NY Social Studies 9.1a
The Standard
The Paleolithic Era was characterized by non-sedentary hunting and gathering lifestyles, whereas the Neolithic Era was characterized by a turn to agriculture, herding, and semi- sedentary lifestyles.
New York State K–12 Social Studies Framework
Key Idea 9.1
DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILIZATION: The development of agriculture enabled the rise of the first civilizations, located primarily along river valleys; these complex societies were influenced by geographic conditions, and shared a number of defining political, social, and economic characteristics.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students compare how mobile foragers and early farming communities obtained food, organized work, governed groups, and exchanged goods. They explain how farming and herding changed settlement patterns, social classes, property, and gender roles.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can sort evidence into life before or after farming and justify each choice. They can explain one political, social, and economic change while recognizing that changes varied across communities.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think the change to farming happened suddenly everywhere or that all people immediately settled in permanent villages. They may assume farming always improved life or that gender roles changed in the same way across every society.
How to Assess It
- Give students a two-column exit ticket labeled Mobile Foragers and Early Farmers. Ask them to place six traits, then explain one political, social, or economic change.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups food, tool, animal, and shelter cards, then have them build and revise a model community before and after farming.
Ask students to write: Did farming improve human life, and for whom? Require two specific examples and one drawback.
Play a timed evidence sort using cards for migration, food surplus, land ownership, specialized labor, trade, leadership, and gender roles.
Compare an ancient farming calendar with a local crop calendar, then identify how seasonal work shapes settlement and family responsibilities.
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