Social Studies

Through the study of Civics and Economics, students will examine the responsibilities, rights, and duties of citizenship and its function within the political and economic system of the United States. Students will explore the structure and operation of local, state, and national governments through an inquiry-based approach. Students will utilize their knowledge and skills to understand and analyze the relationship between the government and the economy. Students will apply their learning to develop an understanding of what it means to be an informed and responsible citizen.

Students will:

• Use maps, globes, photographs, pictures, cartoons, and tables.
• Demonstrate skills for historical, civic, and geographic analysis.
• Understand the foundations of American constitutional government.
• Understand citizenship and the rights, duties, and responsibilities of citizens.
• Demonstrate personal character traits that facilitate thoughtful and effective participation in civic life.
• Understand the political process at the local, state, and national levels of government.
• Understand the American constitutional government at the national, state, and local levels.
• Understand the judicial systems established by the Constitution of Virginia and the Constitution of the United States.
• Understand how public policy is made at the local, state, and national levels of government.
• Understand the United States economy, how decisions are made in the marketplace, and the role of government in the economy.
• Understand personal finance and career opportunities.

The Civics and Economics Standards of Learning assessment will be administered at the end of Grade 7.

In Civics and Economics, Intensified students will engage in extended application and analysis of the structure and operation of local, state, and national governments as well as the relationship between the government and the economy through an inquiry-based approach. Students will develop critical thinking approaches and apply their knowledge as they grapple with the responsibilities, rights, and duties of citizenship and its function within the political and economic system of the United States.

Students will apply their learning to develop an understanding of what it means to be an informed and responsible citizen. Students will:

• Use maps, globes, photographs, pictures, cartoons, and tables.
• Demonstrate skills for historical, civic, and geographic analysis.
• Understand the foundations of American constitutional government.
• Understand citizenship and the rights, duties, and responsibilities of citizens.
• Demonstrate personal character traits that facilitate thoughtful and effective participation in civic life. Understand the political process at the local, state, and national levels of government.
• Understand the American constitutional government at the national, state, and local levels.
• Understand the judicial systems established by the Constitution of Virginia and the Constitution of the United States.
• Understand how public policy is made at the local, state, and national levels of government.
• Understand the United States economy, how decisions are made in the marketplace, and the role of government in the economy.
• Understand personal finance and career opportunities.

The Civics and Economics Standards of Learning assessment will be administered at the end of Grade 7.

This is an Introductory college-level course in comparative government and politics. The course uses a comparative approach to examine the political structures; policies; and political, economic, and social challenges of six selected countries: China, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Students cultivate their understanding of comparative government and politics through analysis of data and text-based sources as they explore topics like power and authority, legitimacy and stability, democratization, internal and external forces, and methods of political analysis.

This course teaches concepts and methods of comparative politics. Includes empirical analyses of domestic governmental, political, and societal institutions and norms of countries around the world. The assignments in the course require college-level reading fluency and coherent communication through written reports.

This course combines the content of U.S. History to Present (12354), Civics and Economics (12355), and World Geography (12210) in order for English learners at ELP Level 1 to gain content knowledge while continuing to build their academic language. Please see the descriptions of those three courses for detailed information. This course is for sixth and seventh grade ELs.

The IB Diploma Programme Global Politics is a course for students who want to understand more about how the world they live in works, and what makes it change (or prevents it from changing). The course draws on a variety of disciplinary traditions in the study of politics and international relations, and more broadly in the social sciences and humanities. Students build their knowledge and understanding of the local, national, international, and global dimensions of political activity and processes by critically engaging with contemporary political issues and challenges. This course prepares students for the required standard level IB examination in IB Global Politics SL at the end of the course study. Students not completing the Internal Assessment and/or not taking the exam will not earn the additional quality point (2XXXX). This IB course is weighted by applying an additional 1.0 quality point value assigned to the final grade upon completion of the course.

Students will examine United States history through a thematic lens across time and place. Students will utilize historical thinking skills to examine primary and secondary accounts to formulate an understanding of the past. The course content will focus on United States geography over time, as well as a thematic approach to exploration and expansion, revolution and reform, economic interactions, and ideological conflict and progress. Key events and people will be studied through their interactions with these themes. This will provide students with both an understanding of chronology as well as how decisions can impact events moving forward.

The following are major objectives which students are expected to learn:

Students will

• Develop skills for historical and geographical analysis.
• Use maps, globes, photographs, pictures, cartoons, and tables.
• Examine how early cultures developed in North America.
• Describe European exploration in North America and West Africa.
• Identify factors that shaped colonial America.
• Analyze causes and results of the American Revolution.
• Examine westward expansion and reform in America from 1801 to 1861.
• Understand the causes, major events, and effects of the Civil War.
• Describe how life changed after the Civil War as a result of Reconstruction.
• Explain the changing role of the United States from the late nineteenth century through World War II.
• Examine the social, economic, and technological changes of the twentieth century.
• Identify the major causes and effects of American involvement in World War II.
• Examine the key domestic issues during the second half of the twentieth century, including the Civil Rights Movement.

The objectives of this course focus on the sources from which American governmental institutions derive their authority to function, and the applications of this authority to critical processes, procedures, and systems. The influence of various groups and the patterns of their world governments are also studied. The key concepts for students are the foundation of government, rights, responsibilities, liberty, institutions political processes, public programs policy making, and comparative political and economic systems. In addition, this course provides an in-depth analysis of American Government and Politics with emphasis on critical thinking and writing skills.

The focus of this course is the study of the world’s peoples, places, and environments, with an emphasis on world regions. The knowledge, skills, and perspectives of the course are centered on the world’s population and cultural characteristics, landforms and climates, economic development, and migration and settlement patterns. Spatial concepts of geography will be used as a framework for studying interactions between humans and their environments. Using geographic resources, students will employ inquiry, research, and technology skills to ask and answer geographic questions. Particular emphasis is placed on students’ understanding and applying geographic concepts and skills to their daily lives.

The theme for Grade 8 is interaction. The objectives focus on the interactions of people and their environment in such regions of the world as Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, North America, South America, and areas of the former Soviet Union. The content is organized around the key concepts of location, place, human and environmental relationships, movement, and regions.

Students will:

• Develop skills for geographical analysis.
• Use maps, globes, photographs, and pictures.
• Analyze how selected physical and ecological processes shape the Earth’s surface.
• Apply the concept of region.
• Locate and analyze physical, economic, and cultural characteristics of world regions, including Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, United States and Canada, North Africa and Southeast Asia, East Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands, and Antarctica.
• Compare and contrast the distribution, growth rates, and characteristics of human population in terms of settlement patterns and the location of natural and capital resources.
• Analyze past and present trends in human migration and cultural interaction as they are influenced by social, economic, political, and environmental factors.
• Identify natural, human, and capital resources and explain their significance.
• Distinguish between developed and developing countries and relate the level of economic development to the standard of living and quality of life.
• Analyze the global patterns and networks of economic interdependence.
• Analyze how the forces of conflict and cooperation affect the division and control of the Earth’s surface.
• Analyze the patterns of urban development.
• Apply geography to interpret the past, understand the present, and plan for the future.