Students investigate how different social groups in feudal Japan relied on one another by building and testing a model village economy. Through role-based tasks, trading simulations, and analysis of daily life artifacts, they gather evidence to answer the question of interdependence across the social structure. The experience helps students connect economics, geography, and social hierarchy in a concrete way while practicing collaboration, inquiry, and explanation. By the end, students create a public-facing product that shows how the actions of one group affected the whole community.

Students will explain how samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants had different roles and how those roles connected to meet basic needs and keep society functioning. They will use maps, artifacts, short texts, and visuals to gather evidence about daily life, trade, agriculture, and social structure in feudal Japan. Students will create and revise a collaborative product that shows interdependence among groups and supports an answer to the question, How did samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants depend on one another in feudal Japan? Students will practice discussion, note-taking, and presentation skills by sharing claims, asking questions, and responding to feedback with their team.

Students will create a feudal Japan role portfolio with journal entries, trade records, sketches of homes/tools, and short research notes from the perspective of a samurai, peasant, artisan, or merchant. In teams, they will build a village economy map or 3D model that shows how goods, services, protection, and taxes connected social groups. They will also produce a marketplace simulation with handmade goods, exchange cards, and role badges to test the essential question through interaction. By the end, each team will present a museum-style exhibit or short documentary explaining how the groups depended on one another in feudal Japan, using evidence from their model and simulation.

Set up a “Feudal Japan Marketplace” where students rotate through short role stations as samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants, each with a simple task and a few trade items they must exchange to meet a common village need. Introduce the essential question by giving the class a challenge: keep the community functioning for one day even though each group has different jobs, resources, and rules. After the simulation, students create a quick dependency web with strings or arrows showing who relied on whom and why. Close with a brief reflection circle where students share one surprise about how the groups were connected and one question they want to investigate.

Host a “Feudal Japan Interdependence Museum” where student teams present interactive booths for samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants, showing how each group relied on the others through artifacts, short skits, labeled models, and trade maps. Invite families, another 5th grade class, or school staff to rotate through the exhibits and use a simple feedback card to answer the essential question: How did samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants depend on one another in feudal Japan? Include a live simulation in which visitors receive a role card and make trade or service decisions with students to experience interdependence firsthand. End with a brief whole-group reflection where students explain how their exhibit evidence supports their answer to the question.