Enduring Understandings

(Students will understand that…)

Essential Questions

(Students will keep understanding. . .)

1. All people, not just official leaders, play important roles in shaping communities.
2. Core civic virtues and democratic principles guide governments and communities.
3. Decisions concerning the allocation and use of economic resources impact individuals and groups.
4. Active and responsible citizens identify, analyze, and deliberate with other people to address public issues.
5. Collaborative global citizenship can help resolve worldwide issues.

• What are the roles and responsibilities of a citizen within communities at local, national, and global levels?
• What effect does a government have on society?
• Why do we have rules and laws?
• How can global citizens take thoughtful, informed, and responsible action to address global issues?

Enduring Understandings

(Students will understand that…)

Essential Questions

(Students will keep understanding. . .)

1. Identifying author’s purpose, main idea, and point of view, helps in evaluating the usefulness of a source.

2. Experiences shape our perspective.
3. Source evaluation requires multiple perspectives to determine trustworthiness and reliability.
4. Conclusions need to be based in evidence.
5. Different perspectives influence the interpretation and conclusions derived from those sources.
6. All sources have embedded values and points of view and require critical evaluation.

• How can we recognize bias?
• How does time and place influence historical writing?
• Why is it important to evaluate the validity of the information in a source?
• How does one evaluate sources to determine validity and reliability?

Enduring Understandings

(Students will understand that…)

Essential Questions

(Students will keep understanding. . .)

1. The study of political, social and economic patterns reveals continuity and change over time.
2. Human-environment interactions influence all aspects of societies on a local-to-global scale.
3. The size, composition, distribution, and movement of human populations impact the Earth.
4. Human development is impacted by natural resources and their environments.

• What are the causes for significant changes or turning points in history?
• What are the effects of significant changes in history?
• How does physical geography, climate, and availability of natural resources affect the way people live and work?  
• How do humans affect the environment?
• What impact has the availability of natural resources had on human development?

Enduring Understandings

(Students will understand that…)

Essential Questions

(Students will keep understanding. . .)

1. History is interpretive.
2. National identity is impacted by regionalism, diversity, geography and education.
3. Groups of people construct different accounts of the same event, that are shaped by their perspectives, ideas, attitudes, and beliefs.
4. Multiple points of view explain the ideas and actions of individuals and groups.
5. People in the past experienced and interpreted the world through different belief systems.

1. Why should we recognize and analyze multiple points of view?
2. How does identity influence how people live?
3. How has the interpretation of history changed?
4. What should we do when perspectives disagree?
5. What are the benefits and challenges of diverse societies?
6. Why should we study other cultures?

Enduring Understandings

(Students will understand that…)

Essential Questions

(Students will keep understanding. . .)

1. Knowledge of the past helps one understand the present and make decisions about the future.
2. Historical interpretation is influenced by the time and place in which it was written.
3. Change and continuity over time informs one’s conclusions.

• Why study history?
• Whom do we believe and why?
• How do values and beliefs change over time?
• How do present-day concerns shape historical writing?