InTeGrate Modules and Courses >Future of Food > Student Materials > Section 1: Introduction > Module 2: Geographic and Historical Context > Goals and Learning Objectives
InTeGrate's Earth-focused Modules and Courses for the Undergraduate Classroom
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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
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For the Instructor

These student materials complement the Future of Food Instructor Materials. If you would like your students to have access to the student materials, we suggest you either point them at the Student Version which omits the framing pages with information designed for faculty (and this box). Or you can download these pages in several formats that you can include in your course website or local Learning Managment System. Learn more about using, modifying, and sharing InTeGrate teaching materials.
Initial Publication Date: January 11, 2018

Goals and Learning Objectives

Goals

  • Describe food systems as coupled human-natural systems.
  • Define and describe different phases in the history and development of food systems within human history.
  • Describe key interactions (e.g. drivers, feedback) that exist within coupled human-natural systems (CHNS).
  • Explain key human and natural system factors that explain the emergence of food system phases in human history, using a CHNS framework.

Learning Objectives

After completing this module, students will be able to:

  • Describe major features of hunter-gatherers' use of food and the environment.
  • Define and describe the domestication of plants and animals in early agriculture.
  • Define and give examples of spatial diffusion, adaptation, niche construction, and carrying capacity in environment-food systems.
  • Define and describe each of the four (4) principal historical-geographic periods of environment-food systems.
  • Give examples of early domesticated plants and animals and their region of domestication.
  • Within a Coupled Human-Natural Systems framework, relate fundamental drivers and feedbacks in natural and human systems over prehistoric and historical time to the development and spread of agriculture and other changes in food systems over time.
  • Relate the origins and current dominance of agriculture to the concept of the Anthropocene period presented in module one.

These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »