CURRENT HOURS: Tuesday-Saturday 9am-4pm (last tractor cart to farms leaves at 2:30)
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| 1700 Ioway Farm | 1850 Pioneer Farm | 1900 Horse-Powered Farm | 1876 town of Walnut Hill |
OUR MISSION—Living History Farms is an interactive outdoor history museum, which educates and connects all peoples to the many stories of Midwestern rural heritage.
OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES—We believe that the best learning is:
• Experiential
• Personal
• Relevant
• Passed on
• Shared and social
• Ongoing
• Most of all, FUN!
OUR PROGRAM THEMES tie directly to Iowa Academic Standards and will help students make connections, focus their learning, and engage fully with their minds.
ACADEMIC STANDARDS set the outcomes for student learning. The information below focuses on the Iowa Academic Standards for Social Studies. Standards are divided into inquiry (“how we do history”) and grade-specific content (“what we need to know”).
Inquiry standards are not content standards. Inquiry standards are active learning and require critical thinking. They guide learners as they investigate real-world questions and usually center around four key steps, known as the Inquiry Arc.
The steps in the Inquiry Arc:
• Develop compelling questions and a plan.
• Apply research tools specific to the discipline: history, geography, civics, sociology, economics, etc.
• Evaluate sources—primary and secondary—and use evidence collected.
• Communicate conclusions and take action.
Source: Social Education 77(6), pp 322–326, 351 ©2013 National Council for the Social Studies
Page 13 of the Iowa Academic Standards for Social Studies shows how the Inquiry Arc is embedded in various social studies disciplines.
Sub-Themes:
• I Belong
• Comparing Past to Present
• Rules and Responsibilities
• Needs and Wants (Financial Literacy)
Standards
• SS.K.10: Describe ways people are alike and different in the past and present.
• SS.K.11: Distinguish between two or more events or items by sequencing them from past to present.
• SS.K.12: Compare life in the past to today.
Examples:
• Farms—Students will compare life in the past to life today.
• Town—Students will compare their town to a town from the past.
Sub-Themes:
• Where We Live
• People and Places
• Cultures and Traditions
• People at Work and Careers (Financial Literacy)
Standards:
• SS.1.6: Explain why people have different jobs.
• SS.1.10: Describe ways that people show belonging and citizenship in their communities.
• SS.1.11: Explain how people choose to live in different communities or regions.
• SS.1.14: Compare how people in different types of communities use goods from local and distant places to meet their needs and wants.
• SS.1.16: Describe ways that beliefs, traditions, and customs are passed down from previous generations to the present.
• SS.1.22: Compare jobs from the past to the present and discuss how tools, technology, and/or transportation have changed how people work.
Examples:
• Farms—Students learn about the jobs people had on the farm.
• Town—Students hear about the different jobs in a town from the past.
Sub-Themes:
• Culture and History of Native Americans in Our State
• Iowa Communities: Past and Present
• Iowa: What Makes Us Unique?
• Saving and Spending (Financial Literacy)
Standards:
• SS.2.6: Explain how environmental characteristics shaped the locations and the unique cultures of Native Americans in Iowa.
• SS.2.7: Compare life in the past with life today within different communities and cultural groups, including Native Americans.
• SS.2.8: Analyze the movement of people in and out of Iowa, including the removal and return of Native Americans.
• SS.2.10: Explain ways that communities in Iowa have changed over time.
• SS.2.13: Describe significant events in the history of the local community and state (harvest festivals, county fairs, civic holidays, etc.)
• SS.2.17: Describe Iowa’s natural resources and the consequences of using them.
Examples:
• Farms—Students learn about the daily life of the Ioway, a Native American Nation that was in this area in the year 1700. They also hear about significant events that changed how people farmed and lived.
• Town—Students learn how a community changed over time, and why.
Sub-Themes:
• Native Americans
• Colonial America
• The Thirteen Colonies
• Budgeting (Financial Literacy)
Standards:
• SS.3.7: Explain how the unique characteristics of a place affect Native American groups.
• SS.3.9: Analyze why and how Native Americans use natural resources.
• SS.3.10: Examine ways geography influences communities and settlement.
• SS.3.11: Describe the interactions between Native Americans and Europeans.
Examples:
• Farms—Students learn why the Ioway moved around, and how the environment affected how they lived.
• Town—Students learn how geography affected towns and people in the 1870s.
Sub-Themes:
• The American Revolution
• Westward Expansion and Migration
• Immigration
• Spending Wisely (Financial Literacy)
Standards:
• SS.4.12: Explain the process by which certain areas of land were added to the United States.
• SS.4.13: Clarify how westward expansion changed the landscape and vice versa.
• SS.4.14: Describe how the population of Iowa has changed, from a predominantly Native American population to one composed largely of American and European settlers.
• SS.4.15: Describe the effects, opportunities, and conflicts that can arise when people from different groups come into contact with each other.
• SS.4.16: Analyze the effects of government policies intended to promote westward settlement on diverse groups of people.
• SS.4.18: Identify patterns and trends in in the locations where immigrant groups settled in the United States.
• SS.4.19: Analyze the push and pull factors that led to new immigrant groups coming to the United States.
• SS.4.21: Describe the diverse cultural makeup of Iowa’s past and present in the community, including Native American and agricultural communities.
Examples:
• Farms—Students learn about the Native Americans who lived here, and how they were affected by new people arriving. They also learn why these new people were coming.
• Town—Students learn about the stories of different groups of people that moved here from different parts of the world. Why did they come and how did they get here?
Sub-Themes:
• The Constitution and Bill of Rights
• The Civil War
• Industrial Revolution
• Making Smart Financial Decisions (Financial Literacy)
Standards:
• SS.5.13 Examine the impact that railroads had on the movements of the population in the United States (westward migration, Homestead Act of 1862, creation of rail heads and stockyards).
• SS.5.14 Analyze the impacts of significant inventions of the Industrial Revolution (cotton gin, interchangeable parts, powered loom, mechanized powered yarn spinning machines, horse drawn reapers and improved plows, steam engine and applications—riverboats, mining, locomotives, internal combustion engines, telecommunications—telegraph, telephone)
• SS.5.15 Identify how the Industrial Revolution changed daily lives for people both in rural areas and in growing cities.
• SS.5.16 Explain how the Industrial Revolution caused significant population shifts and analyze the effects of these shifts on cities and rural populations, labor and society (shift in 19th century from rural to urban, rise of industry towns, unmarried women in the workforce).
• SS.5.17 Analyze key events, individuals, and campaigns that have been driven by a desire to create positive social change (prohibition, suffrage, civil rights, disability rights).
Examples:
• Farms—Students see how the Industrial Revolution changed how people farmed.
• Town—Students experience how the Industrial Revolution changed a community and affected how a person did their job.
Sub-Themes:
• Foundation and Rise of Civilizations: Mesopotamia
• The Ancient World: Egypt and the Beginnings of Judaism
• Medieval Europe
• Renaissance, Reformation, and Age of Exploration
• Financial Literacy (Financial Literacy)
Standards:
• SS.6.9 Compare Iowa’s geography, natural resources, and climate to other regions in the world (creation of fertile soil in Mesopotamia versus Iowa; Mesopotamia means “between rivers; Iowa is often referred to as the “Land Between Two Rivers”).
• SS.6.11 Define the characteristics of a civilization, a society that has developed organization, sciences, and arts (stable food supply, developed writing, organized way of governing, social classes, religion).
• SS.6.34 Compare Iowa’s geography, natural resources, and climate to other regions in the world (Loess Hills are only found in two places—Iowa and China—why?)
• SS.6.50 Summarize major technological innovations of the Renaissance and their lasting impacts on society (printing press, navigation tools).
• SS.6.55 Explain how European exploration impacted Native Americans (the Columbian Exchange—the widespread transfer of crops, livestock, people, culture, and diseases between the Old World and the New World).
Examples:
• Farms—Students compare Iowa’s natural resources to other parts of the world. They also learn about the interactions between Native American nations in Iowa and people from Europe.
• Town—Students learn how some inventions from Medieval Europe are still around today.
7th Grade: Modern World Studies
Sub-Themes:
• Globalization
• North America
• Europe
• Latin America
• Asia
• Africa
• Oceania and Antarctica
• Middle East
• Financial Literacy (Financial Literacy)
Standards:
• SS.7.11 Analyze benefits and challenges of economic globalization in Iowa and worldwide (trade relations, supply and demand, over- and under-production, diversity of goods and services, etc.).
• SS.7.13 Examine the factors that influenced European settlement in North America (geography, natural resources, climate).
• SS.7.14 Identify and describe characteristics of Native American tribes in North America.
• SS.7.15 Explain the evolving impact of migration and immigration on North America (westward expansion, Indian Removal Act, push and pull factors, Manifest Destiny, refugee resettlements in Iowa).
• SS.7.17 Evaluate how human rights and cultural liberty have been upheld or taken away by North American governments (U.S. foundational documents, relevant Supreme Court cases).
Examples:
• Farms—Students see how, even 300 years ago, people living in Iowa were connected to other parts of the world.
• Town—Students learn about the connections between a rural town in Iowa and the rest of the world in 1876.
Sub-Themes:
• Colonization
• The Revolutionary Era
• The U. S. Constitution
• The Early Republic
• Westward Expansion
• Sectionalism and Division
• The Civil War
• Reconstruction
• Financial Literacy (Financial Literacy)
Standards:
• SS.8.17 Explain the structure and functions of government with reference to the U.S. Constitution and Iowa Constitution and impact on its citizens (three branches of government and what they do).
• SS.8.21 Explain how push and pull factors contributed to immigration and migration patterns in early American history (must include push and pull factors like Manifest Destiny, economic opportunities, individual freedoms, American ideals, Irish Potato Famine).
• SS.8.22 Explain how scientific and technological advances helped facilitate the movement of peoples into the western territories (canals, steamboats, railroads, steam engines, turnpikes).
• SS.8.23 Analyze the impact of westward expansion on Native Americans in the 19th century (displacement, conflict, cultural disruption, changes in federal policy).
• SS.8.24 Analyze the historical and political factors that contributed to Iowa’s formation as a state (Louisiana Purchase, Treaty of 1842, early territorial politics, creation of the Iowa Constitution, the Honey War).
Examples:
• Farms—Students learn about the ways people moved into Iowa, as well as their reasons for coming. They also learn about the impact on people already living in Iowa.
• Town—Students learn about Iowa’s economic ties to the rest of the world, as well as how a rural community would govern itself.
Civics and U.S. Government
• Citizenship and Civic Responsibility
• Iowa’s State and Local Governments
U.S. History
• Westward and Industrial Expansion
• The Progressive Era
• Civil Rights
World History
• Age of Empires
• Industrialization
Economics
• Microeconomics: Supply and Demand
• Globalization
• Trade
Geography
• Population and Migration
• Cultural Geography
• Agriculture and Rural Land Use
• Cities and Urban Land Use
The focus of the experience depends on the class. Contact us for more information.
11121 HICKMAN, URBANDALE • 515-278-5286
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Official Modern Agricultural Equipment Partner
