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Overview:
The local marketplace serves as a reflection of what is available in the environment, what is used to meet daily needs, or what is valued in a culture. In this lesson students will explore kinds of marketplaces and view goods as a reflection of the characteristics of a region.
This lesson is one in a series developed in collaboration with The Asia Society, with support from the Freeman Foundation, highlighting the geography and culture of Asia and its people.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, social studies, economics
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 1: "How to use maps and geographic representations"
Standard 4: "The physical and human characteristics of places"
Standard 15: "How physical systems affect human systems"
Standard 16: "The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources"
Time:
Two hours
Materials Required:
- Computers and Internet access
- Physical, economic, and agricultural maps of Asia
- Visual representations of marketplaces
- Marketplace worksheet (PDF, Adobe Acrobat Reader required)
Objectives:
Students will
- identify types of marketplaces;
- analyze the influence of environment on the production and sale of goods in the local market; and
- make connections between economic value of goods and scarcity.
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Have students discuss the types of items they shop for with their families—necessities that include food and clothing as well as luxury items (books, toys, and appliances, for example). Ask the students:
- Where do they make these purchases?
- Where do the items that they purchase come from?
- What do these places look like?
- Are the goods made or grown locally?
Development:
Introduce the idea of exploring marketplaces of Asia. Explain to students that the local shopping areas they are probably familiar with—those that have separate stores for food, clothing, and other goods—are not the only forms of marketplaces.
Markets may be permanent structures or general areas where people gather to sell goods. They may take place once or twice a week, every morning, or late in the evening. Multistoried "malls" may contain hundreds of small stalls rather than sprawling stores.
In rural areas, items for sale are more likely to meet necessities of life and be produced in the immediate area. The goods found in any marketplace are dependent on the region's ability to grow or produce goods or trade for goods from outside the region. Urban market areas may sell items made locally or more exotic items that have been obtained through trade. Areas with good transportation and trade opportunities will offer more variety of goods.
Have students virtually "visit" a mall in Seoul, a night market in Hong Kong, the Sunday Market in Kashi, China, a bazaar in Samarqand, Uzbekistan, and a street market in Beijing. (See Related Links.) Have students record the characteristics of the various marketplaces on the Marketplace worksheet (PDF, Adobe Acrobat Reader required).
Gather together as a whole class to discuss the features of the marketplaces. Ask students the following questions:
- Who provides the most diversity of goods? Why? How?
- What goods are likely to be found in any location?
- Who provides the freshest goods? Why? How?
- Who is likely to charge more for the goods? Why?
- Who would be likely to bargain with their customers? Who would likely have set prices? Why?
- What accounts for the differences in the kinds of markets?
On day two, have students work in small groups to find and explore physical, economic, and agricultural maps as well as online information to find what products might be available in targeted marketplaces. They should record their findings on the worksheet.
Ask students to hypothesize about what would be found in the marketplaces of the target areas in Asia. Allow students to revisit Web sites that picture marketplaces. Is there evidence of the goods they expected from their research?
Closing:
Discuss the students' findings as a class. Return to the questions sited earlier to reinforce their research.
What products would be available in an urban area? Why? What differences would be found in rural markets? What items would all people in any location be likely to look for?
Suggested Student Assessment:
Organizers, participation in group work, and classroom discussion reflect knowledge and skills.
Extending the Lesson:
For homework, have students survey and list the kinds of shopping venues found in their communities. Ask them to organize their findings into categories of their choosing (e.g., goods sold, types of stores, sizes of store).
Older students may be asked to survey newspaper ads for goods that are produced locally or those that are brought in from other locations. What are the advantages of using local products? What are the advantages of having access to trade items?
Related Links:
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