Classroom Activities for the Agricultural Revolution
An agricultural revolution occurs when humans shift from hunting and gathering to farming and domesticating animals. Farming techniques, irrigation, fertilizers, and pest control all improve during an agricultural revolution. The American agricultural revolution occurred after the Civil War, roughly between the years of 1860 and 1910. As the United States expanded, so did farmland, and farmers began to produce enough to sustain their families, as well as a surplus to sell or store. Learning about the agricultural revolution helps students to better understand the balance between industry and the environment.
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The People of the Agricultural Revolution
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Ask your students to imagine they are living during the time of the American agricultural revolution and have them write a journal, an essay, or put together a scrapbook outlining the changes that they have experienced. Alternative activities could be to write a newspaper article or create a radio news broadcast that deals with the changes that families and individuals faced during the agricultural revolution.
Agricultural Industries
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Have your students research a particular industry involved in the American agricultural revolution, such as a fruit, a vegetable, or even a machinery manufacturer. Students should document the original industry, the industry after the agricultural revolution, and pinpoint the changes that occurred in the industry. For an especially thorough report, students could be required to actually participate in the industry; students could pick apples or berries for a day, help to smash grapes for wine, or help plant seeds on a small farm.
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Agricultural Experimentation
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Challenge your students to grow a garden, thereby experiencing the results of using different soil components, fertilizers, seed quality, and watering methods. Students can watch their gardens grow while observing changes in growth rates, plant vitality, and possibly pest infestations. Students can even be challenged to create a simple hybrid, using pollination or grafting techniques. Gardens can be individual, at-home gardens, or a communal class garden. Ask students to compare their discoveries to the farming boom that occurred during the American agricultural revolution.
Agricultural Data Collection
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Have students take samples of local air, soil, and water and analyze them for traces of pollution, mineral deposits, and chemicals. Challenge students to determine what types of industries contribute to each factor, then to consider which of these industries were a part of the agricultural revolution and which were not. Ask students to determine whether the agricultural revolution, based on their findings, benefited the environment, harmed the environment, or had a negligible effect on the environment.
Agricultural Machinery
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After discussing the machinery developed during the agricultural revolution, challenge students to design their own agricultural machinery, either on paper or by creating models. Students should describe the differences between their machinery and existing machinery, and explain why their design is more efficient, or more environmentally friendly, than models that where developed during the agricultural revolution.
Mapping the Agricultural Revolution
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Discuss the development of agriculture in different cities, regions and states of the United States. Have students create a map highlighting the development of agriculture in a certain area. Students can use markers, such as buttons, game pieces, or figurines, to bring to life the agricultural revolution in different regions. Give each student, or group of students, a different region, or area, to focus on.
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References
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