What element was worth more during the growth of empires in West Africa: gold or halite? After examining various pieces of evidence of primary and secondary source documents placed around the room, your class members will each make a claim regarding the mineral they believe was worth more to early empires.

Concepts

gold, sodium, west africa

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Additional Tags

west africa, gold, sodium, halite, social studies

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Pros

• Interdisciplinary connections to science and study of minerals
• Unique inquiry with engaging video clips to supplement

Cons

• Some source material has less credibility than others
• Documents will need to be reformatted for proper presentation
• No answer key or teacher's guide included

Common Core

RH.6-8.1 RH.6-8.2 RH.6-8.7 RH.6-8.8