Best Crop | Geographic Alliance of Iowa

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This lesson was created by Bill Schwarz (Cedar Rapids School District) for students from ninth to twelfth grade. During this lesson plan, students will be introduced to many aspects of farming and realize there are a wide variety of natural lands on which agriculture takes place in Iowa.

Discipline/Subject

Physical Geography

Computers/Technology

Theme

Environmental

Landforms

Climate

Rural/Agriculture

21st Century Universal Constructs

Productivity and Accountability

Region

Iowa

United States

North America

Five Themes of Geography

Location

Place

Region

Iowa Core 21st Century Standards

ES 1. Communicate and work productively with others, incorporating different perspectives and cross cultural understanding, to increase innovation and the quality of work

ES 3. Demonstrate leadership skills, integrity, ethical behavior, and social responsibility while collaborating to achieve common goals

ES 5. Demonstrate productivity and accountability by meeting high expectations

National Geographic Standards

1. How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective

3. How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface

4. The physical and human characteristics of places

7. The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface

14. How human actions modify the physical environment

15. How physical systems affect human systems

Iowa Core Social Studies Standards

GE 1. Understand the use of geographic tools to locate and analyze information about people, places, and environments

GE 2. Understand how physical and human characteristics create and define regions

GE 4. Understand how physical and human processes shape the Earth's surface and major ecosystems

GE 5. Understand how human actions modify the environment and how the environment affects humans