Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Early Farmers Activity

Subject:          Early Farmers

Source:          One of my fellow history teachers came up with the concept and presented it to me.

Objective:      The learner will be able to define the environmental characteristics of an early farming civilization.

Prior knowledge:    Before project begins you need to discuss that different factors such as climate, landscape, sunlight, and water sources (rivers) all impacted where these early people located their farms.

Time Span:    30-40 Minutes

Location:       Outside
                       
Materials Needed:

§  4-5 solo cups (depending on number of students)
§  5-gallon bucket (filled with water)
§  Plastic Spoons (One per student)
§  Grassy strip of land

                       

Project/Activity:

                        Students should have finished learning about “Hunters and Gathers” and be transitioning to “Early Farmers.” The focus of this project is to help students see the role the environment had on the success of early farming settlements; in particular water. Although climate and landscape are important, it is fresh water that the early farmers absolutely had to be near. Not only did they need the water for the crops, but also needed it to survive.

Steps: (For this project we are going to assume you have 20 students)

  1. Take 4 solo cups and put 5 spoons in each cup (one spoon for each student)
  2. Split the students into 4 groups of 5.
  3. Keeping the students in groups, go outside to a grassy area, and ask them to choose an area that they think would best support a farming civilization. Give the students a few minutes to decide and then tell them to freeze where they are.
    1.      Make sure the students keep in mind the different environmental factors that play a role in producing a successful farm.
  4. After the groups have found their spots, bring out the 5-gallon bucket (it should be filled about half way with water) and place it in a random spot near the students.
    1.      Try to place the bucket where it is closer to some groups but further from others (it’ll make since here in a minute).
  5. Next you will give one cup with 5 spoons to each group and tell them that one student is in charge of the cup and the rest get a spoon. 
  6. Explain to the students their goal is to get water from the 5-gallon bucket to their cup while only using the spoons.
  7. The group that fills their cup with water first wins.


Result:

What you and the students are going to realize is the group that is closer to the water is going to fill their cup up the fastest and, therefore, should win the competition. Explain to the students this same concept can be applied to the early farmers. The closer the settlers were to fresh water, the easier it was for them to survive since they could easily access the water for drinking and for growing crops. The groups that were further away took longer to fill their cups and would have had a more difficult time surviving if they had been a farming civilization. When we look at early farming areas such as the Nile Valley, Tigris-Euphrates Valley, and the Indus Valley this is why they were all positioned next to major rivers. The closer to fresh water, the easier it was to survive.


What I learned:

            Students LOVE this activity because they get to go outside and have a fun competition with their classmates. The downside to this is that it can end up getting TOO competitive and end up ruining the whole activity. There was one class I had to end the competition because students were cheating by using their hands, which also caused arguments to ensue.  I would advise that you have a serious talk with your students prior to starting the exercise to encourage them to play fair and keep it a lighthearted competition.
            I would also encourage you to make sure students take turns holding the cup. I have noticed most students want to use the spoons and not let the person holding the cup have a turn. I would possibly try a rotation signal ever few minutes.
            Besides those few problems, the activity went great and students still remember how much fun they had AND the importance of early farmers settling near rivers.

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