Region Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

Africa

Focus Question: Throughout history, how successful have the democratic governments of Africa been in securing the economic rights and civil rights of all people, including minorities?

Economics

• resources
• land use
• traditional economies

Geography

• land types/climates

History

• Early Empires

***It is recommended that you begin each unit of study of physical and political geography.

Civics

Government

• Changes from one form of government to another
• Colonial governments to self-rule
• Conflict between ethic groups

Politics

• Problems of apartheid and transitions
• Free election/political parties

Citizenship

• Problems of apartheid and transitions (also meets politics standard)

Participation

• Role of government to encourage development

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

Civics 2a - Students will understand that the concept of majority rule does not mean that the rights of minorities may be disregarded and will examine and apply the protections accorded those minorities in the American political system.

Civics 3a - Students will understand that civil rights secure political freedom while property rights secure economic freedom and that both are essential protections for United States citizens.

Benchmark Terms:

Disregard
Accorded
Minorities
Constitution

Civil rights
Political
Property
Rights
Secure
Public service

Region Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

Asia

(Japan, China and India)

Focus Question: How do cultural values, resources and technology affect the basic economic questions of "what to produce", "how to produce" and "for whom to produce" in Asian countries?

Civics

• conflict between governments

Geography

• population
• regions
• land
• climate
• culture
• relation

History

• Ancient civilizations – Japan, China, India
• WWII

***It is recommended that you begin each unit of study of physical and political geography.

Economics

Microeconomics

• Colonial purposes – purposes/resources of India

Economic systems

• Command economies (communism) – China
• Land use and types of farming

International trade

• Today's global market economies – trading partners
• Specialization – rice, cotton, tea, fish, manufactured goods, etc.

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

Econ 3 - Students will demonstrate the ways in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange in different economic systems have a relationship to cultural values, resources, and technologies.

Benchmark Terms:

Production
Distribution
Exchange
Resources
Cultural values
Technologies

Region Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

North Africa and the Middle East

Focus Question: How has the analysis of primary sources by historians, archeologists and anthropologists uncovered the history of ancient civilizations?

Civics

• Early Codes
• Haamnrabi

Economics

• land use
• traditional economies
• oil income and issues

Geography

• importance of rivers/valleys
• population – settlement patterns

***It is recommended that you begin each unit of study of physical and political geography.

History

Chronology

• Timelines
• Beginning of civilizations
• Pharaohs

Analysis – primary sources

• Hieroglyphics – study of and interpretation
• Rosetta Stone
• Artifacts

Interpretation

• Issue – Middle East Fact or Opinion Support an argument

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

History 2b - Students will examine historical documents, artifacts, and other materials, and analyze them in terms of credibility, as well as the purpose, perspective, or point of view for which they were constructed.

Benchmark Terms:

Historical phenomena
Artifact
Credibility
Purpose
Perspective
Point of view

Region Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

The Pacific World and Geography Skills

Focus Question: What is the relationship between the physical features and settlements of the Pacific World, and changes that have occurred in this environment?

Civics

• Immigration laws

Economics

• standards of living
• resources

History

• original inhabitants
• World War II

Geography

Maps

• Tools – Maps, graphs, pictures, topographical references
• Terminology – physical geography

Environment

• Man's interaction in Australia with environment – population centers, land use, economic activities
• Factors and types of climates
• Tectonic plates

Place

• Development and patterns of cultural regions

Regions – characteristics of:

• Cultural
• Economic
• Physical
• Political

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

Geog 1 – Students will demonstrate mental maps of the world and its sub-regions which include the relative location and characteristics of major physical features, political divisions, and human settlements.

Geog 2 - Students will apply a knowledge of the major processes shaping natural environments to understand how different peoples have changed and been affected by, physical environments in the world's sub-regions.

Benchmark Terms:

Mental map
Sub-region
Relative location
Physical features
Political division
Human settlement

Natural environment
Physical environment

Region Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

Europe

Focus Question: How have the major events, ideas and societies of the Middle Ages influenced modern culture?

Civics

Forms of government

• Monarchy – absolute vs. constitutional
• Democratic governments
• Collapse of communism
• New governments

Economics

Industrial Revolution

Differences in standards of living

• Land use
• Government
• Trade centers
• Formation of EU

Geography

• size/interdependence
• Characteristics of regions

British Isles

Eastern Europe

Mediterranean

Northern Europe

Western Europe

• Isolation and landlocked

•  pros and cons

• Climate

***It is recommended that you begin each unit of study of physical and political geography.

History

Chronology

•  Plague

•  Industrial Revolution

Analysis

•  Magna Carta

•  English Bill of Rights

Interpretation

•  Reformation

•  World Wars

Content

• Feudal system, manors, serfs

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

History 1 - Students will examine historical materials relating to a particular region, society, or theme; analyze change over time, and make logical inferences concerning cause and effect.

Benchmark Terms:

Historical materials
Theme
Change over time
Logical inference
Cause
Effect

Region Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

Meso-America

(Mexico, Central America and Caribbean)

Focus Question: How have government policies and other factors affected trade, interdependence and production among nations of Meso-America?

Civics

•  Puerto Rico territory vs.

statehood

•  Immigration to USA – reasons – political and economic, immigration laws and procedures

Geography

• Archipelagos
• Mountains/Volcanoes
• Panama Canal
• Wind/water effects leeward vs. windward, ocean currents

History

Primary Sources

• Mayan/Aztec/Columbus and Caribs
• Effects of European colonization and move towards independence

***It is recommended that you begin each unit of study of physical and political geography.

Economics

Microeconomics/Macro-

economics

•  Current Event Activities

Economic Systems

• Traditional vs. Market
• Cuba-Command

Economy

International Trade

• Factors of specializtion climate, size, location
• Trade – NAFTA

Change in trade patterns

Change in income

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

Econ 4 - Students will examine how nations with different economic systems specialize and become interdependent through trade and how government policies allow either free or restricted trade.

Benchmark Terms:

Specialize
Interdependent
Free trade
Restricted trade

Related Terms:

Embargo

Quota

Tariff

Subsidy

Surplus - Shortage

Domestic

Import - Export

Region Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

North America

Focus Question: In the Northern Hemisphere, how have political leaders encouraged their citizens to participate in government?

Economics

•  Products and resources

-- identification of

-- Canada - #1 trading

partner

-- NAFTA

Geography

US-Canada Comparison

•  landforms

•  Great Lakes

•  St. Lawrence Seaway vs.

Mississippi River

• climate patterns and relationship to latitude
• political boundaries

History

• French settlements
• French & Indian War
• Timelines

***It is recommended that you begin each unit of study of physical and political geography.

Civics

Government

•  monarchy vs. republic

•  Confederation (self-rule)

•  functions of branches

•  NATO – structure and

purpose

Politics

•  Nunavut Territory – 1999

•  French as a minority –

official language

Citizenship

•  US-Canadian migration

Underground Railroad

Vietnam Draft Dodgers

Participation

•  Referendum secession –

Quebec

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

Civics 3b - Students will understand that American citizenship includes responsibilities such as voting, jury duty, obeying the law, service in the armed forces when required, and public service.

Civics 4 - Students will follow the actions of elected officials, and understand and employ the mechanisms for communicating with them while in office.

Benchmark Terms:

Civil rights

Secure
Political

Public service
Property

Mechanisms
Rights

Region Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

South America and

Antarctica

Focus Question: How have South American cultures developed into distinct geographic regions with unique patterns of economic, cultural and political features?

Civics

• Antarctica – Division of Power
• South America – varying forms of government and leadership

Economics

• Tribal Economies
• Features of land-based economies (coffee, tin, copper, sugar, oil, beef, tropical rainforests products)

History

• Inca civilization
• Early civilizations – interaction with Europeans
• Early Colonization Portugal vs. Spain

Line of Demarcation

Simon Bolivar

Geography

Maps

•  Hemispheres

•  Lines of Latitude,

Equator, Tropic of

Capricorn, Antarctic

Circle

•  Mental maps

Environment

•  Formation of Andes and rivers

•  Unique environments (deserts, rainforests, pampas, tundra)

Places

•  Economic issues of

landlocked countries

(Bolivia, Paraguay)

•  Brazil – Case Study

Regions

•  Patagonia, Pampas, Llanos, Highlands, Amazon Basin, Andes, Coastal Plains

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

Geog 3 – Students will identify and explain the major cultural patterns of human activity in the world's sub-regions.

Geog 4a - Students will understand the processes affecting the location of economic activities in different world regions.

Benchmark Terms:

Cultural patterns
Human activity
Sub-region

Economic activities

Period Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

Colonial Period

Focus Question: How did technology, costs, demand and taxation affect the price of goods and services in the colonial market economy?

Civics

•  Structure of early

government

English colonization

French colonization

Influence on US government

•  Rights and participation

Religious freedom

Political freedom

John Peter Zenger

Dissension

Geography

• physical, economic

differences between regions

History

• Mayflower Compact
• House of Burgesses
• Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
• town meetings, county government
• right to vote - requirements

Economics

Microeconomics

•  Opportunity costs of

migration for individuals

Macroeconomics

•  Taxation

Economic Systems

•  French vs. English

economic interests,

motives

International Trade

•  Specialization and

interdependency

between colonies and

mother country

•  Mercantilism

•  Triangular trade

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

Econ 1 – Students will analyze how changes in technology, costs, and demand interact in competitive markets to determine or change the price of goods and services.

Econ 2 - Students will analyze the role of money and banking in the economy, and the ways in which government taxes and spending affect the functioning of market economies.

Benchmark Terms:

Technology
Costs
Demand
Competitive market
Goods

Money
Banking
Taxes
Market economy

Period Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

Constitutional Period

Focus Question: How are governmental powers apportioned and divided at the local, state, and national levels in the United States?

Economics

• Taxation and effects on the economy

Boycotts

Smuggling

Revolution

Geography

• Geographic factors of

the American Revolution

• Population differences
• Home turn advantage

History

• Military conflicts

French and Indian War

American Revolution

Other colonial conflicts

•  Primary Sources

Declaration of Independence

Articles of Confederation

Constitution

Constitutional Compromises

Federalist Papers

Bill of Rights – importance in ratification only

Civics

Government

•  Transitions

Monarchy to confederation

Confederation to republic

Politics

•  Minority movement

Patriots vs. Loyalists

•  Major American documents

(also meets history

standards)

Citizenship

•  Protection of Constitutional rights as influenced by Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights, Bill of Rights

•  Economic rights and “taxation without representation”

Participation

•  Students should research and prepare a letter to one of the officeholders advocating a particular course of action.

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

Civics 1a: Students will understand that governments have the power to make and enforce laws and regulations, levy taxes, conduct foreign policy, and make war.

  Civics 1b: Students will analyze the different functions of federal, state, and local governments in the United States and examine the reasons for the different organizational structures each level of government employs.

Civics 2b: Students will understand the principles and content of major American state papers such as the Declaration of Independence; United States Constitution (including the Bill of Rights); and the Federalist Papers.

Benchmark Terms:

Power
Levy
Foreign policy
Functions
Federal
Structures
Employs

Period Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

Early Nation

Focus Question: Why do historians often view the same events between 1790 to 1825 in different ways?

Economics

•  Role of banking in the economy (Bank of the United States)

•  Taxes and the effect on the economy (protective tariffs and international trade, eliminating the debt).

Civics

• Study of Bill of Rights
• Amendment process
• Civil vs. economic rights
• Responsibilities and privileges of citizenship (See DE Civic Standard 3 for 6-8)

Geography

• Early improvements in transportation
• Louisiana Purchase – Lewis & Clark Expedition

History

[1790-1850]

Chronology

•  Creation of political

parties (cause/effect)

•  Loose vs. strict

Interpretation of

Constitution (cause)

2. Related events

(effect)

•  War of 1812

Analysis

•  Foreign policy – establishing a firm foundation Neutrality Proclamation Monroe Doctrine

Interpretation

•  Economic policy – establish a firm foundation

Evaluation and

effectiveness of

Hamilton's plan

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

History 3 – Students will compare different historians' descriptions of the same societies in order to examine how the choice of questions and use of sources may affect their conclusions.

Benchmark Terms:

Historical questions

Historical sources

Period Focus

Content Focus

Standard Focus

Standards and Benchmark Terms

Conflicts
1820-1877

Focus Question: How have conflict and cooperation among people contributed to the division of the United States into distinct cultures and political territories?

Civics

• Missouri Compromise
• Reconstruction – passage of amendments minority rights

Economics

• Gold-affect on development of West
• Differences between Union and Confederacy
• Cotton is king
• Blockades – Civil War

History

• Westward Movement – Manifest Destiny (define, rationale, evaluate fairness)
• Abolitionists movement Growth of slavery (reasons, problems created, reactions)
• Events leading to Civil War
• The Civil War

Geography

Maps

• Manifest Destiny – territorial acquisitions

Environment

• Native Americans – displacement and adaptation to new environment
• Manifest Destiny – Gadsen Purchase – Railroad

Place

•  Manifest Destiny Mexican War

California – Gold Rush

Texas – slavery/cotton

Oregon – farms/fur

Regions

•  Civil War

Political divisions

Military strategies

Reconstruction –

military districts

Standards for Focus and Assessment:

Geog 4b- Students will explain how conflict and cooperation among people contributes to the division of the Earth's surface into distinctive cultural regions and political territories.

Benchmark Terms:

Conflict
Cooperation
Cultural region
Political territory