Social Studies

World Geography and Ancient Civilizations I

Social Studies Overview

The primary purpose of a History and Social Science education is to prepare students to have the knowledge and skills to become thoughtful and active participants in a democratic society and a complex world. The Social Sciences include history, geography, civics, economics, and sociology. In addition, students learn how to use and evaluate primary and secondary sources, distinguish between fact and opinion, and conduct research. The future of democracy depends on our students’ development of knowledge, skills, and dispositions that will enable them to embrace democracy’s potential, while recognizing its challenges and inherent dilemmas.

Unit 1: Traits of Culture

Learning Target

Students will understand the seven traits of culture are and how they apply to their own lives

Essential Questions

How is culture defined?What are the traits that make up each person’s culture?How does culture connect people – not just nearby but also across distances?

Instructional Snapshot

Explore a culture e-book to better understand each trait
Create a culture collage that represents their own culture

Unit Two: Tools of Historians and Geographers

Learning Targets

Students will understand how to use and interpret maps to study history/geography
Students will understand the benefits and challenges of using primary and secondary sources

Essential Questions

What do the social sciences contribute to our understanding of the world?
How do geographers and historians look at the world?
How do we use maps, primary and secondary sources to study history and geography?

Instructional Snapshot

Create maps of the continents, oceans, and hemispheres
Create different types of maps – political, physical, thematic
Analyze maps, primary and secondary sources as we study history/geography
Explore how archeologists use artifacts

Unit Three: Globalization

Learning Targets

Students will understand how people are connected throughout the world
Students will understand that this connection has existed throughout history

Essential Questions

How are people – both near and far – connected to one another?
What does it mean to be a global citizen?
How does where you live affect how you live?

Instructional Snapshot

Explore manufactured goods and how they move from the country of origin to local consumers
Create a “global me” by identifying where the items we own are made (clothing, household items, etc.)

Unit Four: Human Origins and Migration

Learning Targets

Students will understand how human bodies and activities changed during the Paleolithic Era
Students will understand how domestication of animals, metallurgy, and agriculture impacted people, human communities and the environment

Essential Questions

How did life on Earth begin and why did humans form complex societies?How did life change from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Era?

Instructional Snapshot

Explore Cave Paintings
Create a map and timeline of early humans
Draw a map of human migration around the world

Unit Five: Studying Complex Societies; Sumer and Egypt

Learning Target

Students will understand the traits that make up civilizations/complex societies

Essential Questions

What do the social sciences contribute to our understanding of the world?
How did ideas spread across ancient societies in this region?
How did the agricultural revolution lead to the development of complex societies/civilizations?

Instructional Snapshot

Sort pictures to uncover the traits of a civilization
Use pictures of artifacts to determine if Sumer was a civilization

Unit Six: Central America, Caribbean, and South America

Learning Targets

Students will understand the importance of the Amazon Rainforest
Students will identify the geographic features of the Americas

Essential Question

What are the most important contributions of ancient societies in the Americas to the modern world?

Instructional Snapshot

Explore the culture of the Americas
Research early native civilizations of indigenous peoples: Inca, Maya, and Aztecs
Examine the Amazon and explore its future

Unit Seven: Global Goals

Learning Targets

Students will understand how international organizations are working to address global issues
Students will understand how they can become global citizens by taking actions on an issue that they care about

Essential Questions

What are the United Nations Global Goals?
What does it mean to be a global citizen?
How can I work locally to support the Global Goals?

Instructional Snapshot

Research a specific global goal
Take action to have a positive impact on their goal
Share their initiatives with the larger community

Unit Eight: Africa

Learning Targets

Students will learn that Early Humans originated in Africa
Students will understand how Egypt epitomizes the seven traits of civilization

Essential Questions

How does where people live impact how they live?
How did ideas spread across ancient societies in this region?

Instructional Snapshot

Recreate a social pyramid using any shape/image that's not a pyramid
Explore how natural resources affect Africa’s development
Explore Africa’s physical geography and climate to see how people’s lives are impacted

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