W.H.6:
Evaluate the influence of science, technology, innovations, and explain how these developments have altered societies in the world from 1300 to 2010.

Agricultural Land Use: Students explore the impact of fertilizer on algae growth, soil erosion, and agricultural soil and water conservation practices.

Evaluating Perspectives about GMOs: While many view bioengineered crops (GMOs) as a promising innovation, there is controversy about their use. This lesson provides students with a brief overview of the technology, equipping them with the ability to evaluate the social, environmental, and economic arguments for and against bioengineered crops (GMOs). This lesson covers a socioscientific issue and aims to provide students with tools to evaluate science within the context of social and economic points of view.

Growing a Nation Era 1a: Seeds of Change: Students will engage with the Growing a Nation timeline to explore the significant historical and agricultural events and inventions from American history during the years 1600-1929. Students will recognize the importance of labor in agriculture, discover how the implementation of technology increased agricultural production, and explore the role wool played during this era.

Growing a Nation Era 2: From Defeat to Victory: Students will engage with the Growing a Nation timeline to explore the significant historical and agricultural events and inventions from American history during the years 1930-1949. Students will examine the cause and impact of the Dust Bowl, recognize how the Dust Bowl led to the Great Depression and describe the government's response to assist farmers in the 1930s.

Growing a Nation Era 4: Into a New Millennium: Students will engage with the Growing a Nation timeline to explore the significant historical and agricultural events and inventions from American history during the years 1970-2000. Students will recognize the importance of labor in agriculture and determine how the implementation of technology in agriculture increased agricultural production.

Growing a Nation Era 5a: Growing Technology: Students will be introduced to technologies currently used on farms by engaging in an AppQuest to discover how farmers use mobile apps to manage farm production systems, marketing options, and make timely decisions.

Journey 2050 Lesson 1: Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture: Students will explore the question, “How will we sustainably feed nearly 10 billion people by the year 2050?” as they discover what sustainable agriculture is and how it is critical to securing a stable food supply and future for a growing population.

Journey 2050 Lesson 2: Soil Nutrients: Students will identify nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus as primary soil nutrients necessary in the production of abundant and healthy foods, describe various methods of replenishing soil nutrients that have been depleted by plant growth, discover how overall plant health impacts a plant’s ability to resist disease and pests, and describe what best management practices are in agriculture to improve overall sustainability. 

Journey 2050 Lesson 3: Water: Students will discuss the limited amount of fresh water on earth, identify how best management practices can reduce water consumption, discuss the need for water conservation and protection as it relates to population growth and agriculture, and compare and contrast methods of irrigation for water conservation. 

Journey 2050 Lesson 4: Economies: Students will explain why economics are important to sustainability, describe the relationship between a sustainable economy and the environment, develop a model demonstrating how agricultural production creates a ripple effect that impacts local and global economies and social stability, and discuss how investments build an economy.

Journey 2050 Lesson 5: Land Use: Students will recognize that arable land, ideal land for growing crops, is a limited resource; identify best management practices that can be applied to every stakeholder’s land-use decisions; and analyze and discuss the impacts of food waste on our environment.

Plant-Soil Interactions: Students will explain the roles of diffusion and active transport in moving nutrients from the soil to the plant; describe the formation of soil and soil horizons; and describe the events in the Great Dust Bowl, how they relate to soil horizons, and how those events affected agricultural practices.

Plasmid Problem Solving: This lesson compares and contrasts prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and examines the form and function of the plasmid found in prokaryotic cells. Students will then use these principles to simulate how a desirable gene can be isolated and inserted into a plasmid as one step in the process of creating a bioengineered (GMO) plant variety.

W.H.24:
Analyze the effect that humans have had on the environment in terms of resources, migration patterns, and global environmental issues.

Properties of Soils: Students examine different types of soil that have been mixed with water and allowed to settle. Next, they work with a soil model to investigate its components—sand, silt, and clay—and learn how the properties of these components affect the passage or retention of water through the soil and the amount of air in the soil.