How money makes trading easier: coins, paper money and banks
Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.
Read this first
A day's shopping (example data)
(an example, made up for practice), columns Good | Price: a loaf of bread | 2 coins; a pot | 5 coins; a roll of cloth | 12 coins. Then, below the table: Cause and effect chain "From coins to paper money": [1] about the 600s BCE: Lydia makes some of the oldest coins, of electrum, a mix of gold and silver; [2] coins spread as a way to pay; [3] the 1000s CE: paper money called jiaozi appears in Chengdu, China, under the Song dynasty; [4] paper notes replace heavy strings of coins for large sums. Arrows: 1 → 2, 2 → 3, 3 → 4.
In Bo's example table, how much does a pot cost?
- 12 coins, the price of cloth
- 5 coins
- 7 coins together
- 2 coins, the price of bread
How much more does a roll of cloth cost than a pot, Esme asks?
- 70 coins
- 5 coins, the pot's price
- 7 coins
- 17 coins together
How many loaves of bread cost the same as a roll of cloth, Jun asks?
- 6
- 24, by multiplying the prices
- 2, the price of one loaf
- 10, by taking 2 from 12
Where were some of the oldest coins made, Kira asks?
- Lydia
- Chengdu, in Song China
- Kilwa, on the Swahili coast
- Florence, in Italy
What were Lydia's coins made of, Luz asks?
- Copper and nothing else
- Electrum
- Paper, like the jiaozi of Chengdu
- Clay tokens
Why were paper notes useful for large sums, Noah asks?
- Notes were made of gold and silver
- Paper notes were heavier to carry
- Notes were lighter than coins
- Coins could not count large sums
How many years passed from the 600s BCE to the 1000s CE, roughly, Pia asks?
- About 160 years
- About 16,000 years
- About 400 years, by subtracting
- About 1,600 years
Why might a set coin be easier to use than a lump of metal, Ren asks?
- Traders know what it is worth
- Coins could buy bread and nothing else
- A coin has no value
- A lump of metal is easier to use
Tala's note says, "Paper money was invented in Lydia." Which fix is right?
- Change it: Lydia made coins
- Change "Lydia" to "Florence"
- Change "money" to "pots"
- Leave it: Lydia made paper money
Zee's note says, "Electrum is a kind of paper." Which fix is right?
- Change "paper" to "clay"
- Change it: gold and silver
- Change "Electrum" to "Barter"
- Leave it: electrum notes were printed in Chengdu