Grade our work! How do you rate our Silk Roads activities?

Hi! I looked into the Trade Game - are there cards for what the kids are actually trading? I couldnt find any additional materials other than the directions?

I tried emailing OER but their email kept bouncing back! Anyone know how to contact them? team@oerproject.com doesnt work...

Hi Allison! You may have just received this email response, sorry about the bounce back. But I'll post the response here in case it helps others. Let us know if you have additional questions!

You can find all the teacher instructions and links to the cards that students will trade in the teaching guides, which can be found by clicking on the hammer at the top of each lesson page. You will need to be logged in as a teacher to access them. Here's a link to the Big History Lesson 5.5 Teaching Guide: https://www.oerproject.com/OER-Materials/OER-Media/PDFs/BHP/Teacher-Resources/Teacher-Resources-Gated/Lesson-5-5-Teaching-Guide?Id=107&share=link

 Let us know if your students liked it or if you made any adjustments to the game!

Diving in for the first time tomorrow. Yes, a lot of cutting, but I’m hoping a laminator will help with that (for the next batch of cards). I love the graphics!  And thank you to Anne Koschmider  for making the instructional Slide Deck and signs (shared on the forum a few years ago). This looks like a great, tangible way for kids to *really* learn about the Silk Roads!  Kudos to the person who first created it!

P.S.  There is no time frame for Round 1.  I assume it is 5 minutes?

The Silk Road trade simulation is a keeper, for sure! I like how it illustrates the interregional extent of postclassical trade. 

As a personal choice, I omit the wine cards. I think I could also made edits to the cards to be more relevant to the 1200-present time frame of my courses. For example, we don't cover Zoroastrianism. 

Although my stide deck still has all the discussion questions in it, in reality, I always end up skipping/consolidating some. They just feel too repetitive otherwise. 

Additionally, I wish I could figure out a way to give China a more distinct advantage. A lot of the game's out come depends on the voracity of the students in each group, so depending on personalities, the final scores don't always reflect how much China benefited from Silk Road trade. 

Lastly, I feel like the scoring is pretty straightforward, but students often struggle to understand it. Maybe someone has an idea to make the scoring more clear?

Thanks for eliciting feedback! I look forward to hearing from others. 

Carrie Emmerson Can't wait to hear how it goes today! Report back, if you don't mind. :) And yes, 5 minutes for Round 1 will be great

 Anne Koschmider Would you mind re-posting the slide deck? I know others will find it really helpful!

Thanks you two!

Sure! Here's the link. The hidden slides at the end of the deck are to print to designate the groups/regions.

For the record, this activity was a great hit with my AP students and definitely helped them understand different perspectives and motivations from the different regions, as well as goods, ideas (and disease!) that were exchanged across the Silk Trade Routes.  I plan on using it with my on-level (Honors) students in the next week or two

Some observations and questions:

Byzantium was loaded with luxury goods but not a lot of sustainable goods, espec. at the beginning - check.  In the end, they did not need to import silk because they gained silk-making techniques and silk worms - check.

China seemed to be in great shape and didn't need to trade much - check (though they were threatening people with the use of gunpowder at one point).

Central Asia determined that they would focus on subsistence instead of luxury goods - check.  They were having a hard time selling horses, interestingly

Persia and India were very well located for trade - check.

Arabia had a lot of religions - check.

There was frustration with the spread of disease, and with bandits - check.  In fact, at the end of the simulation, four of the six disease cards were on the floor!  I reminded them that this wouldn't be possible in real life.  

There was some great strategizing as the game went on - medicine for disease, two-for-one offers, etc.

Questions: 

Can they use gunpowder as a threat?  

Can they access/trade additional items beyond their original 7? (I have a class of 17 - more resources than students)

Can they trade two for one?

Is stealing "allowed" for all parties?  There was an attempt at a hostile takeover of Byzantium at one point.  

Silk Road Simulation Photos Oct 2025

Diving in for the first time tomorrow. Yes, a lot of cutting, but I’m hoping a laminator will help with that (for the next batch of cards). I love the graphics!  And thank you to Anne Koschmider  for making the instructional Slide Deck and signs (shared on the forum a few years ago). This looks like a great, tangible way for kids to *really* learn about the Silk Roads!  Kudos to the person who first created it!

 Carrie Emmerson 

This is cool to see! Thanks for sharing. I've gotta say, I love that the diseases ended up on the floor. Feels very much like the Mongols at the Siege of Caffa!

Here's my 2 cents on your questions:

Can they use gunpowder as a threat?  -  I'm not sure how this would work mechanically--but if you can come up with a rule that seems fair, I don't see why not. How did students attempt to carry out the threat? How did they make the threat have teeth?

Can they access/trade additional items beyond their original 7? (I have a class of 17 - more resources than students) - I think the answer here is Yes. You're asking that if they get a trade good from someone that was not part of their original set can they trade it on? Then yeah! 

Can they trade two for one? Yes! This and the above are great ways to show how certain goods take on more value the farther they move.

Is stealing "allowed" for all parties?  There was an attempt at a hostile takeover of Byzantium at one point.  - When I ran a game like this in my classroom, and students would raise this issue or accuse someone, my response was always "bandits were very common on the Silk Roads if the ruling states didn't police their routes. Make sure to safeguard your caravans." 

How did they think to take Byzantium??