Enduring Understandings - important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the instruction received this year.

• People and events are organized chronologically to increase understanding of historical relationships.
• Primary and secondary sources and processes of historical inquiry allow for interpreting the past and analyzing present day issues.
• Societies are diverse and change over time.
• Technological developments have impacted individuals and societies throughout history.
• Religious beliefs and philosophical ideas change societies.
• Different forms of government have been developed, practiced, and changed throughout history.
• Geographic tools are used to locate and derive information about the past.
• Physical and human characteristics of places define regions.
• Migration and immigration affect the location and distribution of human activity.
• Knowledge of geography increases understanding of past and present.
• Trade specialization, and interdependence influence relationships among individuals, groups and societies.

Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

• How does the chronology lead to the understanding of historical relationships?
• How did the major events affect the development of a civilization?
• What is the difference between primary and secondary document? How can we use them to interpret information about the past?
• Which civilization studied was the most advanced, and why?
• How did technological changes impact each civilization? Which changes had the most impact and in which civilization?
• How were ancient civilizations governed?
• What major religious beliefs and philosophical ideas developed? (Judaism, Christianity, mythology)? What impact did these religious beliefs have on each civilization?
• How do physical and human characteristics define and identify region and place?
• How did the physical characteristics of regions influence human characteristics?
• How do migration and trade routes affect location/distribution of human activity?
• How did trade and specialization result in interdependence?

Standards and Benchmarks

History 1: Students understand the chronological organization of history and know how to organize events and people into major eras to identify and explain historical relationships.
Benchmark B: Students use chronology to organize historical events and people.
History 2: Students know how to use the processes and resources of historical inquiry.
Benchmark A: Students know how to formulate questions and hypotheses regarding what happened in the past and how to obtain and analyze historical data to answer questions and test hypotheses.
Benchmark B: Students know how to interpret and evaluate primary and secondary sources of historical information (e.g., letters, diaries, literature, text, newspaper, art, music, technology, oral history, interviews).
History 3: Students understand that societies are diverse and change over time.
Benchmark B: Students understand the history of social organization in various societies.
History  5: Students understand political institutions and theories that developed and changed over time.
Benchmark A: Students understand political institutions and theories that developed and changed over time.
History  6: Students know that religious and philosophical ideas have been powerful forces throughout history.
Benchmark A: Students know the historical development of religions and philosophies.
Benchmark  B: Students know how societies have been affected by religions and philosophies.   Geography1: Students know how to use and construct maps, globes, and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, and environments.
Benchmark A: Students know how to use maps, globes, and other geographic tools to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
Geography S2: Students know the physical and human characteristics of places, and use this knowledge to define and study regions and their patterns of change.
Benchmark 2 A: Students know the physical and human characteristics of places.
Benchmark B: Students know how and why people define regions.
Benchmark C: Students know how culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions.
Geography 4: Students understand how economic, political, cultural and social processes interact to shape patterns of human populations, interdependence, cooperation and conflict.
Benchmark A: Students know the characteristics, location, distribution, and migration of human populations.
Geography  6: Students apply knowledge of people, places, and environments to understand the past and present, and to plan for the future.
Benchmark A: Students know how to apply geography to understand the past.
Civics 4: Students understand how citizens exercise the roles, rights, and responsibilities of participation in civic life at all levels.
Benchmark A: Students know what citizenship is.
Benchmark D: Students know how citizens can participate in civic life.
Economics 2: Students understand how different economic systems employ different means to produce, distribute, and exchange goods and services.
Benchmark B: Students understand how a country's monetary system facilitates the exchange of resources.
Economics 3: Students understand the results of trade, exchange, and interdependence among individuals, households, businesses, governments, and societies.
Benchmark A: Students understand that the exchange of goods and services creates economic interdependence and change.

Middle School D-11 Social Studies Indicators 

History
1.   Chronological Organization: Organize events and people in chronological order and use this data to determine cause/effect relationships.
2.   Historical Inquiry: Identify, interpret, compare, and evaluate primary and secondary sources, including documents, eyewitness accounts, letters and diaries, literature, and newspapers.
3.   Diverse and Changing Societies: Describe basic cultural elements (traditions, customs, religion, language, government), compare and contrast societies, and explain how they changed over time.
4.   Science, Technology, and Economic Activity: Identify and explain changes in technology and evaluate their impact on historical events.
5.   Political Institutions and Theories: Describe forms of government, then give examples of societies that practiced and changed them over time (democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, clan/tribal, and autocracy).
6.   Religious and Philosophical Ideas: Describe religious beliefs and philosophical ideas, and how they changed societies.

Geography
1. Use and Construction of Geographic Tools: Interpret maps, globes, charts, and geographic databases.
2. Characteristics of Place and Region: Define and identify regions by describing physical and human characteristics of places.
3. Physical Processes Shape the Earth’s Surface: Describe physical processes that shape the earth’s surface.
4. Patterns of Human Population and Interaction: Explain how migration and immigration affect the location and distribution of human activity.
5. Human and Physical Systems:  Explain how humans modify the environment and how the environment influences human activity.
6. Apply Knowledge of Geography: Describe how characteristics of places and environments influence events in the past and present.

Civics
1. Purpose of Government and US Constitutional Principles: Explain the purposes of government and identify the principles stated in the Constitution.
2. Structure and Function of Government: Describe the structures and functions of national, state, and local governments.
3. Political Relationships: Define foreign policy and describe ways nations interact(ed) diplomatically in the past and present.
4. Citizenship Participation: Explain roles, rights, and citizen responsibilities (including students as  citizens).

Economics
1. Scarcity and Decision Making: Identify and give examples of economic resources and make decisions involving opportunity costs.  
2. Resources and Production of Goods and Services: Describe the roles of supply, demand, and price in the production and distribution of goods and services.
3. Trade, Exchange, and Economic Interdependence: Describe how trade, specialization, and interdependence influence relationships among individuals, groups, and societies.

Grade 7 Conceptual Vocabulary

District 11 Diamond Units/Lessons Overview - includes information about the purpose, goals and structure of these sample instructional units:

Lessons  31-32: Australia, Antarctica, and Oceania
     
Duration:  2 - 60 minute days
Standards/Indicator: Geography 2:  Physical and human characteristics of places.
Enduring Understanding:   Physical and human characteristics of places define regions.
Essential Question:  How have the physical characteristics of Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica influenced the lifestyles of the people that live there?
Materials Needed:   Atlas or physical maps of Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica; Four video clips:  “Australia”, "Australia 2,  “Oceania: The Pacific Islands”, and “Antarctica”.
Assessment:  What are the physical characteristics of Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica as a region?   

Parent Resources