New Hampshire K–6 social studies standards

Compare the rules to the classroom and school to the rules of the United States system of government. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority)

Identify documents and symbols that embody the core ideals of the United States Government, e.g., the bald eagle, the Pledge of Allegiance. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Identify the basic purposes of state and national government. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement)

Evaluate the effectiveness and fairness of rules and laws at the school level. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority)

Explain how public officials are chosen. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement)

Explain that the world is divided into different countries. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Describe ways in which countries interact with each other culturally. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, F: Global Transformation)

Describe why it is important for countries to work together to resolve issues, e.g., disaster relief or famine. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, F: Global Transformation)

Examine the responsibilities of individuals as members of a family, school and community, e.g., community helpers or chores at home and school. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, C: People, Places and Environment)

Discuss ways individuals can be involved in their community, e.g., food drive or cleaning school grounds. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement)

Define goods and services, producers and consumers. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs)

Describe the steps and materials needed to make a product, e.g., milk or crayons. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Distinguish between needs and wants. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs)

Identify the characteristics of money. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Describe basic services banks or other financial institutions provide to consumers, savers, borrowers, and businesses. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority)

Define the term resources, e.g., trees, books (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Identify the characteristics and purposes of globes and maps. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, F: Global Transformation)

Introduce spatial information on maps and other geographic representations, e.g., map key, compass rose. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Identify major physical and human features in the United States and on Earth, e.g., cities, oceans, or continents. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Explore the physical and human characteristics of place, e.g., roads, schools or mountains. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Recognize that areas of the Earth's surface share unifying geographic characteristics, e.g., towns, deserts or woodlands. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Observe the ways in which different people perceive places, e.g., personal drawings or book illustrations. (Themes: G: Science, Technology, and Society, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Investigate how the Earth-Sun relationship affects our daily lives, e.g., seasons in New Hampshire or sunlight and shadows. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Explore the components and distribution of ecosystems, e.g., desert or rain forest. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Explore the distribution of a population, e.g., city or farm. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Identify what are natural resources, e.g., water or trees. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Recognize the role of natural resources in daily life, e.g., food, clothing, or shelter. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs)

Investigate how people use resources, e.g., building homes or the food they eat. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs)

Identify national and New Hampshire celebrations, monuments, symbols and documents, e.g., flags, Fourth of July, Lincoln Memorial, Constitution. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Recognize that the world is interconnected, e.g., trade or transportation. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs, F: Global Transformation)

Identify individuals and/or groups who have profoundly affected life in the United States, e.g., Abraham Lincoln, or Pilgrims. (Themes: H: Individualism, Equality and Authority, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Explore art, music and literature of various time periods, e.g., spirituals or Native American Art. (Themes: J: Human Expression and Communication)

Recognize that groups have enhanced art, music and literature of our nation, e.g., Africa American or Irish. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, F: Global Transformation, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Identify different segments of the United States economy, e.g., farm, manufacturing, or retail. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Identify how the lives of women and children have changed over time in our country. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Identify the concept of diversity. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Recognize that people of different countries have different social and political systems. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Explore ways that societies around the world express themselves artistically, e.g., songs, dance or clothing. (Themes: J: Human Expression and Communication)

Identify the concepts of values and beliefs. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Explain the ideal of the United States system of government, e.g., equal rights or tolerance for others. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, C: People, Places and Environment)

Analyze how government addresses social, political, and geographic issues. e.g., local land use decisions or decisions involving human rights. (Themes: 1: Conflict and Cooperation, B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, C: People, Places and Environment)

Identify the individual functions of the three branches of government and the organization of New Hampshire state government. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement)

Explain how laws and/or policies are made at local and state levels. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority)

Explain that the world is divided into different countries with their own governments and that all governments are not the same. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Describe the rights of citizens as outlined by the Constitutions of New Hampshire and the United States. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority)

Identify the factors of production and explain how businesses use these to produce goods and services. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Describe what markets are and define individual's roles as consumers and producers in a market economy using circular flow models. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Explain how decisions by consumers and producers affect and are affected by the economy. (Themes A: Conflict and Cooperation C: People, Places and Environment D: Material Wants and Needs)

Describe why most jobs today require greater specialization and result in greater productivity. (Themes: G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Explain why needs and wants are unlimited while resources are limited. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs)

Explain why scarcity requires individuals, households, businesses and governments to make economic choices and how economic choices always involve an opportunity cost. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, D: Material Wants and Needs)

Describe different ways individuals, households, businesses and governments make economic decisions, e.g., developing alternative choices or budgets. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Define supply and demand and describe factors that can cause a change in supply and demand. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, F: Global Transformation)

Explain how prices of goods and services are set in the United States and describe different factors that affect price. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, F: Global Transformation)

Illustrate cycles of economic growth and decline, e.g., New Hampshire manufacturing or agriculture. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, F: Global Transformation, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Describe how changes in the business cycle can impact people's lives. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Students will understand how financial institutions and the government work together to stabilize our economy, and how changes in them affect the individual. escribe different methods people use to exchange goods and services, e.g., barter or the use of money. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs)

Identify good and services provided by local government, e.g., police cars or fire protection. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, C: People, Places and Environment, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Describe that countries have different kinds of resources. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs

Explain why some countries' resources are in greater demand than others, e.g., colonial New Hampshire's mast trees or petroleum. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs, F: Global Transformation)

Explain that trade between countries involves imports and exports and the reasons why countries trade. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs, F: Global Transformation)

Identify and describe the characteristics and purposes of geographic tools: maps, globes, graphs, diagrams, photographs, satellite-produced images, and other technologies. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, F: Global Transformation)

Display spatial information on maps and other geographic representations, e.g., home-to-school routes or settings in appropriate children's literature. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, G: Science, Technology, and Society, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Locate major physical and human features in the United States and on Earth, e.g., mountain ranges, principal parallels or meridians. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Illustrate that places and features are distributed spatially across Earth's surface, e.g., community grid maps or population density maps. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, F: Global Transformation, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Recognize the causes and consequences of spatial interaction on Earth's surface, e.g., the origin of consumer goods or transportation routes. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs, F: Global Transformation)

Describe the physical and human characteristics of places, e.g., land forms or where people live. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Recognize how physical and human processes together shape places, e.g., the relationship between elevation and population density in a region or the characteristics of regions along the same latitude. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Generalize the concept of region as an area of Earth's surface with unifying geographic characteristics, e.g., neighborhoods or climate regions. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Illustrate the ways in which regions change, e.g., changes in local neighborhoods or changes to the United States through westward expansion. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction

Compare and contrast the ways in which different people perceive places, e.g., drawings and sketch maps of familiar places or examples from children's literature. (Themes: J: Human Expression and Communication)

Illustrate the components of Earth's physical systems, e.g., a climate or a model of the water cycle. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Demonstrate how physical processes shape features of Earth's surface, e.g., weather or tectonic forces. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Describe how the Earth-Sun relationship affects conditions on Earth, e.g., seasons at different locations on Earth, length of daylight. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Recognize the components and distribution of ecosystems, e.g., the location of certain plants and animals or the food chain. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Investigate how humans interact with ecosystems, e.g., forest management or impacting wetlands. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs, F: Global Transformation)

Recognize the distribution of a population and its underlying causes, e.g., rural, suburban or urban. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Describe the types and historical patterns of human migration, e.g., chain migration or slave trade. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Evaluate the effects of migration on the characteristics of places, e.g., cultural awareness or food choices. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Analyze the spatial patterns of settlement in different regions of the world, e.g., urbanization along rivers or nomadic movement patterns. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Illustrate how people modify the physical environment, e.g., irrigation projects or clearing land for human use. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs)

Examine the ways in which the physical environment provides opportunities or limitations, e.g., natural resources that first attracted settlers or natural hazards that threaten life. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs)

Examine the effects of the use of renewable and nonrenewable resources on human systems, e.g., climate change or fluctuating oil prices. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs)

Describe the role of natural resources in daily life, e.g., food, clothing, or shelter. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs)

Compare how people in different regions use the same resource, e.g., water or wood.(Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Explore biographies of key political figures who helped shape our community, state, and country, e.g., Franklin Pierce or Sandra Day O'Connor. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, G: Science, Technology, and Society, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Trace the political development of New Hampshire governance, e.g., self-government in early settlements or the development of current forms of local government. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation)

Describe the significance of national and New Hampshire celebrations, monuments, symbols and documents, e.g., Veteran's Day, the Statue of Liberty, Old Man of the Mountain, and the preamble to the New Hampshire Constitution. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, C: People, Places and Environment)

Describe the interconnectedness of the world developed using examples., e.g., the contact between Native Americans and European settlers or the location of family members serving in foreign countries. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs)

Explore how individuals' ideals have profoundly affected life in the United States, e.g., Martin Luther King Jr.'s belief in nonviolence or John Stark's statement "Live Free or Die". (Themes: H: Individualism, Equality and Authority, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Explore how art, music and literature often reflect and/or influence major ideas, values and conflicts of particular time periods, e.g., colonial life or industrialization in New Hampshire. (Themes: J: Human Expression and Communication)

Explore how groups have enhanced the art, music and literature of our nation, e.g., Latinos or Franco Americans. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, F: Global Transformation, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Explore major developments and changes in economic productivity, e.g., adoption of Native American crops or use of mass production. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, F: Global Transformation, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Explore the impact of important technological inventions, e.g., new forms of transportation or housing. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Investigate the evolution of the United States economy, e.g., the transition from farms to factories or the trend from small local stores to shopping malls. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Explain the unique contributions of different ethnic and religious groups to New Hampshire history and culture, e.g., the Shakers or the French Canadians. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Describe the impact of major national and state events on everyday life, e.g., the American Revolution or the terrorist attacks on 9.11.2001. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Trace the changes in the roles and lives of women and children and their impact on society, e.g., the family or the workplace. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Explore attitudes towards diversity, e.g., segregation or inclusion. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Describe the reasons why various groups have come to the United States, e.g., enslavement or economic opportunity. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, F: Global Transformation, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority)

Explain that people of different countries create social and political systems, e.g., a family or a government. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Explain how events or global issues affect interactions between countries, e.g., the Olympics or the war on terrorism. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, F: Global Transformation, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Describe ways that societies around the world express themselves artistically through forms, e.g., architecture or folk tales. (Themes: J: Human Expression and Communication)

Explore how improvements in agriculture enhance human survival using examples, e.g., the exchange between Native Americans and early colonists or feeding the hungry of the world today. (Themes: F: Global Transformation, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Describe different ways that societies around the world express their values and beliefs through practices, e.g., festivals or dress. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Apply the ideals and principles of the American system of government to historic and contemporary examples, e.g. , individual rights and responsibilities, minority rights, or equality of opportunity and equal protection under the law. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority)

Identify the core ideals and principles of American government by citing documents, e.g., the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, or the Bill of Rights. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Apply criteria for evaluating the effectiveness and fairness of rules and laws at the local, state, or federal levels. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Differentiate among the major forms of limited and unlimited governments, e.g., monarchy, oligarchy, or democracy. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, F: Global Transformation, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority)

Illustrate ways in which government in the United States is founded on the conviction that Americans are united by the principles they share, e.g., life, liberty, and property. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Identify and illustrate the heritage that early settlers brought to the development and establishment of American democracy, e.g., political, legal, philosophical, or religious traditions. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Identify other countries in the world and their different forms of government, e.g. , monarchy, oligarchy, or democracy. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, F: Global Transformation)

Describe ways in which countries interact with each other culturally, economically, diplomatically, or militarily. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, F: Global Transformation)

Discuss the reasons for conflicts between and among countries and peoples, e.g. , natural resources or religion. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, D: Material Wants and Needs, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Evaluate those characteristics that promote good citizenship, e.g., individual responsibility or respect for the rights and decisions of others. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement)

Identify the role of the individual in factor and product markets. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs)

Explain how specialization and productivity are related. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Recognize the relationship between productivity and wages, and between wages and standard of living. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority)

Determine the opportunity cost of decisions, e.g., the purchase of an item or the expenditure of time. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs)

Identify the factors of production, e.g., entrepreneurship, human resources, capital resources, and natural resources. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Recognize that shortage and surplus affect the price and availability of goods and services, e.g., swimsuits in bad weather, seasonal sales, or fads. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority)

Describe gross domestic product and its components, e.g., the difference between imports and exports. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Recognize the effects of inflation on people under different circumstances, e.g., limited resources including food, fuel or housing. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Translate mental maps into appropriate graphics to display geographic information and answer geographic questions, e.g., countries through which a person would travel between Cairo and Nairobi. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Apply the spatial concepts of location, distance, direction, scale, movement, and region, e.g., the relative and absolute location of the student's community, or the diffusion of the English language to the United States. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, F: Global Transformation)

Utilize maps, globes, graphs, charts, models, and databases to analyze spatial distributions and patterns, e.g., climate zones, natural resources, or population density. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Describe the ways in which regions change, e.g., the degradation of the Aral Sea or the westward expansion of the United States. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Describe how places and regions preserve culture, e.g., songs or traditions. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Describe how physical processes shape patterns in the physical environment, e.g., El Nino or erosion. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Identify the components of Earth's physical system, e.g., the lithosphere or hydrosphere. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Illustrate how physical processes produce changes in ecosystems, e.g., the process of succession after a forest fire or decertification. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, F: Global Transformation)

Explain how human activities influence changes in ecosystems, e.g., the introduction of exotic species. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Recognize the demographic structure of a population and its underlying causes, e.g., birth rate, ethnic composition, or distribution of wealth. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Know the types and historical patterns of human migration, e.g., ethnic cleansing, overcoming physical barriers, or famine. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, C: People, Places and Environment, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Understand the effects of movement on the characteristics of places, e.g., acculturation, assimilation, or movement. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Analyze the spatial patterns of settlement, e.g., urbanization along river, agriculture on fertile plains, or nomadic lifestyles in steppes and deserts. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Know the functions, sizes, and spatial arrangements of settlement, e.g., urban, suburban and rural. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Understand the consequences of human modification of the physical environment, e.g., coastal development or forest management. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Examine the role of technology in the human modification of the physical environment, e.g., work animals or electrical production. (Themes: G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Appreciate how characteristics of different physical environments provide opportunities human activities or place constraints on human activities, e.g., winter sports tourism or annual flood patterns. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)

Assess why people have different viewpoints regarding resource use, e.g., water rationing or recycling. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Explain how and why people have developed forms of self-government, e.g., the Mayflower Compact or the Iroquois League. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Explain how the foundations of American democracy are rooted in European, Native American and colonial traditions, experiences and institutions. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Examine how the art, music and literature of our nation has been enhanced by groups, e.g., immigrants or abolitionists. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Demonstrate an understanding of major developments and changes in American economic productivity, e.g., piece work, interchangeable parts, or the assembly line. (Themes: D: Material Wants and Needs, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Evaluate the importance of technological inventions and inventors and their impact on American life, e.g., household appliances or communication technologies. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Demonstrate an understanding of how westward movement led to personal opportunities and a more diverse economy as seen in events, e.g., the Louisiana Purchase or the Homestead Act (1862). (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material Wants and Needs, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority)

Explain the impact ethnic and religious groups have had on the development of the United States, e.g., the Irish or the Mormons. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Describe the impact of major national and state events on everyday life, e.g., the Industrial Revolution or the World War II home front. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Examine changes in the roles and lives of women and their impact on society, e.g., the family or the workplace. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, H: Individualism, Equality and Authority, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Describe similarities and differences in the immigrant experience for various ethnic groups, e.g., the English or Chinese. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Describe different types of political systems created by people, e.g., the tribe, the empire or the nation-state. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Explore the use and abuse of power. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, F: Global Transformation, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Describe the impact of land and water routes on trade, e.g., the Silk Roads, the Atlantic Triangular Trade, or the Suez Canal. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, F: Global Transformation

Explore the spread and impact of ideas and technology, e.g., the concept of zero, gunpowder or the transistor. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Describe major migrations, e.g., the first humans from Africa to the rest of the world, the Huns into China and Europe, or the Bantu across Africa. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Examine how military encounters have led to cultural exchange, e.g., Alexander of Macedonia, conquistadors in the New World, or 20th century Japanese imperialism in Asia (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, F: Global Transformation, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Differentiate the spread of world religions, e.g., Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Explore the development of education and its impact on societies, e.g., medicine in ancient Egypt or ancient Greece. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Analyze the impact of the agricultural revolution on humans using examples, e.g., the role of women, specialization of labor, or population density. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, G: Science, Technology, and Society, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Understand the tension over land use between settled farmers and nomadic herders using examples, e.g., ancient Mesopotamia, Asian steppe lands, or 20th Century Africa. (Themes: A: Conflict and Cooperation, C: People, Places and Environment, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)

Analyze the impact of inventions and new technologies on the agricultural system using examples, e.g., the invention of the hoe, irrigation, or genetic engineering of crops. (Themes: G: Science, Technology, and Society)

Trace improvements in communication, e.g., the Sumerian development of writing, Chinese printing, or the creation of the Internet. (Themes: G: Science, Technology, and Society, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Trace the rise and impact of cities on daily life, e.g., Timbuktu, Rome, or Mexico City. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change)

Understand how societies have educated their members, e.g., the oral tradition of elders, apprenticeships, or classroom schooling. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Explain the impact of ethnic and religious groups on the development and stability of empires and nation-states, e.g., the Ancient Persia, the Ottoman Empire, or Nigeria. (Themes: B: Civic Ideals, Practices, and Engagement, F: Global Transformation, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Examine forms of entertainment and leisure time activity, e.g., religious festivals, sporting events, or theatre. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, J: Human Expression and Communication)

Describe the types of families that various societies have created, e.g., the extended, matrilineal, or nuclear. (Themes: E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, I: Patterns of Social and Political Interaction)