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The Earliest Humans

Teacher Resources

Blog

Blog: Paleolithic era: History, science, or social studies? External link

Driving Question: What caused some humans to shift from foraging to farming and what were the effects of this change?

Throughout history, humans evolved alongside other species, utilizing tools for survival and expanding into new environments. The cognitive revolution marked a key turning point, enabling language development and fostering global networks of communities. In the Paleolithic era, characterized by foraging and hunting, significant changes included the cognitive revolution and global migration. Many of these foragers would eventually begin to experiment with farming, kicking off the Neolithic Revolution and setting the stage for transformative shifts in how goods were produced, distributed, and ultimately, how societies lived.

  1. Understand how historians use evidence from a variety of disciplines to create narratives about early human communities.
  2. Use the historical thinking practice of claim testing to assess the validity of claims.
  3. Learn how to identify claim and focus in historical writing.
1
Claim Testing – Introduction
Opener

Opener

Claim Testing – Introduction

We encounter countless claims every day, but how do we evaluate them? In WHP, we use the claim testers—authority, logic, intuition, and evidence—to help us evaluate people’s assertions. You’ll learn how to use these claim testers to assess all sorts of claims, not just historical ones.

2

Early Humans (250,000 Years Before Present to 3000 BCE): Unit 2 Overview

For almost all human history, our ancestors were foragers. During the Paleolithic period, a gradual shift to farming sparked huge transformations. But was farming a good idea?

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
3
Claim and Focus Warm-Up
Activity

Activity

Claim and Focus Warm-Up
As you develop your critical thinking and historical thinking skills, you also build writing skills that will help you in a lot of other classes. This warm-up explores the Claim and Focus row of the Writing Rubric to fine tune your writing skills.
4
Unit 2 Introduction: The Earliest Humans
Article

Article

Unit 2 Introduction: The Earliest Humans
Our early ancestors made amazing breakthroughs in thought and tool-use, populated much of the world, and learned to farm. These dramatic changes set the scene for rapid transformations in what it meant to be human.
5

Frames in Unit 2

In this unit, humans began to build communities, create language networks, and produce and distribute goods. You’ll explore how this happened and how farming began to transform people’s lives.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
6
UP Notebook
Closer

Closer

UP Notebook
It’s time to explore the Unit 2 Problem. Remember: you’ll have a chance to return to this worksheet at the end of the unit when you have more evidence!