Analysis Skills K-5

Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Analysis Skills Grades 6-8

Grade 6

Grade 7

Grade 8

Analysis Skills Grades 9-12

Grade 10

Grade 11

Grade 12

History/Social Science Content Standards
Grades K-12

Questions or comments: please e-mail Jennifer Jennings at jjennings@wccusd.k12.ca.us

The intellectual skills noted below are to be learned through, and applied to, the content standards for grades K-5. They are to be assessed only in conjunction with the content standards in grades K-5 and are not to be assessed in isolation.

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Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills

In addition to the standards for grades K-5, students demonstrate the following intellectual, reasoning, reflection and research skills:

Grades K-5
Chronological and Spatial Thinking

  1. students place key events and people of the historical era they are studying both in a chronological sequence and within a spatial context; they interpret timelines
  2. students apply terms related to time correctly, including past, present, future, decade, century, and generation
  3. students explain how the present is connected to the past, identifying both similarities and differences between the two, and how some things change over time and some things stay the same
  4. students use map and globe skills to determine the absolute locations of places and interpret information available through the map's legend, scale, and symbolic representations
  5. students judge the significance of the relative location of a place (close to a harbor, trade routes) and analyze how those relative advantages or disadvantages can change over time
Research, Evidence and Point of View
  1. students differentiate between primary and secondary sources
  2. students pose relevant questions about events encountered in historical documents, eyewitness accounts, oral histories, letters, diaries, artifacts, photos, maps, art and architecture
  3. students distinguish fact from fiction by comparing documentary sources on historical figures and events with fictionalized characters and events
Historical Interpretation
  1. students summarize the key events of the era they are studying and explain their historical contexts
  2. students identify the human and physical characteristics of the places they are studying and explain how these features form the unique character of these places
  3. students identify and interpret the multiple causes and effects of historical events
  4. students conduct cost/benefit analyses of historical and current events


Return to top KINDERGARTEN
LEARNING AND WORKING NOW AND LONG AGO

Students in kindergarten are introduced to basic spatial, temporal and causal relationships, emphasizing the geographic and historical connections between the world today and the world long ago. The stories of ordinary and extraordinary people help describe the range and continuity of human experience and introduce the concepts of courage, self-control, justice, heroism, leadership, deliberation, and individual responsibility. Historical empathy for how people lived and worked long ago reinforces the concept of civic behavior: how we interact respectfully with each other, following rules, and respecting the rights of others. K.1 Students demonstrate an understanding that being a good citizen involves acting in certain ways, in terms of:

  1. examples of rules, such as sharing and taking turns, respecting the rights of others, and the consequences of breaking them
  2. examples of honesty, courage, determination, individual responsibility, and patriotism in American and world history, in stories and in folklore
  3. the beliefs and related behavior of characters in stories from times past, and the consequences of their actions
  4. the importance of developing a sense of pride and good work habits
K.2 Students recognize national and state symbols and icons such as the national and state flags, the bald eagle, and the Statue of Liberty.

K.3 Students match simple descriptions of work that people do and the names of those jobs with examples from the school, local community and historical accounts.

K.4 Students compare and contrast the locations of people, places, and environments and describe the human and physical characteristics of places by:

  1. determining the relative location of objects using near/far, left/right, behind/in front
  2. distinguishing between land and water, locating general areas referenced in historically-based legends and stories on maps and globes
  3. identifying traffic symbols and map symbols (legend references to land, water, roads, and cities)
  4. constructing maps and models of neighborhoods, incorporating such structures as police and fire stations, airports, banks, hospitals, supermarkets, harbors, schools, homes, places of worship, and transportation lines
  5. demonstrating familiarity with the school's layout, environs and the jobs people do there
  6. understanding the importance of recognizing places in the neighborhood and at school
  7. organizing data using sequence terms (first and second)
K.5 Students put events in temporal order by using a calendar, placing days, weeks, and months in proper order.
K.6 Students understand that history relates to events, people, and places of other times, in terms of:
  1. the purposes of, and the people and events honored in, commemorative holidays, including the human struggles that were behind the events (Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Washington's and Lincoln's Birthdays, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans' Day)
  2. the triumphs in American legends and historical accounts through the stories of such people as Pocahontas, George Washington, Booker T. Washington, Daniel Boone, and Benjamin Franklin
  3. the different ways people lived in earlier days and how their lives would be different today (the process of getting water from a well, growing food, making clothing, having fun, the types of organizations, rules and laws)
  4. the similarities and differences of people and families, both in the present and the past.
K.7 Students understand and respect cultural differences among individuals within the classroom. Return to top GRADE 1
A CHILD'S PLACE IN TIME AND SPACE

Students in grade one continue a more detailed treatment of the broad concepts of rights and responsibilities in the contemporary world. The classroom serves as a microcosm of society in which decisions are made with respect for individual responsibility, for other people and for the rules by which we all must live: fair play, good sportsmanship, respect for the rights and opinions of others. Students examine the geographic and economic aspects of life in their own neighborhoods and compare them to those of people long ago. Students explore the varied backgrounds of American citizens and learn about the symbols, icons, and songs that reflect our common heritage.

1.1 Students describe the rights and individual responsibilities of citizenship, in terms of:
  1. the making of rules by direct democracy, everyone votes on the rules, and by representative democracy (a smaller elected group makes the rules); examples of both in their classroom, school and community; cooperate and accept the group and decisions; develop respect for others through classroom examples
  2. the elements of fair play and good sportsmanship, respect for the rights and opinions of others, and respect for rules by which we live, including the meaning of the "Golden Rule"
  3. the roles of authority figures in the family and school
1.2 Students compare and contrast the absolute and relative locations of people and places and describe the physical and human characteristics of places by:
  1. using maps and globes to locate their local community, the State of California, the United States, the seven continents, and the four oceans
  2. comparing the information from a three-dimensional model to a picture of the same location
  3. constructing a simple map, using cardinal directions and map symbols
  4. describing how location, weather, and physical environments affect the way people live, including their food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and recreation
  5. knowing the spatial relationships among the features in the neighborhood (next door neighbors, across town, near/far)
1.3 Students know and understand the symbols, icons, and traditions of the United States that provide continuity and a sense of community across time, in terms of:
  1. the Pledge of Allegiance, and the songs that express American ideals (My Country 'Tis of Thee)
  2. national holidays and the heroism and achievements of the people associated with them
  3. American symbols, landmarks and essential documents such as the flag, the bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, the U.S. Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence; explain the people and events associated with them
  4. things that represent human activities in the region (street signs, signals, crosswalks, mailboxes, delivery trucks, dumpsters, cars, buses)

1.4 Students compare and contrast everyday life in different times and places around the world and recognize that some aspects of people, places, and things change over time and others stay the same, in terms of:

  1. the structure of schools and communities in the past
  2. transportation methods of earlier days
  3. similarities and differences in the work (inside and outside the home), dress, manners, stories, games, and festivals of earlier generations, drawing from biographies, oral history, and folklore

1.5 Students describe the human characteristics of familiar places and the varied backgrounds of American citizens and residents, in terms of:

  1. the ways in which they are all part of the same community, sharing principles, goals, and traditions despite their varied ancestry; the forms of diversity in their school and community and the benefits and challenges of a diverse population
  2. the difficulties, successes and ways in which American Indian and immigrant populations have helped define Californian and American culture
  3. comparisons of the beliefs, customs, ceremonies, traditions and social practices of the varied cultures drawing from folklore
  4. appreciation of our cultural diversity through literature from a variety of sources.

1.6 Students understand basic economic concepts and the role of individual choice in a free-market economy, in terms of:

  1. the concept of exchange and the use of money to purchase goods and services
  2. the specialized work that people do to manufacture, transport, and market goods and services and the contribution of those who work in the home

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GRADE 2
PEOPLE WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Students in grade two explore the lives of actual people who make a difference in their everyday lives and learn the stories of extraordinary people from history whose achievements have touched them, directly or indirectly. The study of contemporary people who supply goods and services aids in understanding the complex interdependence in our free market system.

2.1 Students differentiate between those things that happened long ago and yesterday by:

  1. tracing the history of a family through the use of primary and secondary sources including artifacts, photographs, interviews, and documents
  2. comparing and contrasting their daily lives with those of parents and grandparents
  3. placing important events in their lives in the order in which they occurred (on a timeline or story board)
  4. understanding traditions and appreciating that cultural differences have contributed to their community and nation
2.2 Students demonstrate map skills by describing the absolute and relative locations of people, places, and environments by:
  1. understanding the differences between a map and a globe; and understanding cultural origins
  2. locating on a simple letter-number grid system the specific locations and geographic features in their neighborhood or community (map the classroom, the school)
  3. labeling a simple map from memory of the North American continent, including the countries, oceans, Great Lakes, major rivers, mountain ranges; identifying the essential map elements of title, legend, directional indicator, scale, and date
  4. locating on a map where their ancestors live(d), describing when their family moved to the local community, and describing how and why they made their trip
  5. comparing and contrasting basic land use in urban, suburban and rural environments in California
    2.3 Students explain the institutions and practices of governments in the United States and other countries, in terms of:
  1. the difference between making laws, carrying out laws, determining if laws have been violated and punishing wrongdoers
  2. the ways in which groups and nations interact with one another and try to resolve problems (trade, cultural contacts, treaties, diplomacy, military force)

2.4 Students understand basic economic concepts and their individual roles in the economy, and demonstrate basic economic reasoning skills, in terms of:

  1. food production and consumption long ago and today including the role of farmers, processors, distributors, weather, and land and water resources
  2. the role and interdependence of buyers (consumers) and sellers (producers) of goods and services
  3. how limits on resources require people to choose what to produce and what to consume.
2.5 Students understand the importance of individual action and character and explain how heroes from long ago and the recent past make a difference in others' lives (biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Louis Pasteur, Sitting Bull, George Washington Carver, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Golda Meir, Jackie Robinson, Sally Ride)

2.6 Students understand the diversity of U.S. citizens through art, literature, and music.

2.7 Students develop self respect and good listening skills through class participation.

Return to top GRADE 3
CONTINUITY AND CHANGE

Students in grade three learn more about our connections to the past and the ways in which particularly local, but also regional and national, government and traditions have developed and left their marks on current society, providing common memories. Emphasis is on the physical and cultural landscape of California, including the study of American Indians, the subsequent arrival of immigrants and the impact they have had in forming the character of our contemporary society. 3.1 Students describe the physical and human geography and use maps, tables, graphs, photographs, and charts to organize information about people, places and environments in a spatial context by:

  1. identifying geographical features found in their local region (deserts, mountains, valleys, hills, coastal areas, oceans, lakes)
  2. tracing the ways in which people have used the resources of the local region and modified the physical environment (a dam constructed upstream changed a river or coastline)
  3. knowing geographic elements (continents, equator)
3.2 Students describe the American Indian nations in their local region long ago and in the recent past, in terms of:
  1. the national identities, religious beliefs, customs, and various folklore traditions
  2. how physical geography including climate influenced the way the local Indian nation(s) adapted to their natural environment (how they obtained their food, clothing, tools)
  3. the economy and systems of government, particularly those with tribal constitutions, and their relationship to federal and state governments
  4. the interaction of new settlers with the already established Indians of the region
3.3 Students draw from historical and community resources to organize the sequence of events in local history and describe how each period of settlement left its mark on the land, in terms of:
  1. the explorers who visited here, the newcomers who settled here, and the people who continue to come to the region, including their cultural and religious traditions and contributions
  2. the economies established by settlers and their influence on the present-day economy, with emphasis on the importance of private property and entrepreneurship
  3. why their community was established, how individuals and families contributed to its founding and development, and how the community has changed over time, drawing upon primary sources (maps, photographs, oral histories, letters, newspapers)
3.4 Students understand the role of rules and laws in our daily lives, and the basic structure of the United States government, in terms of:
  1. why we have rules, laws, and the U.S. Constitution; the role of citizenship in promoting rules and laws; the consequences for violating rules and laws
  2. the importance of public virtue and the role of citizens, including how to participate in a classroom, community and in civic life
  3. the stories behind important local and national landmarks, symbols, holidays, and essential documents that create a sense of community among citizens and exemplify cherished ideals ( the U.S. flag, the bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Capitol)
  4. the three branches of government (with an emphasis on local government)
  5. how California, the other states, and sovereign tribes combine to make the nation and participate in the federal system
  6. the lives of American heroes who took risks to secure freedoms (biographies of Anne Hutchinson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr.)
    7.
    3.5 Students demonstrate basic economic reasoning skills and an understanding of the economy of the local region, in terms of:
  1. how local producers have used natural resources, human resources and capital resources to produce goods and services in the past and the present
  2. how some things are made locally, some elsewhere in the U.S., and some abroad
  3. how individual economic choices involve tradeoffs and the evaluation of benefits and costs
  4. how pupils' "work" in school develops their personal human capital



    5. 3.6 Students recognize and appreciate the contribution of ethnic groups to our democratic society and the local region.

    3.7 Students read and make timelines; read charts, tables, and graphs.

    3.8 Students appreciate other points of view in group participation.

Return to top GRADE 4
CALIFORNIA: A CHANGING STATE

Students learn the story of their home state, unique in American history in terms of its vast and varied geography, its many waves of immigration beginning with pre-Columbian societies, its continuous diversity, economic energy, and rapid growth. In addition to the specific treatment of milestones in California history, students examine the state in the context of the rest of the nation, with an emphasis on the U.S. Constitution and the relationship between state and federal government.
4.1 Students demonstrate an understanding of the physical and human geographic features that define places and regions in California by:

  1. explaining and using the coordinate grid system of latitude and longitude to determine absolute locations of places in California and on Earth
  2. distinguishing between the two poles; the equator and the prime meridian; the tropics; and the hemispheres using coordinates to plot locations
  3. identifying the state capital and describing the basic regions of California, including how their characteristics and physical environment affect human activity (water, landforms, vegetation, climate)
  4. identifying the location of and explaining the reasons for the growth of towns in relation to the Pacific Ocean, rivers, valleys, and mountain passes
  5. using maps, charts, globes, and pictures to describe how communities in California vary in land use, vegetation, natural resources, wildlife, climate, population density, architecture, services, and transportation
4.2 Students describe the social, political, cultural and economic life and interactions among people of California from the pre-Columbian societies to the Spanish mission and Mexican rancho periods, in terms of:
  1. the major nations of California Indians, their geographic distribution, economic activities, legends, and religious beliefs; and how they depended upon, adapted to and modified the physical environment by cultivation of land and sea resources
  2. the early land and sea routes to, and European settlements in, California with a focus on the exploration of the North Pacific, noting the physical barriers of mountains, deserts, ocean currents, and wind patterns (Captain Cook, Valdez, Vitus Bering, Juan Cabrillo)
  3. the Spanish exploration and colonization of California, including the relationships among soldiers, missionaries and Indians (biographies of Juan Crespi, Junipero Serra, Gaspar de Portola)
  4. the mapping, geographic basis of, and economic factors in the placement and function of the Spanish missions; how the mission system expanded the influence of Spain and Catholicism throughout New Spain and Latin America
  5. the daily lives and cultural activities of the people, native and non-native, who occupied the presidios, missions, ranchos, and pueblos
  6. the role of the Franciscans in the change of California from a hunter-gatherer economy to an agricultural economy
  7. the effects of the Mexican War for Independence on Alta California, including the territorial boundaries of North America
  8. the period of Mexican rule and its attributes, including land grants, secularization of the missions and the rise of the rancho economy
4.3 Students explain the economic, social, and political life of California from the establishment of the Bear Flag Republic through the Mexican-American War, the Gold Rush and California statehood, in terms of:
  1. the location of Mexican settlements in California and other settlements including Ft. Ross and Sutter's Fort
  2. comparisons of how and why people traveled to California and the routes they traveled (biographies and legends of James Beckwourth, Jedediah Smith, John C. Fremont, Juan Cabrillo,



    3. the Bidwell and Donner Parties)

  3. the effect of the Gold Rush on settlements, daily life, politics, and the physical environment (biographies of John Sutter, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Phoebe Apperson Hearst)
  4. the immigration and migration to California between 1850 and 1900; its diverse composition, the countries of origin and their relative locations, and the conflicts and accords among diverse groups (the 1882 Exclusion Act)
  5. the lives of women who helped build early California (biographies of Bernarda Ruiz, Biddy Mason)
  6. how California became a state and how its new government differed from those during the Spanish and Mexican periods
4.4 Students explain how California became an agricultural and industrial power by tracing the transformation of the California economy and its political and cultural development since the 1850's, in terms of:
  1. the story and lasting influence of the Pony Express, Overland Mail Service, Western Union, and the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, including the contributions of the Chinese workers to its construction
  2. how the Gold Rush transformed the economy of California, including the type of products produced and consumed, changes in towns (Sacramento, San Francisco) and economic conflicts between diverse groups of people
  3. rapid American immigration, internal migration, settlement, and the growth of towns and cities (Los Angeles)
  4. the effects of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and World War II on California
  5. the development and location of new industries since the turn of the century, such as aerospace, electronics, large scale commercial agriculture and irrigation projects, the oil and automobile industries, communications and defense, and important trade links with the Pacific Basin
  6. California's water system and how it evolved over time into a network of dams, aqueducts and reservoirs and the importance of water in the American West.
  7. the history and development of California's public education system, including universities and community colleges
  8. the impact of 20th century Californians on the nation's artistic and cultural development, including the rise of the entertainment industry (biographies of Louis B. Meyer, Walt Disney, John Steinbeck, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, John Wayne)
    4.5 Students understand the structure, functions, and powers of the United States local, state and federal governments as described in the U.S. Constitution, in terms of:
  1. what the U.S. Constitution is and why it is important (a written document that defines the structure and purpose of the U.S. government; describes the shared powers of federal, state, and local governments)
  2. the purpose of the state constitution, its key principles, and its relationship to the U.S. Constitution (with an emphasis on California's Constitution)
  3. the similarities (written documents, rule of law, consent of the governed, three separate branches) and differences (scope of jurisdiction, limits on government powers, use of military) among federal, state, and local governments
  4. the structure and function of state governments, including the roles and responsibilities of their elected officials
  5. the components of California's governance structure (cities and towns, Indian rancherias and reservations, counties, school districts)



    6. 4.6 Students study the contributions of diverse cultural groups in California's history.

    4.7 Students appreciate literature, art, and music from California history.

Return to top GRADE 5
UNITED STATES HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY: MAKING A NEW NATION

Students in grade five study the development of the nation up to 1850 with an emphasis on the population: who was already here, when and from where others arrived, and why people came. Students learn about the colonial government founded on Judeo-Christian principles, the ideals of the Enlightenment, and the English traditions of self-government. They recognize that ours is a nation that has a constitution that derives its power from the people, that has gone through a revolution, that once sanctioned slavery, that experienced conflict over land with the original inhabitants, and that experienced a westward movement that took its people across the continent. Studying the cause, course and consequences of the early explorations through the War for Independence and western expansion is central to students' fundamental understanding of how the principles of the American republic form the basis of a pluralistic society in which individual rights are secured.


    5.0 Students know the geography of the United States in terms of:
  1. the basic elements of maps and globes (title, legend, cardinal and intermediate directions, scale, grid, principle parallels, meridians)
  2. the location of the current fifty states and the names of their capitols, U.S. geographical features and regions (mountain ranges, bodies of water)
  3. interpretations of different types of maps and globes (topographical maps, aerial photos, map projections)
  4. using map grids (latitude and longitude or alphanumeric system ) to plot absolute location of the U.S.



    5. 5.1 Students describe the major pre-Columbian settlements including the cliff dwellers and pueblo people of the desert Southwest, the American Indians of the Pacific Northwest, the nomadic nations of the Great Plains, and the woodland peoples east of the Mississippi River, in terms of:

  1. how geography and climate influenced the way various nations lived and adjusted to the natural environment, including locations of villages, the distinct structures that were built, and how food, clothing, tools and utensils were obtained
  2. the varied customs and folklore traditions
  3. the varied economies and systems of government
5.2 Students trace the routes and describe the early explorations of the Americas, in terms of:
  1. the entrepreneurial characteristics of early explorers (biographies of Columbus, Coronado) and the technological developments that made sea exploration by latitude and longitude possible (compass, sextant, astrolabe, seaworthy ships, chronometers, gunpowder)
  2. the aims, obstacles, accomplishments, attitudes of the explorers, sponsors, and leaders of key European expeditions, and the reasons Europeans chose to explore and colonize the world (the Protestant Reformation, the Spanish Reconquista)
  3. the routes of the major land explorers of the United States; the distances traveled by early explorers; and the Atlantic trade routes that linked Africa, the West Indies, the British colonies, and Europe
  4. land claimed by Spain, France, England, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Russia on maps of North and South America
5.3 Students describe the cooperation and conflict that existed among the Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, in terms of:
  1. the competition among the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Indian Nations for control of North America
  2. the cooperation that existed between the colonists and Indians during the 1600s and 1700s (agriculture, the fur trade, military alliances, treaties, cultural interchanges)
  3. the conflicts before the Revolutionary War (the Pequot and King Philip's Wars in New England, the Powhatan Wars in Virginia, the French and Indian War)
  4. the role of broken treaties and massacres and the factors that led to the Indians' defeat, including the resistance of Indian nations to encroachments and assimilation (the story of the Trail of Tears )
  5. the internecine Indian conflicts, including the competing claims for control, e.g., actions of the Iroquois, Huron, Lakota (Sioux)
  6. the influence and achievements of significant leaders of the time (biographies of Abraham Lincoln, John Marshall, Andrew Jackson, Chief Tecumseh, Chief Logan, Chief John Ross, Sequoyah)
5.4 Students understand the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era, in terms of:
  1. the influence of location and physical setting on the founding of the original 13 colonies, their location on a map along with the location of the American Indian nations already inhabiting these areas
  2. the major individuals and groups responsible for the founding of the various colonies and the reasons for their founding (John Smith and Virginia, Roger Williams and Rhode Island, William Penn and Pennsylvania, Lord Baltimore and Maryland, William Bradford and Plymouth, John Winthrop and Massachusetts)
  3. the religious aspects of the earliest colonies (Puritanism in Massachusetts, Anglicanism in Virginia, Catholicism in Maryland, Quakerism in Pennsylvania)
  4. the significance and leaders of the First Great Awakening that marked a shift in religious ideas, practices and allegiances in the colonial period; the growth of religious toleration and free exercise
  5. how the British colonial period created the basis for the development of political self-government and a free market economic system, unlike Spanish and French colonial rule
  6. the introduction of slavery into America, the responses of slave families to their condition, the ongoing struggle between proponents and opponents of slavery, and the gradual institutionalization of slavery in the South
  7. the early democratic ideas and practices that emerged during the colonial period, including the significance of representative assemblies and town meetings
5.5 Students explain the causes of the American Revolution, in terms of:
  1. how political, religious, and economic ideas and interests brought about the Revolution (resistance to imperial policy, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, tax on tea, Coercive Acts)
  2. the significance of the first and second Continental Congress and the Committees of Correspondence
  3. the people and events associated with the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence and the document's significance, including the key political concepts it embodies, the origins of those concepts, and its role in severing ties with Great Britain
  4. the views, lives, and impact of key individuals during this period (biographies of King George III, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams)
5.6 Students understand the course and consequences of the American Revolution in terms of:
  1. identifying and mapping the major military battles, campaigns and turning points of the Revolutionary War, the roles of the American and British leaders, and the Indian leaders' alliances on both sides
  2. the contributions of France and other nations and individuals to the outcome of the Revolution (Benjamin Franklin's negotiations with the French, the French navy, the Treaty of Paris, The Netherlands, Russia, Marquis de Lafayette, Kosciuszko, Baron von Steuben)
  3. the different roles women played during the Revolution (Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, Molly Pitcher, Phillis Wheatley, Mercy Otis Warren)
  4. the personal impact and economic hardship on families, problems of financing the war, wartime inflation, and laws against hoarding and profiteering
  5. how state constitutions established after 1776 embodied the ideals of the American Revolution and helped serve as models for the U.S. Constitution
  6. the significance of land policies developed under the Continental Congress (sale of western lands, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787) and their impact on American Indian land
  7. how the ideals of the Declaration of Independence changed the way people viewed slavery
  8. understanding issues associated with slavery after the American Revolution (abolition of slavery in the northeastern and middle Atlantic States; the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the ban on slavery in new territories north of the Ohio River; the antislavery movement)
  9. understanding the significance of the Louisiana Purchase (Napoleon's reasons for selling the Louisiana Territory; how the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory changed the United States)
5.7 Students relate the narrative of the people and events associated with the development of the U.S. Constitution and analyze its significance as the foundation of the American republic, in terms of:
  1. the shortcomings set forth by the Articles of Confederation's critics
  2. the significance of the new Constitution of 1787, including the struggles over its ratification and the reasons for the addition of the Bill of Rights
  3. the fundamental principles of American constitutional democracy including how the government derives its power from the people and the primacy of individual liberty
  4. how the Constitution is designed to secure our liberty by both empowering and limiting central government; the powers granted to the citizens, Congress, the President, the Supreme Court, those reserved to the states
  5. the meaning of the American creed that calls on citizens to safeguard the liberty of individual Americans within a unified nation, to respect the rule of law, and to preserve the Constitution
  6. the songs that express American ideals (know America the Beautiful, The Star Spangled Banner)
  7. the reasons why certain obsolete laws might need to be changed (rules such as teachers being unable to marry)
5.8 Students trace the colonization, immigration and settlement patterns of the American people from 1789 to the mid-1800's, with emphasis on the defining role of economic incentives and the effects of the physical and political geography and transportation systems, in terms of:
  1. the waves of immigrants from Europe between 1789 and 1850 and their modes of transportation as they advanced into the Ohio and Mississippi Valley and through the Cumberland Gap (overland wagons, canals, flatboats, steamboats)
  2. knowing the government policy of Indian removal to lands west of the Mississippi River (the Cherokee "Trail of Tears"; the role of Chief John Ross of Cherokee tribe; the Seminole removal)
  3. understanding Native American resistance to the encroachment of settlers
  4. the states and territories in 1850, their regional locations and major geographical features (mountain ranges, principal rivers, dominant plant regions)
  5. the explorations of the trans-Mississippi West following the Louisiana Purchase (draw from maps, biographies and journals of Lewis & Clark, Zebulon Pike, John Fremont)
  6. experiencing overland trails to the West (location of the routes, purpose of each journey; the influence of terrain, rivers, vegetation, and climate; life in the territories at the end of these trails)
  7. the continued migration of Mexican settlers into Mexican territories of the West and Southwest
  8. how and when California, Texas, Oregon and other western lands became part of the U.S., including the significance of the Texas War for Independence, the Mexican-American War
5.9 The student understands how different groups of people contributed to the development of the United States, in terms of:
  1. understanding characteristics of cultural diversity in the United States (people of many races, religions, and national origins under a common governmental system)
  2. understanding the obstacles and opportunities immigrants faced in the United States (discrimination based on race, religion or cultural traditions; hardships associated with a new language and way of life; opportunities to make a new life)
  3. understanding the experiences of women on the western frontier (daily life; gender roles; women who worked as missionaries, teachers, and entrepreneurs; slave women gaining freedom in the West; achievement of women's suffrage in Wyoming in 1869)


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The intellectual skills noted below are to be learned through, and applied to, content standards for grades 6-8. They are to be assessed only in conjunction with the content standards in grades 6-8 and are not to be assessed in isolation.

Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills

In addition to the standards for grades 6-8, students demonstrate the following intellectual reasoning, reflection and research skills:

Grades 6-8

Chronological and Spatial Thinking

  1. students explain how major events are related to each other in time
  2. students construct various timelines of key events, people, and periods of the historical era being studied
  3. students use a variety of maps and documents to identify physical and cultural features of neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries and to explain the historical migration of people, expansion and disintegration of empires, and the growth of economic systems
Research, Evidence and Point of View
  1. students frame questions that can be answered by historical study and research
  2. students distinguish fact from opinion in historical narratives and stories
  3. students distinguish relevant from irrelevant information, essential from incidental information, and verifiable from unverifiable information in historical narratives and stories
  4. students assess the credibility of primary and secondary sources and draw sound conclusions from them
  5. students detect the different historical points of view on historical events and determine the context in which the historical statements were made (the questions asked, sources used, author's perspectives)
Historical Interpretation
  1. students explain the central issues and problems of the past, placing people and events in a matrix of time and place
  2. students understand and distinguish cause, effect, sequence, and correlation in historical events, including the long- and short-term causal relations
  3. students explain the sources of historical continuity and how the combination of ideas and events explains the emergence of new patterns
  4. students recognize the role of chance, oversight, and error in history
  5. students recognize interpretations of history are subject to change as new information is uncovered
  6. students interpret basic indicators of economic performance and conduct cost/benefit analyses in order to analyze economic and political issues


Return to top GRADE 6
WORLD HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY: ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

Students in grade six expand their understanding of history by studying the people and events that ushered in the dawn of the major western and non-western ancient civilizations. Geography is of special significance in the development of the human story. Continued emphasis is placed on the everyday lives, problems and accomplishments of people, their role in developing social, economic and political structures, as well as in establishing and spreading ideas that helped transform the world forever. Students develop higher levels of critical thinking by considering why civilizations developed where and when they did, why they became dominant and why they declined. Students analyze the interactions among the various cultures, emphasizing their enduring contributions and the link, despite time, between the contemporary and ancient worlds.

6.0 The student knows world geography, in terms of:
  1. the characteristics and uses of cartograms
  2. how maps help to find patterns of movement in space and time (e.g., mapping hurricane tracking through several seasons, mapping the spread of plague throughout the world, major ocean currents, and wind patterns)
  3. how to identify and compare physical characteristics of places (e.g., soils, landforms, vegetation, wildlife, climate, and natural hazards)
  4. how to make and use maps, globes, graphs, charts, models, and databases to analyze spatial distributions and patterns, e.g., the purposes and distinguishing characteristics of geographic databases
6.1 Students describe what is known through archaeological studies of the early physical and cultural development of mankind from the Paleolithic Era to the agricultural revolution, in terms of:
  1. the hunter-gatherer societies and their characteristics, including the development of tools and the use of fire: the prehistoric periods, e.g., Stone Age (Mesolithic), New Stone Age (Neolithic); tools from simple, to complex, to metal; the interaction between the environment and prehistoric peoples as they made the transition from the hunter-gatherers to food producers; ways in which prehistoric peoples explained the universe, e.g., cave art, elemental forms of religion; the development of language in prehistoric societies, e.g., as a medium for transmitting and accumulating knowledge
  2. the location of human communities that populated the major regions of the world and how humans adapted to a variety of environments, e.g., by studying the significance of paleontological discoveries in East Africa and the work of Donald Johanson, Thomas Gray, Mary Leakey
  3. the climatic changes and human modifications of the physical environment that gave rise to the domestication of plants and animals and the increase in the sources of clothing and shelter
  4. the role of women in hunter-gatherer societies
6.2 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush, in terms of:
  1. the location and description of the river systems and physical settings that supported the development of permanent settlement and early civilizations, e.g., Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush; the geographic reasons for the development of ancient civilizations, e.g., the critical relationships between site, resources, and settlements; the importance of the Nile River to Egypt's development, e.g., irrigation practices that are still in use; the settlement patterns of the Sumerian peoples of the Mesopotamian region, e.g., Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Akkadians as it pertains to early settlements in the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; major events that influence their journey to this region; the spread of agricultural villages to lower Mesopotamia
  2. the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power, e.g., the technological accomplishments of the peoples of the Mesopotamian region (invention of the wheel, plow, and irrigation systems)
  3. the relationship between religion and the social and political order in Mesopotamia and Egypt, e.g., the development of the social, economic, and political systems in Mesopotamia; the daily lives of various groups of people in early Egypt (farmers, tradespeople, architects, artists, scribes, women, children)
  4. the significance of Hammurabi's Code, e.g., systems of writing (cuneiform), law, and measurement used by the Sumerian people of the Mesopotamian region
  5. Egyptian art and architecture
  6. the location and description of the role of Egyptian trade in the eastern Mediterranean and Nile Valley and the significance of the lives of Queen Hatsheput, Ramses the Great, and Khufu, e.g., characteristics of the New Kingdom and the reign of Queen Hatshepsut (flourishing art and architecture, the role of trade on the extension of Egyptian influences in the Middle East)
  7. the location of the Kush civilization and its political, commercial and cultural relations with Egypt, e.g., the events in the military history of the Kingdom of Kush (the conquering of Egypt in 751 BC; establishing the twenty-fifth dynasty of pharoahs; being conquered by the Assyrians and moving the capital farther south); the cultural and economic elements of the Kingdom of Kush, e.g., the development of iron agricultural tools and weapons; the development of an alphabet; trade that extended to Arabia, India, sub-Saharan Africa, and China
  8. the evolution of language and its written forms
  9. the role of women in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Kush
6.3 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of the Ancient Hebrews, in terms of:
  1. the origins and significance of Judaism as the first monotheistic religion based on the concept of one God who sets down moral laws for humanity
  2. the sources of the ethical teachings and central beliefs of Judaism in the Hebrew Bible, e.g., stories of Creation, Noah, the Tower of Babel, Abraham, the Exodus, the Ten Commandments, Ruth, Naomi, David, the Lion's Den, selections from the Psalms and the Proverbs, the Commentaries; belief in God, observance of law, practice of concepts of righteousness and justice, and importance of study; how the ideas of the Hebrew traditions (the Hebrew concepts of wisdom, righteousness, law, and justice) are reflected in the moral and ethical traditions of Western civilization
  3. how Abraham, Moses, Naomi, Ruth, David, and Yohanan ben Zaccai influenced the development of the Jewish religion
  4. the location of the settlements and movements of Hebrew peoples, including the Exodus, the movement to and from Egypt, and the significance of the Exodus experience to the Jewish people and other people in history
  5. how Judaism survived and developed despite the continuing dispersion of much of the Jewish population from Jerusalem and the rest of the land of Israel after the destruction of the second Temple in 70
  6. The role of women in ancient Hebrew society
6.4 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilization of Ancient Greece, in terms of:
  1. the connections between geography and the development of city-states in the region of the Aegean Sea, including patterns of trade and commerce among Greek city-states and within the wider Mediterranean region
  2. the transition from tyranny and oligarchy to early democratic forms of government and back to dictatorship in ancient Greece, and the significance of the invention of the idea of citizenship
  3. the key differences between Athenian or direct democracy and representative democracy (draw from Pericles' Funeral Oration)
  4. the significance of Greek mythology to the everyday life of people in the region and how Greek literature continues to permeate our literature and language today, drawing from Greek mythology and epics such as the Iliad and the Odyssey and from Aesop's Fables (the games and sports of the Olympiad in ancient Greece; Greek contributions to western arts and humanities e.g., myths, Heroic literature, art, drama, law, architecture, government)
  5. the founding, expansion, and political organization of the Persian Empire
  6. similarities and differences between life in Athens and Sparta, with emphasis on their roles in the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars (the educational system in ancient Greece)
  7. the rise of Alexander the Great in the North and the spread of Greek culture eastward and into Egypt
  8. the enduring contributions of important Greek figures in the arts and sciences (biographies of Hypatia, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Thucydides)
  9. the daily life and role of women and children in Athens and Sparta
6.5 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of India, in terms of:
  1. the location and description of the river system and physical setting that supported the rise of this civilization, e.g., the Indus Valley civilization
  2. the significance of the Aryan invasions
  3. the major beliefs and practices of Brahmanism in India and how they evolved into early Hinduism
  4. the social structure of the caste system, e.g., the central beliefs and moral teaching of Hinduism
  5. the life and moral teachings of Buddha (unselfishness; returning good for evil; tolerance and nonviolence; prohibition of lying, stealing, killing, finding fault with others, and gossiping); and how Buddhism spread in India, Ceylon, and Central Asia, e.g., the development of Buddhism, the emergence of Buddhism in the 6th century BC, the life and moral teachings of the "Buddha" or Siddhartha Gautama; the story of Buddha's life, including his search for enlightenment and his Hindu background
  6. the growth of the Maurya Empire and the political and moral achievements of the Emperor Asoka, e.g., unification of India, renouncing of violence as a national policy, establishing Buddhism as a state religion
  7. important aesthetic and intellectual traditions, e.g., Sanskrit literature (including the Bhagavad Gita), medicine, metallurgy, mathematics including Hindu-Arabic numerals and the zero
  8. The role of women in early Indian civilizations
6.6 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of China, in terms of:
  1. the location and description of the origins of Chinese civilization in the Huang-He Valley Shang Dynasty
  2. the geographical features of China that made governance and movement of ideas and goods difficult and served to isolate that country from the rest of the world
  3. the life of Confucius and the fundamental teachings of Confucianism, (individual and societal goodness, moderation in conduct and emotion, keeping promises, respecting elders, improving oneself through education, avoiding people who are not good), Taoism, and the beliefs of Daoism (keeping nature in balance)
  4. the political and cultural problems prevalent in the time of Confucius and how he sought to solve them
  5. the policies and achievements of the emperor Shi Huangdi in unifying northern China under the Qin dynasty
  6. the political contributions of the Han dynasty to the development of the imperial bureaucratic state and the expansion of the empire (reuniting China; making Confucian teachings official; placing governmental administration in the hands of the educated Confucian civil service; the daily life of ordinary people and educated classes during the Han Dynasty; elements of social, cultural, and economic life during the Han Dynasty, e.g., the role of Confucian filial piety and family ties in strengthening social structure; role of women in Han society; flourishing art, literature, and learning; thriving agriculture, trade, and manufacturing)
  7. the significance of the trans-Eurasian "silk roads" in the period of the Han and Roman empires and their locations, e.g., reasons for the deterioration of Chinese civilization by the sixth century BC (the demise of the balance of power between the princes of newer states and the imperial centers of central China)
  8. the diffusion of Buddhism northward to China during the Han dynasty
  9. the role of women in Confucian society
6.7 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures in the development of Rome, in terms of:
  1. the location and rise of the Roman Republic, including such important mythical and historical figures as Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, Cincinnatus, Julius Caesar, and Cicero
  2. the character of the government of the Roman Republic and its significance (written constitution and tripartite government, checks and balances, civic duty)
  3. the location of and the political and geographic reasons for the growth of Roman territories and expansion of the empire, including how the Roman empire fostered economic growth through the use of currency and trade routes, e.g., the division of the Roman Empire, Rome in the West and the rising Byzantine Empire in the East; the significance of the "Pax Romana."
  4. the influence of Julius Caesar, e.g., his conquests and his assassination in 44BC and Augustus in Rome's transition from republic to empire
  5. the migration of Jews around the Mediterranean region and the effects of their conflict with the Romans, including the Romans' restrictions on their right to live in Jerusalem
  6. the origins of Christianity in the Jewish Messianic prophecies, the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament, and the contribution of St. Paul the Apostle to the definition and spread of Christian beliefs (belief in the Trinity, resurrection, salvation)
  7. the circumstances that led to the spread of Christianity in Europe and other Roman territories (Roman efforts to suppress Christianity; the consequences of Constantine's acceptance of Christianity in AD 313; the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the empire by Theodisius I)
  8. the legacies of Roman art and architecture, technology and science, literature, language, and law; the daily life and the role of women in Roman Society (slavery, social conflict, rule of Roman law)
Return to top GRADE 7
WORLD HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY:
MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TIMES

Students in grade seven study the social, cultural, and technological changes that occurred in Europe, Africa, and Asia from 500-1789 AD. After reviewing the ancient world and the ways in which archaeologists and historians uncover the past, students study the history and geography of great civilizations that were developing concurrently throughout the world during medieval and early modern times. They examine the growing economic interaction among civilizations as well as the exchange of ideas, beliefs, technologies and commodities. They learn about the resulting growth of Enlightenment philosophy and the new examination of the concepts of reason and authority, the natural rights of human beings and the divine right of kings, experimentalism in science and the dogma of belief. Finally, students assess the political forces let loose by the Enlightenment, particularly the rise of democratic ideas, and they learn about the continuing influence of these ideas in the world today.
7.0 The student knows world geography, in terms of:

  1. the characteristics and uses of cartograms
  2. how maps help to find patterns of movement in space and time (e.g., mapping hurricane tracking through several seasons, mapping the spread of plague throughout the world, major ocean currents, and wind patterns)
  3. how to identify and compare physical characteristics of places (e.g., soils, landforms, vegetation, wildlife, climate, and natural hazards)
  4. how to make and use maps, globes, graphs, charts, models, and databases to analyze spatial distributions and patterns, e.g., the purposes and distinguishing characteristics and purposes of geographic databases
7.1 Students analyze the causes and effects of the vast expansion and ultimate disintegration of the Roman Empire, in terms of:
  1. the early strengths and lasting contributions of Rome (significance of Roman citizenship; rights under Roman law; Roman art, architecture, engineering and philosophy; preservation and transmission of Christianity) and its ultimate internal weaknesses (rise of autonomous military powers within the empire, undermining of citizenship by the growth of corruption and slavery, lack of education and distribution of news; the reasons for the fall of Rome (significance of Clovis, nomadic invasion of the Roman Empire; battles, internal divisions, and political and economic changes)
  2. the geographic borders of the empire at its height and the factors that threatened its territorial cohesion
  3. the establishment by Constantine of the new capital in Constantinople; and the development of the Byzantine Empire with an emphasis on the consequences of the development of two distinct European civilizations, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic, with two distinct views on church-state relations
7.2 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of civilizations of Islam in the Middle Ages, in terms of:
  1. the physical features and climate of the Arabian peninsula; its relationship to surrounding bodies of land and water; and the relationship between nomadic and sedentary ways of life
  2. the origins of Islam and the life and teachings of Muhammad, including Islamic teachings on the connection with Judaism and Christianity, e.g., Muhammad's role as the founder of Islam, his religious ideas, Qur'an, his role in establishing the Islamic way of life, its code of ethics
  3. the significance of the Qur'an and the Sunnah as the primary sources of Islamic beliefs, practice and law, and their influence in Muslims' daily life
  4. the expansion of Muslim rule through military conquests and treaties, emphasizing the cultural blending within Muslim civilization and the spread and acceptance of Islam and the Arabic language, e.g. that armies reunited the ancient Middle East between AD 636 and 651
  5. the growth of cities and the trade routes created among Asia, Africa and Europe; the products and inventions that traveled along these routes (spices, textiles, paper, steel, new crops); and the role of merchants in Arab society
  6. the intellectual exchanges among Muslim scholars of Eurasia and Africa; and the contributions Muslim scholars made to later civilizations in the areas of science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, art, and literature, e.g., preserving the learning of the ancient world, the flowering of Jewish civilization at Cordoba
  7. the role of women in Islamic society
7.3 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of China in the Middle Ages in terms of:
  1. the reunification of China under the Tang Dynasty and reasons for the spread of Buddhism in Tang China, Korea, and Japan
  2. agricultural, technological, and commercial developments during the Tang and Sung periods
  3. the influences of Confucianism and changes in Confucian thought during the Sung and Mongol periods (subordination of the merchant class; de-emphasis on trade and manufacturing; the role of printing in spreading traditional ideas; the impact of the scholarly class on Chinese thought and government)
  4. the importance of both overland trade and maritime expeditions between China and other civilizations in the Mongol Ascendancy and Ming Dynasty, e.g., the role of foreign merchants such as Marco Polo
  5. the historic influence of such discoveries as tea, the manufacture of paper, wood block printing, the compass, and gunpowder
  6. the development of the imperial state and the scholar-official class
  7. the role of women in Chinese society
7.4 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the Sub-Saharan civilizations of Ghana and Mali in Medieval Africa, in terms of:
  1. the Niger River and the vegetation zones of forest, savannah and desert and the relationship of these features (landforms, climate, vegetation, rivers, resources) to the trade in gold, salt, food, and slaves; the growth of the Ghana and Mali empires (Ghana's control of trade in gold from the south; Mali's control of southern gold trade and northern salt trade; contributions of important people; development of iron technology)
  2. the importance of family, labor specialization, and regional commerce in the development of states and cities in West Africa
  3. the role of the trans-Saharan caravan trade in the changing religious and cultural characteristics of West Africa, and the influence of Islamic beliefs, ethics and law
  4. the growth of Arabic as a language of government, trade, and Islamic scholarship in West Africa
  5. the importance of written and oral traditions in the transmission of African history and culture
  6. the role of women in Sub-Saharan African society
7.5 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Medieval Japan, in terms of:
  1. the significance of Japan's proximity to China and Korea and the intellectual, linguistic, religious and philosophical influence of those countries on Japan (how Japan's insular geographic location facilitated its political independence; effects of cultural contacts, development of education and government)
  2. the reign of Prince Shotoku of Japan and the characteristics of Japanese society and family life
  3. the values, social customs, and traditions prescribed by the lord-vassal system consisting of shogun, daimyo and samurai and the lasting influence of the warrior code in the 20th century (loyalty to the lord, military skills, a strict code of honor, self-discipline, and fearlessness in battle)
  4. the development of distinctive forms of Japanese Buddhism (the introduction of Buddhism and the blending of Buddhism with Japan's traditional Shinto religion)
  5. the ninth and tenth century golden age of literature, art and drama, (poetry, painting, the Japanese art form of Noh) and its lasting effects on culture today, including Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji
  6. the rise of a military society in the late twelfth century and the role of the samurai
  7. the role of women in Medieval Japanese society
    7.6 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Medieval Europe, in terms of:
  1. the geography of Europe and the Eurasian land mass, including its location, topography, waterways, vegetation and climate and relationship to ways of life in ancient Europe and during the Roman Empire
  2. the spread of Christianity north of the Alps and the role played by the early Church and by monasteries in its diffusion after the fall of Rome
  3. the development of feudalism, its operation in the medieval European economy (Norman Conquest; Vikings; the lord-vassal system with military leaders, great lords, and knights; emphasis on personal loyalty to the lord; military skills; strict code of honor; self-discipline; and fearlessness in battle) and the way in which it was influenced by physical geography (the role of the manor and the growth of towns, trade, and technology in medieval Europe and how feudal relationships provided the foundation of political order)
  4. the conflict and cooperation between the Papacy and European monarchs (Charlemagne, Gregory VII, Emperor Henry IV)
  5. the significance of developments in medieval English legal and constitutional practice and their importance in the rise of modern democratic thought and representative institutions (Magna Carta, parliament, development of habeas corpus, an independent judiciary in England)
  6. the causes and course of the Religious Crusades and the effects on Christian, Muslim, and Jewish populations in Europe with emphasis on the increasing contact with the cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean world (events associated with the persecution of the Jewish minority in medieval Europe, massacre of Jews by the Crusaders; expulsion of Jews from England in 1290, France in 1306 and 1394, and German cities during the Black Death)
  7. mapping the spread of the Bubonic Plague from Central Asia to China, the Middle East, and Europe and its impact on global population
  8. the importance of the Catholic church as a political, intellectual and aesthetic institution (founding of universities, the political and spiritual role of the clergy, creation of monastic and mendicant religious orders, preservation of Latin language and religious texts, St. Thomas Aquinas' synthesis of classical philosophy with Christian theology and the concept of "natural law")
  9. the history of the decline of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula that culminated in the "Reconquista" and the rise of Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms (Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions; treatment of those who continued the Judaic faith, the expulsion of Jews and Moslems from Spain in 1492)
  10. The role of women in Medieval European society



    11. 7.7 Students compare and contrast the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social and structures of the Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations, in terms of:

  11. the locations, landforms and climates of Mexico, Central America and South America and their effects upon Mayan, Aztec, and Incan economies, trade, and development of urban societies (the development of maize agriculture in 2000 BC which influenced the cultural development of early Mayan, Aztec, and Incan civilizations)
  12. the roles of women and other people in each society, including class structures, family life, warfare, religious beliefs and practices, and slavery
  13. how and where each empire arose and how the Aztec and Inca empires were defeated by the Spanish, e.g., the reasons for the decline of these civilization; the consequences of the Spanish conquest of the Americas (the plunder and destruction of native cultures)
  14. the artistic and oral traditions and architecture in the three civilizations
  15. the Mesoamerican achievements in astronomy and mathematics, including the development of the calendar and the Mesoamerican knowledge of seasonal changes to the civilizations' agricultural systems



    16. 7.8 Students analyze the origins, accomplishments and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance, in terms of:

  1. the way in which the revival of classical learning and the arts affected a new interest in "humanism" (a balance between the intellect and religious faith)
  2. the importance of Florence in the early stages of the Renaissance and the growth of independent trading cities, e.g., Venice with emphasis on their importance in the spread of Renaissance ideas (the significance of culture and daily life that spread through Europe, e.g., Florence, Italy as a center of commerce, creativity, and artistic genius during the Renaissance)
  3. the effects of re-opening of the ancient "Silk Road" between Europe and China, including Marco Polo's travels and the location of his routes
  4. the growth and effect of ways of disseminating information (the ability to manufacture paper, translation of the Bible into the vernacular, printing)
  5. advances in literature, the arts, science, mathematics, cartography, engineering, and the understanding of human anatomy and astronomy (the writings of Shakespeare, Cervantes, Machiavelli; the art of Michelangelo, da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Van Eyck, and Durer)
  6. The role of women in Renaissance society
    7.9 Students analyze the historical developments of the Reformation, in terms of:
  1. the causes for the internal turmoil and weakening of the Catholic church (tax policies, selling of indulgences)
  2. the theological, political, and economic ideas of the major figures during the Reformation (Erasmus, Martin Luther, John Calvin, William Tyndale)
  3. the influence of new practices of church self-government among Protestants on the development of democratic practices and ideas of federalism
  4. the location and identification of European regions that remained Catholic and those that became Protestant and how the division affected the distribution of religions in the New World
  5. how the Counter-Reformation revitalized the Catholic church and the forces that propelled the movement (St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits, the Council of Trent)
  6. the institution and impact of missionaries on Christianity and the diffusion of Christianity from Europe to other parts of the world in the medieval and early modern periods, including their location on a world map
  7. the "Golden Age" of cooperation between Jews and Muslims in Medieval Spain which promoted creativity in art, literature and science, including how it was terminated by the religious persecution of individuals and groups (the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain in 1492)



    8. 7.10 Students analyze the historical developments of the Scientific Revolution and its lasting effect on religious, political and cultural institutions, in terms of:

  1. the roots of the scientific revolution (Greek rationalism; Jewish, Christian and Muslim science; Renaissance humanism, new knowledge from global exploration)
  2. the significance of the new scientific theories (Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton) and the significance of inventions (telescope, microscope, thermometer, barometer)
  3. the scientific method advanced by Bacon and Descartes, the influence of new scientific rationalism on the growth of democratic ideas; and the coexistence of science with traditional religious beliefs
7.11 Students analyze political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), in terms of:
  1. the great voyages of discovery, the location of the routes, and the influence of cartography in developing a new European world view
  2. the exchanges of plants, animals, technology, culture, and ideas among Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries and the major economic and social effects on each continent (the motives and goals of Portuguese and Spanish explorers to the New World)
  3. the origins of modern capitalism; the influence of mercantilism and cottage industry; the elements and importance of a market economy in seventeenth-century Europe; and the changing international trading and marketing patterns, including their location on a world map and the influence of explorers and map makers
  4. how the main ideas of the Enlightenment can be traced back to such movements as the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution and to the Greeks, Romans, and Christianity
  5. how democratic thought and institutions were influenced by Enlightenment thinkers (Locke, Montesquieu, American founders)
  6. how the principles in the Magna Carta were embodied in such documents as the English Bill of Rights and the American Declaration of Independence


Return to top GRADE 8
UNITED STATES HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY:
GROWTH AND CONFLICT

Students in grade eight study the ideas, issues and events from the framing of the Constitution up to World War I, with an emphasis on America's role in the war. After reviewing the development of America's democratic institutions founded in the Judeo-Christian heritage and English parliamentary traditions, particularly the shaping of the Constitution, students trace the development of American politics, society, culture and economy and relate them to the emergence of major regional differences. They learn about the challenges facing the new nation, with an emphasis on the causes, course and consequences of the Civil War. They make connections between the rise of industrialization and contemporary social and economic conditions.

Students begin the year with a comprehensive review of the development of the American nation (e.g., early migration, colonial economy, agriculture, commerce, handicraft manufacturing) and the reasons and consequences of the revolutionary war; the emergence of major regional differences in the colonies (e.g., characteristics of the New England, Mid-Atlantic, Chesapeake, and lower South colonies); major turning points in the War for Independence (major military campaigns including Lexington-Concord, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Yorktown). 8.0 The student knows the geography of the United States, in terms of:

  1. the major land forms and waterways in the U.S. (rivers, lakes, bays, mountain ranges, basins, canyons, valleys, deserts)
  2. the use of thematic maps (patterns of population, routes of exploration and expansion, economic features)
8.1 Students understand the major events preceding the founding of the nation and relate their significance to the development of American constitutional democracy, in terms of:
  1. the relationship between the moral and political ideas of the Great Awakening and the development of revolutionary fervor, e.g., sources of significant ideas of the revolutionary period (sermons from the Great Awakening, Thomas Paine's Common Sense); the major ideas and events that contributed to the American Revolution and the War for Independence (taxation without representation, French and Indian War, the Stamp Act, Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party); the debates of the Whigs and the Tories
  2. the philosophy of government expressed in the Declaration of Independence with an emphasis on government as a means of securing individual rights (key phrases such as "...all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, "natural rights," "natural law," "Laws of Nature," "Nature's God")
  3. the significance of the American Revolution as it affected other nations, e.g. Spain, especially France
  4. its blend of civic republicanism, classical liberal principles, and English parliamentary traditions
8.2 Students analyze the political principles underlying the U.S. Constitution and compare the enumerated and implied powers of the federal government, in terms of:
  1. the significance of the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, the Mayflower Compact, (Virginia House of Burgesses, and New England town meeting)
  2. the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution; and the success of each in implementing the ideals of the Declaration of Independence
  3. the major debates ( the issues that divided the framers of the Constitution and the compromises they adopted; three-fifths rule of representation, slave importation clause, fugitive slave clause) that occurred during the development of the Constitution and their ultimate resolutions on areas such as shared power among institutions, divided state-federal power, slavery, the rights of individuals and states (later addressed by the addition of the Bill of Rights), and the status of American Indian nations under the commerce clause
  4. the political philosophy underpinning the U.S. Constitution as specified in The Federalist (authored by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay) and the role of such leaders as James Madison, George Washington, Roger Sherman, Gouverneur Morris, and James Wilson in the writing and ratification of the Constitution
  5. the significance of Jefferson's Statute for Religious Freedom as a forerunner of the First Amendment, and the origins, purpose and differing views of the founding fathers on the issue of the separation of church and state
  6. the powers of government enumerated in the Constitution; and the fundamental liberties ensured by the Bill of Rights ( the major accomplishments of the United States Constitution; creation of a democratic form of government based on the consent of the governed; establishment of a government that survived more than 200 years with a balance of power and interests; and the amendment process)
  7. the principles of federalism, dual sovereignty, separation of powers, checks and balances, the nature and purpose of majority rule, and how the American idea of constitutionalism preserves individual rights, e.g., the efforts of the framers of the Constitution to create a government that was not too strong (despotism) or too weak (Articles of Confederation)
8.3 Students understand the foundation of the American political system and the ways in which citizens participate in it, in terms of:
  1. the principles and concepts codified in the state constitutions between 1777 and 1781 that create the context out of which American political institutions and ideas developed
  2. how the ordinances of 1785 and 1787 privatized national resources and transferred federally owned lands into private holdings, townships and states
  3. the advantages of a "common market" among the states as foreseen and protected by the Constitution's clauses on interstate commerce, common coinage, and full-faith and credit
  4. the conflicts between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton that resulted in the emergence of two political parties (view of foreign policy; Alien and Sedition acts; the Jeffersonian philosophy that the survival of a democratic society depends on an informed people; economic policy; National Bank; funding and assumption of the revolutionary debt)
  5. the significance of domestic resistance movements and ways in which the central government responded to such movement (Shays' Rebellion, the Whiskey Rebellion)
  6. the basic law-making process and how the design of the U.S. Constitution provides numerous opportunities for citizens to participate in the political process and to monitor and influence government (function of elections, political parties, interest groups)
  7. the function and responsibilities of a free press
8.4 Students analyze the aspirations and ideals of the people of the new nation, in terms of:
  1. its physical landscapes and political divisions and the territorial expansion of the U.S. during the terms of the first four presidents
  2. the policy significance of famous speeches (George Washington's Farewell Address, Jefferson's Inaugural, John Q. Adams' Fourth of July 1821 Address)
  3. the rise of capitalism and the economic problems and conflicts that arose (Jackson's opposition to the National Bank; early decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that reinforced the sanctity of contracts and a capitalist economic system of law)
  4. the daily lives of people (farmers, merchants, traders, women, freed and enslaved Black Americans) including the traditions in art, music, and literature of early national America (writings by Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper)
  5. Students analyze U.S. foreign policy in the early Republic, in terms of:
  6. the political and economic causes and consequences of the War of 1812 and the major battles, leaders, and events leading to a final peace, e.g., the War of 1812 (causes, sectional divisions, Native American support of the British, defining the war)
  7. the changing boundaries and the principal relationships between the United States, its neighbors (current Mexico and Canada) and Europe, including the influence of the Monroe Doctrine, and how those relationships influenced westward expansion and the Mexican American War
  8. the major treaties with Indian nations during the administrations of the first four presidents and their varying outcomes
    9.
8.6 Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800's and the challenges they faced, with emphasis on the Northeast, in terms of:
  1. the influence of industrialization and technological developments on the region, including human modification of the landscape and how physical geography shaped human actions (growth of cities; deforestation; farming; mineral extraction; skilled craftpersons replaced by mechanized production in shops, mills, and factories)
  2. the physical obstacles to, and the economic and political factors in (Henry Clay's American System), building a network of roads, canals and railroads
  3. the reasons for the wave of immigration from Northern Europe to the U.S. and growth in the number, size, and spatial arrangements of cities, e.g., Irish immigrants and the Great Irish Famine
  4. the lives of Black Americans who gained freedom in the North and founded schools and churches to advance Black rights and communities
  5. the development of the American education system from its earliest roots (the various educational opportunities available in the early United States Republic: church schools, dame schools, private schools, learning at home); including the role of religious and private schools; Horace Mann's campaign for free public education, and its assimilating role in American culture
  6. the women's suffrage movement (biographies, writings, and speeches of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Fuller, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony)
  7. common themes in American art as well as Transcendentalism and individualism (writings about and by Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, Alcott, Hawthorne, Longfellow)
  8. the campaigns to reform mental institutions and prisons
8.7 Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800s and the challenges they faced, with emphasis on the South, in terms of:
  1. the development of the agrarian economy in the South, the location of the cotton producing states and the role of cotton and the cotton gin e.g., the South diverged dramatically from the Northeast and the West in its economic, political and social development (plantation economy, system of slave labor, minor participation in the egalitarian surge of the Jacksonian era and reform campaigns during 1840's; lagging public education system)
  2. the origins and development of the institution of slavery; its effects on Black Americans and on the region's political, social, religious, economic, and cultural development; and the various attempted strategies to both overturn and preserve it (biographies of Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey)
  3. the different characteristics of white Southern society and how the physical environment influenced events and conditions prior to the Civil War
  4. the lives and opportunities of free-Blacks in the North as compared with free-Blacks in the South
8.8 Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800's and the challenges they faced, with emphasis on the West, in terms of:
  1. the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828, the importance of Jacksonian democracy and his actions as president (spoils system, veto of National bank, policy of Indian removal, opposition to Supreme Court)
  2. the purpose, challenges and economic incentives associated with westward expansion including the concept of Manifest Destiny e.g., the importance of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 (Jefferson's role, opposition and support of the acquisition; impacts on Native Americans); Lewis and Clark expedition; accounts of the removal of Indians and the Cherokees' "Trail of Tears"; settlement of the Great Plains and the territorial acquisitions that spanned numerous decades
  3. the role of pioneer women and the new status that western women achieved (biographies, journals, diaries and other original documents on Laura Ingalls Wilder, Annie Bidwell, slave women gaining freedom in the West, Wyoming granting suffrage to women in 1869)
  4. the role of the great rivers and the struggle over water rights
  5. Mexican settlements (their locations, cultural traditions, attitudes toward slavery, land-grant system, the economies they established)
  6. the Texas War for Independence and the Mexican-American War (territorial settlements, the aftermath of the wars and the effect on the lives of Americans, including Mexican-Americans today)
8.9 Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slavery and realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, in terms of:
  1. the leaders of the movement (biographies and other literature on John Quincy Adams and his proposed constitutional amendment; John Brown and the armed resistance; Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad; Benjamin Franklin; Theodore Weld; William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass)
  2. how early state constitutions abolished slavery;
  3. the role of the Northwest Ordinance in education and in banning slavery in new states north of the Ohio River
  4. the slavery issue as raised by the annexation of Texas and the effect of California coming into the union as a free state as part of the Compromise of 1850
  5. the significance of: the States' Rights Doctrine; Missouri Compromise (1820); Wilmot Proviso (1846); the Compromise of 1850; Henry Clay's role in the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850; the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854); Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857); and the Lincoln-Douglas debates (1858)
  6. the lives of free Blacks and the laws that curbed their freedom and economic opportunity
8.10 Students analyze the multiple causes, key events and complex consequences of the Civil War, in terms of:
  1. the conflicting interpretations of state and federal authority as emphasized in the speeches and writings of statesman such as Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun
  2. the boundaries constituting "the North" and "the South", the geographical differences between the two regions, and the differences between agrarians and industrialists
  3. the constitutional issues posed by the doctrine of nullification and secession and the earliest origins of that doctrine
  4. Abraham Lincoln's presidency and his significant writings and speeches and their relationship to the Declaration of Independence such as his "House Divided" speech (1858), the Gettysburg Address (1863), the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), his inaugural addresses (1861 and 1865)
  5. the views and lives of leaders and soldiers on both sides of the war, including Black soldiers and regiments (biographies of Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee)
  6. critical developments in the war, including the major battles, geographical advantages and obstacles, technological advances, and Lee's surrender at Appomattox
  7. how the war affected combatants, with the largest death toll of any war in American history, and the physical devastation, the effect on civilians, and the effect on future warfare, e.g., why the Civil War is considered a watershed in American history (it resolved a challenge to the existence of the nation, destroyed the antebellum way of life in the South, and served as the prototype for modern warfare)
8.11 Students analyze the character and lasting consequences of Reconstruction, in terms of:
  1. the original aims of Reconstruction and the effects on the political and social structure of different regions
  2. the push-pull factors in the movement of former slaves to the cities in the North and to the West, and their differing experiences in those regions (the experiences of Buffalo Soldiers)
  3. the effects of the Freedman's Bureau and the restrictions on the rights and opportunities of freedman, including racial segregation and "Jim Crow" laws, e.g., manifestations of racism and legal restrictions in the South after Reconstruction (Black peonage, enforced lynch mobs, popular sentiments, Plessy vs. Ferguson, 1896 "separate but equal")
  4. the rise and effects of the Ku Klux Klan
  5. the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution, and their connection to Reconstruction
8.12 Students analyze the transformation of the American economy and the changing social and political conditions in the United States in response to the Industrial Revolution, in terms of:
  1. patterns of agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, natural resource use, markets, and trade, including their location on a map
  2. the reasons for the development of federal Indian policy and the Plains wars with American Indians and their relationship to agricultural development and industrialization
  3. how states and the federal government encouraged business expansion through tariffs, banking, land grants, and subsidies
  4. entrepreneurs, industrialists, and bankers in politics, commerce, and industry (Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Leland Stanford)
  5. the location and effects of urbanization, renewed immigration, and industrialization (effects on social fabric of cities; wealth and economic opportunity; and the conservation movement)
  6. child labor, working conditions, laissez-faire policies toward big business and the leaders of (Samuel Gompers) and the rise of the labor movement, including collective bargaining, strikes, and protests over labor conditions
  7. the new sources of large-scale immigration and the contribution of immigrants to the building of cities and the economy; the ways in which new social and economic patterns encouraged assimilation of newcomers into the mainstream amidst growing cultural diversity; and the new wave of nativism
  8. the characteristics and impact of Grangerism and Populism
  9. the significant inventors and their inventions (biographies of Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Orville and Wilbur Wright) and the incentives that prompted the quality of life (inventions in transportation, communication, agriculture, industry, education, medicine)
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The intellectual skills noted below are to be learned through, and applied to, the content standards for grades 9-12. They are to be assessed only in conjunction with the content standards in grades 9-12 and are not to be assessed in isolation.

Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills

In addition to the standards for grades 9-12, students demonstrate the following intellectual, reasoning, reflection and research skills:

Grades 9-12

Chronological and Spatial Thinking

  1. students compare the present with the past, evaluating the consequences of past events and decisions and determining the lessons learned
  2. students analyze how change happens at different rates at different times; that some aspects can change while others remain the same; that change is complicated and affects not only technology and politics, but also values and beliefs
  3. students use a variety of maps and documents to interpret human movement, including major patterns of domestic and international migration; changing environmental preferences and settlement patterns; the frictions that develop between population groups; and the diffusion of ideas, technological innovations, and goods
  4. students relate current events to the physical and human characteristics of places and regions


Historical Research, Evidence and Point of View

  1. students distinguish valid arguments from fallacious arguments in historical interpretations
  2. students identify bias and prejudice in historical interpretations
  3. students evaluate major debates among historians concerning alternative interpretations of the past, including an analysis of authors' use of evidence and the distinctions between sound generalizations and misleading oversimplifications
  4. students construct and test hypotheses; collect, evaluate and employ information from multiple primary and secondary sources; and apply it in oral and written presentations


Historical Interpretation

  1. students show the connections, causal and otherwise, between particular historical events and larger social, economic and political trends and developments
  2. students recognize the complexity of historical causes and effects, including the limitations on determining cause and effect
  3. students interpret past events and issues within the context in which an event unfolded rather than solely in terms of present day norms and values
  4. students understand the meaning, implication, and impact of historical events while recognizing that events could have taken other directions
  5. students analyze human modifications of a landscapes, and examine the resulting environmental policy issues
  6. students conduct cost/benefit analyses and apply basic economic indicators to analyze the aggregate economic behavior of the U.S. economy
Return to top GRADE 10

WORLD HISTORY, CULTURE, AND GEOGRAPHY: THE MODERN WORLD

Students in grade ten study major turning points that shaped the modern world, from the late 18th century through the present, including the cause and course of the two world wars. They trace the rise of democratic ideas and develop an understanding of the historical roots of current world issues, especially as they pertain to international relations. They extrapolate from the American experience that democratic ideals are often achieved at a high price, remain vulnerable and are not practiced everywhere in the world. Students develop an understanding of current world issues and relate them to their historical, geographic, political, economic, and cultural contexts. Students consider multiple accounts of events in order to understand international relations from a variety of perspectives. 10.1 Students relate the moral and ethical principles in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, in Judaism and in Christianity to the development of Western political thought, in terms of:

  1. the similarities and differences in Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman views of law; reason and faith; duties of the individual
  2. the development of the Western political ideas of the rule of law and illegitimacy of tyranny, drawing from selections from Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics
  3. the influence of the U.S. Constitution on political systems in the contemporary world
10.2 Students compare and contrast the Glorious Revolution of England, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution and their enduring effects on the worldwide political expectations for self-government and individual liberty, in terms of:
  1. the major ideas of philosophers and their effect on the democratic revolutions in England, the United States, France, and Latin America (biographies of John Locke, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Simón Bolívar, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison)
  2. the principles of the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights (1689), the American Declaration of Independence (1776), the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789), and the U.S. Bill of Rights (1791)
  3. the unique character of the American Revolution, its spread to other parts of the world, and its continuing significance to other nations
  4. how the ideology of the French Revolution led France to develop from constitutional monarchy to democratic despotism to the Napoleonic empire
  5. how nationalism spread across Europe with Napoleon, was repressed for a generation under the Congress of Vienna and Concert of Europe until the Revolutions of 1848
10.3 Students analyze the effects of the Industrial Revolution in England, France, Germany, Japan and the United States, in terms of:
  1. why England was the first country to industrialize
  2. how scientific and technological changes and new forms of energy brought about massive social, economic, and cultural change (biographies of James Watt, Eli Whitney, Henry Bessemer, Louis Pasteur, Thomas Edison,)
  3. the growth of population, rural to urban migration and growth of cities associated with the Industrial Revolution
  4. the evolution of work and labor, including the demise of the slave trade and effect of immigration, mining and manufacturing, division of labor, and the union movement
  5. the connections among natural resources, entrepreneurship, labor and capital in an industrial economy
  6. the emergence of capitalism as a dominant economic pattern and the responses to it, including Utopianism, Social Democracy, Socialism, and Communism
  7. the emergence of the Romantic impulse in art and literature (the poetry of William Blake and William Wordsworth), social criticism (Charles Dickens' novels) and the move away from Classicism in Europe
10.4 Students analyze patterns of global change in the era of New Imperialism in at least two of the following regions or countries: Africa, Southeast Asia, China, India, Latin America and the Philippines, in terms of:
  1. the rise of industrial economies and their link to imperialism and colonialism (the role played by national security and strategic advantage; moral issues raised by search for national hegemony, Social Darwinism and the missionary impulse; material issues such as land, resources and technology)
  2. the location of the colonial rule of such nations as England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Portugal, and the United States
  3. imperialism from the perspective of the colonizers and the colonized and the varied immediate and long-term responses by the people under colonial rule
  4. the independence struggles of the colonized regions of the world, including the role of leaders, such as Sun Yat-sen in China, and the role of ideology and religion
10.5 Students analyze the causes and course of the First World War, in terms of:
  1. the arguments for entering into war presented by leaders from all sides of the Great War and the role of political and economic rivalries, ethnic and ideological conflicts, domestic discontent and disorder, and propaganda and nationalism in mobilizing civilian population in support of "total war"
  2. the principle theaters of battle, major turning points and the importance of geographic factors in military decisions and outcomes (topography, waterways, distance, climate)
  3. how the Russian Revolution and the entry of the United States affected the course and outcome of the war
  4. the nature of the war, the human costs (military and civilian) on all sides of the conflict, including how colonial peoples contributed to the war effort
  5. human rights and genocide, including the Ottoman government's actions against Armenian citizens
10.6 Students analyze the effects of the First World War, in terms of:
  1. the aims and negotiating roles of world leaders, the terms and influence of the Treaty of Versailles and Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, and the causes and effects of U.S. rejection of the League of Nations on world politics
  2. the effects of the war and resulting peace treaties on population movement, the international economy, and shifts in the geographic and political borders of Europe, the Middle East and throughout the world
  3. the widespread disillusionment with prewar institutions, authorities, and values that resulted in a void that was later filled by totalitarians
  4. the influence of World War I on literature, art, and intellectual life in the West (Pablo Picasso, the "lost generation" of Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway)
  5. the progressive social change movements, i.e., women's suffrage
10.7 Students analyze the rise of totalitarian governments after World War I, in terms of:
  1. the causes and consequences of the Russian Revolution, including Lenin's use of totalitarian means to seize and maintain control (the Gulag)
  2. Stalin's rise to power in the Soviet Union and the connection between economic policies, political policies, the absence of a free press, and systematic violations of human rights (the Terror Famine in Ukraine)
  3. the rise, aggression, and human costs of totalitarian regimes (Fascist and Communist) in Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union and throughout the world noting their common and dissimilar traits
10.8 Students analyze the causes and consequences of the Second World War, in terms of:
  1. the German, Italian, and Japanese drives for empire in the 1930's, including the 1937 Rape of Nanking and other atrocities in China and the Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939
  2. the role of appeasement, nonintervention (isolationism), and the domestic distractions in Europe and the United States prior to the outbreak of World War II
  3. the identification and location of the Allied and Axis powers; the major turning points of the war, the principle theaters of conflict, key strategic decisions; and the resulting war conferences and political resolutions with emphasis on the importance of geographic factors
  4. the political, diplomatic and military leadership (biographies of Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hirohito, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower)
  5. the Nazi policy of pursuing racial purity, especially against the European Jews, its transformation into the Final Solution and the Holocaust resulting in the murder of at least twelve million people including six million Jewish civilians
  6. the human costs of the war, with particular attention to the civilian and military losses in Russia, Germany, Britain, United States, China, and Japan
  7. understanding efforts to resist Nazi actions (the unsuccessful revolt in the Warsaw Ghetto; Christians such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Raoul Wallengerg who risked their lives to save Jews)
  8. knowing literature and films that examine the Holocaust and its impact (The Diary of Anne Frank, and Elie Wiesel's Night).

    9. 10.9 Students analyze the international developments in the post-World War II world, in terms of:
  9. the economic and military power shifts caused by the war, including the Yalta Pact, the development of nuclear weapons, Soviet control over Eastern European nations, and the economic recovery of Germany and Japan
  10. the causes of the Cold War, with the free world on one side and Soviet client states on the other, including competition for influence in such places as Egypt, the Congo, Vietnam, Chile and other countries
  11. the importance of the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan which established the pattern for the postwar American policy of supplying economic and military aid to prevent the spread of communism and the resulting economic and political competition in arenas such as Southeast Asia (Korean War, Vietnam War), Cuba, and Africa
  12. the Chinese Civil War, the rise of Mao Tse-tung, and the subsequent political and economic upheavals in China (the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the Tiananmen Square uprising)
  13. uprisings in Poland (1952), Hungary (1956), and Czechoslovakia (1968) and their resurgence in the 1970's and 1980's as people in Soviet satellites sought freedom from Soviet control
  14. how the forces of nationalism developed in the Middle East, how the Holocaust affected world opinion regarding the need for a Jewish state, the significance and effects of the location and establishment of Israel on world affairs
  15. the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union, including the weakness of the command economy, burdens of military commitments, and growing resistance to Soviet rule by dissidents in satellite states and the non-Russian Soviet republics
  16. the establishment and work of the United Nations, the Warsaw Pact, SEATO, and NATO, Organization of American States and their purposes and functions
10.10 Students analyze instances of nation-building in the contemporary world in two of the following regions or countries: the Middle East, Africa, Mexico and other parts of Latin America, or China, in terms of:
  1. challenges in the region, including its geopolitical, cultural, military, and economic significance and the international relationships in which it is involved
  2. the recent history of the region, including the political divisions and systems, key leaders, religious issues, natural features, resources, and population patterns
  3. the important trends in the region today and whether they appear to serve the cause of individual freedom and democracy
10.11 Students analyze the integration of countries into the world economy, and the information, technological and communications revolutions (television, satellites, computers) in terms of:
  1. the issues surrounding technological change
  2. contemporary environmental issues
  3. the issues involved in a globalized economy
Return to top GRADE 11

UNITED STATES HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY:
CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Students in grade eleven study the major turning points in American history in the 20th century. Following a review of the nation's beginnings and the impact of the Enlightenment on U.S. democratic ideals, students build upon the tenth grade study of global industrialization to understand the emergence and impact of new technology and a corporate economy, including the social and cultural effects. They trace the change in the ethnic composition of American society; the movement towards equal rights for racial minorities and women; and the role of the United States a major world power. An emphasis is placed on the expanding role of the federal government and federal courts as well as the continuing tension between the individual and the state. Students consider the major social problems of our time and trace their causes in historical events. They learn that the United States has served as a model for other nations and that the rights and freedoms we enjoy are not accidents, but the results of a defined set of political principles that are not always basic to citizens of other countries. Students understand that our rights under the U.S. Constitution comprise a precious inheritance that depends on an educated citizenry for their preservation and protection.
11.1 Students analyze the significant events surrounding the founding of the nation and its attempts to realize the philosophy of government described in the Declaration of Independence, in terms of:

  1. the Enlightenment and the rise of democratic ideas as the context in which the nation was founded
  2. the ideological origins of the American Revolution; the divinely-bestowed unalienable natural rights philosophy of the Founding Fathers and the debates surrounding the drafting and ratification of the Constitution; the addition of the Bill of Rights
  3. the history of the Constitution after 1787 with emphasis on federal versus state authority and growing democratization
  4. the effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction and of the industrial revolution, including demographic shifts and the emergence in the late 19th century of the United States as a world power
11.2 Students analyze the relationship among the rise of industrialization, large scale rural to urban migration, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, in terms of:
  1. the effect of industrialization on living and working conditions, including the treatment of working conditions and food safety in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
  2. the changing landscape, including the growth of cities linked by industry and trade; the development of cities divided according to rac