MHS Social Studies Curriculum

Proficiency Scale

Prioritized Standard: Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts (C3 Standards: D2.His.1.9-12)

Supporting Standards:

Analyze change and continuity in historical eras (C3 Standards: D2.His.2.9-12)

Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past (C3 Standards: D2.His.14.9-12)

Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level (ELA Language Anchor 6)

Proficiency Scale

Prioritized Standard:

Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts (C3 Standards: D2.His.1.9-12)

Supporting Standards:

Analyze change and continuity in historical eras (C3 Standards: D2.His.2.9-12)

Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past (C3 Standards: D2.His.14.9-12)

Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level (ELA Language Anchor 6)

Proficiency Scale

Prioritized Standard:

Critique the usefulness of historical sources for a specific historical inquiry based on their maker, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose (C3 Standards: D2.His.11.9-12)

Supporting Standards:

Detect possible limitations in various kinds of historical evidence and differing secondary interpretations (C3 Standards: D2.Hist.10.9-12)

Explain how the perspectives of people in the present shape interpretations of the past (C3 Standards: D2.Hist.7.9-12)

Analyze the ways in which the perspectives of those writing history shaped the history that they produced (C3 Standards: D2.Hist.6.9-12)

Proficiency Scale

Prioritized Standard:

Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses (C3 Standards: D4.1.9-12)

Supporting Standards:

Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past (C3 Standards: D2.His.16.9-12)

Identify evidence that draws information directly and substantively from multiple sources to detect inconsistencies in evidence in order to revise or strengthen claims (C3 Standards: D3.3.9-12)

Refine claims and counterclaims attending to precision, significance, and knowledge conveyed through the claim while pointing out the strengths and limitations and both (C3 Standards: D3.4.9-12)

Proficiency Scale

Prioritized Standard:

Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of sources (C3 Standards: D1.5.9-12)

Supporting Standards:

Explain how a question reflects an enduring issue in the field (C3 Standards: D1.1.9-12)

Explain how supporting questions contribute to an inquiry and how, through engaging source work, new compelling and supporting questions emerge (C3 Standards: D1.4.9-12)

SEMESTER 1

Unit 1: Identity and Perspective (August 28 to September 24 - 10 classes)

• Who am I? 

• What do I stand for?

• What factors shape my social location?

Unit 2: Landscapes of the World  (September 25 to November 7 - 14 classes)

• How do people become part of a community?

• What does the world look like? (geographically, culturally, and politically)

• What do I value in terms of government and leadership and how can we create a system that reflects our values?  

Unit 3: World Religions and Cultures (November 11 to January 21 - 19 classes)

• What are the histories and core beliefs of major world religions?

• What do these religions look like in practice around the world?
  

SEMESTER 2

Unit 4: Colonialism (January 26 to March 13)

• How do I know which sources of historical information to trust? 

• How did Europeans justify the exploitation and violence of colonialism? 

Unit 5: Racial Slavery and Resistance (March 16 to April 17)

• What is racial slavery?  

• How did enslaved people resist?  

• Why was race invented?  

Unit 6: Atlantic Revolutions (April 27 to June 16)

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of different government systems?

• What is liberal democracy and where did its underlying beliefs originate?  What are its strengths and limitations?

• What were the causes and goals of the Atlantic Revolutions from the perspective of different social groups? 

FALL SEMESTER:

Unit 1: Industrial Capitalism and Political Ideology 

• Case Study: the United Kingdom

• Guiding Questions: 

  • What political belief systems exist beyond Democrat and Republican?

  • What is industrial capitalism? 

  • Why did socialism develop as a response to capitalism?

UNIT 2: The Russian Revolution and its Aftermath

• Case Study: Russia

• Guiding Questions: 

  • What was the best political and economic system and path to change for the peasants and working class of Russia in 1917?

  • How did the USSR live, or not up to, the ideals of the 1917 revolutions?

UNIT 3: Interwar Global Case Studies

• Case Studies: Mexico, China, India, and Israel/Palestine

• Guiding Questions: 

  • How did socialism and nationalism spread globally between WWI and WWII?

  • What ideologies and strategies shaped movements in Mexico, China, India, and Israel/Palestine during this time period?

  • What role does resistance (both violent and non-violent) play in challenging systems of oppression?

  • What are the lasting effects of outside influence on a nation?

SPRING SEMESTER:

UNIT 4: Fascism, World Wars, and the Holocaust

• Case Study: Germany

• Guiding Questions: 

  • How are regular people recruited to fascism? 

  • Is there a threat of fascism today? 

  • How do we resist and fight fascism?

UNIT 5: The Evolving Geopolitical Landscape  

• Case Study: Bolivia, Brazil, Russia, India, and China

• Guiding Questions: 

  • How did the Cold War reshape global power dynamics and alliances?

  • How have global power dynamics and alliances changed since the Cold War and post-9/11?

  • What role do global organizations (UN, ICJ, IMF, WB, WHO, etc) have when it comes to national and international questions today?

  • Who are the BRICS countries and how are they challenging US hegemony?

UNIT 6: Human Rights and International Law in a Post-9/11 World

• Case Study: TBD

• Guiding Questions: TBD

UNIT 1: The Threat to natural rights.

How much democracy is too much democracy?

British imperial attempts to reassert control over its colonies and the colonial reaction to these attempts produced a new American republic, along with struggles over the new nation’s social, political, and economic identity.

UNIT 2: The Struggle to Define American Democracy

Federalists v. Antifederalists

The extension, restriction, and reorganization of political democracy after 1800, the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and westward expansion changed the lives of Americans and led to regional tensions.

UNIT 3: Slavery, Regional Tensions, and Civil War

Slavery, the causes of the Civil War, and its effects on the American people.

UNIT 4: Reconstruction and the Transformation of America

Healing the nation after the Civil War through economic, social, and constitutional means.

UNIT 5: The Poor v. the Rich (Populism and Progressivism)

The rise of industrial capitalism, mechanized farming, and international and internal migration produced new cultural and intellectual movements, public reform efforts, and political debates over economic and social problems.

UNIT 6: The Great Depression and the New Deal

The Great Depression (causes and effects) and how the New Deal transformed American federalism and initiated the welfare state.

UNIT 7: Isolationism v. Interventionism

U.S. Involvement in WWI and WWII

Progressives and others addressed the problems of industrial capitalism, rapid urbanization, and political corruption.

UNIT 8: The Cold War

The Red Scare and McCarthysm

The causes of World War II, the character of the war at home and abroad, and its reshaping of the U.S. role in world affairs.

Unit 9: Securing Civil Rights for All

The Civil Rights Movement

Unit 10: Liberals and Conservatives

Differing political perspectives with a common goal.

Unit 11: The Threat to Democracy

Multiple challenges such as voting restrictions, election fraud, and loss of trust in government are accelerating the disintegration of American democracy.

Developments and Processes: Identify and explain historical developments and processes. (AP Historical Thinking Skill 1)

Identify a historical concept, development, or process

Explain a historical concept, development, or process

Sourcing and Situation: Analyze sourcing and situation of primary and secondary sources (AP Historical Thinking Skill 2)

Identify a source’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience

Explain the point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience of a source

Explain the significance of a source’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience, including how these might limit the use(s) of a source

Claims and Evidence in Sources: Analyze arguments in primary and secondary sources (AP Historical Thinking Skill 3)

Identify and describe a claim and/or argument in a text-based or non-text-based source

Identify the evidence used in a source to support an argument

Compare the arguments or main ideas of two sources

Explain how claims or evidence support, modify, or refute a source’s argument

Contextualization: Analyze the context of historical events, developments, or processes (AP Historical Thinking Skill 4)

Identify and describe a historical context for a specific historical development or process

Explain how a specific historical development or process is situated within a broader historical context

Making Connections: Using historical reasoning processes (comparison, causation, continuity and change), analyze patterns and connections between and among historical developments and processes (AP Historical Thinking Skill 5)

Identify patterns among or connections between historical developments and processes

Explain how a historical development or process relates to another historical development or process

Argumentation: Develop and argument (AP Historical Thinking Skill 6)

Make a historically defensible claim

Support an argument using specific and relevant evidence - Describe specific examples of historically relevant evidence - Explain how specific examples of historically relevant evidence support an argument

Use historical reasoning to explain relationships among pieces of historical evidence

Corroborate, qualify, or modify an argument using diverse and alternative evidence in order to develop a complex argument - This argument might: Explain nuance of an issue by analyzing multiple variables, Explain relevant and insightful connections within and across periods, Explain the relative historical significance or a source’s credibility and limitations, Explain how or why a historical claim or argument is or is not effective

Understanding the Problem: Use disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses to understand the characteristics and causes of local, regional, and global problems; instances of such problems in multiple contexts; and challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address these problems over time and place. (CS Standard: D4.6.9-12)

Civic Readiness: Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights. (C3 Standard: D2.Civ.14.9-12)

Strategic Action: Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and complex causal reasoning.

Applied Theory: Apply social science concepts and theories to the study of contemporary social change, conflict, and other important local, national, and international problems. (C3 Standard: Dimension 2)

Sociological Perspective: Students can identify how social context influences individuals. (C3 Standard: D2.Soc.3.9-12)

Applied Theory: Students will utilize sociological theories to analyze their political, social and economic context. (C3 Standard: Dimension 2)

Socialization: Students can analyze the influence of the primary agents of socialization and why they are influential. (C3 Standard: D2.Soc.11.9-12. E)

Social Policy: Students can propose and evaluate alternative solutions to inequality. (C3 Standard: D2.Soc.18.9-12. E)

Understand the history and dimensions of theoretical approaches to psychology as a field of study.

Use biological knowledge to explain the basic functions of the different parts of the brain and the nervous system.

Analyzes risk factors of lifestyle choices related to psychological information

Apply psychological knowledge to their daily lives

ARGUMENT: Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses. (D4.1.9-12.)

EXPLANATION: Construct explanations using sound reasoning, correct sequence (linear or nonlinear), examples, and details with significant and pertinent information and data, while acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of the explanation given its purpose (e.g., cause and effect, chronological, procedural, technical). (D4.2.9-12.)

MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION: Present adaptations of arguments and explanations that feature evocative ideas and perspectives on issues and topics to reach a range of audiences and venues outside the classroom using print and oral technologies (e.g., posters, essays, letters, debates, speeches, reports, and maps) and digital technologies (e.g., Internet, social media, and digital documentary). (D4.3.9-12.)

UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM: Use disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses to understand the characteristics and causes of local, regional, and global problems; instances of such problems in multiple contexts; and challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address these problems over time and place. (D4.6.9-12.)