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The Earliest Humans

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

For hundreds of thousands of years, our species lived as foragers. Then, about 12,000 years ago, some foragers started to experiment with farming, kicking off the Neolithic Revolution and setting the stage for huge transformations.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand how historians use interdisciplinary evidence to craft narratives about early human communities.
  2. Evaluate the positive and negative effects of the transition to agriculture.
  3. Identify the major changes and continuities in the three frames that accompanied the transition to agriculture.

Vocab Terms:

  • agricultural
  • forage
  • nomadic
STEP 1

Opener: The Earliest Humans

Teaching Tools

For more information about why OER Project uses openers in every lesson, check out our Openers and Closers Guide.

STEP 2

Looking Ahead

Teaching Tools

Get an idea of how other teachers use Unit Notebooks by checking out this conversation External link in the OER Project Teacher Community.

STEP 3

The Earliest Humans

Teaching Tools

Check out our Reading Guide to learn about the Three-Step Reading approach.

Humans tend to stick with what works. That was most certainly true of our ancestors, who, for a long time, were foragers. But as some groups started farming, things started to change very quickly.

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

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.
STEP 4

Framing Unit 2

Teaching Tools

Looking to deepen your understanding of frames? Take a look at this conversation External link in the OER Project Teacher Community.

This video and activity will help us use the frames to evaluate the impact of the transition from foraging to farming.

Unit 2 Frames External link

In this period, 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.
STEP 5

Closer: The Earliest Humans