Some of those questions are damn fine ones, just not appropriate for 1st graders to answer.
I agree completely...if this curriculum was for 4th to 6th graders, I'd think it was ambitious but admirable, overall.
But for 6 year olds?
"Johnny, please contrast the societies of Amerind hunter-gatherers and the Mayans, explaining how this made a difference in the day-to-day lives of their people".
"I hafta pee-pee".