The Agricultural Revolution
Driving Question: Why did the Agricultural Revolution begin?
In this lesson, you’ll explore the revolutionary transition from foraging to agriculture. This transition laid the foundation for the first agricultural societies. What were agriculture’s advantages and disadvantages?
Learning Objectives:
- Evaluate the impacts of the Agricultural Revolution on human communities.
- Identify the characteristics of farming communities and understand why humans began to switch from foraging to farming.
- Use the historical thinking practices of comparison to understand how life today differs from that of early farmers.
Vocab Terms:
- agrarian
- domesticate
- hierarchy
- Neolithic
- pastoralist
- surplus
How can the course frames help you evaluate early human societies? In this activity, you’ll get ready for this lesson about one of the most important changes in human history.
This is the first comparison activity in the course, so it’s a good time to review OER Project’s approach to historical comparison. Check out OER Project supports like the Comparison Tool and related Feedback Form, and find some quick tips and tricks for teaching this skill—all in a quick one-pager.
The Agricultural Revolution was a huge transformation in the way people lived. This video and activity will help you uncover some ways that those changes are still playing out today.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Preview the questions below, and then review the transcript.
While you watch
Look for answers to these questions:
- Where did early humans tend to settle and why? Can you think of an example of how this affects humans today?
- What evidence do we have that foragers “had it pretty good”?
- What are some advantages and disadvantages of agriculture? (Hint! You may want to make a T-chart here to list these as John Green will jump back and forth.)
- What are some of the negative consequences of agriculture?
After you watch
Respond to this question: Do you think the Agricultural Revolution was a positive or negative change?
The Agricultural Revolution is widely considered to be a key turning point in human history. It gave us cheeseburgers, but was it good for us? Can we even call it a revolution?
Causation is one of the historical thinking skills that we scaffold throughout the course. For a quick refresher about teaching causation, take a look at this one-pager.
Alphonse the Camel had a difficult life, but what caused his demise? Let’s explore this poor camel’s end and get to the bottom of this mystery!
Practice claim writing while reviewing what you’ve learned by building a claim about the transition to farming.
Return to your categorization of the frames from the beginning of this activity, and see how your thinking has changed.
