Download Social Studies Course - Sharon Public Schools

January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 1 of 27 pages
Overview of Social Studies Grades 6 – 12
History is furious debate informed by evidence and reason.
— James Loewen
In the Social Studies Department, teachers and students do what historians, psychologists, geographers,
sociologists, lawyers, economists, anthropologists, and archeologists do. We analyze, investigate, speculate,
argue, classify, compare, generalize, hypothesize, question, and debate. Most of our courses are historical in
nature. For us, studying history means asking questions, answering questions, testing and revising our
answers in an ongoing attempt to know who we are and to understand how we got here.
We are developing a curriculum for grades 6 through 12 that accomplishes what Harvard’s Howard Gardner
describes in The Unschooled Mind: "If responsible learning is to take place .... curriculum should be based
upon understanding and not upon thinly veiled ideology, isolated bits of knowledge, or rote, ritualized, or
conventional performances."
Genuine understanding of history comes from seeing events in the context of the times, through the eyes and
experiences of various contemporaries. Getting back into the minds of historical figures, asking questions
about what happened and why things happened, carefully weighing the evidence, critically examining
sources, wrestling with issues — all of these are the stuff of history. Memorizing someone else’s
interpretation is not a goal. Historian Tom Holt summarizes concisely: "History, then, becomes an ongoing
conversation and debate rather than a dry compilation of ‘facts’ and dates, a closed catechism, or a set of
questions already answered."
These are some questions Sharon students might ask or answer in a thought-provoking social studies
classroom:
• Did American colonists have the right to kill pursuing their freedom? Did slaves?
• Why did righteous, honorable people (like Washington and Jefferson) own slaves?
• Was FDR the greatest president? Was Reagan?
• Should the United States be the policeman of the world?
• Should we limit technological growth?
• To what extent is history driven by ideas, great individuals, economic factors, geography, or popular
movements?
• What does art tell about the civilization that creates it?
• How do news media, entertainment media, and the internet shape public opinion?
• What are the relationships between religions and governments?
• Why do civilizations flourish in certain environments?
Increasingly, our middle school and high school program places questions at the center of students’ work.
We want our history to be alive. We hope, as does Tom Holt, that students will be “active rather than
passive readers of historical narratives, thinking about what is not in the historians’ texts [or politicians’
speeches, or producers’ TV programs, or reporters’ newscasts ...] and how what is there got there. In the
end, perhaps they will be not only better students of history, but better, more critical thinkers and citizens.”
Thomas Jefferson surely had it right when he urged the teaching of political history so that Americans
might learn "how to judge for themselves what will secure or endanger their freedom."
Citizens who are their own historians, willing to identify lies and distortions and able to use sources
to determine what really went on in the past, become a formidable force for democracy.
— James Loewen
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 2 of 27 pages
The following teachers wrote or contributed to the development of
the Sharon Public Schools Secondary Social Studies Department
Curriculum Learning Standards:
Mara Ambrose; Steve Banno; Dan Blanchet; Fran Bourne; John Brande (Secondary Social Studies
Department Curriculum Coordinator, 1993 – 2006); Gregg Bruno; Angela Burgess; Chuck Fazzio;
Bill Fine; Nina Georges; Mara Georgi; Linda Kiley; Garland Kincaid; Patricia King; Charnay Kirsch;
Dorothy Macoritto; Courtnay Malcolm; Jen Martin; Ruthie Miller; Anna Mills; Linda Morse; Bernadette
Murphy; Rebecca Nickerson; Sean O’Reilly; Tanya Perkins; David Philips; Sally Richards; Nancy Selchan;
Minha Sheikh; Laura Smolcha; Michael Sullivan; Marybeth Walsh-Shinney; Jessie Winslow
World History I Outline
Topic
Introduction to Civilizations
(Economics Model, Eight Characteristics of a
Civilization, GREATS, River Civilizations,
Classical Civilizations)
Timeline
September (4 weeks)
Religion
(Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism,
Daoism, Islam)
October (4 weeks)
China
(Korea, Mongolia, Japan)
November (3 weeks)
Islamic Empire
(Government)
November/December
(3 weeks)
Byzantine Empire/Russia
January (by midyear exam) (3 weeks)
Africa
(West, East, North, South Kingdoms)
February (4 weeks)
Europe I
(Middle/High Ages)
March (4 weeks)
Europe II
(Renaissance/Reformation/Scientific Revolution)
April (4 weeks)
Exploration
May (1 week)
Absolutism/Enlightenment/French Revolution
May/June (4 weeks)
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 3 of 27 pages
World History I Overview
World History I is a survey course that offers an overview of world civilizations. We begin with an introduction to world geography and a review of early and classical human civilizations. We then learn the great
philosophies and religions of the world, including: Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. After studying Chinese history, we will study the Islamic empires, kingdoms of
Africa, Byzantine and Russian civilizations, Medieval Europe, the Renaissance and Reformation, and the
Enlightenment.
Learning in World History I involves student engagement in discussions and group work. Guest speakers
join classes during various units, such as China and Africa. In addition to textbook reading, students analyze various material artifacts of a culture such as art, literature, and architecture. Simulations help students
understand the broad concepts presented in class in a manner that makes history come to life.
The 9th grade World History I curriculum also helps students build useful skills. Students read and interpret
primary and secondary sources to decipher the pros and cons of historical events as well as the biases and
merits of these sources. Moreover, students develop skills in writing, organization, presentation, map interpretation, studying, and test taking.
Assessments of students’ knowledge and understanding include homework, quizzes, tests, essays, projects,
presentations, debates, and discussions.
Social Studies Course: World History I
Enduring Understandings About Introduction to Civilization
1. What do students need to understand?
 Each society goes through certain stages of growth and development to become a civilization.
 All civilizations share several key characteristics of infrastructure (the GREATS).
 Internal and external factors can have a positive or negative effect on the development of a
civilization.
 Societies form around sources of fresh water.
 Advanced civilizations become the dominant model influencing the development of other
surrounding civilizations.
 Stability, unity, and organization lead to technological advancements.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
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What are the characteristics that allow a society to develop into a civilization?
In what environments do civilizations flourish? Why?
What similarities allow a civilization to become advanced?
What role do the government, religion, economy, and military play in the lives of people within a
civilization?
 What purposes do art and architecture play in the development of a civilization?
 How does a civilization reach a point where it produces technical advances?
 What is the basis for the organization of society?
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 4 of 27 pages
Important Knowledge and Skills
 Aspects of a civilization that lead to a ‘Golden Age’
 The role of government, religion, economy, arts/architecture, technology and society in the
following civilizations: Persia, Greek City-States, Hellenistic Empire, Rome, India, Egypt,
Mesopotamia.
 Complex division of labor
 Formal education
 Surplus of goods
 Geographic location of selected civilizations
 Geographic features of early civilizations
 Organization of social class
 Social Pyramid
What are likely student misunderstandings?
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Early civilizations were not advanced.
The only ‘classical’ civilizations were the Greeks and Romans.
Democracy in ancient times is identical to modern day democracy.
Classical civilizations were always at war or always at peace.
What should students only be familiar with?
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Persia
Philip of Macedon
Eyes and ears of the lord
Alexander the Great
Cyrus the Great
Asoka
Polis
Carthage
Acropolis
Caesar
Parthenon
Democracy
Monarchy
Zoroastianism
Oligarchy
Empire
Theocracy
Republic
What will students do to demonstrate understanding?
1. Students groups of 4-5 will analyze the characteristics of pre-selected civilizations.
2. Groups will analyze the similarities and differences between these civilizations.
3. Based on the similarities between these civilizations, the students will synthesize a master list of
what any civilization needs to become successful and advanced.
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 5 of 27 pages
4. Finally, students will write a response to the following: “Using the United States as your model,
explain whether the Americans used the same steps to create a successful civilization. Use facts to
back-up your claims.”
Social Studies Course: World History I
Enduring Understandings About World Religions
1. What do students need to understand?
 Sociological thinking involves understanding human development through institutions. (e.g.
government, education, military, etc.)
 Religions can be understood from a sociological perspective. Religions serve five functions in
societies:
1. They explain the unexplainable. (Why am I here? What is my purpose? Why do bad/good
things happen? What happens when I die?)
2. They provide social control (through regulations and guidelines for proper behavior, e.g. The
Ten Commandments).
3. They provide psychological support (such as emotional comfort through funeral rights).
4. They provide social cohesion (unity).
5. They promote social change (e.g. when prophets or devout individuals use religion to
change aspects of society perceived as corrupt).
 Looking at religion from a sociological standpoint, religions have similarities.
 Throughout history, some leaders have used religion for non-religious and/or political purposes.
 No religions are homogeneous; there are subdivisions. People tend to view other religions as
unified, but they understand the divisions in their own. (out-group homogeneity bias)
Important Knowledge and Skills
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Universal
Ethnic
Cyclical
Linear
Enduring Understandings about Hinduism
1. What do students need to understand?
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Hinduism is a monistic faith. (one God with many forms)
There is no one single founder or single book.
It is an ethnic religion that was born in, and largely remains within, Indian communities.
In Hinduism, the function of social control is strong and rigid and that has resulted in a caste system
which contrasts with similar, but fluid, class systems.
 Hindus view life in a cyclical way involving reincarnation.
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 6 of 27 pages
 Hinduism is one of the most diverse and complex religions practiced today.
 Ignorance is considered a major sin. Education is highly valued.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
 Is Hinduism monistic?
 How is reincarnation related to the caste system?
 How are karma, dharma, and samsara related?
Important Knowledge and Skills
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Hindu
Hinduism
Aryan
Monistic
Karma
Dharma
Samsara (reincarnation)
Moksha (release)
Mahabharata
Bhagavad Gita
Vedas
Brahma
Vishnu (Krishna)
Shiva
Ahimsa (non-violence)
What are likely student misunderstandings?
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Hinduism is polytheistic.
Monotheism and monism and the same.
All Hindus are idol-worshippers.
All Hindus wear turbans.
Hindus worship cows.
All Hindu women wear bindis.
The government supports the caste system. (i.e. it is legal in India today.)
What should students only be familiar with?
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Sikhism
Jainism
Ganesh
Ganges
Yoga
Yogi
What will students do to demonstrate their understanding?
1. Analyze the reading on one God vs. many gods.
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 7 of 27 pages
2. Evaluate thesis of the article connecting caste system to present quota system in India and affirmative
action in the U.S.
Enduring Understandings about Buddhism
1. What do students need to understand?
 Buddhism is a transcendental idealism/ethicalism. (i.e. it has a set of principles that are sacred vs. a
deity/place. It is not monotheistic, monistic or polytheistic.)
 Buddhism grew out of pre-existing Hindu tradition and created some of its own new traditions.
 Buddhism is a universal religion and spread to East Asia and beyond through the missionary zeal of
monks and nuns.
 The Theravada sect considers Buddha as a teacher while the Mahayana sect considers him to be a
God.
 Buddhism has had a larger impact outside of India than within India.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
 What is appealing about Buddhism, especially to Hindus?
 What is the relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism?
 What led Buddha to create Buddhism?
Important Knowledge and Skills
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Buddha
“The Enlightened Path”
Nirvana
Tripitaka
Four Noble Truths
Eightfold Path
Theravada
Mahayana
meditation
What are likely student misunderstandings?
 The Buddha was fat.
 All Buddhists do yoga and meditate.
 Buddhism is not a major religion around the world.
What should students only be familiar with?
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Siddhartha Gautama
Zen Buddhism
Bodhissatva
Dalai Lama
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 8 of 27 pages
What will students do to demonstrate their understanding?
1. Analyze the thesis in the article “Connecting to Today – Response to Materialism.”
Enduring Understandings About Judaism
1. What do students need to understand?
 Judaism is the first major monotheistic religion. (In Ancient Egypt & Persia, monotheistic beliefs
also existed, but they did not have the impact that Judaism had on the world.)
 Judaism is a foundation for Christianity and Islam.
 Judaism is an elective monotheistic faith.
 Judaism does not actively proselytize.
 Jews are a very small minority of the world’s population, only about 20 - 25 million.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
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In what ways is Judaism different from other beliefs at the time?
How has Judaism made a lasting impact on the world?
How did the Kingdom of Israel divide?
Why was the Ancient Kingdom of Israel conquered by outsiders?
What led to the diaspora, and what is its impact on Jewish people today?
Important Knowledge and Skills
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Monotheism
Chosen People
Covenant
Prophet
Ethics
Diaspora
Torah
Canaan
Jerusalem
Genesis
Israel
Messiah
Philistines
Abraham
Moses
Ten Commandments
Twelve Tribes
What are likely student misunderstandings?
 Jews have as many followers as Christianity and Islam.
 All Jews have the same beliefs and customs.
 Judaism is an exclusive religion.
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 9 of 27 pages
What should students only be familiar with?
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David
Solomon
Nebuchadnezzar
Cyrus the Great
Kosher
Rabbi
What will students do to demonstrate their understanding?
1. Chart and compare the differences and similarities regarding beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam.
Enduring Understandings about Christianity
1. What do students need to understand?
 Despite Christians’ historical record, the message of Christianity is one of peace.
 The Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament (Gospel of Jesus) form the Christian Bible.
 Jesus Christ was a real person, a Jew who preached reform. The disciples of Jesus established
Christianity based on their accounts of Jesus’ life and his teachings.
 Christians accept the divinity of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and they look forward to the Day of
Judgment.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
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How did Christianity develop into a religion?
What about Jesus and his teachings appealed to people?
Why did the apostles abandon their lives to follow Jesus?
Was Jesus a product of the time in which he lived?
Important Knowledge and Skills
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Afterlife/Heaven
Jesus
Mary
Paul
Peter
Bible
Old Testament
New Testament
Nicene Creed
Messiah
Martyr
Pope
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 10 of 27 pages
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Edict of Milan
Jerusalem
Crucifixion
Resurrection
What are likely student misunderstandings?
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All Christians are Catholics.
The Pope speaks for all Christians.
All individual Christians act like missionaries and want to convert you.
Most Christians are white Europeans or Americans.
What should students only be familiar with?
 Gentile
 Judas
 Pontius Pilate
What will students do to demonstrate their understanding?
1. Analyze readings from Kishlansky, Sources of the West.
2. Write personal evaluations of St. Paul’s Epistles.
3. Compare the Nicene Creed to other religious statements.
4. Chart and compare the differences and similarities regarding beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam.
Enduring Understandings about Islam
1. What do students need to understand?
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The majority of Muslims are guided by The Five Pillars.
Islam is directly linked to Judaism and Christianity through Abraham.
Muslims accept some of the teachings of Judaism and Christianity.
Muhammad was a prophet, not divine.
Jihad means struggle and can be interpreted in many ways.
Islam began in the Middle East and spread rapidly through Asia and Africa.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
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How is Islam similar to or different from Judaism and Christianity?
How do the five pillars shape the lives of believers?
What caused the division in Islam?
How did Islam adopt/adapt to the cultural traditions of the places it spread to?
Why were there so many willing converts to Islam?
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 11 of 27 pages
Important Knowledge and Skills
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Mecca
Medina
Jerusalem
Five Pillars
Hijra
Caliph
Mosque
Sunni
Shia
Sufi
Quran
Sharia
People of the Book/Abrahamic
What are likely student misunderstandings?
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The Quran encourages killing innocent people in the name of God.
Jihad means war.
All Muslims are Arabs and all Arabs are Muslims.
Muslims worship Muhammad.
The majority of Muslims live in the Middle East.
All Muslims follow the Five Pillars to the letter.
Islam denigrates women.
What should students only be familiar with?
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Gabriel
Bedouins
Abu Talib
Women of Islam: Khadija, Fatima, Aisha
Hadith
Sharia
Imam
Abu Bakr
Ali
Minaret
What will students do to demonstrate their understanding?
1. Analyze readings from Kishlansky, Sources of the West.
2. Chart and compare the differences and similarities regarding beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam.
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 12 of 27 pages
Social Studies Course: World History I
Enduring Understandings about East Asia
1. What do students need to understand?
 Lack of stability, unity and organization in a region generally lead to the growth of religion and
philosophy.
 The geography of an area shapes the GREATS of the civilization found in that region.
 Several factors such as geographical resources/location, technological advancements, philosophies
and political beliefs can combine to allow a nation to be isolated and self-sufficient.
 Stability, unity and organization lead to the advancement of a civilization (especially in the field of
technology).
 Trading results in cultural diffusion.
 Governments attempt to create a systematized bureaucracy to ensure stability, unity and
organization.
 Dominant groups seek to subordinate others to keep power; the self-fulfilling prophecy helps explain
this phenomenon.
 There is a cyclical nature in the rise and fall of governments.
 Urbanization and agricultural advancements increase the size and population of a country.
 Governments struggle to meet the needs of a large and diverse population.
 Religion and government at times have a symbiotic relationship.
 Complacency can lead to a lack of innovation, which in turn can cause a civilization’s progress to
stagnate.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
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How did geography affect the GREATS of China, Korea and Japan?
In what ways did Chinese dynasties seek to provide and maintain stability, unity and organization?
Is China predisposed to autocratic governments due to its size and immense population?
Why do civilizations trade? What are the different impacts of that trade?
Why were China and Japan able to close off their ports to foreign trade for several centuries?
Why did China and Japan choose isolation? What are some possible negative impacts?
How do governments control information? For what purpose do governments do this?
What do some cultural traditions such as foot binding suggest about power within a society?
In what ways did East Asian infrastructures meet the needs of their people? How was this
accomplished?
How does the dynastic cycle justify the rise and fall and Chinese dynasties?
What is the relationship between religion and government?
To what extent is Japanese culture innovative, as opposed to being a copy of Chinese culture?
How do Confucianism and the role of family lead to heirarchy and structure in East Asia?
How do commerce and agricultural advancements often lead to urbanization?
What is the relationship between feudalism and a militaristic government?
How was Korea a bridge between China and Japan?
Important Knowledge and Skills
 Chinese Dynasties
 Cultural Diffusion
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 13 of 27 pages
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Silk Road
Foot binding
Shi Huangdi
Mongol Invasion
Confucianism
Zhongguo (Middle Kingdom)
Daoism
Civil Service Exams
Legalism
Huang He
Mandate of Heaven
Yangtze River
Dynastic Cycle
Great Wall of China
Song Dynasty
Shogun
Filial Piety
Shogunate
Shinto
Hangul
Kana
Zen Buddhism
Feudalism
What should students only be familiar with?
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Shang Dynasty
Archipelago
Haiku
Qin Dynasty
4 major islands of Japan
Zhou Dynasty
Celedon
Ming Dynasty
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Han Dynasty
Amaterasu
Sui Dynasty
Kami
Qing Dynasty
Tale of Genji
Yuan Dynasty
Muraski Shikaibu
Tang Dynasty
Kabuki
What will be likely student misunderstandings?
 There are no minority groups in China.
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 14 of 27 pages
 All Chinese wear silk.
 All Asians are good at math.
 All Asians are experts in martial arts.
What will students do to demonstrate their knowledge?
1. Create and analyze a timeline of Chinese dynasties.
2. Create maps of China, Korea, and Japan and analyze the impact of their geographical features on
their history.
3. Examine the connection between philosophy and government through and interactive assignment on
the impact of philosophy on government policy.
4. Develop a graphic organizer comparing China, Japan and Korea.
5. Write a cogent essay comparing Japan and China.
6. Students will analyze the impact of cultural diffusion through learning about the Silk Road.
7. Students will participate in an activity on the voyages of Zheng He to understand why China was
able to close its ports and become isolated.
8. Students will analyze various primary sources.
Social Studies Course: World History I
Enduring Understandings About Africa
1. What do students need to understand?
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A region’s geography and environment shapes its civilizations’ histories.
Various factors influence the development of “culture.”
Africa was extraordinarily diverse.
Monotheistic faiths had a substantial impact on African history.
Several African civilizations created empires and became advanced before contact with Europeans.
African civilizations had existing trade networks pre-European contact.
There were religions in existence in Africa before contact with outside cultures.
The unit of family organization shaped African civilizations.
The trans-Atlantic slave trade an enormous on both Africa and outside countries.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
 What is the impact of environment and geography on history?
 How can modifications to the environment lead to the collapse of a state?
 What were the African continent’s early religions, and to what extent has religion caused a conflict
in Africa? How did contact with other cultures alter them?
 Did African diversity hinder African unity?
 How were African families organized, and how did other societies influence their structures?
 What differences emerged between the different African empires?
 What environmental factors led to the development of Swahili culture?
 What evidence is there to support the notion that Africa was home to several advanced civilizations
before European contact?
 Did African cultures have pre-existing international trade before contact with Europe?
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 15 of 27 pages
Important Knowledge and Skills
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Matrilineal society
Maghreb
Clans
Sub-Saharan Africa
Mansa Musa
Swahili coast
Savannah
Desert
Highlands
Great Rift Valley
Mali
Kush
Songhai
Meroe
Ethiopia
Great Zimbabwe
Timbuktu
Axum
Sundiata
Askia Muhammad
Griot
Ghana
Desertification
Slash and burn
Geography:
• Location of cities
• Elevation
• Climate/rainfall
• Resources
What are likely student misunderstandings?
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Africa is a country.
Europeans have controlled Africa from the start.
Africa is smaller than the US.
Africans are all the same.
Africa has no culture of its own.
What should students only be familiar with?
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Sunni Ali
Makeda (Queen of Sheeba)
Lalibela
Ezana
Ibn Battuta
Mali means, “Where the king lives.”
Ghana means, “war chief.”
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 16 of 27 pages
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Soninke
Mande/Mandinke
Shona
Mwene Mutapa
King Affonso
Shaka Zulu
What will students do to demonstrate their understanding?
1. Map assignment emphasizing Africa’s resource base and the influence of geography on cultures.
2. Comparative map assignment on geographical features to determine the impact geography and climate
had on shaping African society.
3. Analysis of folktales to illustrate the diversity between African civilizations.
4. Analysis of African artifacts and architecture to prove Africans created advance civilization.
5. Students will simulate decisions made by Africans involved in the slave trade.
6. Students will write an essay on the connection between geography and African civilizations.
Social Studies Course: World History I
Enduring Understandings About Early Middle Ages (Part I)
What do students need to understand?
 Religion and Government sometimes compete for control of their followers.
 Without centralized government large landowners often take control over the people on their land
and surrounding.
 Religion is sometimes used as an instrument to control people’s behavior and to achieve or increase
political/secular power.
 The manor economy and feudalism provided a measure of political, economic, and social order.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
 How did the movement of people hinder European unity during the Middle Ages?
 What was the impact of foreign invasion on the development of European civilization?
 How did feudalism and the manor economy provide a measure of political, economic and social
order?
 In what ways did the Church take over and maintain the functions of the state after the fall of Rome?
 Did the conflict with Islam during the crusades contribute to the development of European
nationalism?
 What new technologies sparked a revolution in agriculture and commerce? How did the revolution
affect society?
 What was the effect of propaganda on the crusades? (Christian or Muslim)
 What was the status of women during the early Middle Ages?
 What were early reform movements within the church?
 How was the system of Feudalism the beginning of private property?
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 17 of 27 pages
Important Knowledge & Skills
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Feudalism
Guild
Usury
Three-field agriculture
Apprentice
Monasteries
Cluny
Excommunication
Secular
Interdict
Canon Law
Indulgence
Heresy
Tithe
Sacraments
Anti-semitism
Charter
Treaty of Verdun
Capital
Vikings
What are likely student misunderstandings?
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Europe was insignificant and unimportant during the Middle Ages.
Countries already existed.
All women were treated like queens.
All women were mistreated.
No woman could read or write.
Life was like a renaissance fair.
Catholic Church was unchanging.
All countries had well-developed currency.
Muslims were the “bad guys” during the crusades.
Crusades were one battle and the Christians won.
What should students only be familiar with?
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Monastery life
Saladin
Troubadours
Clovis
Chivalry
Crusades
Invasions of Europe
Purgatory
Empire of Charlemagne
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Clovis’ wife
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 18 of 27 pages
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Hildegard
Political marriages
Beguines
Knighthood/heraldry/ tournaments
Trade routes in Medieval Europe
Charlemagne
What will students do to demonstrate their understanding?
1. In discussions and individually written essays, after reading an article on contemporary extremists,
students will assess whether or not the motivation of modern day extremists is similar to the
motivation of the crusaders.
2. By writing a charter that properly incorporates all levels of the Economic Model to create a town,
students will explain how Europe developed from the circle of survival to the circle of advances.
3. Through a role-play, students will understand the hierarchy of feudal society. They will assume
appropriate roles and treat the classroom as a medieval society, including all three estates.
4. Students will read excerpts from literature of the time to assess whether or not Europe was in the
“Dark Ages.”
5. Through a role play students will recreate monastic life to understand the control of the church over
people and their secular function.
6. Create a map of Europe showing invasions and the growth of towns and cities.
Social Studies Course: World History I
Enduring Understandings About the Byzantine Empire and Russia
1. What do students need to understand?
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Laws evolve in the same way, even among different societies.
The Byzantine Empire preserved the cultural and political heritage of the Roman Empire.
Globalization, as a function of trade, has deep roots leading to the present.
A new branch of Christianity, Orthodoxy, developed in Greece and Russia.
Rulers of Moscow built a powerful Russian state.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
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Why did a divergent branch of Christianity develop in the Byzantine Empire?
What caused the Roman Empire to fall in the West and the Byzantine Empire to prosper in the East?
What role did Theodora play in changing the status of women?
What factors determine the selection of religion by a head of state? What impact does this have on a
civilization’s GREATS?
Why was Constantinople a strategic capital city politically and culturally?
How did the Byzantine Empire preserve Rome’s political and cultural heritage?
Why did a new form of Christianity emerge in Russia and the Byzantine Empire?
How did Moscow’s rulers lay the foundation for an autocratic Russian state?
What was the relationship between the Islamic Empire and the Byzantine Empire?
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 19 of 27 pages
Important Knowledge and Skills
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Justinian
Theodora
Constantine
Justinian’s Code
Bosporus
Autocrat
Schism
Icon
Orthodox
Cyrillic alphabet
Patriarch
Czar
Romanov
Hagia-Sophia
Constantinople
What are likely student misunderstandings?
 The “Dark Ages” featured no lasting and important new achievements.
 Eastern Orthodox practitioners are not Christians.
What should students only be familiar with?
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Golden Horde
Boyars
Architecture
Ivan III and IV
Constantinople/Byzantium/Istanbul controversy
Cyril and Mehtodious
Location of seven patriarchs
Mosaics
What will students do to demonstrate their understanding?
1. Students will create political cartoons on why Rome fell.
2. Student will examine mosaics and explain the connection between art and history: How do political
leaders utilize art as propaganda?
3. A map activity will examine the effects of geography on Constantinople’s world position.
4. Students will compare the art and architecture of Russia to the Byzantine Empire.
Social Studies Course: World History I
Enduring Understandings About the Islamic Empire
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 20 of 27 pages
1. What do students need to understand?
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Islam spread through Asia, Southern and Western Europe, and North Africa.
Islam spread for a variety of reasons.
Islam split into two major sects.
Religion became a tool for political leaders to unite their diverse populations.
Muslim civilization created links between three continents created cultural diffusion among these
areas.
 Muslim civilization preserved, improved and innovated on previous academic achievements.
 The spread of religions sometimes clashes with pre-existing cultural traditions.
 The various Islamic Empires had a large impact on the modern day world.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
 How did Islam spread rapidly over such a wide area?
 What divisions emerged within Islam?
 Was Islam the most important factor in maintaining unity among the diverse peoples of the Islamic
Empire?
 What are the causes and effects of the trade network created by the Muslim world?
 What knowledge did they inherit and improve?
 In what ways did the Islamic Empire assimilate different peoples? In what ways did conquered
peoples resist assimilation?
 What modern day legacies are a result of the Ottoman and the Savafid Empires?
 What were the causes for the rise and fall of the various Islamic Empire?
 What conditions allowed Muslim civilizations to achieve such impressive accomplishments?
 How did Europe view Muslim empires from 700 to 1683?
 How did Muslim and Hindu traditions clash and blend?
 How did the Islamic religion influence art and architecture?
Important Knowledge and Skills
Abbasids
Umayyads
Savafids
Mughals
Mehmet
Caliph
Shah Abbas
Harun al Rashid
Moors
Sunni/Shia
al-Andlus
Ali
Janissaries
al-Khwarizmi
Averroes
Avicenna
irdu
Akbar
Sikhism
Mecca
Medina
Baghdad (House of Wisdom)
Delhi
What are likely student misunderstandings?
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Islam spread by only by force. Everyone was forced to convert to Islam.
It is small and practiced only in the Middle East.
Only Arabs were Muslims.
Indians are all Hindus.
Rulers of all dynasties were harsh and autocratic.
Empires did not have advance technology.
All Muslims lived in the desert. All were nomads.
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 21 of 27 pages
What should students only be familiar with?
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Aurangzeb
Taj Mahal
Millets
Mongols
Seljuks
Rubiyyat
Dome of the Rock
What will students do to demonstrate understanding?
1.Timeline and map of the rise and fall of various Islamic Empire.
2. Stations activity on Muslim achievements.
3. Compare and contrast two Muslim rulers of India.
4. Compare and contrast Ottoman and Savafid empires.
Social Studies Course: World History I
Enduring Understandings about the High Middle Ages
1. What do students need to understand?
 Strong leaders built the foundations of strong national governments.
 The increased cultural contact between Europeans and other cultures had both positive and negative
effects.
 The revival of trade and the growth of towns put Europe on the path to modernity.
 Catastrophic events like the Bubonic Plague have a profound effect on the GREATS of a civilization.
2. What are the key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
 What are the causes of the Crusades? How did the Crusades impact Europe and the Islamic Empires?
 How did Christian scholars try to fit the learning of Ancient Greece and the Arab world into their own
system of belief?
 What was the effect of propaganda on the Crusades?
 Did the Hundred Years’ War and the conflict with Islam during the Crusades contribute to the
development of European nationalism?
 Why did England and France become nations before Italy and Germany?
 What was the impact of the Black Death on the GREATS of Europe?
 Did the status of women change from the Early to the High Middle Ages?
Important Knowledge and Skills
Indulgence
Common Law
Jury
Parliament
Magna Carta
Habeas Corpus
Bubonic Plague
Crusades
Holy Roman Empire
January 2006 / Social Studies 9th Grade Materials Based on Understanding By Design / page 22 of 27 pages
William the Conqueror
Estates General
Vernacular
Theology
Thomas Aquinas
Scholasticism
Hundred Years’ War
Joan of Arc
What are likely student misunderstandings?
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Muslims were the bad guys during the Crusades.
The Crusades were one battle and the Christians won.
Everyone died from the Black Death.
All the Middle Ages were the same.
Europeans created all modern-day achievements.
What should students only be familiar with?
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Dante
Chaucer
Kings of England and France
Gothic
Romanesque
Christine de Pizan
What will students do to demonstrate their understanding?
1. Students will research and discuss the role of kings in increasing or decreasing royal power and use
this knowledge to advise a modern-day leader seeking to stabilize his or her state.
2. Students will compare and contrast the Estates General and Parliament and predict the impact these
institutions will have on their respective countries.
3. After reading both an article on contemporary extremists and Pope Urban II’s speech calling for the
Crusades, students will assess whether or not the motivation of modern day extremists is similar to
the motivation of the Crusades.
4. Students will participate in a demonstration of the connection between increased mobility and trade
and the spread of the Black Death.
Social Studies Course: World History I
Enduring Understandings About the Renaissance and Reformation
1. What do students need to understand?
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A unique confluence of events allowed the Renaissance to develop in Italy.
Europeans benefited from the advancements of other civilizations in order to surpass them.
Internal Church factors as well as external factors resulted in a successful reform movement.
The infancy of nationalism was tied to the Church.
2. What are key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
 What were the internal and external factors that created the Renaissance?
January 2006 Draft / Social Studies 9th Grade Curriculum Based on Understanding By Design / page 23 of 27
 What factors allowed the Renaissance to spread north?
 What civilizations influenced Europe’s knowledge base? How did the rediscovery of classical
models influence the Renaissance?
 In what ways was the Renaissance actually an innovation compared to earlier models?
 How did the shifting focus from the after life to the here and now impact European society?
 Why did Martin Luther’s protest succeed where previous attempts failed?
 How did political leaders utilize the Reformation to consolidate their own power?
 What was the Catholic Church’s response?
 How and why did the Reformation lead to conflict between emerging political powers?
 What makes Protestantism different from Catholicism?
Important Knowledge and Skills
Nicolo Machiavelli
Leonardo de Vinci
Raphael
Shakespeare
Johannes Gutenberg
Martin Luther
John Calvin
Humanism
Perspective
Patrons
Indulgences
Breugel
Rubens
Van Eyck
Cervantes
Erasmus
Difference between Protestant & Catholic
Jesuits
Henry VIII
Elizabeth I
Reformation
What are likely student misunderstandings?
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The Greeks and Romans were the only influences on the Renaissance.
The Renaissance only took place in Italy and only involved painting and sculpture.
The printing press was in Europe before the Renaissance.
Martin Luther is the same as Martin Luther King Jr.
There were no powerful female monarchs.
Catholics did not react to the Reformation.
All Europeans were Catholic at the time of the Reformation.
Martin Luther was the first to call for reform of the Church.
What should students only be familiar with?
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De Medici
Anglican Church
Erasmus
Presbyterian
Thomas More
Anabaptist
Predestination
Lutherans / 95 Theses
Calvinism
30 Years War
Council of Trent
Inquisition
January 2006 Draft / Social Studies 9th Grade Curriculum Based on Understanding By Design / page 24 of 27
What will students do to demonstrate understanding?
 Students will create a cause and effect chart on the Renaissance.
 Students will create maps identifying the locations that influenced the Renaissance and the spread of
the Renaissance throughout Europe.
 Students will analyze art and be able to identify characteristics of Renaissance art.
 Students will take part in a simulation about corruption and power to further their understanding of
the choices faced by the key participants in the Reformation.
 Students will be able to identify the European political leaders who joined the Protestant
Reformation and those that remained Catholic.
 Students will read and analyze primary source documents including but not limited to some of the
following: The Prince and Elizabeth I speech.
Social Studies Course: World History I
Enduring Understandings About the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment
1. What do students need to understand?
 The Scientific Revolution was a natural outgrowth of the Renaissance, Reformation
and Age of Exploration.
 The Scientific Revolution dramatically transformed the way people view and
understand the physical world.
 The Scientific Revolution allowed for advances that provided Europe with the means
to increase its hegemony over the world.
 The application of the scientific method to politics, economics and social life led to
the Enlightenment.
 The Enlightenment contributed to the growth of democratic principles with a stress on
reason and a belief in progress.
2. What are the key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
 Why is the Enlightenment also called the Age of Reason?
 Did the Renaissance, Reformation and Age of Exploration cause the Scientific
Revolution? What evidence supports or refutes this notion?
 Who were the key figures of the Scientific Revolution and what were their
accomplishments? Which figure/accomplishment was the most significant? Why?
 What were some of the advances that began to make Europe the most modern society
in the world?
 Why was Galileo persecuted, whereas Kepler and Newton were not?
 What role did government and religious institutions play in the formation of
Enlightenment principles?
 How was the Enlightenment an outgrowth of the Scientific Revolution?
 How did the Enlightenment change the way people related to each other as well as to
the government?
 What forms of government did the philosophes believe were ideal?
 Where are Enlightenment principles seen in modern day governments?
January 2006 Draft / Social Studies 9th Grade Curriculum Based on Understanding By Design / page 25 of 27
 How did the Enlightenment challenge the traditional European order? (Society,
Government, Economy)
Important Knowledge and Skills
Scientific Method
Nikolas Copernicus
Roger Bacon
Renee Descartes
Johannes Kepler
Voltaire
Mary Wallstonecraft
Tycho Brahe
Galileo Galilee
Heliocentric Theory
Ptolemaic/Geocentric Theory
Social Contract
Natural Rights
Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
J.J. Rousseau
Baron de Montesquieu
Denis Diderot
Natural Laws
What are likely student misunderstandings?
 Europeans came up with the ideas of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment
independent of non-European sources.
 The Enlightenment is not based on science.
 The Enlightenment thinkers advocated for complete democracy.
 Enlightenment thinkers believed in gender and class equality.
 Bacon was a food.
 Galileo invented gravity.
What should students only be familiar with?
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Adam Smith
Enlightened Despots
Salons
On the Spirit of the Laws
Two Treatises of Government
Leviathan
Social Contract
What will students do to demonstrate their understanding?
1. Students will analyze selected primary sources and identify Enlightenment thinking in major
documents including the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
2. Students will be able to properly identify the thinkers with the ideas or theories they proposed.
3. Compare existing governments to the ones proposed by Enlightenment philosophes.
4. Students will complete graphic organizers to show the relation between the scientists and their
discoveries.
Social Studies Course: World History I
Enduring Understandings About the Beginning of the Global Age and Absolutism
1. What do students need to understand?
January 2006 Draft / Social Studies 9th Grade Curriculum Based on Understanding By Design / page 26 of 27
 An increase in trade drove European Nations to explore in order to create new markets and obtain
raw materials.
 The Age of Exploration led to a global economy.
 The Inca, Aztecs and Maya each created advanced civilizations in the Americas before European
contact.
 The Age of Exploration dramatically altered existing societies in the Americas.
 The Age of Exploration had a lasting impact on dominantly held European beliefs.
 The new global economy led to changes in social and economic practices.
 Governments profit from this trade allowed them to consolidate their power.
 Institutions such as Parliament played a key role in countries becoming absolutist.
 Individual rulers can have a profound impact on shaping their nation.
2. What are the key questions that frame understanding and focus teaching and learning?
 How are Renaissance ideals manifested in the motivation for exploration?
 How did technology allow European explorers to develop global trade?
 What evidence is there to support the assertion that the Maya, Aztec, and Inca had advanced
civilizations?
 What role did Christian values and teachings play in the European colonization of the Americas?
 What was the impact of European colonization on the GREATS of Europe and the Americas?
 Why did capitalism and mercantilism develop during the Age of Exploration?
 How did economic changes affect the societies of Europe and their colonies?
 How did absolute monarchs consolidate their power?
 What were the similarities and differences between the various European monarchies?
 How did the struggle between monarchs and parliament affect the development of Britain?
Important Knowledge and Skills
Aztecs
Inca
Maya
Mestizo
Mulatto
Creole
Peninsulare
Peonage
Encomienda
Viceroys
Bill of Rights (England 1688)
Inflation
Entrepreneur
Divine Right
Philip II
Louis XIV
Charles I
Peter I
What are likely student misunderstandings?
 Columbus was the first to discover America.
 Americans were not advanced before contact with Europe.
 All monarchs were absolute.
What should students only be familiar with?
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30 Years War
Limited Monarchy
Peace of Westphalia
Petition of Right
Explorers
January 2006 Draft / Social Studies 9th Grade Curriculum Based on Understanding By Design / page 27 of 27
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Habeas Corpus
Putting-out system
Maria Theresa
Joint-Stock Company
Roundheads/Cavaliers
Cromwell
What will students do to demonstrate their understanding?
1. Participation in game designed to understand the role of social class in colonies.
2. Students will examine the social pyramid of colonies and analyze who benefit from social class
structure.
3. Analyze primary source documents from European sources.
4. Students will compare mercantilism and capitalism and evaluate how exploration led to their
practice.
5. Utilizing a graphic organizer students will decide if the English Civil War was actually a Revolution.