Cookie Policy

Our website uses cookies to understand content and feature usage to drive site improvements over time. To learn more, review our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Foraging Societies

Driving Question: How did early humans live?

Early humans populated the Earth by traveling hundreds of thousands of miles searching for food to gather and hunt. In the process, they used collective learning to improve upon their tools and techniques.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Describe the characteristics of foraging communities.
  2. Identify how foraging impacted the diets of hunter-gatherer communities.

Vocab Terms:

  • climate
  • collective learning
  • extinction
  • foraging
  • Homo sapiens
  • migration
STEP 1

Opener: Foraging Societies

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 2 of the Lesson 4.5 Teaching Guide Locked .

Want to know how other teachers have implemented the foraging simulation? Take a look at this thread External link in the OER Project Teacher Community.

Before we farmed, we foraged. We’re going to give you a taste of the foraging lifestyle with this simulation.

STEP 2

What’s for Dinner?

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 2 of the Lesson 4.5 Teaching Guide Locked .

Want to see some great examples of Hunter-Gatherer Menus? Check out this thread External link in the OER Project Teacher Community.

You are what you eat, but societies aren’t just what they eat, but how they eat. In this article and activity, we’ll look at how relying on foraging shaped early human communities.

STEP 3

The Evolution of Our Diets

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 4 of the Lesson 4.5 Teaching Guide Locked .

Want to dig into claim testing even more? Check out this page on the OER Project website!

How does your diet compare to an ancient hunter-gatherer’s? Get ready to learn about some surprising similarities (and big differences) between what each of you consumes in this video and activity.

From Foraging to Food Shopping External link

How do our diets today compare to those of our early human ancestors? Hint: We all love sweet treats!

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
STEP 4

Closer: Foraging Societies

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 5 of the Lesson 4.5 Teaching Guide Locked .

Remember that Closers are a great opportunity to informally assess student understanding. Read more about that in the OER Project Assessment Guide.