Social Studies

Social Studies 7

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Big Ideas
Media sources can both positively and negatively affect our understanding of important events and issues.
 Systems of government vary in their respect for human rights and freedoms. Complex global problems require international cooperation to make difficult choices for the future. Economic self-interest can be a significant cause of conflict among peoples and governments.
Geographic conditions shaped the emergence of civilizations.
 Religious and cultural practices that emerged during this period have endured and continue to influence people. Increasingly complex societies required new systems of laws and government. Economic specialization and trade networks can lead to conflict and cooperation between societies.
Curricular Competency
Content
We are working on developing the following areas:

  • Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to — ask questions; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions
  • Develop a plan of action to address a selected problem or issue
  • Construct arguments defending the significance of individuals/groups, places, events, or developments (significance)
  • Ask questions, corroborate inferences, and draw conclusions about the content and origins of a variety of sources, including mass media (evidence)
  • Sequence objects, images, or events, and recognize the positive and negative aspects of continuities and changes in the past and present (continuity and change)
  • Differentiate between short- and long-term causes, and intended and unintended consequences, of events, decisions, or developments (cause and consequence)
  • Take stakeholders’ perspectives on issues, developments, or events by making inferences about their beliefs, values, and motivations (perspective)
  • Assess the significance of people, places, events, or developments at particular times and places (significance)
  • Identify what the creators of accounts, narratives, maps, or texts have determined is significant (significance)
  • Assess the credibility of multiple sources and the adequacy of evidence used to justify conclusions (evidence)
  • Characterize different time periods in history, including periods of progress and decline, and identify key turning points that marked periods of change (continuity and change)
  • Determine which causes most influenced particular decisions, actions, or events, and assess their short- and long-term consequences (cause and consequence)
  • Explain different perspectives on past or present people, places, issues, or events, and compare the values, worldviews, and beliefs of human cultures and societies in different times and places (perspective)
  • Make ethical judgments about past events, decisions, or actions, and assess the limitations of drawing direct lessons from the past (ethical judgment)
 We will be investigating the following content this year:

  • anthropological origins of humans
  • the urbanization and migration of people
  • human responses to particular geographic challenges and opportunities, including climates, landforms, and natural resources
  • features and characteristics of civilizations and factors that lead to their rise and fall
  • origins, core beliefs, narratives, practices, and influences of religions, including at least one indigenous to the Americas
  • scientific, philosophical, and technological developments
  • interactions and exchanges between past civilizations and cultures, including conflict, peace, trade, expansion, and migration
  • social, political, legal, governmental, and economic systems and structures, including at least one indigenous to the Americas
  • different systems of government
  • economic policies and resource management, including effects on indigenous peoples
  • globalization and economic interdependence