Making a Timeline Using Things that Changed Agriculture in the 20th Century
By Susan Beesley
Grade Level: 4th-6th
Basic Agricultural Concepts
ƒ Technology has made farming much easier over the years.
ƒ Development of new processes and equipment have evolved over many years of research, study,
and testing.
Basic Social Studies Concepts
ƒ Inventions have made life easier for all people.
ƒ Timelines show events in order of occurrence.
Outcomes
ƒ The student will choose 5 “turning points in agricultural history.”
ƒ The student will research the 5 events finding the person/people/company responsible, the
date, and other pertinent information about it.
ƒ As a class, we will construct a huge timeline for the 20th century and place the events in order.
ƒ Each student will write a two-paragraph report over one of the 5 inventions they researched.
Internet and other reference materials will be used.
Materials
ƒ Farm magazines, other materials that might tell about the advancement of technology and its use
in agriculture.
ƒ Internet
ƒ I will use a run0ff of an article from Farm Journal, January 2000 entitled “The Things That
Changed Agriculture in the 20th Century.”
Procedure
Hold a discussion about how students think their grandparents and great grandparents attended
school, wrote assignments, and life at school in general. Turn the conversation to all the
advancements that have been made in that area. Then discuss agriculture and farm life. Ask if they
know how wheat used to be harvested, cows milked, grain taken to town, etc.
Pass out the sheet containing the Top 100 Turning Points in American Agriculture. Have students
choose 5 events they want to research.
Closure—Discussion
Have students share about each of their 5 things. Put all 5 on the timeline. Have them choose one
to do a two-paragraph report on the invention and how it has made changes in agriculture.
Extensions
Students could predict what new things they might expect to see in their lifetime in agriculture.
They could draw their ideas and write a description of them.
Evaluation/Assessment
ƒ The finished product will be the Class Timeline of Agricultural Advancements in the 20th
Century.
ƒ Each student will have 5 entries on the timeline.
ƒ Each student will have a two-paragraph report on one of their tops and be graded using the 6trait writing rubric.
References
Any social studies book—chapters on farming or inventions.
Supplemental Instructional Materials
ƒ Farm magazines
ƒ Web sites about agriculture