Standards

  • AL.1. Standard: Citizenship

    Students in the seventh grade can be characterized as inquisitive, enthusiastic, and impressionable learners. The goal of education in civics and government is informed, responsible participation in political life by competent citizens committed to the fundamental values and principles of the constitutional democracy, which established the republic of the United States of America.

    • 1.1. Objective: History/Political Science

      Describe the influences of ancient Greece, the Magna Carta, and the Mayflower Compact on the government of the United States.
      • 1.1.1. Grade Level Example:
        Identifying essential characteristics of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights as the foundation of the government of the United States.
      • 1.1.2. Grade Level Example:
        Describing the influence of John Locke.
      • 1.1.3. Grade Level Example:
        Explaining essential characteristics of the political system of the United States.

    • 1.2. Objective: Political Science

      Compare the government of the United States with other governmental systems.

    • 1.3. Objective: Economics/History/Political Science

      Describe essential characteristics of state and local governments in the United States.
      • 1.3.1. Grade Level Example:
        Identifying major offices and officeholders of state and local governments.
      • 1.3.2. Grade Level Example:
        Explaining the historical background of the 1901 Constitution of Alabama and its impact on state and local governments.
      • 1.3.3. Grade Level Example:
        Describing how local and state governments are funded.

    • 1.4. Objective: Geography/Political Science

      Compare the duties and functions of members of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of local, state, and national governments.
      • 1.4.1. Grade Level Example:
        Identifying the geographic and political districts of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of national, state, and local governments.
      • 1.4.2. Grade Level Example:
        Describing the organization and jurisdiction of courts within the judicial system of the United States at the local, state, and national levels.
      • 1.4.3. Grade Level Example:
        Explaining the concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances among the three branches of state and national governments.

    • 1.5. Objective: History/Political Science

      Explain the importance of juvenile, adult, civil, and criminal laws within the judicial system of the United States.
      • 1.5.1. Grade Level Example:
        Explaining the rights of citizens under the Constitution.
      • 1.5.2. Grade Level Example:
        Explaining what is meant by the term rule of law.
      • 1.5.3. Grade Level Example:
        Understanding consequences of breaking the law.
      • 1.5.4. Grade Level Example:
        Contrasting juvenile and adult laws and their respective court systems.
      • 1.5.5. Grade Level Example:
        Identifying laws that most affect youth at home, school, and in the community.

    • 1.6. Objective: Economics/Geography/History

      Describe how people organize economic systems for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services to address the basic economic questions of what goods and services will be produced, how they will be produced, and who will consume them.
      • 1.6.1. Grade Level Example:
        Using economic concepts to explain historical and current developments and issues in global, national, or local contexts.
      • 1.6.2. Grade Level Example:
        Analyzing the distribution of urban areas to determine how they are linked together.

    • 1.7. Objective: Economics/Geography/Political Science

      Describe the relationship between the consumer and the marketplace in the economy of the United States regarding scarcity, opportunity cost, trade-off decision making, characteristics of a market economy, and supply and demand.
      • 1.7.1. Grade Level Example:
        Describing the influence of the stock market upon individuals and the economy.
      • 1.7.2. Grade Level Example:
        Analyzing distribution and production maps to determine patterns of supply and demand.
      • 1.7.3. Grade Level Example:
        Describing the effects of government policies on the free market.
      • 1.7.4. Grade Level Example:
        Identifying laws protecting the rights of consumers and avenues of recourse when those rights are violated.

    • 1.8. Objective: Economics

      Apply principles of money management to the preparation of a personal budget that addresses housing, transportation, food, clothing, medical expenses, and insurance as well as checking and savings accounts, loans, investments, credit, and comparison shopping.

    • 1.9. Objective: Geography/Political Science

      Identify individual and civic responsibilities of citizens of the United States.
      • 1.9.1. Grade Level Example:
        Describing differences in rights, privileges, duties, and responsibilities between citizens and noncitizens.
      • 1.9.2. Grade Level Example:
        Explaining how United States citizenship is acquired.
      • 1.9.3. Grade Level Example:
        Interpreting an immigration map.
      • 1.9.4. Grade Level Example:
        Identifying character traits that are beneficial to individuals and to the republic of the United States.

    • 1.10. Objective: Economics/Political Science

      Describe changes in social and economic conditions in the United States during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
      • 1.10.1. Grade Level Example:
        Describing the impact of print and electronic media and the Internet on the American way of life.

    • 1.11. Objective: History/Political Science

      Describe examples of conflict, cooperation, and interdependence of groups, societies, and nations using past and current events.
      • 1.11.1. Grade Level Example:
        Tracing the political and social impact of the modern Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to the present, including Alabama's role.

    • 1.12. Objective: Political Science

      Explain how the United States can be improved by individual and collective participation and by public service.
      • 1.12.1. Grade Level Example:
        Identifying options for civic and community action.
      • 1.12.2. Grade Level Example:
        Participating in the political process.
      • 1.12.3. Grade Level Example:
        Identifying ways adults participate in the political process.
      • 1.12.4. Grade Level Example:
        Applying a problem-solving model to a community project, including constructing a policy statement, budget, and an action plan to achieve one or more goals related to an issue of public concern.

  • AL.2. Standard: Geography

    Students in the seventh grade can be characterized as inquisitive, enthusiastic, and impressionable learners who have a growing curiosity about the world beyond the city and state in which they live. In this one-semester geography course, students increase their knowledge about the physical nature of the world and about the relationships between people and their environments.

    • 2.1. Objective: Economics/Geography/Political Science

      Describe the world in spatial terms using maps, major physical and human features, and urban and rural land-use patterns.
      • 2.1.1. Grade Level Example:
        Explaining the use of map essentials, including type, size, shape, distance, direction, location, scale, and symbols.
      • 2.1.2. Grade Level Example:
        Using geographic technology to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
      • 2.1.3. Grade Level Example:
        Analyzing the relationships among people, places, and the environment by mapping information about them, including trade patterns, governmental alliances, and immigration patterns.

    • 2.2. Objective: Geography

      Analyze regional characteristics for factors that contribute to change and for their relative importance.
      • 2.2.1. Grade Level Example:
        Using field observations, maps, and other tools to identify and compare the physical characteristics of places.
      • 2.2.2. Grade Level Example:
        Comparing the physical and human characteristics of various places using observational data and geographic resources.

    • 2.3. Objective: Geography

      Describe the processes that shape the physical environment, including the long-range effects of extreme weather phenomena and human activity.
      • 2.3.1. Grade Level Example:
        Comparing how ecosystems vary from place to place and over time.

    • 2.4. Objective: Geography/Political Science

      Locate cultural hearths in Europe, Asia, and Africa on maps, globes, and satellite images.
      • 2.4.1. Grade Level Example:
        Describing physical and human characteristics used to define regions in the Eastern Hemisphere.
      • 2.4.2. Grade Level Example:
        Relating place names to cultural and/or political perspectives.

    • 2.5. Objective: Economics/Geography/Political Science

      Identify the physical, economic, political, and cultural characteristics of selected regions in the Eastern Hemisphere, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.

    • 2.6. Objective: Economics/Geography/Political Science

      Explain factors that contribute to conflict within and between countries of the Eastern Hemisphere.

    • 2.7. Objective: Economics/Geography/History

      Describe the historical and contemporary economic trade networks of regions in the Eastern Hemisphere based upon their geographic location and available resources.

    • 2.8. Objective: Geography

      Describe the positive and negative environmental effects of human actions on the four basic components of Earth's physical systems: atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere.

    • 2.9. Objective: Geography/History

      Analyze the environmental consequences of major technological changes in human history for both intended and unintended outcomes.
      • 2.9.1. Grade Level Example:
        Identifying the impact of urban growth on the environment.

    • 2.10. Objective: Geography

      Describe the ways people in the Eastern Hemisphere prepare for natural hazards and disasters.

    • 2.11. Objective: Economics/Geography/Political Science

      Compare the distribution of natural resources in various parts of the world by mapping the locations of major deposits.
      • 2.11.1. Grade Level Example:
        Relating the importance of energy resources to the development of human societies.
      • 2.11.2. Grade Level Example:
        Discussing the relationship between a country's standard of living and its accessibility to natural resources.

    • 2.12. Objective: Economics/Geography/Political Science

      Describe the problems involved in balancing the impact of human habitation on the environment and the need for natural resources essential for sustaining human life.
      • 2.12.1. Grade Level Example:
        Assessing the differing attitudes of people regarding the use and misuse of resources.
      • 2.12.2. Grade Level Example:
        Predicting the future spatial organization of Earth if present conditions and patterns of consumption, problem-solving innovations, production, and rates of population growth and decline continue.
      • 2.12.3. Grade Level Example:
        Applying a problem-solving model to a geographic issue, including the development of sound arguments for specific actions on the issue.