Download Social Studies Curriculum 7th Grade

Bozeman Public Schools
Social Studies Curriculum
7th Grade
Essential Question(s): Who am I, how did I get here, and how will I proceed as an informed and
conscientious (productive) citizen of our world?
Essential Understandings: By the end of 7th grade, all students have explored the answers to the
following questions addressing World History from the Roman Empire through European Contact
with North America.
• What accounts for the rise and fall of societies/empires/civilizations?
• Why did people move and what were the consequences of these movements?
• What was the importance of such cities as Mecca, Medina, Baghdad, Cairo,
Constantinople/Istanbul, Jerusalem, X’ian, Venice, Genoa, and Rome as centers of international
trade and cosmopolitan culture.
• What were similarities and differences in society, economy, and political organization between
Europe, Africa, and Asia in relation to causes and consequences of productive growth,
commercialization, urbanization, and technological or scientific innovation?
• What was the importance of strong political, social, religious, and cultural leaders such as Queen
Elizabeth, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther, Pope Leo X, Galileo Galilee, Leonardo da Vinci,
Michelangelo, the Medici, Tang Taizhong, Genghis Khan, Justinian, Guttenberg, Hobbes, Locke,
and numerous explorers?
• What were major changes in world political boundaries between 300 and 1800 CE?
• What was the importance of Muslims and Muslim civilization in mediating long-distance
commercial, cultural, and intellectual exchange?
• What were patterns of social and cultural continuity in various societies and what were the ways
in which peoples maintained traditions, diffused new ideas, and resisted external challenges in a
changing world?
Essential Skills: Throughout 7th grade, students develop habits of historical thinking as they:
 Think chronologically by
• Interpreting data presented in timelines and by creating timelines to visualize parallels between
the eras and places we are studying
• Explaining continuity and change over time
• Placing major events/eras in World History in temporal order to gain an understanding that
although we are studying independent eras, much of what is happening historically is concurrent.
 Comprehend a variety of historical sources by
• Using various primary and secondary sources such as documents, photos, maps, charts and
graphs, cartoons, letters
• Identifying the literal meaning of a source (the facts)
• Identifying the historical perspective of the source.
 Engage in historical analysis and interpretation by
• Formulating questions to focus their inquiries and analyses
• Comparing and contrasting differing sets of ideas
• Considering multiple perspectives
• Explaining causes in historical actions including the role of individuals, the influence of ideas and
beliefs, and the role of the unexpected
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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Noticing patterns in history and relating the past to the present.
Conduct historical research by
Formulating questions
Obtaining and interrogating historical data
Presenting findings in a thoughtful manner.
Engage in historical issues-analysis and decision-making by
Identifying historical dilemmas and analyzing the interests and points of view of those involved
Evaluating alternative solutions and formulating a position
Identifying the solutions chosen in history and evaluating the consequences.
Recognize and develop the 13 Habits of Mind for historical thinking outlined by the National
Council for History Education.
Content Standards: The content standards, history, civics, geography, economics and
culture/diversity, represent five major strands within the overarching umbrella of social studies.
These five strands are interwoven to present social studies through the following eras:
• Roman Empire and Fall of Rome
• Byzantine Expansion and Fall
• Rise of Islam and Golden Age
• China’s Golden Ages (*ask Don about India and Japan)
• The European Middle Ages
• The High Middle Ages
• The Renaissance and Reformation
• The Scientific Revolution, Exploration, and Three Worlds Meet
• The Enlightenment
Process Standards: Process standards are embedded within the content standards of history, civics,
geography, history, economics and culture/diversity. These standards reflect student understanding of
how to access, synthesize, and evaluate information to communicate and apply social studies
knowledge to real world situations.
(H) History: Students demonstrate an understanding of the effects of time, continuity, and change on
historical and future perspectives and relationships.
Essential Questions:
• Historical Knowledge:
How is the past revealed, interpreted and understood?
What makes some historical interpretations better than others?
• Relevance:
How and why is the past relevant to me, my community, my nation and our world?
Can an individual change history or is history inevitable? (Why?)
• Conflict/Cooperation:
How do conflict and cooperation shape (benefit/destroy) societies?
In historical interactions, why do conflicts arise and how are they resolved?
• Perspective:
Whose story is it and how and why is it being told?
• Change/Continuity:
Which factor(s) in history caused the most significant change and why (ex: economics,
technology, politics, environment, etc.)?
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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H.1.0 The Roman Empire and the Fall of Rome (circa 1st century CE-5th Century CE): Students
understand that the fall of the Western Roman Empire was a slow decline due to the
decay of political, social, economic, and cultural systems, brought on in large part by the
expansion of the Roman Empire. Through subsequent invasions by nomadic tribes, the
western Roman Empire suffered a complete collapse.
H.1.1 Students identify the principal political ideas, cultural beliefs, and technologies that
the Roman Empire created/transmitted from its integration of cultures throughout the
Mediterranean and analyze why they are important to Americans today.
Example: 1. Students create a “What has Rome done for us poster?” in which they
present the major political, social, technological, and cultural traditions from
ancient Rome that have influenced American culture and government.
H.1.2 Students analyze various causes that historians have proposed to account for the
decline of the Roman Empire.
Example: 1. Students create a Fall of Rome dramatic production in which they act out
reasons for the fall of Rome.
H.2.0 The Byzantine Empire (5th-10th centuries CE): Students understand that the consolidation
of the Byzantine state after the breakup of the Roman Empire transmitted ancient
traditions and created a new Christian civilization.
H.2.1 Students analyze comparatively the collapse of the western part of the classical Roman
Empire and the survival of the eastern part.
H.2.2 Students explain how the Byzantine state withstood Arab Muslim attacks between the
7th and 10th centuries.
H.3.0 The Rise and Spread of Islam 7th-10th centuries CE): Students understand that the rise of
Islam as a new world religion and the subsequent Muslim empires encompassed an
immense part of the Eastern Hemisphere, and that the Islamic empires of this period
were the principal intermediary for the exchange of goods, ideas, and technologies
across the eastern hemisphere.
H.3.1 Students describe the life of Muhammad, the development of the early Muslim
community, and the basic teachings and practices of Islam.
H.3.2 Students explain how the Muslim community became divided into Sunnis and Shi’ites
and how this impacted the development and expansion of Muslim caliphs.
H.4.0 China’s Golden Ages (7th-11th centuries CE): Students understand that China’s sustained
political and cultural expansion in the Tang and Song period helped create a burst of
technological innovation, commercialization, and urbanization, which in turn created
economic and cultural diffusion that spread from China to Europe.
H.4.1 Students analyze the importance of the Silk Road and how it impacted cultures in
Europe and Asia.
Example: 1. Byzantine and Muslim Empires trade simulation game. 2. Cities of the
Silk Road research project.
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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H.4.2 Students analyze how long-distance communication and trade during the Mongol
empire led to cultural and technological diffusion across Eurasia.
H.5.0 The European Middle Ages (6th-11th centuries CE): The student understands that Europe
after the fall of the western Roman Empire was marginal to the dense centers of
population, production, and urban life of the Middle and Far East, and Europe’s own
internal struggles caused a transformation that made possible the rise of a new
civilization in Europe after 1000 CE.
H.5.1 Students analyze how the preservation of Greco-Roman and early Christian learning in
monasteries and convents and in Charlemagne’s royal court contributed to the
emergence of European civilization.
H.5.2 Students assess how Viking and Magyar migrations and invasions, as well as internal
conflicts, caused the emergence of independent lords and the knightly class.
H.6.0 The High Middle Ages (10th-15th centuries CE): The student understands that Western
and Central Europe emerged as a new center of Christian civilization, expanding in
agricultural production, population, commerce, and military might, and that powerful
European states presented a new challenge to Muslim dominance in the Mediterranean
world, while at the same time Europe was drawn more tightly into the commercial
economy and cultural interchange of the hemisphere.
H.6.1 Students analyze the causes and consequences of the European Crusades.
H.6.2 Students explain the origins and characteristics of the plague pandemic in the mid-14th
century.
H.6.3 Students analyze the demographic, economic, social, and political consequences of
Black Death and its impact on Europe, the Islamic world, and China.
H.6.4 Students analyze causes and consequences of the Hundred Years War and repeated
popular uprisings in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries.
H.7.0 The Renaissance and Reformation (14th-17th centuries CE): The student understands that
the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and Catholic Reformation all contributed to
the emergence of a new life and culture in Europe and that the Renaissance marked the
end of medieval thought and created a new intellectual movement that was marked by a
secularization and individuality.
H.7.1 Students examine the roots of the Renaissance and the connection between the rebirth
of classical (Greco-Roman) thought, the Crusades, and the decline of the Byzantine
Empire.
H.7.2 Students analyze the tenets of the Renaissance and its relationship to European
understanding of human beings (individualism, humanism, and emphasis on
classicism).
H.7.3 Students explain discontent among Europeans with the late medieval Church and
analyze the beliefs and ideas of the leading Protestant reformers.
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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H.7.4 Students analyze the social and intellectual significance of the printing press and
evaluate why it was the most significant invention of the period.
H.8.0 The Scientific Revolution, Exploration, and Three Worlds Meet (15th-18th centuries CE):
The student understands that during this time period Europeans came to exert greater
power and influence in the world at large than any people of a single region had ever
done before, and that European overseas expansion and settlements drew upon various
European traditions of law, religion, government, and culture. Additionally, the student
understands that European cultural encounters and exchanges had catastrophic impacts
on human societies, economies, and ecologies.
H.8.1 Students explain the development and significance of the “scientific method,” and
explain the importance of royal societies and other international networks in
disseminating scientific ideas and methods.
H.8.2 Students explain connections between the Scientific Revolution and the Renaissance
and Reformation.
H.8.3 Students assess how the acceleration of scientific and technological innovations in this
era affected social, economic, and cultural life in various parts of the world.
H.8.4 Students examine encounters between Europeans and peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa,
Asia, and the Americas in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
H.8.5 Students analyze why the introduction of new disease microorganisms in the Americas
after 1492 had such devastating demographic and social effects on American Indian
populations.
H.9.0 The Enlightenment (17th-19th centuries): The student understands that the history of
colonial America and the foundation of American political institutions and cultural
values depend upon a critical grasp of the European Enlightenment of this era.
H.9.1 Students explain principal ideas of the Enlightenment, including rationalism,
secularism, progress, toleration, empiricism, natural rights, contractual government,
and new theories of education.
H.9.2 Students explain connections between the Enlightenment, Roman republicanism, the
Renaissance, and the Scientific Revolution.
H.9.3 Students explain what brought states and peoples of European descent to the Americas
between the 16th and 18th centuries.
(C) Civics: Students analyze how people create and change structures of power, authority, and
governance to understand the operation of government and to demonstrate civic responsibility.
Essential Question(s):
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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Has the American experiment in democracy been successful?
What is the best relationship between a government and the people it governs?
Why do civic life, politics, and government exist and how does each fulfill human needs?
(Primary EQ: Why have a government?)
Why are some governments better than others?
What should be the role of the U.S. in world affairs and how do U.S. behaviors and actions affect
other nations and vice versa?
C.1.0 The Roman Empire and the Fall of Rome (circa 1st century CE-5th Century CE): Students
understand that the fall of the Western Roman Empire was a slow decline due to the
decay of the imperial system.
C.1.1 Students analyze Roman laws and political structure.
Example 1. Structure chart and Twelve Tables activity
C.1.1 Students analyze how the Roman military structure, imperial expansion, and governance
created political turmoil and were crucial components that led to its collapse.
C.2.0 The Byzantine Empire (5th-10th centuries CE): Students understand that the consolidation
of the Byzantine state after the breakup of the Roman Empire transmitted ancient
political traditions.
C.2.1 Students compare the political systems of Rome (Twelve Tables) to the codification of
law under Justinian.
C.2.2 Students assess the benefits of codification.
C.3.0 The Rise and Spread of Islam 7th-10th centuries CE): Students understand that the
Muslim empires encompassed an immense part of the Eastern Hemisphere, and that the
Islamic empires of the period became the principal intermediaries for the exchange of
goods, ideas, and technologies across the hemisphere.
C.3.1 Students analyze the sources and development of Islamic law and government and the
influence of law and religious practice on such areas as family life, moral behavior,
marriage, inheritance, and slavery.
C.4.0 China’s Golden Ages (7th-13th centuries CE): Students understand that the reorganization
of China politically during the Tang and Song period stimulated a Golden Age and that
the Mongol expansions of the 13th centuries connected China politically and
economically to much of the Eastern Hemisphere.
C.4.1 Students explain the major dynastic transitions in China and the importance of
Confucianism.
C.4.2 Students describe political centralization and economic reforms that marked China’s
reunification under the Song and Tang (Confusion governmental ideas—merit system)
dynasties.
C.4.3 Students assess the career of Genghis Khan as a conqueror and military innovator in
the context of Mongol society.
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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C.4.4 Students describe the Mongol conquests of 1206-1279 and assess their effects on
peoples of China, Russia, and Southwest Asia.
C.5.0 The European Middle Ages (6th-11th centuries CE): The student understands that Europe
after the fall of the western Roman Empire was marginal to the dense centers of
population, production, and urban life of the Middle and Far East, and Europe’s own
internal struggles caused a transformation that made possible the rise of a new
civilization in Europe after 1000 CE.
C.5.1 Students explain the development of the Merovingian and Carolingian states and
assess their success at maintaining public order and local defense in Western Europe.
C.5.2 Students examine the structure of feudalism and the growth of centralized monarchies
and city-states in Europe.
C.5.3 Students explain how royal officials such as counts and dukes transformed delegated
powers into hereditary, autonomous power over land and people in the 9th and 10th
centuries.
C.5.4 Students analyze the growth of papal power and the changing political relations
between the popes and the secular rulers of Europe.
C.6.0 The High Middle Ages (10th-15th centuries CE): The student understands that Western
and Central Europe emerged as a new center of civilization, and that powerful
European states presented a new challenge to Muslim dominance in the Mediterranean
world.
C.6.1 Students describe feudal lordship and explain how feudal relationships (including
inheritance laws and family alliances) provided a foundation of political order in parts
of Europe.
C.6.2 Students analyze how European monarchies expanded their power at the expense of
feudal lords and assess the growth and limitations of representative institutions in
these monarchies.
C.6.3 Students explain the changing political relationship between the Catholic Church and
secular states, and how the crises of the 14th century impacted the organization and
prestige of the Catholic Church.
C.6.4 Students assess the success of Christian states in overthrowing Muslim powers of
central and southern Iberia.
C.6.5 Students examine how prosperous city-states arose in Italy and northern Europe and
compare the political institutions of city-states with those of centralizing monarchies.
C.7.0 The Renaissance and Reformation (14th-17th centuries CE): The student understands that
the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and Catholic Reformation all contributed to
the emergence of new ways to look at political relationships in Europe.
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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C.7.1 Students analyze the significance of developments in medieval English legal and
constitutional practice and their importance for modern democratic thought and
institutions. (Magna Carta/English Bill of Rights)
C.8.0 The Scientific Revolution, Exploration, and Three Worlds Meet (15th-18th centuries CE):
The student understands that during this time period Europeans exerted greater power
and influence in the world than any other culture had previously in human history.
C.8.1 Students analyze the major economic and political features of European society, and in
particular of Spain and Portugal, that stimulated exploration and conquest overseas.
C.8.2 Students describe the political and military collision between the Spanish and the
Aztec and Inca empires and analyze why these empires collapsed.
C.8.3 Students explain the founding and organization of Spanish and Portuguese colonial
empires in the Americas and Southeast Asia and assess the role of the Catholic Church
in colonial administration and policies regarding indigenous populations.
C.9.0 The Enlightenment (17th-19th centuries): The student understands that the history of
colonial America and the foundation of American political institutions and cultural
values depends on a critical grasp of the European Enlightenment of this era.
C.9.1 Students describe ways in which Enlightenment thought contributed to reform of
church and state and assess the reform programs of absolutist monarchs of Central
Europe.
C.9.2 Students assess the impact of Enlightenment ideas on the development of American
democratic thought and institutions.
(G): Geography Students apply geographic knowledge and skills (e.g., location, place,
human/environment interactions, movement, and regions).
Essential Question(s):
• Where am I and how do I explain where I am? (need to wordsmith)
• How does place drive the decisions people make?
• How do people interact with their environments?
• What are the causes and effects of human movement?
• What makes places similar and different?
G.1.0 The Roman Empire and the Fall of Rome (circa 1st century CE-5th Century CE): Students
understand that the fall of the Western Roman Empire was a slow decline due to
imperial expansion and subsequent invasions by nomadic tribes.
G.1.1 Students examine the rise and spread of Christianity.
G.1.2 Students follow the expansion of the Roman Empire, including key cities, and the
geographic features that marked the edges of the Empire.
G.1.3 Students trace the migratory and military movements of pastoral nomadic peoples from
Central Asia and the Arabian Peninsula between the 4th and 5th centuries and analyze
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
Page 8 of 16
the consequences of these movements for empires and agrarian civilizations of
Eurasia.
G.2.0 The Byzantine Empire (5th-10th centuries CE): Students understand that the consolidation
of the Byzantine state after the breakup of the Roman Empire transmitted ancient
traditions and created a new Christian civilization.
G.2.1 Students analyze the strategic importance of Constantinople as a trade crossroads
between Europe and Asia.
G.2.2 Students follow the expansion of the Byzantine Empire including key cities, waterways,
and other geographic features.
G.3.0 The Rise and Spread of Islam 7th-10th centuries CE): Students understand that the rise of
Islam as a new world religion and the subsequent Muslim empires encompassed an
immense part of the Eastern Hemisphere, and that the Islamic empires of this period
became the principal intermediary for the exchange of goods, ideas, and technologies
across the hemisphere.
G.3.1 Students analyze how Islam spread in Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region.
G.3.2 Students analyze the networks that developed from Europe to the Far East. Example:
1. Byzantine and Muslim Empires trade simulation game.
G.4.0 China’s Golden Ages (7th-11th centuries CE): Students understand that China’s sustained
political and cultural expansion in the Tang and Song period helped create a burst of
technological innovation, commercialization, and urbanization that created economic
and cultural diffusion which spread from China to Europe.
G.4.1 Students analyze how China’s geography has offered isolation and protection of
Chinese culture.
G.4.2 Students analyze the networks that developed from Europe to the Far East, including
the Silk Road(s) and Silk Sea Route(s).
G.4.3 Students assess the reasons for the development of the Silk Sea Route and how its use
impacted coastal cities along its route.
G.5.0 The European Middle Ages (6th-11th centuries CE): The student understands that Europe
after the fall of the western Roman Empire was marginal to the dense centers of
population, production, and urban life of the Middle and Far East.
G.5.1 Students connect urbanization to established trade networks and the legacy of Roman
infrastructure.
G.5.2 Students explain the ways geography connected and created barriers between new
European societies.
G.6.0 The High Middle Ages (10th-15th centuries CE): The student understands that Western and
Central Europe was drawn more tightly into the commercial economy and cultural
interchange of the hemisphere.
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
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Updated February 3, 2010
G.6.1 Students analyze how the plague helps protect Europe from Mongol expansion.
G.6.2 Students trace the Black Death’s spread across Eurasia.
G.6.3 Students assess ways in which long-term climatic change contributed to Europe’s
economic and social crisis in the 14th century.
G.7.0 The Renaissance and Reformation (14th-17th centuries CE): The student understands that
the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and Catholic Reformation all contributed to
the emergence of a new life and culture in Europe.
G.7.1 Students trace the spread of Renaissance ideas from Middle East to Italy to Northern
and Western Europe.
G.8.0 The Scientific Revolution, Exploration, and Three Worlds Meet (15th-18th centuries CE):
The student understands that European overseas expansion, cultural encounters, and
exchanges resulted in catastrophic impacts on human societies, economies, and
ecologies.
G.8.1 Students assess the effects that knowledge of the peoples, geography, and natural
environment of the Americas had on European religious and intellectual life.
G.8.2 Students analyze how the Netherlands, England, and France became naval, commercial,
and political powers in the Atlantic basin.
G.8.3 Students assess the consequences of the worldwide exchange of flora, fauna, and
pathogens (Columbian Exchange).
G.9.0 The Enlightenment (17th-19th centuries): The student understands that the history of
colonial America and the foundation of American political institutions and cultural
values depends on a critical grasp of the European Enlightenment of this era.
G.9.1 Students define and compare four major types of European activity and control in the
Americas: large territorial empires, trading-post empires, plantation colonies, and
settler colonies.
(E): Economics Students make informed decisions based on an understanding of the economic
principles of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption.
Essential Questions:
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
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Why do people and nations trade?
How does something acquire value?
Note: Include in ELEs How do price and supply and demand influence each other? What are
markets and how do they work?
How do economic systems affect individuals, communities, societies and the world?
What role should government play in economic systems?
Which economic systems work best?
How does technology drive change?
Do the advantages of globalization outweigh the disadvantages?
E.1.0 The Roman Empire and the Fall of Rome (circa 1st century CE-5th Century CE): Students
understand that the fall of the Western Roman Empire was a slow decline due to the
decay of economic systems, brought on in large part by the expansion of the Roman
Empire.
E.1.1 Students examine the effects of inflation on the administration of the empire.
E.1.2 Students discover the ways in which emperors tried to manage inflation and the
collapse of monetary systems.
E.2.0 The Byzantine Empire (5th-10th centuries CE): Students understand that the consolidation
of the Byzantine state after the breakup of the Roman Empire transmitted ancient
traditions and created a new Christian civilization.
E.2.1 Students examine how Diocletian’s split of the empire transferred not only political
power, but also the empire’s economic wealth to Constantinople.
E.3.0 The Rise and Spread of Islam 7th-10th centuries CE): Students understand that the rise of
Islam as a new world religion and the subsequent Muslim empires encompassed an
immense part of the Eastern Hemisphere, and that the Islamic empire of the centuries
CE became the principal intermediary for the exchange of goods, ideas, and technologies
across the hemisphere.
E.3.1 Students explain the importance of Muslims and Muslim civilization in mediating
long-distance commercial, cultural, intellectual, and food crop exchange across
Eurasia.
E.3.2 Students explain how camel caravan transport facilitated long-distance trade across
Central Asia and the Sahara Desert.
E.3.3 Students analyze the networks that developed from Europe to the Far East.
Example: 1. Byzantine and Muslim Empires trade simulation game.
E.4.0 China’s Golden Ages (7th-11th centuries CE): Students understand that China’s sustained
political and cultural expansion in the Tang and Song period (7th-11th centuries CE) help
to create a burst of technological innovation, commercialization, and urbanization that
created economic and cultural diffusion which spread from China to Europe.
E.4.1 Students analyze the importance of the Silk Road and its economic impact on Europe,
the Middle East, and Far East.
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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Example: 1. Byzantine and Muslim Empires trade simulation game. 2. Cities of the
Silk Road research project.
H.4.2 Students analyze how long-distance trade during the Mongol empire impacted the
economies of Europe and Asia.
E.5.0 The European Middle Ages (6th-11th centuries CE): The student understands that Europe
after the fall of the western Roman Empire was marginal to the dense centers of
population, production, and urban life of the Middle and Far East, and Europe’s own
internal struggles caused a transformation that made possible the rise of a new
civilization in Europe after 1000 CE.
E.5.1 Students describe manorialism and serfdom as economic institutions of medieval
Europe.
E.6.0 The High Middle Ages (10th-15th centuries CE): The student understands that Western
and Central Europe emerged as a new center of Christian civilization, expanding in
agricultural production, population, commerce, and military might, and that powerful
European states presented a new challenge to Muslim dominance in the Mediterranean
world, while at the same time Europe was drawn more tightly into the commercial
economy and cultural interchange of the hemisphere.
E.6.1 Students analyze major changes in the agrarian and commercial economies of Europe
in the context of drastic population decline.
E.6.2 Students analyze the resurgence of centralized monarchies and economically powerful
city-states in Western Europe in the 15th century.
E.6.3 Students explain why new ports, manufacturing centers, merchant communities, and
long distant trade routes emerged during this time period.
E.6.4 Students analyze connections between population growth and increased agricultural
production and technological innovation and explain how urban growth was connected
to the expansion of manufacturing, trade, and a money economy in Europe.
E.7.0 The Renaissance and Reformation (14th-17th centuries CE): The student understands that
the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and Catholic Reformation all contributed to
the emergence of a new life and culture in Europe.
E.7.1 Students explain the connections between wealthy and powerful families in Italy’s
city-states (such as the Medici) and their patronage of Renaissance art.
E.7.2 Students explain the connections between the monarchy and aristocracy and
Renaissance culture in Northern and Western Europe.
E.8.0 The Scientific Revolution, Exploration, and Three Worlds Meet (15th-18th centuries CE):
The student understands that during this time period Europeans came to exert greater
power and influence in the world at large than any people of a single region had ever
done before.
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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E.8.1 Students explain major characteristics of the interregional trading system that linked
peoples of Africa, Asia, and Europe on the eve of the European overseas voyages.
E.8.2 Students explain how commercial sugar production spread from the Mediterranean to
the Americas and analyze why sugar, tobacco, and other crops grown in the Americas
became so important in the world economy.
E.8.3 Students explain the organization of long-distance trade in West and Central Africa
and analyze the circumstances under which African governments, elites, merchants,
and other groups participated in the sale of slaves to Europeans.
E.8.4 Students explain how European governments and firms organized and financed the
trans-Atlantic slave trade.
E.8.5 Students examine the ways in which entrepreneurs and colonial governments
exploited American Indian labor and why commercial agriculture came to rely
overwhelmingly on African slave labor.
E.9.0 The Enlightenment (17th-19th centuries): The student understands that the history of
colonial America with the foundation of American political institutions and cultural
values depends on a critical grasp of the European Enlightenment of this era.
E.9.1 Students describe the administrative system of the Spanish viceroyalties of Peru and
Mexico and analyze the importance of silver production and Indian agriculture in the
Spanish colonial economy.
(D): Culture & Diversity- Students demonstrate an understanding of the impact of human
interaction and cultural diversity on societies.
Essential Questions:
• What is culture, why is it important?
• Who should decide what “culture” and “cultured” are?
• Is there such a thing as cultural superiority? Why?
• How do cultural expressions (including literature, art, architecture, music, technology) shape
history?
• How does cultural diversity impact a society?
• What happens when cultures converge or collide?
• What is morality and ethics?
• Who are the heroes and villains and what do they reveal about a culture?
• In what ways do religion, beliefs, values and/or spirituality contribute to progress, regress, or
stagnation in society?
D.1.0 The Roman Empire and the Fall of Rome (circa 1st century CE-5th Century CE): Students
understand that the fall of the Western Roman Empire was a slow decline due to the
decay of social and cultural systems, brought on in large part by the expansion of the
Roman Empire. Through subsequent invasions by nomadic tribes, the Western Roman
Empire suffered a complete collapse.
D.1.1 Students explore how Roman society slowly collapsed due to changing attitudes
towards the government and empire.
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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D.1.2 Students examine how nomadic peoples transmitted Roman culture and resisted
Roman control.
D.2.0 The Byzantine Empire (5th-10th centuries CE): Students understand that the consolidation
of the Byzantine state after the breakup of the Roman Empire transmitted ancient
traditions and created a new Christian civilization.
D.2.1 Students evaluate the Byzantine role in preserving and transmitting ancient Greek
learning.
D.2.2 Students compare the differences that led to the schism between the Latin and Greek
churches in introducing Christianity and Christian culture to Eastern Europe.
D.3.0 The Rise and Spread of Islam 7th-10th centuries CE): Students understand that the rise of
Islam as a new world religion and the subsequent Muslim empires encompassed an
immense part of the Eastern Hemisphere, and that the Islamic empire of the centuries
CE became the principal intermediary for the exchange of goods, ideas, and technologies
across the hemisphere.
D.3.1 Students describe the cultural and social contributions of various ethnic and religious
communities, particularly the Christian and Jewish, in the Abbasid lands and Iberia.
D.3.2 Students explore Abbasid contributions to mathematics, science, medicine, literature,
and the preservation of Greek learning.
D.3.3 Students assess how Islam won converts among culturally diverse peoples across wide
areas of Afro-Eurasia.
D.4.0 China’s Golden Ages (7th-11th centuries CE): Students understand that China’s sustained
political and cultural expansion in the Tang and Song period (7th-11th centuries CE) help
to create a burst of technological innovation, commercialization, and urbanization that
created economic and cultural diffusion which spread from China to Europe.
D.4.1 Students evaluate creative achievements in the arts and technology in relation to the
values of Tang and Song society. (Printing press, the art of silk, inventions that are
integrated into Europe)
D.4.2 Students examine Chinese inventions and technology and evaluate their impact on the
cultures of Europe and Asia through their transmission on the Silk Road.
D.5.0 The European Middle Ages (6th-11th centuries CE): The student understands that Europe
after the fall of the western Roman Empire was marginal to the dense centers of
population, production, and urban life of the Middle and Far East, and Europe’s own
internal struggles caused a transformation that made possible the rise of a new
civilization in Europe after 1000 CE.
D.5.1 Students analyze the importance of monasteries and convents as centers of political
power, economic productivity, and communal life.
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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D.5.2 Students assess changes in the legal, social, and economic status of peasants in the 9th
and 10th centuries.
D.6.0 The High Middle Ages (10th-15th centuries CE): The student understands that Western
and Central Europe emerged as a new center of Christian civilization.
D.6.1 Students analyze ways in which ideals of chivalry and courtly love affected feudal
society.
D.6.2 Students describe the life of Jewish communities and their contributions to Europe’s
cultural and economic development.
D.6.3 Students analyze how the rise of schools and universities in Italy, France, and England
contributed to literacy, learning, and scientific advancement.
D.6.4 Students evaluate major works of art, architecture, and literature and analyze how they
shed light on values and attitudes in Christian society.
D.6.5 Students describe characteristics of the family and peasant society in early modern
Europe and explain changes in institutions of serfdom in eastern and Western Europe.
D.7.0 The Renaissance and Reformation (14th-17th centuries CE): The student understands that
the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and Catholic Reformation all contributed to
the emergence of a new life and culture in Europe and that the Renaissance marked the
end of medieval thought and created a new intellectual movement that was marked by a
secularization and individuality.
D.7.1 Students define humanism as it emerged in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries and
analyze how study of Greco-Roman antiquity and critical analysis of texts gave rise to
new forms of literature, philosophy, and education.
D.7.2 Students compare and contrast the ideas of the Renaissance between Italy and
Northern and Western Europe.
D.7.3 Students evaluate the aesthetic and cultural significance of major changes in the
techniques of painting, sculpture, literature, and architecture.
D.7.4 Students explain connections between the Italian Renaissance and the development of
humanist ideas in Europe north of the Alps.
D.7.5 Students evaluate major achievements in literature, music, painting, sculpture, and
architecture in 16th-century Europe.
D.8.0 The Scientific Revolution, Exploration, and Three Worlds Meet (15th-18th centuries CE):
The student understands that during this time period Europeans came to exert greater
power and influence in the world at large than any people of a single region had ever
done before, and that European overseas expansion and settlements drew upon various
European traditions of law, religion, government, and culture. Additionally, the student
understands that European cultural encounters and exchanges resulted in catastrophic
impacts on human societies, economies, and ecologies.
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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D.8.1 Students analyze the importance of discoveries in mathematics, physics, biology, and
chemistry for European society.
D.8.2 Students explain the cultural, religious, and scientific impact of astronomical
discoveries and innovations from Copernicus to Newton.
D.8.3 Students identify major technological developments in shipbuilding, navigation, and
naval warfare and trace the cultural origins of various innovations.
D.8.4 Students analyze the emergence of social hierarchies based on race and gender in the
Iberian, French, and British colonies in the Americas.
D.8.5 Students describe the conditions under which slaves made the “middle passage” from
Africa to the Americas.
D.9.0 The Enlightenment (17th-19th centuries): The student understands that the history of
colonial America with the foundation of American political institutions and cultural
values depends on a critical grasp of the European Enlightenment of this era.
D.9.1 Students explain how academies, salons, and popular publishing contributed to the
dissemination of Enlightenment ideas.
Bozeman Public Schools Social Studies Standards, Grade 7
Updated February 3, 2010
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