American Agriculture

Introduction

This is a WebQuest to learn about modern farming and agriculture in America! 

Can you imagine a life without pizza? Can you imagine a closet without jeans or comfy cotton sweatshirts? Have you ever wondered what life would be like without chicken nuggets? What about life without milkshakes and ice cream? 

If you had trouble imagining your life without any of these things, then you should thank a farmer!

You are going to learn about different types of farming that all contribute to the big word 'Agriculture'. Learning about farms includes learning about farmers!

Put your boots on boys and girls because we are about to stomp through and informational journey about agriculture!

Task

Like farmers have jobs to do, you have a job to do! 

Your job is to explore this WebQuest and pick out information that you think is important about agriculture and farmers. The pieces of information you decide to take notes on should be things that you don not want your classmates to forget! This information should be of interest to you too!

You will record (3) facts from this WebQuest. On a sheet you will list the numbers 1 through 3. It is important to leave enough room to write in between each number! 

After you have recorded the facts you want others to know, you will then create questions out of them.

For example, 

1. FACT: A dairy farmer raises cows that make milk.

    QUESTION: What does a dairy farmer do?

2. FACT: The kind of soil (dirt) in an area determines what kind of crops a farmer will grow.

    QUESTION: Does it matter what kind of soil is on a farm?

3. FACT: Farmers use chemicals to kill insects.

    QUESTION: What do farmers use to kill insects?

SEE! It isn't so bad! If you find information that interests you, the questions will not be hard to create.

These questions will be collected and combined with all of your classmates questions! Then we will take a digital quiz (Kahoot!) to see who was a true WebQuest explorer! 

 

Process

You have been given a job to complete! Use the examples as a guide if you need to. 

Put your puts on and get to exploring the websites below!

 

What is Agriculture?

https://school-eb-com.scsl.idm.oclc.org/levels/elementary/article/agriculture/352715 

What is a farmer?

https://school-eb-com.scsl.idm.oclc.org/levels/elementary/article/farmer/611082

Facts about Farming

https://www.factmonster.com/dk/encyclopedia/earth/farming#id2818934

Diary Farming

https://www.aipl.arsusda.gov/kc/kcindex.html

Types of Farming

http://www.sites.ext.vt.edu/virtualfarm/main.html

Evaluation

  0 1 2 3 Score
3 Facts No facts are written At least one fact is written At least two facts are written Three facts written  
3 Questions No Questions are written One Question written Two questions written Three questions written  
Participation Student was not on task and did not participate in class.  Student had trouble staying on task. Student participated but was off task at least 2 times. Student participated and was on task the entire time.  

 

Conclusion

After exploring all of the information, did you learn anything new? Think about what kind of farm you would like to visit. Does this new information make you think differently about how your food arrived at your table?

Since you are becoming an expert on agriculture and farmers, you can research further!

Check out these books below!

We're Going to the Farmer's Market by Stefan Page

Before We Eat: From Farm to Table by Mary Azarian and Pat Brisson

Fantastic Farm Machines by Cris Peterson

 

 

 

 

Credits