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Standards > 1997 Learning Results > Social Studies

Social Studies

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The great architects of American public education, such as Thomas Jefferson, Horace Mann, and John Dewey, considered a strong literacy essential to the preservation of democracy. Each believed that every student must be well versed in the nation's history, the principles which undergird citizenship, and the institutions which define our government. Understandings of commerce and geography were critical to their thinking as well.

In essence, Jefferson, Mann, and Dewey viewed the study of social studies as critical to the mission of public schools. Indeed, they would applaud the inclusion of a "responsible and involved citizen" in the Guiding Principles, as well as social studies as one of eight content areas in the Learning Results.

A strong social studies education depends upon a clear understanding of its interrelated disciplines. Without a knowledge of the geography and economics of earlier times, history offers only lists of people, events, and dates. Without a knowledge of history, the institutions of American government and the dynamics of today's global economy are difficult to understand.

Important contemporary issues such as health care, education, crime, the environment, and foreign policy are all multidisciplinary in nature. Understanding these issues and developing responses to them requires an integrated social studies education. In such a social studies program, students are actively engaged in inquiry, research, debate, and in-depth learning. Students can further enhance their knowledge of the world around them by using local communities as extended classrooms; they can learn to build on that knowledge and on their knowledge of history to construct insights into the future. A broad understanding of the perspectives central to social studies enables students to develop, practice, and apply the knowledge and experiences required to be contributing participants in a democratic society.

Although social studies curricula vary in their breadth and depth, the Learning Results have adopted a focused definition of this content area whereby government, history, geography, and economics stand as the pillars of the content with other disciplines within the social sciences deemed important, but not essential.

CIVICS AND GOVERNMENT

Students will learn the constitutional principles and the democratic foundations of national, state, and local systems and institutions. Further, students will learn how to exercise the rights and responsibilities of participation in civic life and to analyze and evaluate public policies. This understanding entails insight into political power, how it is distributed and expressed, the types and purposes of governments, and their relationships with the governed. Political relationships among the United States and other nations are also included in this content area.

A. RIGHTS, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND PARTICIPATION

Students will understand the rights and responsibilities of civic life and employ the skills of effective civic participation.

B. PURPOSE AND TYPES OF GOVERNMENT

Students will understand the types and purposes of governments, their evolution, and their relationships with the governed.

C. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT AND CONSTITUTIONS

Students will understand the constitutional principles and the democratic foundations of the political institutions of the United States.

D. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Students will understand the political relationships among the United States and other nations.

HISTORY

Students will learn to analyze the human experience through time, to recognize the relationships of events and people, and to identify patterns, themes, and turning points of change using the chronology of history and major eras. In interpreting current and historical events, students will evaluate the credibility and perspectives of multiple sources of information gathered from technology, documents, artifacts, maps, the arts, and literature.

A. CHRONOLOGY

Students will use the chronology of history and major eras to demonstrate the relationships of events and people.

B. HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE, CONCEPTS, AND PATTERNS

Students will develop historical knowledge of major events, people, and enduring themes in the United States, in Maine, and throughout world history.

C. HISTORICAL INQUIRY, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION

Students will learn to evaluate resource material such as documents, artifacts, maps, artworks, and literature, and to make judgments about the perspectives of the authors and their credibility when interpreting current historical events.

GEOGRAPHY

In order to understand and analyze the relationships among people and environments, students will learn how to construct and interpret maps and how to use globes and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, regions, and environments. In an integrated way, students will study people and the physical characteristics and processes of the earth's surface to understand causes and effects, ecosystems, human behavior, patterns of population, interdependence, resources, cooperation and conflict, and how these are shaped by economic, political, and cultural systems.

A. SKILLS AND TOOLS

Students will know how to construct and interpret maps and use globes and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, regions, and environments.

B. HUMAN INTERACTION WITH ENVIRONMENTS

Students will understand and analyze the relationships among people and their physical environments.

ECONOMICS

Students will learn and apply basic economic concepts of production, distribution, and consumption to make decisions as effective participants in an international economy. Students will understand the development, principles, institutions, relationships to culture, and change over time of economic systems in the United States and elsewhere. Students will also understand how these concepts apply to individuals, households, businesses, governments, and societies which make decisions based on the availability of resources, as well as on costs and benefits of choices. These concepts also help to explain the patterns and results of trade, interdependence, and distribution of wealth in local, regional, national, and world economies.

A. PERSONAL AND CONSUMER ECONOMICS

Students will understand that economic decisions are based on the availability of resources and the costs and benefits of choices.

B. ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE UNITED STATES

Students will understand the economic system of the United States, including its principles, development, and institutions.

C. COMPARATIVE SYSTEMS

Students will analyze how different economic systems function and change over time.

D. INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND GLOBAL INTERDEPENDENCE

Students will understand the patterns and results of international trade.



CIVICS AND GOVERNMENT

A. RIGHTS, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND PARTICIPATION

Students will understand the rights and responsibilities of civic life and will employ the skills of effective civic participation. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Identify and practice classroom rights and responsibilities.

EXAMPLE

  • Participate in a process to determine classroom rules that protect the rights and property of each student in the class, and establish guidelines for individual and cooperative learning.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Identify important individual rights (e.g., freedom of religion, speech, ownership of property).

  2. Explain why certain responsibilities of democratic society are important.

  3. Identify the functions of government at school, locally, and at the state level.

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Identify the characteristics of an effective citizen.

  2. Evaluate and defend positions on current issues regarding individual rights and judicial protection.

  3. Describe and analyze the process by which a proposed law is adopted, including the role of governmental and non-governmental influences.

  4. Identify ways in which citizens in a pluralistic society manage differences of opinion on public policy issues.

  5. Explain the functions of and relationships among local, state, and national governments.

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Develop and defend a position on a public policy issue within our democracy.

  2. Assess the reasons why participation of an attentive, knowledgeable, and competent citizenry is important to constitutional democracy, using examples from personal or historical experience.

  3. Describe the circumstances under which civil disobedience might be justified.

  4. Demonstrate an understanding of the processes of voter registration and voter participation.

 

CIVICS AND GOVERNMENT

B. PURPOSE AND TYPES OF GOVERNMENT

Students will understand the types and purposes of governments, their evolution, and their relationships with the governed. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Understand that all nations have governments.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Describe why we need governments (e.g., law and order, defense, roads, schools).

  2. Describe the basic structure of local and state governments.

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Compare leadership and civil rights in our democracy to their status under an authoritarian type government.

  2. Compare and contrast the structures of local, state, and national government.

  3. Contrast the roles of local, state, and national governments by investigating, evaluating, and debating a current civic issue.

  4. Identify key representatives in legislative branches and the heads of executive and judicial branches in Maine and in the United States government.

  5. Assess competing ideas about the purposes government should serve (e.g., individual rights versus collective rights).

  6. Explain the history and functions of Maine state government including the Constitution of Maine.

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Compare and contrast the purpose and the structure of the United States government with other governments (parliamentary, dictatorship, monarchy) with respect to ideology, values, and histories.

  2. Assess the different jurisdictions and roles of local, state, and federal governments in relation to an important public policy issue.

  3. Analyze the major arguments for and against representative government as distinguished from direct democracy.

  4. Assess the tension between the public's need for government services and the varying availability of revenue through taxes at the local, state, and federal levels.

  5. Evaluate the role of the media and public opinion in United States politics, including ways the government and media influence public opinion.


CIVICS AND GOVERNMENT

C. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT AND CONSTITUTIONS

Students will understand the constitutional principles and the democratic foundations of the political institutions of the United States. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Understand that the United States has a constitution.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Explain how the Constitution protects individual rights (e.g., Bill of Rights).

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Explain the meaning and importance of fundamental principles of American constitutional democracy (e.g., popular sovereignty, rule of law, three branches of government, representative institutions, shared powers, checks and balances, and separation of church and state).

  2. Examine civil rights, liberties, and responsibilities established in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.

  3. Take and defend positions on current issues involving the constitutional practice of individual rights (e.g., freedom of speech, separations of church and state).

  4. Explain the importance, in a pluralistic society, of having certain shared political values and principles.

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Explain the historical foundations of constitutional government in the United States (e.g., Magna Carta, Roman Republic, colonial experience, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Constitution of the United States).

  2. Evaluate the Federalist and anti-Federalist positions on the ratification of the Constitution in light of historical developments.

  3. Evaluate the effectiveness of the Constitution as a vehicle for change.

  4. Demonstrate an understanding of the meaning and importance of traditional democratic assumptions such as individual rights, the common good, self-government, justice, equality, and patriotism.

  5. Demonstrate how the United States Constitution uses checks and balances in order to prevent the abuse of power (e.g., Marbury vs. Madison, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Watergate).

  6. Evaluate, take, and defend positions on current issues regarding judicial protection and individual rights.

  7. Examine civil rights issues related to well-known Supreme Court decisions.


CIVICS AND GOVERNMENT

D. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Students will understand the political relationships among the United States and other nations. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Recognize that there are other nations with different traditions and practices.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Identify examples of how the United States interacts with other countries (e.g., trade, treaties).

  2. Compare a foreign culture to that of the United States. Include an analysis of how decisions are made.

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Explain the foreign policy powers which the Constitution gives to the branches of the government.

  2. Assess the ways in which the United States government has attempted to resolve an international problem (e.g., Vietnam, Northern Ireland, World War II).

  3. Explain the reasons for alliances with some nations against others (e.g., with France during the American Revolution, with the Allied Powers in World War II, NATO).

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Analyze the processes used to develop foreign policy.

  2. Trace the development of a current major world event and predict the possible outcomes (e.g., population, global warming).

  3. Demonstrate how domestic policy may impose constraints or obligations on United States actions in the world, using current examples.

  4. Evaluate the benefits and difficulties of international cooperation, using specific examples.

HISTORY

A. CHRONOLOGY

Students will use the chronology of history and major eras to demonstrate the relationships of events and people. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Place individual and family experiences in historical time and place.

  2. Distinguish similarities and differences among historical events.

EXAMPLE

  • After reading or hearing a folk tale, biography, or historical narrative, retell or dramatize the story with the events in the correct sequence.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Identify similarities and differences in the characteristics of individuals who have made significant contributions to society in different eras.

  2. Place in chronological order, significant events, groups, and people in the history of Maine.

EXAMPLE

  • Given a set of photographs of the same community taken from the same vantage point at twenty-year intervals, examine them in order to make a list of changes which occurred between each pair of pictures. Speculate on how their own lives might have been different if they attained their current age during any of the periods represented.

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Describe the effects of historical changes on daily life.

  2. Identify the sequence of major events and people in the history of Maine, the United States, and selected world civilizations. (See suggested list below in "Secondary Grades".)

  3. Trace simultaneous events in various parts of the world during a specific era.

EXAMPLE

  • Select a significant figure from Maine history and research the period of his or her life to discover what events that person might have witnessed or participated in.

  • Trace movements of pastoral peoples (e.g., the Hebrews, Turks, Huns, Mongols) by examining references to them in the chronologies of other peoples, using these references to build a time-line specifically for the group chosen.

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Identify and analyze major events and people that characterize each of the significant eras in the United States and world history. (See suggested eras below.)

 

Eras in United States History

  • The Americas to 1600

  • The Colonial Era, 1500-1754

  • The Revolutionary Era, 1754-1783

  • Nation Building, 1783-1815

  • The Expanding Nation, 1815-1850

  • Civil War and Reconstruction, 1850-1877

  • Development of the Industrial United States, 1865-1914

  • The Progressive Era, 1890-1914

  • Emergence of the United States as a World Power, 1890-1920

  • The '20's: Prosperity and Problems

  • Depression and The New Deal, 1929-1941

  • World War II and Post War United States, 1939-1961

  • Contemporary United States, 1961-Present

 

Eras in World History

  • Emergence of Civilization to 1000 BC

  • The Classical Civilizations of the Mediterranean Basin, India, and China, 1000 BC-600 AD

  • The Expansion and Interaction of Civilizations, 600 AD-1450 AD

  • The Early Modern World, 1450-1800

  • The World in the Nineteenth Century

  • The World in the Contemporary Era

HISTORY

B. HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE, CONCEPTS, AND PATTERNS

Students will develop historical knowledge of major events, people, and enduring themes in the United States, in Maine, and throughout world history. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Demonstrate an understanding of the similarities between families now and in the past, including daily life today and in other times.

  2. Demonstrate an understanding of cultural origins of customs and beliefs in several places around the world.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Make connections between and among events in their personal lives and those occurring in the community.

  2. Demonstrate an awareness of major events and people in United States and Maine history:

    • Who lives here? and how did they get here? (immigrants, demographics, ethnic and religious groups)

    • Important people in United States and Maine history.

    • Different kinds of communities in Maine, the United States, and selected world regions.

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Demonstrate an understanding of the causes and effects of major events in United States history and the connections to Maine history with an emphasis on events up to 1877, including but not limited to:

Declaration of Independence The Constitution

Westward Expansion Industrialization

Civil War

  1. Demonstrate an understanding of selected themes in Maine, United States, and world history (e.g., revolution, technological innovation, migration).

  2. Demonstrate an understanding of selected turning points in ancient and medieval world history and the continuing influence of major civilizations of the past.

  3. Demonstrate an understanding of selected twentieth century issues and events in United States and in Maine history including "modern" Maine history (1945 to present).

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Demonstrate an understanding of the causes and effects of major events in United States history and their connection to both Maine and world history with emphasis on events after 1877, including, but not limited to:

Industrialization The Great Depression

The Cold War (and its ending) WWI and WWII

The Vietnam Era Civil Rights Movement

Watergate

  1. Demonstrate an understanding of selected major events in ancient and modern world history and their connection to United States history.

  2. Demonstrate an understanding of the lives of selected individuals who have had a major influence on history.

  3. Demonstrate an understanding of enduring themes in history (e.g., conflict and cooperation, technology and innovation, freedom and justice).

  4. Explain how different ways of knowing and believing have influenced human history and culture.

  5. Describe how the basic ideas of various schools of philosophy have affected societies (e.g., rationalism, liberalism, idealism, conservationism).

  6. Explain the benefits and conflicts resulting from encounters among cultures.

EXAMPLES

  • Describe how the development, expansion, and collapse of empires have affected the expansion of political power.

  • Give examples of former colonies and dependent states that have gained independence in the twentieth century and explain how they have addressed political issues related to independence.

 

HISTORY

C. HISTORICAL INQUIRY, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION

Students will learn to evaluate resource material such as documents, artifacts, maps, artworks, and literature, and to make judgments about the perspectives of the authors and their credibility when interpreting current historical events. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Use artifacts and documents to gather information about the past.

EXAMPLE

  • Given a "history box" containing artifacts belonging to a specific time, make deductions concerning form and use of the objects and what they tell us about life in the past.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Identify changes currently occurring in their daily lives and compare these to changes in daily life during a specific historic era.

EXAMPLE

  • Construct a time capsule in which students place artifacts and documents which they feel would serve as an accurate guide to life in the late twentieth century for future students.

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Judge the accuracy of historical fiction by comparing the characters and events described with descriptions in multiple primary sources.

  2. Explain why historical accounts of the same event sometimes differ and relate this explanation to the evidence presented by the author or the point of view of the author.

  3. Use information from a variety of primary and secondary sources to identify and support a point of view on a controversial historical topic.

  4. Identify ethnic and cultural perspectives missing from an historical account and describe these points of view.

  5. Formulate historical questions based on examination of primary and secondary sources including documents, eyewitness accounts, letters and diaries, artifacts, real or simulated historical sites, charts, graphs, diagrams, and written texts.

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Evaluate and use historical materials to formulate historical hypotheses regarding a specific issue (e.g., space travel), and to make predictions about the future of the issue.

  2. Examine and analyze primary and secondary sources in order to differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations, and to support or reject historical hypotheses.

  3. Compare competing historical narratives by contrasting different historians' choice of questions, use and choice of sources, perspectives, beliefs, and points of view in order to demonstrate how these factors contribute to different interpretations.

  4. Compare and contrast the reliability of information received from multiple sources (e.g., newspapers, radio or TV, biography, historical narrative) to assess an historical issue.


GEOGRAPHY

A. SKILLS AND TOOLS

Students will know how to construct and interpret maps and use globes and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, regions, and environments. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Use and construct maps and other visuals to describe geographic location, direction, size, and shape.

EXAMPLE

  • Use maps of world climatic regions to discuss the types of clothing, housing, outdoor activity, etc., which might be found in a specific area.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Construct and compare maps of Maine, the United States, and regions of the world to interpret geographical features and draw conclusions about physical patterns.

  2. Locate major cities of the world and discuss why they emerged in that particular region.

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Visualize the globe and construct maps of the world and its sub-regions to identify patterns of human settlement, major physical features, and political divisions.

  2. Develop maps, globes, charts, models, and databases to analyze geographical patterns on the earth.

  3. Understand United States social, political, and economic divisions and the more significant social and political divisions in world geography.

EXAMPLE

  • Speculate about the types of exchanges of goods and materials which might occur between economic regions, and the routes and types of transportation used.

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Use mapping to answer complex geographic and environmental problems.

  2. Appraise the ways in which maps reflect economic, social, and political policy decision making.

  3. Understand how cultural and technological features can link or divide regions.

EXAMPLE

  • Use survey and map data which represent classmates' residential preferences, analyzing the factors which influence people's preferences about where to live and their decisions to move.


GEOGRAPHY

B. HUMAN INTERACTION WITH ENVIRONMENTS

Students will understand and analyze the relationships among people and their physical environment. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Describe the human and physical characteristics of the immediate environment.

EXAMPLE

  • Using a variety of visual materials, data sources, and/or narratives, describe the human and physical characteristics of a region.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Demonstrate an understanding of why certain areas of the world are more densely populated than others.

  2. Explain ways in which communities reflect the backgrounds of their inhabitants.

  3. Use a variety of materials and geographic tools to explain how the physical environment supports and constrains human activities.

EXAMPLE

  • Explain how the founders of a settlement might have evaluated a site, in terms of its resources and environmental characteristics, relative to their needs.

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Analyze how technology shapes the physical and human characteristics of places and regions, including Maine.

  2. Explain patterns of migration throughout the world.

  3. Explain how cultures differ in their use of similar environments and resources.

  4. Demonstrate an understanding of how society changes as a consequence of concentrated settlement.

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Explain factors which shape places and regions over time (e.g., physical and cultural factors).

  2. Analyze the cultural characteristics that make specific regions of the world distinctive.

  3. Analyze how technologies contribute to cultural sharing and separation, and identify examples of the spread of cultural traits.

  4. Explain how conflict and cooperation among peoples contribute to the division of the earth's surface into distinctive cultural and political regions.

EXAMPLE

  • Compare two places with similar environments and dissimilar cultures (e.g., Manaus, Brazil and Kinshasa, Zaire).


ECONOMICS

A. PERSONAL AND CONSUMER ECONOMICS

Students will understand that economic decisions are based on the availability of resources and the costs and benefits of choices. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Identify goods and services, giving examples.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Describe barter and money and how each is used in the exchange of resources, goods, and services.

  2. Identify a situation in which a personal decision is made about the use of scarce resources (e.g., deciding to use allowance to go the movies instead of buying a gift for a family member).

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Analyze how scarcity affects individuals' decisions about production and consumption of goods and services.

  2. Identify and analyze the factors that contribute to personal spending and savings decisions.

  3. Use an example to show how incentives affect economic decisions (e.g., tax deferred savings plans, a fast food restaurant's discount promotion).

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Conduct a cost benefit analysis of a personal or business decision.

  2. Evaluate different forms of savings and investments for short and long term returns (e.g., stocks, bonds, money market funds).

  3. Demonstrate an understanding of credit history and the positive and negative impacts that credit can have on an individual's financial life.

EXAMPLE

  • Given a fixed amount of "money" for investment purposes, create a portfolio of stocks, bonds, and other investments, trading to maximize profits over a fixed period of time.

ECONOMICS

B. ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE UNITED STATES

Students will understand the economic system of the United States, including its principles, development, and institutions. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Explain the terms consumer and product.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Identify the three basic economic questions all economic systems must answer: What to produce? how? and for whom?

2. Explain how the economy of Maine affects families and communities.

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of economic concepts of supply, demand, price, the role of money, and profit and loss.

  2. Analyze how prices act as signals to producers and customers to answer the three basic economic questions: What to produce? how? and for whom?

  3. Identify how the fundamental characteristics of the United States economic system (e.g., private property, profits, competition, and price system) influence economic decision making.

  4. Explain the impact that major events and technological advancements have had on the Maine economy and predict future economic trends and career opportunities.

  5. Describe the roles and contributions of the principal contributors to the economy (e.g., laborers, investors, entrepreneurs, managers).

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Describe the factors (i.e., physical, capital, technology, monetary resources) that impact the development and the distribution of a product.

  2. Identify and analyze the role of government in the United States economic system (e.g., taxing, spending, setting interest rates, regulatory policy).

  3. Explain the positive and the negative impacts of advertising techniques on consumer behavior.

  4. Describe the full costs (including externalities) associated with the use of natural and human resources to produce economic goods and services (e.g., solar power versus nuclear power to provide electricity).

EXAMPLE

  • After an examination of the role of the Federal Reserve in regulating the money supply and interest rates, analyze economic scenarios in terms of likely actions by the Federal Reserve.


ECONOMICS

C. COMPARATIVE SYSTEMS

Students will analyze how different economic systems function and change over time. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Explain how selected cultures or countries meet basic human needs.

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Describe the characteristics of traditional, command, market, and mixed economic systems.

  2. Compare how different economies meet basic wants and needs over time.

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Explain the impact of cultural values on economic decisions, using at least two examples.

  2. Compare strengths and weaknesses of the market economy with other economic models, using broad societal goals such as freedom, equity, security, employment, stability, and economic growth.

EXAMPLE

  • Compare and contrast the Swedish economic system with that of the United States. Explain the differences in the role of government in each country (e.g., the different approaches to taxation and social policy).


ECONOMICS

D. INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND GLOBAL INTERDEPENDENCE

Students will understand the patterns and results of international trade. Students will be able to:

ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2

  1. Explain where products come from and how we use them.

 

ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4

  1. Describe, with examples, how the exchange of goods and services helps to create economic interdependence between people in different places and countries.

 

MIDDLE GRADES 5-8

  1. Describe how changes in transportation and communication technologies have affected trade over time.

  2. Evaluate how world trade issues can affect a nation's economy and how trade can influence and transform societies.

  3. Explain why trade allows specialization and identify specific examples of how nations specialize (e.g., Japan's focus on consumer electronics).

 

SECONDARY GRADES

  1. Demonstrate an understanding that a nation has a competitive advantage when it can produce a product at a lower cost than its trading partner.

  2. Evaluate the effect on international trade of domestic policies which either encourage or discourage exchange of goods and services (e.g., quotas, tariffs, skilled labor, stable government).