1 of 17

American History I �What is Social Studies and BasicTerms

Social studies-academic discipline that teaches you about the world

Basic social studies terms:

A. History- study of the past.

B. Historians – Collect evaluate, & interpret the evidence.

C. Bias- a preference or inclination that inhibits a person from making an objective decision. How do Historians want to Think?

D. Perspective- a point of view

E. Primary source – Writings or artifacts by people who lived through an historical event (they were there)

F. Secondary source – writings by people who were not present at a historical event. They lived after the event or were not at the event.

​

2 of 17

The 3 C’s and S when evaluating primary and secondary source documents

Sourcing- who made the source? Where did it come from?

Contextualizing-think of the time period and “setting” in which the event took place

Corroborating-what do other sources say about the event/artifact

Close reading-what does the document say? Is it biased? What is the tone? What is the perspective?

​

3 of 17

American History I �What is Social Studies

History Facts v. Interpretation

What are Historical Facts?

It only Answers the very Basic Question of “What Happened, who was involved, and when it occurred”

What is a Historical Interpretation?

It brings about an understanding to the Historical Event-Explains how or why something happened

4 of 17

Timelines in history

Why use them?

  • Helps to place events chronologically
  • More easily understand the cause, course, and consequence of events

​

5 of 17

American History I �What is Social Studies

Cause and Effects Relationships in History: This relationship tends to be a major driving force throughout history.

We will use the 3 C’s of History

Cause

Course

Consequences

6 of 17

The 5 C’s of historical thinking

  • 1. Change Over Time
  • 2. Context
  • 3. Causality (cause and effect)
  • 4. Contingency- interconnectivity of things (if you change one thing> the outcome may be different- allows for counterfactuals)
  • 5. Complexity
  • 6. Mr. Moon’s extra: Chronology- the order of events

7 of 17

Why is history important?

  • By understanding the past, it can help us learn from achievements and mistakes
  • To understandnd why things are the way they are today (things don’t happen in a vaccum)
  • Give us a basis to make hypothesies about the future

​

8 of 17

Why is social studies important?�

  • The world is more interconnected than ever due to increased trade and migration
  • Especially due to technological improvements in transportation and communication
  • In short the world is “smaller” and we need to learn about the past and other peoples and events that are changing and shaping our present and future

9 of 17

American History I �What is Social Studies

G. Different Sources to Learn History from?

Visual

Literary

Music

H. Is there just one account of Historical Events?

No there can many different perspectives of an

Event (Think of a Fight in Class)

Its important to pull from all perspectives when

studying history to obtain a complete overview of

the event . To be able to come to an objective

conclusion

10 of 17

American History I �Themes

Themes

Geography & Environmental Literacy

Economic & Financial Literacy

Culture

History

Civics & Government

11 of 17

History

  • Interpreting and creating time lines
  • Historical Fact vs Historical Interpretation
  • Evaluating Sources for Credibility
  • Political Cartoons
  • Primary Sources
  • Secondary Sources
  • Artifacts
  • Social Studies themes and concepts
  • Turning Points

​

12 of 17

Geography & Environmental Literacy

  • Human-Environmental interactions
  • Push / Pull Factors
  • Map Skills

​

13 of 17

Economic & Financial Literacy

  • Natural Resources
  • Human Capital
  • Financial Capital
  • Social Classes

​

14 of 17

Civics & Government

  • Democracy
  • Government
  • Federalism
  • Monarchy
  • Republic
  • Politics
  • Liberalism
  • Conservatism
  • Totalitarianism
  • Government regulation

15 of 17

Culture

  • Art
  • Music
  • Oral History
  • Archaeology
  • Anthropology
  • Religion and belief systems
  • Gender roles
  • Cultural Diffusion

​

16 of 17

American History I �What is Social Studies

Problems In History

Slavery

Immigration

Minorities

Political

Cultural

Expansion

Throughout Civilizations

Europeans VS. Natives

Religions

Economic

Clothing

Language

From Europe, Asia, Africa, Southern North America

Women, ethnic groups

Colonialism

Fed V. State

Imperialism

Rich V. Poor

​

17 of 17

American History I �What is Social Studies

What is this a Map of?