Unit

Unit description

Social studies standards

Early Peoples, Exploration, and Drawing Boundaries (7000 1854 BCE -1854 CE)

In this unit, students should consider the variety of peoples and cultures who inhabited what would become Kansas. Students should be asked to consider the reasons for settlement and consider beliefs, ideas, diversity, relationships between various people, relationships between people and their environment, and change over time. The bulk of the time should be spent on the contrasting cultures of early and later arriving groups (emigrant Native American groups, explorers, missionaries, and the military). Evidence from archeology and anthropology should be examined.

1.     Choices have consequences.

1.1  The student will recognize and evaluate significant choices made by individuals, communities, states, and nations that have impacted our lives and futures.

1.2  The student will analyze the context under which choices are made and draw conclusions about the motivations and goals of the decision-makers.

1.3  The student will investigate examples of causes and consequences of particular choices and connect those choices with contemporary issues.

1.4  The student will use his/her understanding of choices and consequences to construct a decision-making process and to justify a decision.

2.     Individuals have rights and responsibilities.

2.1  The student will recognize and evaluate the rights and responsibilities of people living in societies.

2.2  The student will analyze the context under which significant rights and responsibilities are defined and demonstrated, their various interpretations, and draw conclusions about those interpretations.

2.3  The student will investigate specific rights and responsibilities of individuals and connect those rights and responsibilities with contemporary issues.

2.4  The student will use his/her understanding of rights and responsibilities to address contemporary issues.

3.     Societies are shaped by beliefs, idea, and diversity.

3.1  The student will recognize and evaluate significant beliefs, contributions, and ideas of the many diverse peoples and groups and their impact on individuals, communities, states, and nations.

3.2  The student will draw conclusions about significant beliefs, contributions, and ideas, analyzing the origins and context under which these competing ideals were reached and the multiple perspectives from which they come.

3.3  The student will investigate specific beliefs, contributions, ideas, and/or diverse populations and connect those beliefs, contributions, ideas and/or diversity to contemporary issues.

3.4  The student will use his/her understanding of those beliefs, contributions, ideas, and diversity to justify or define how community, state, national, and international ideals shape contemporary society.

4.     Societies experience continuity and change over time.

4.1  The student will recognize and evaluate continuity and change over time and its impact on individuals, institutions, communities, states, and nations.

4.2  The student will analyze the context of continuity and change and the vehicles of reform, drawing conclusions about past change and potential future change.

4.3  The student will investigate an example of continuity and/or change and connect that continuity and/or change to a contemporary issue.

4.4  The student will use his/her understanding of continuity and change to construct a model for contemporary reform.

5.     Relationships between people, place, idea, and environments are dynamic.

5.1  The student will recognize and evaluate dynamic relationships that impact lives in communities, states, and nations.

5.2  The student will analyze the context of significant relationships and draw conclusions about a contemporary world.

5.3  The student will investigate the relationship among people, places, ideas, and/or the environment and connect those relationships to contemporary issues.

5.4  The student will use his/her understanding of these dynamic relationships to create a personal, community, state, and/or national narrative.

Same Standards for each Quarter/Unit

Statehood and the Civil War (1854-1865 )

 In this unit, students should investigate the historical context under which the state was settled and the role Kansas played in the Civil War. The students should trace the development of state government from the territorial period through statehood. Students should deal with questions about Popular Sovereignty, slavery, and abolition.

Kansas : To the Stars Through  Difficulty (1865- 1890s)

 In this unit students should consider the impact of frontier forts, railroads, cattle, farming, and immigration on the development of the state’s government, economy, and culture. The students should investigate the romantic image of the West and compare and contrast that image with primary source evidence. The students should concentrate on the development of the political, economic, and cultural identity of the state.

 In this unit, students should investigate the development of specific industries within the state and critical reform movements. The bulk of the time in this unit should be spent considering the historic, economic, political, and geographic context of these developments and the conditions which existed to inspire these reforms.

Good Times and Bads (1920s-1940s)

 In this unit, students should consider the boom and bust nature of the U.S. economy. Investigating the political, economic, and social context under which these conditions existed. Students should investigate the role the state and Kansans played in World War I and II. Students should spend the bulk of their time in this unit considering the causes, conditions, and remedies for the economic distress of the Great Depression. Id

Kansas and a Changing World (1950s—2000s) In this unit, students should examine the role of the state as the United States develops as a world leader. Students should evaluate the changing infrastructure of the nation and its impact on Kansas. Students should investigate the impact of the Cold War on Kansas’ social, economic, and political development. Students should spend time investigating the idea of civil rights in broad general terms. This unit should include the consideration of the role of Kansas, Kansans, and Brown v Topeka Board of Education in advancing civil rights. Ideas ci

Kansas and a Modern World (1970s—present) In this unit, students should examine events leading up to the present and draw a contemporary picture of the state. Students should investigate how the state is positioned for the future, including an Seventh Grade Kansas History 2013 7 overview of the current state constitution. The bulk of their time should be spent reflecting on the state’s history, drawing conclusions about our past, present, and future. Ideas