In Team Paradise, Social Studies is a subject taught by all three core teachers: Mr. Crowner, Ms. Fritsch, and Mrs. Deaver. We will start the year off with skills revolving around credible sources, modern maps, and some basic principles of economics. After that, we focus on the history and geography of the eastern hemisphere. We will be traveling together back in time and to the other side of the globe to see how things that happened a very long time ago still influence the way we do things in the world today.
You just can't believe everything you see in a video, read on Social Media, or read in an article. There are ways to weed the credible from the not so credible sources, though. We will learn a few!
We may not unfold giant paper maps to find our way to a location anymore, but with the invention of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the development of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) maps have become more important than ever. We will learn how we make and use maps in the modern world. We will also learn why all maps are wrong!
We will look at how geographers and economists use data to make decisions and solve problems. We will examine how individuals and societies use productive resources (natural resources, human resources, capital goods, and entrepreneurship) to get the things they need and want. We'll also look at some of the unintended consequences of those decisions!
In this unit we will be working on learning the differences between limited and unlimited government. We will learn the characteristics of democracies, monarchies, dictatorships and theocracies and look at some examples of each.
We will learn how geography helped form different "Cradles of Civilization" throughout the Eastern Hemisphere. Each of these civilizations had unique governments, religions, economic systems, social class systems, agricultural practices, and ways of making it through their daily lives. We focus on Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, the Indus River Valley Civilization (ancient India), and ancient China.
We learn the basic characteristics of five of the world's major religions so that we can understand the influence these religions have on the culture and government in the Eastern Hemisphere. Our focus will be on the founding, basic beliefs, and spread (diffusion) of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
Humans adapt to their environment. They also change their environment to make it easier to live in. We will learn the different ways this can occur and follow some of the intended and unintended consequences of those actions.
Google Earth Web - Explore the world from above or zoom on down to street level. So much to see!
National Geographics' Map Maker Interactive - Another great mapping tool and example of GIS in action. Start with the Launch Guide. You can change your base maps and layers.