Farming in the Gilded Age: A Simulation

This video is about a simulation created by a teacher to show the hardships of "gambling" in the world of farming, especially in a past, less civilized time. The students were given $2000 and had to put $500 aside for various expenses. They were then given a list of 11 objects (crops and livestock) that they could chose from to purchase with the remaining $1500. The catch is, they only have a certain amount of space to use, and must plan which items will be more efficient in a set area. To simulate the purchasing of the crops and livestock, the teacher cut out squares with each item on it. He then had each group come up to spend their money on what they found fit for their particular group. After each group chose their ratios of crops and livestock, there was then a simulated growing season that had problems with certain crops and benefits of others. They then repeat the process for the following year with a different scenario for the growing season. At the end of the simulation, the teacher acted as if he was the banker that loaned the $2000 in the beginning. This is where it comes full circle to show why farming was so difficult in the past, and how it declined due to poor weather and the lack of the ability to pay off loans given to start farming in the first place.

Resource ID#: 30548 Type: Lesson Plan

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