Agricultural Revolution Lesson Plan
AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION LESSON PLANFor the vast majority of Homo sapiens’ history, our species depended on foraging strategies to feed themselves and organize their communities. That all started to change about 12,000 years ago. Gradually, in many places around the world, human groups independently developed methods of domesticating plants and animals. Some communities eventually produced surplus food, which allowed them to live in permanent villages and cities. Some individuals held specialized jobs, such as priest, scribe, and soldier. Things escalated quickly, and soon we had kings, empires, organized religion, and fast-food chains. In these three lessons, students will learn about why some humans started farming and about some of the consequences for our world. Finally, they’ll consider the questions: Was farming a good idea? Or was it a terrible mistake?OverviewLength: each lesson should take 1-2 days Learning Objectives• Use the historical thinking practice of causation to assess the causes and consequences of the shift to farming.• Explain how the rise of agriculture shaped the social structures of the first villages, cities, and states.• Develop an argument comparing the relative pros and cons of the Agricultural Revolution for humanity.
Lesson 1: The Rise of Farming Lesson objective:• Use the historical thinking practice of causation to assess the causes and consequences of the shift to farming. Description:In this introductory lesson on the origins of agriculture, students begin brainstorming and discussing what they already know about the rise of farming. Next, they’ll watch a 10-minute video featuring David Christian that focuses on the causes of the Agricultural Revolution. Students will complete an activity in which they identify the causal chain that resulted in the transition from foraging to farming. The lesson concludes with a quick exit ticket that asks students to write snappy breaking-news headlines about this 12,000-year-old event.Opener: What Do You Know About Farming?Ask students to independently spend one minute writing down everything they know about farming. Then, have them get into small groups and compare notes, identifying similarities and differences in what they wrote down. Have a full-class discussion about how students think the life of a farmer today might be different from a farmer thousands of years ago.Video: Why Was Agriculture So Important?: At the end of the last ice age, climate change and population growth forced many human communities to innovate in order to survive. For many groups, agriculture emerged as the solution. Farming originally developed in the Fertile Crescent, but humans in China, Papua New Guinea, West Africa, Mesoamerica, and the Andes also began to domesticate plants and animals in order to gain access to more energy and food. Gradually, farming expanded to new areas and replaced foraging as the dominant form of food production. For additional teaching support, including key idea reading questions, click here (log-in required). Activity: Causation—From Foraging to Complex Societies In this activity, students will grapple with cause and consequence and will see how causal reasoning can be used to help understand change over time. Causal reasoning can help students develop evidence-based explanations and arguments in response to a causal question that considers human actions, events, and larger structures or processes. Students will think about both the causes and consequences of farming, which will push them from thinking about causation as linear toward an understanding of the complex relationship between cause and consequence.Closer/Assessment: Breaking News: Farming Begins! To review key concepts from the materials above and provide a quick check for understanding, students will summarize what they’ve learned about the causes of the Agricultural Revolution by writing snappy 5- to 10-word headlines. Working in pairs, each group should write a breaking-news headline about the rise of farming (example: Humans Farm Wheat in Mesopotamia: Soon, Cookies Will Exist!).Cover image: Sennedjem and his wife in the fields sowing and tilling, from The New Kingdom. © Art Images via Getty Images.
3Additional Materials:• Article: “The First Farmers in Africa, the Cradle of Humanity”• Video: The Agricultural Revolution: Crash Course World History #1• Article: “The Transition to Farming: Differing Perspectives”• Article: “What’s for Dinner Tonight?”• Infographic: “Agriculture and Civilization”Detail from “Agriculture and Civilization”infographic.
Lesson 2: How Agriculture Changed HumansLesson objective: • Explain how the rise of agriculture shaped the social structures of the first villages, cities, and states.Description:In this lesson, students first investigate a mystery about an ancient box. Then, they read two articles that explore the impact of agriculture, particularly population growth and the emergence of cities and states. Finally, they revisit their theories from the beginning of class, and discuss what evidence changed their minds. Opener: Visual Hook—“This Belongs in a Museum”Want to get students engaged? Give them a mystery. Show the class the “Peace” side of the “Standard of Ur.” Ask them to work in small groups to brainstorm about its meaning and purpose. As a group, they should write down their answers to three questions:• What do you think this is?• What types of people are shown?• Why do you think this was made?Article: “Introduction to Agrarian Societies”In some areas, the shift to farming led to new structures—cities and states. Not all agrarian societies developed these structures, and certainly not all states or cities were organized in the same way. By studying them, however, we can determine certain patterns in how such societies were organized and governed. These patterns help us make sense of the past. For additional teaching support, including key idea reading questions, click here (log-in required).Article: “Growth of Cities”The development of the city marked a real shift in the lives of people who lived there, a shift that inspired art and music about the new lives they were living. Cities emerged in many parts of the world in this era, even though most people did not live in cities. Cities had organization and hierarchy, although not always to the same degree or in the same way. Cities also featured a division of labor and specialization. Finally, cities connected with each other and the rural areas around them through a series of networks that allowed for the exchange of goods, people, ideas, and disease. For additional teaching support, including key idea reading questions, click here (log-in required).Closer/Assessment: Re-view—“This Belongs in a Museum” Students review their answers to the opening mystery. As a group, they should reflect on what they’ve learned in this lesson as they revisit the Peace side of the “Standard of Ur” and revise their previous answers. Once they have done this, each group should share with the whole class what they changed in their answers and what evidence they used from this lesson to revise their opinions.
2If students are struggling to make sense of the box, consider using these prompts:• This is an artifact depicting hierarchy in an agricultural society. Who is the most important person on this box? How do you know?• What types of jobs are depicted on the box? How can you tell what jobs the people on the box hold? • Who do you think would want to have this box made for them? What ideas did that person want to reinforce? Who looks the most impressive on this box? Note: If you would like to extend this activity, show students the “War” side of the box and ask them to evaluate both sides of the box for evidence of the pros and cons of agricultural society. This will help them prepare for the next lesson.Additional Materials:• Video: Farming and the State• Activity: Comparison—Life in the Neolithic and Today• Graphic Biography:The Xianrendong Pottery.“The Standard of Ur”, peace side. Decorated box, four sides with inlaid mosaic scenes made from shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli, set in bitumen. © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Lesson 3: Farming: Oops? Lesson objective: • Develop an argument comparing the relative pros and cons of the Agricultural Revolution for humanity. Description:Students begin this lesson by brainstorming the benefits and drawbacks of agricultural lifestyles as a full class. Then, they read two different comics, each of which attempts to convince the reader to adopt or reject agricultural society. Students then use these two comics and the evidence they have gathered in the previous two lessons to develop an argument for or against farming, which they will present as a poster advertisement.Opener: Agricultural CommercialKick off this lesson by playing this one-minute video for your class. You may want to pause at points toenable students to discuss their initial thoughts on the benefits as well as the “side effects” of agriculturalsociety. Finally, give your students time at the end of the video to consider how the Agricultural Revolutionhas impacted their lives.Comic: Join the Neolithic Revolution!Was farming a good idea? This one-page comic attempts to convince students of farming’s benefits and encourages them to join the revolution.Guiding questions:• According to this comic, what is one complaint a forager might have about their life?• According to this comic, what is one benefit of living in an agricultural society?Comic: Quit the Neolithic RevolutionDid the first farmers make a terrible mistake? This one-page comic tries to open students’ eyes to the downsides of agricultural societies and convince them to return to foraging. Guiding questions:• According to this comic, what is one complaint a farmer might have about their life?• According to this comic, what is one benefit of living in a foraging society?Closer/Assessment: Marketing 101: Forage or Farm?This culminating activity asks students to compare the positive and negative aspects of foraging and farming to formulate an argument for why one is better than the other. In this way, students begin to understand that each way of life has benefits and drawbacks. In addition, this will help them evaluate why most people made the switch to farming, and understand why this change was a gradual process and one that not everyone chose to make.