Lesson Plan

Cultural Diffusion Maps

Subject

 Social Studies

Standard

H: Conflict and Compromise3.H.CO.1 Evaluate the effects of people, goods, and ideas that diffused from
one world community into other world communities and the effects of the people, goods and ideas on
these communities.

Grade Level

3rd-5th

Duration

1-2 periods of Social Studies covering cultural diffusion.

2-3 periods of Social Studies for presentations. Students can work on project outside of class.

Objectives

Students will

 Define cultural diffusion

 State the importance of cultural diffusion on societies
 Create a map depicting cultural diffusion
 Work in groups to create map and present findings to the class

Materials

 Access to a computer or tablet

 MS Paint or preferred software, I will be using MS Paint to demonstrate
 Paper/notecards for presentation
 Potentially a presentation program ie Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint

Procedures

1. Cultural Diffusion is the spread of beliefs, ideas, goods, and social activities from one culture to
different religions, ethnicities, and nationalities. The spread of cultural trends across locations.
Cultural diffusion can come in many forms, but we are only going to cover a few namely
technology, customs/celebrations, and economic (goods and ideas).
2. Watch this video as a class. https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/society-and-
culture/culture/v/diffusion
3. Briefly discuss the movement of indigenous people to the Americas via the Bering Strait.
 4. Now discuss each of these examples with the class as a whole, answering the questions together
in preparation for their project:

Technology Example:

Paper was first made in China and soon spread to the Middle East and Europe.

Where did the diffusion come from? How?

What caused the diffusion?

Who did the diffusion affect? How?

What were some consequences of the diffusion?

Customs/Celebrations Example:

Bluegrass influenced by various countries.

Where did the diffusion come from? How?

What caused the diffusion?

Who did the diffusion affect? How?

What were some consequences of the diffusion?

Economic (Goods and Ideas) Example:

Corn spreading from Mexico to Appalachia.

Where did the diffusion come from? How?

What caused the diffusion?

Who did the diffusion affect? How?

What were some consequences of the diffusion?

Project

Students will form groups and choose a topic relating to cultural diffusion from these topics
technology, economics (good and ideas), or cultures/customs. As a group students will then
create a map depicting the point of origin for their chosen topic and the area(s) the cultural
diffusion affected. Along with the map, students will present their topic of choice to the class
and answer the following questions.

Where did the diffusion come from? How?

What caused the diffusion?

Who did the diffusion affect? How?

What were some consequences of the diffusion?

Map Example