Unit Plan 7 (Grade 6 Social Studies): The Dawn of Agriculture
Agriculture and domestication reshaped early human societies—creating surplus, specialization, settlements, and new trade-offs in power, labor, health, and environment.
Focus: Investigate how agriculture and domestication transformed human societies—creating surplus, specialization, settlements, and new trade-offs in power, work, and environment.
Grade Level: 6
Subject Area: Social Studies (History • Economics • Geography/Inquiry)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Students explore the shift from foraging to farming and animal domestication. They analyze causes (environmental change, resource reliability), effects (sedentism, population growth, inequality), and opportunity costs of early farmers’ choices. The week culminates in a CER mini-argument answering, “Was agriculture a net benefit for early communities?”
Essential Questions
- Why did some communities choose farming—and what problems did it solve or create?
- How did surplus lead to specialization, new forms of power, and inequality?
- What trade-offs (labor, diet, health, risk, environment) came with domestication?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Explain causes and effects of the agricultural transition using a causation chain (push/pull factors → farming → surplus → specialization/settlements).
- Describe diverse perspectives (gender, class/status, neighboring foragers/pastoralists) on work, diet, risk, and authority in early farming communities.
- Apply economic reasoning (scarcity, choices, opportunity cost) to decisions like irrigation vs. storage or fields vs. walls.
- Support claims with evidence from maps, artifacts/images, and short texts in a coherent CER paragraph.
Standards Alignment — 6th Grade (C3-based custom)
- 6.C3.Hist.2: Causes/effects of key developments (agriculture → surplus/specialization/settlements).
- 6.C3.Hist.3: Diverse perspectives/experiences using multiple sources.
- 6.C3.Econ.1: Scarcity, choices, opportunity cost in ancient contexts.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can build a causation chain that correctly links farming to surplus and social changes.
- I can compare perspectives (e.g., farmer, herder, laborer, leader, caregiver) using specific evidence.
- I can justify a choice (e.g., storage vs. irrigation) by naming the opportunity cost and expected benefits.