Curriculum Standards for Social Studies
National Council for the Social Studies
Theme I: Culture
Standard A - The student compares similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures meet human needs and concerns.
Standard B - The student explains how information and experiences may be interpreted by people from diverse cultural perspectives and frames of reference.
Standard D - The student explains why individuals and groups respond differently to their physical and social environments and/or changes to them on the basis of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs.
- Standard E - The student articulates the implications of cultural diversity, as well as cohesion, within and across groups.
Theme II: Time, Continuity and Change
Standard B - The student identifies and uses key concepts such as chronology, causality, change, conflict, and complexity to explain, analyze, and show connections among patterns of historical change and continuity.
- Standard C - The student identifies and describes selected historical periods and patterns of change within and across cultures, such as the rise of civilizations, the development of transportation systems, the growth and breakdown of colonial systems, and others.
- Standard E - The student develops critical sensitivities such as empathy and skepticism regarding attitudes, values, and behaviors of people in different historical contexts.
Theme III: People, Places and Environments
- Standard A - The student elaborates mental maps of locales, regions, and the world that demonstrate understanding of relative location, direction, size, and shape.
- Standard H - The student examines, interprets, and analyzes physical and cultural patterns and their interactions, such as land uses, settlement patterns, cultural transmission of customs and ideas, and ecosystem changes.
Theme IV: Individual Development and Identity
Standard B - The student describes personal connections to places associated with community, nation, and world.
- Standard C - The student describes the ways family, gender, ethnicity, nationality, and institutional affiliations contribute to personal identity.
- Standard G - The student identifies and interprets examples of stereotyping, conformity, and altruism.
- Standard F - The student identifies and describes the influence of perception, attitudes, values, and beliefs on personal identity.
- Standard H - The student works independently and cooperatively to accomplish goals.
Theme V: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
Standard A - The student demonstrates an understanding of concepts such as role, status, and social class in describing the interactions of individuals and social groups.
Standard B - The student analyzes group and institutional influences on people, events, and elements of culture.
Standard C - The student describes the various forms institutions take and the interactions of people with institutions.
Standard D - The student identifies and analyzes examples of tensions between expressions of individuality and group or institutional efforts to promote social conformity.
Standard E - The student identifies and describes examples of tensions between belief systems and government policies and laws.
Standard G - The student applies knowledge of how groups and institutions work to meet individual needs and promote the common good.
Theme VI: Power, Authority and Governance
- Standard A - The student examines persistent issues involving the rights, roles, and status of the individual in relation to the general welfare.
- Standard C - The student analyzes and explains ideas and governmental mechanisms to meet wants and needs of citizens, regulate territory, manage conflict, and establish order and security.
- Standard H - The student explains and applies concepts such as power, role, status, justice, and influence to the examination of persistent issues and social problems.
- Standard I - The student gives examples and explains how governments attempt to achieve their stated ideals at home and abroad.
Theme IX: Global Connections
- Standard F - The student demonstrates understanding of concerns, standards, issues, and conflicts related to universal human rights.
Theme X: Civic Ideals and Practices
- Standard A - The student examines the origins and continuing influence of key ideals of the democratic republican form of government, such as individual human dignity, liberty, justice, equality, and the rule of law.
- Standard B - The student identifies and interprets sources and examples of the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
- Standard C - The student locates, accesses, analyzes, organizes, and applies information about selected public issues recognizing and explaining multiple points of view.
- Standard D - The student practices forms of civic discussion and participation consistent with the ideals of citizens in a democratic republic.
- Standard F - The student identifies and explains the roles of formal and informal political actors in influencing and shaping public policy and decision-making.
- Standard G - The student analyzes the influence of diverse forms of public opinion on the development of public policy and decision-making.
- Standard H - The student analyzes the effectiveness of selected public policies and citizen behaviors in realizing the stated ideals of a democratic republican form of government.
- Standard J - The student examines strategies designed to strengthen the "common good," which consider a range of options for citizen action.