooden boat?
3. What qualifications would you require of a captain and crew who would sail a wooden boat?
4. How would you arrive at a fair wage for a captain and crew for a three month ocean voyage?
5. How would you arrive at a fair cost of transporting 200 people across the ocean?
6. What provisions would you need to feed 200 people for a one and one-half month ocean voyage?
7. What type and how many provisions would you bring in case of sickness or injury for 200 people for a one and one-half month ocean voyage?
8. How would you write an advertisement in the newspaper to attract potential investors for a one and one-half ocean voyage for 200 people?
9. How would you determine the best navigable course to travel across the Atlantic Ocean?
l0. Determine how you would best fit 200 people into an area 50' by 25' by 15'?

Attach these questions on the wall around the room equal distance from one another.

Without telling the students what they are doing (building a slave ship) divide your class into groups of from 2-3 people in each group.

Send each of these groups to one of the ten questions around the room.

With a marker pen have them write down their answer right on the butcher paper.

Give the 2-3 minutes and then have them rotate to the next question.

When each group has answered all ten questions have them return to their seats for closure.

Come to some sort of consensus for an answer to each question.

Closure questions:

1. What did you just do? (built a slave ship)
2. How do you feel about what you just did? (answers will vary but the point is that this was a required assignment, just as it may have been a required job for someone back in the 16th-17th centuries)
3. How do you think people in the 16th - 17th centuries felt about this?
4. Do you think there were people who refused to participate in this activity (job) because of their beliefs?
5. How would you have felt about it if you were living back then?
6. How do you feel about it now?