EIGHTH GRADE SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM

Description: 

Eighth Grade Social Studies will explore the events, which shaped the United States’ policies, both domestic and foreign.  The course begins with the Civil War and continues through to the present time.  Students will analyze the conflicts, which had a large impact on the daily lives of Americans, and made the United States what it is today. 

Standards: 

The Learner Will: 

• Use a variety of tools (e.g., primary and secondary sources, data, artifacts) to explore the interpretive nature (how perceptions of people and passing of time influence accounts of historical events) of United States history.
• Develop a chronological understanding of later history of the United States.
• Recognize cause-and-effect relationships and multiple causes of events in United States history.
• Examine the impact of significant individuals and groups in later United States history.
• Analyze the social, political, and economic characteristics of eras in American history to the present (e.g., Reconstruction, Westward Expansion, Industrial Revolution, World Wars I and II, Great Depression, Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, Watergate, Collapse of Communism).
• Recognize the significance of geographical settings and natural resources on historical perspectives and events in later United States history.
• Examine the impact of technological advances on later United States history.
• Understand the development of democratic thought in later America.
• Identify famous Americans in later United States history.
• Examine patterns of human movement, settlement, and interaction in later American history and investigate how these patterns influenced culture and society in the United States.
• Explore reasons behind patterns of human settlement across the United States that resulted in the diverse cultures of the United States.
• Examine how later United States history was influenced by the physical environment (e.g., natural barriers, natural disasters, natural resources).
• Investigate how Americans used technology, especially in later American history, to modify the environment.
• Recognize and use maps, titles, key symbols, directions, grids, scales, longitude and latitude.
• Analyze economic systems and economic institutions that developed in later United States history.
• Recognize that government regulation impacts the economy in decisions about productive resources (e.g., natural, human, human-made).
• Understand how the desire to earn profits influenced the establishment and growth of economic institutions in later United States history.
• Explain and illustrate how different values and beliefs influence decision making on the use of limited resources.
• Understand the role of consumers in the development of economic activity.
• Describe various institutions that comprise economic systems such as households, business firms, banks, government agencies, labor unions and corporations.
• Investigate the procedures by which the United States government exercises political power.
• Understand how the U. S. Constitution has changed over time to adjust to different needs and situations.
• Examine the rights and responsibilities of individuals in American society by analyzing democratic principles (e.g., liberty, justice, individual human dignity, and the rule of law) as expressed in historical events, historical documents (e.g., the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, U. S. Constitution), and American society.
• Understand the ways in which citizens can affect political change.
• Understand the ways in which changing moral values and societal norms have led to advances in civil rights.
• Examine how culture in the United States continues to be influenced by religion, language, literature, arts, beliefs, and behavior of people.
• Investigate how social institutions addressed human needs in later United States history.
• Analyze social interactions, including conflict and cooperation, among individuals and groups in United States history.

 Grading: 

Students will be evaluated on class assignments and activities including but not limited to the following:   

·         Homework (chapter questions, worksheets)

·         Projects/Reports

·         Tests/Quizzes

·         Essay questions

·         Power Point Presentation 

Course Content:  (Time Frame is approximate) 

FIRST QUARTER 

Map Skills Review                                                                            One week 

Pre Civil War Review                                                                         One week 

Civil War                                                                                              Five weeks 

Reconstruction                                                                                    Two weeks 

SECOND QUARTER            

Settling of the West                                                                            Two weeks 

Industry and Immigration                                                                  Two weeks 

Progressive Movement                                                                       Two weeks 

World War I                                                                                         Three weeks 

THIRD QUARTER 

Roaring Twenties                                                                                Two weeks 

Great Depression                                                                                Four weeks 

World War II                                                                                       Three weeks 

FOURTH QUARTER  

Cold War                                                                                              Two weeks 

Civil Rights Movement                                                                       Two weeks 

Vietnam War and Watergate                                                            Three weeks 

United States Today                                                                            Two weeks