(Note: By the completion of eighth grade, Oregon students are expected to master the following standards.)

Benchmark 3 students expand their study to U.S. and World History, including early world civilizations and the development of nations and the United States post-Revolution to approximately 1900. Students increase their understanding of the U.S. Constitution, rule of law, and the powers and limitations of government. They apply their geography skills to identify physical features, population distribution, and to make predictions. Students also examine markets and types of economies, with emphasis on the U.S. economy. They also study basic investment and savings concepts and practices. Students continue to use Social Science Analysis skills, examining evidence more completely, viewing issues from more than one perspective, and making judgments about alternative responses or solutions to problems.

Civics and Government

• Understand the origins, purposes, and functions of U.S. government, including the structure and meaning of the U.S. Constitution.
  • SS.08.CG.01 Understand the purposes of government as stated in the Constitution and the specific provisions that limit the power of government in order to protect the rights of individuals.
    • SS.08.CG.01.01 Distinguish the purposes of government as stated in the Preamble.
    • SS.08.CG.01.02 Understand how the power of government is limited in the United States.
    • SS.08.CG.01.03 Recognize the provisions of the Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10) that protect individual rights.
• Understand the organization, responsibilities, and interrelationships of local, state, and federal governments in the United States.
  • SS.08.CG.02 Identify and distinguish how powers and responsibilities are distributed and balanced among the federal, state, and local levels.
    • SS.08.CG.02.01 Identify the power or responsibility of each level of government.
    • SS.08.CG.02.02 Understand how laws are made and enforced at the federal, state, and local levels.
• Understand the roles of the three branches of government and explain how their powers are distributed and shared.
  • SS.08.CG.03 Understand the powers of each branch of government as stated in the Constitution.
    • SS.08.CG.03.01 Understand the basic idea of checks and balances of each branch of the federal government.
    • SS.08.CG.03.02 Identify the legislative, executive, and judicial institutions at each level of government.
    • SS.08.CG.03.03 Understand the powers and responsibilities of the executive branch of government.
    • SS.08.CG.03.04 Understand how courts are organized by level and jurisdiction, and that law is divided into Constitutional Law, criminal law, and civil law.
• Understand personal and political rights of citizens in the United States.
  • SS.08.CG.04 Understand citizens' rights and how the Constitution protects those rights.
    • SS.08.CG.04.01 Identify and understand the rights of citizens guaranteed under the Bill of Rights.
• Understand participatory responsibilities of citizens in the community (voluntarism) and in the political process (becoming informed about public issues and candidates, joining political parties/interest groups/associations, communicating with public officials, voting, influencing lawmaking through such processes as petitions/initiatives).
  • SS.08.CG.05 Understand how citizens can make their voices heard in the political process.
    • SS.08.CG.05.01 Identify and give examples of ways that citizens can let their opinions be known in the political process.
• Understand how government is influenced and changed by support and dissent of individuals, groups, and international organizations.
  • SS.08.CG.06 Identify and give examples of how groups and organizations can influence the actions of government.
    • SS.08.CG.06.01 Identify and give examples of how groups and organizations can influence government policy or decisions and describe how these actions can lead to such influence.
• Understand how nations interact with each other, how events and issues in other countries can affect citizens in the United States, and how actions and concepts of democracy and individual rights of the United States can affect other peoples and nations.
  • SS.08.CG.07 Understand how actions of the U.S. government affect citizens of both the United States and other countries.
    • SS.08.CG.07.01 Know how the U.S. government affects citizens of other countries.
    • SS.08.CG.07.02 Know how U.S. government actions with other nations affect citizens of the United States.
• Analyze major political systems of the world.
  • SS.08.CG.08 Understand various forms of government.
    • SS.08.CG.08.01 Compare and contrast various forms of government to the United States' government.

Economics

• Understand that resources are limited (e.g., scarcity).
  • SS.08.EC.01 Understand incentives in a market economy that influence individuals and businesses in allocating resources (time, money, labor, and natural resources).
    • SS.08.EC.01.01 Know that people respond predictably to positive and negative incentives.
• Understand economic trade-offs and how choices result in both costs and benefits to individuals and society.
  • SS.08.EC.02 Understand how trade-offs and opportunity costs can be identified and measured.
    • SS.08.EC.02.01 Know and give examples of how changes in the economy impose costs on some and benefits on others because they arbitrarily redistribute purchasing power.
    • SS.08.EC.02.02 Distinguish between "needs" and "wants" in the U.S. and other countries of the world, and the impact of the media.
• Understand how conditions in an economy influence and are influenced by the decisions of consumers, producers, economic institutions, and government.
  • SS.08.EC.03 Understand how price is an incentive for both buyers and producers/sellers in the marketplace.
    • SS.08.EC.03.01 Understand how supply and demand respond predictably to changes in economic circumstances.
• Understand economic concepts, principles, and factors affecting the allocation of available resources in an economy.
  • SS.08.EC.04 Understand how decisions regarding what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce are answered in various economic systems.
    • SS.08.EC.04.01 Understand how decisions about production are made in traditional, capitalist, and command economies.
• Understand the role of government and institutions (i.e., banks, labor unions) in various economic systems in an economy.
  • SS.08.EC.05 Understand how banks function within the economy.
    • SS.08.EC.05.01 Identify and give examples of the services of a bank, and know the role of banks in the economy.
• Understand the interdependence of the global economy and the role played by the United States.
• SS.08.EC.06 Identify and give examples of how the United States economy affects citizens of both the United States and other countries.
  • SS.08.EC.06.01 Give examples of how the United States economy affects citizens of the United States.
  • SS.08.EC.06.02 Give examples of how the United States economy affects citizens of other countries.
• Understand how money makes it easier to trade, borrow, save, invest, and compare the value of goods and services.
  • SS.08.EC.07 Understand the function of money.
    • SS.08.EC.07.01 Understand how money functions as a means of exchange, a store of value, and a measure of value.
• Apply economic concepts and principles to issues of personal finance.
  • SS.08.EC.08 Understand factors that determine personal income and predict future earnings, based on plans for education and training.
    • SS.08.EC.08.01 Understand how a wage or salary is the price of labor, and is usually determined by the supply and demand for labor.
    • SS.08.EC.08.02 Understand that people's incomes, in part, reflect choices they have made about education, training, skill development, and careers.
    • SS.08.EC.08.03 Understand how workers can increase their productivity by improving their skills or by using tools and machinery.
  • SS.08.EC.09 Understand different ways that people invest and save.
    • SS.08.EC.09.01 Understand that banks and credit unions are institutions where people save money and earn interest, and where other people borrow money and pay interest.
    • SS.08.EC.09.02 Understand that stocks, bonds, and other investments are ways people earn money.

Geography

• Understand the spatial concepts of location, distance, direction, scale, movement, and region.
  • SS.08.GE.01 Understand fundamental geography vocabulary such as concepts of distance, latitude, longitude, interdependence, accessibility, and connections.
    • SS.08.GE.01.01 Use maps, charts, and graphs to understand patterns of movement over time and space.
• Use maps and other geographic tools and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
  • SS.08.GE.02 Read, interpret, and understand how to construct geographic representations to analyze information, understand spatial relationships, and compare places.
    • SS.08.GE.02.01 Use maps, charts, graphs, and photographs to analyze spatial distributions and patterns.
• Locate major physical and human (cultural) features of the Earth.
  • SS.08.GE.03 Locate and identify on maps and globes the regions of the world and their prominent physical features.
    • SS.08.GE.03.01 Identify the location of major mountain ranges, deserts, rivers, cultural regions and countries in the world.
• Compare and analyze physical (e.g., landforms, vegetation, wildlife, climate, and natural hazards) and human (e.g., population, land use, language, and religion) characteristics of places and regions.
  • SS.08.GE.04 Identify and compare physical and human characteristics of major regions and significant places in the world.
    • SS.08.GE.04.01 Locate and identify population centers and geographic reasons for their locations.
    • SS.08.GE.04.02 Identify, locate, and compare the cultural characteristics of places and regions.
    • SS.08.GE.04.03 Recognize relationships between the physical and cultural characteristics of a place or region.
• Analyze the causes of human migration (e.g., density, food and water supply, transportation and communication systems) and it effects (e.g., impact on physical and human systems).
  • SS.08.GE.05 Identify and understand worldwide patterns of population distribution, migration, and cultural diffusion and interactions.
    • SS.08.GE.05.01 Identify patterns of population distribution and infer causes.
    • SS.08.GE.05.02 Recognize and identify patterns of migration streams in U.S. history.
    • SS.08.GE.05.03 Understand how migration streams affect the spread of cultural traits.
• Understand economic, cultural, and environmental factors that influence changes in population, and evaluate the consequences of the resulting increases or decreases in population.
  • SS.08.GE.06 Identify economic, cultural, and environmental factors that affect population, and predict how the population would change as a result.
    • SS.08.GE.06.01 Identify and give examples of economic, cultural, and environmental factors that influence population.
    • SS.08.GE.06.02 Predict the effect of a given economic, cultural, or environmental change on a population.
• Understand how people and the environment are interrelated.
  • SS.08.GE.07 Understand how human modification of the physical environment in a place affects both that place and other places.
    • SS.08.GE.07.01 Understand how the process of urbanization affects the physical environment of a place, the cultural characteristics of a place, and the physical and human characteristics of the surrounding region.
    • SS.08.GE.07.02 Understand how clearing vegetation affects the physical environment of a place and other places.
  • SS.08.GE.08 Understand how changes in a physical environment affect human activity.
    • SS.08.GE.08.01 Understand how changes in the physical environment can increase or diminish capacity to support human activity.
    • SS.08.GE.08.02 Understand how climatic events or climate change affect human activity.
    • SS.08.GE.08.03 Predict how changes in an ecosystem (not caused by human activity) might influence human activity.

History

• Historical Skills: Interpret and reconstruct chronological relationships.
  • SS.08.HS.01 Represent and interpret data and chronological relationships from history, using timelines and narratives.
    • SS.08.HS.01.01 Identify and create chronologies of events.
    • SS.08.HS.01.02 Compare and contrast historical interpretations.
• Historical Skills: Analyze cause and effect relationships, including multiple causalities.
  • SS.08.HS.02 Distinguish between cause and effect relationships and events that happen or occur concurrently or sequentially.
• Historical Skills: Understand, recognize, and interpret change and continuity over time.
  • SS.08.HS.03 Identify and give examples of chronological patterns and recognize them in related events over time.
• Historical Skills: Identify and analyze diverse perspectives on and historical interpretation of historical issues and events.
  • SS.08.HS.04 Evaluate data within the context in which it was created, testing its reliability, credibility, and bias.
• World History: Understand and interpret events, issues, and developments within and across eras of world history.
  • SS.08.HS.05 Understand the political, economic, and cultural impact, and lasting influence of early civilizations on world development.
    • SS.08.HS.05.01 Understand the major characteristics and historical influence of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Indus River Valley, Egypt, the Americas, Greece.
    • SS.08.HS.05.02 Identify and give examples of the political, economic, and social characteristics of the Roman Republic and Empire, and how they are reflected in the law, government, economy and society of the United States.
    • SS.08.HS.05.03 Understand the importance of the rise of Islam and its interaction with Europe.
    • SS.08.HS.05.04 Understand the development of the empires and kingdoms of sub-Saharan Africa, Imperial China, and feudal Japan.
    • SS.08.HS.05.05 Understand the major developments and societal impact of feudalism, the church, and the rise of cities in the European Middle Ages.
    • SS.08.HS.05.06 Understand the characteristics and impact of Renaissance thinking, art, and learning.
• U.S. History: Understand and interpret events, issues, and developments within and across eras of U.S. history.
  • SS.08.HS.06 Understand how individuals, issues, and events changed or significantly influenced the course of U.S. history post-American Revolution through 1900.
    • SS.08.HS.06.01 Identify and understand the issues and events that were addressed at the Constitutional Convention.
    • SS.08.HS.06.02 Trace the route and understand the significance of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
    • SS.08.HS.06.03 Understand the effects of 19th century westward migration, the idea of Manifest Destiny, European immigration, and rural to urban migration on indigenous populations and newcomers in the United States.
    • SS.08.HS.06.04 Understand the effects of Jacksonian Democracy on political practices.
    • SS.08.HS.06.05 Recognize and understand conditions of the African slave trade and experiences of enslaved African-Americans and "free Blacks" in the United States.
    • SS.08.HS.06.06 Understand how the abolitionists advocated for the end of slavery and the impact of their activities.
    • SS.08.HS.06.07 Understand how African-Americans dealt with the conditions of their enslavement and used religion and family to create a viable culture to cope with the effects of slavery.
    • SS.08.HS.06.08 Identify and understand the events that led to the Civil War.
    • SS.08.HS.06.09 Understand the political, economic, and social causes, course, and impact of the Civil War.
    • SS.08.HS.06.10 Understand how Reconstruction affected the country.
    • SS.08.HS.06.11 Identify and understand constitutional changes that resulted from the Civil War and Reconstruction.
    • SS.08.HS.06.12 Understand the effects of Indian Wars and the opening of the West on Native American tribes.
    • SS.08.HS.06.13 Understand the effects of the Irish potato famine in the mid-1800s on the U.S. society.
    • SS.08.HS.06.14 Understand the motivations for territorial expansion to the Pacific Ocean/Hawaii ("Manifest Destiny").
    • SS.08.HS.06.15 Understand the effect of territorial expansion on other nations and their people.
• State & Local History: Understand and interpret the history of the state of Oregon.
  • SS.08.HS.07 Understand how various groups of people were affected by events and developments in Oregon state history.
    • SS.08.HS.07.01 Identify and understand significant events, developments, groups, and people in the history of Oregon from post-American Revolution until 1900.
    • SS.08.HS.07.02 Understand the interactions and contributions of the various people and cultures that have lived in or migrated to the area that is now Oregon from post-American Revolution until 1900.
• State & Local History: Understand and interpret events, issues, and developments in the history of one’s family, local community, and culture.
  • SS.08.HS.08 Understand the lasting influence of events and developments in local history.

Social Science Analysis

• Define and clarify an issue so that its dimensions are well understood.
  • SS.08.SA.01 Clarify key aspects of an event, issue, or problem through inquiry and research.
• Acquire and organize materials from primary and secondary sources.
  • SS.08.SA.02 Gather, interpret, use, and document information from multiple sources, distinguishing facts from opinions and recognizing points of view.
• Explain various perspectives on an event or issue and the reasoning behind them.
  • SS.08.SA.03 Examine a controversial event, issue, or problem from more than one perspective.
• Identify and analyze an issue.
  • SS.08.SA.04 Examine the various characteristics, causes, and effects of an event, issue, or problem.
• Select a course of action to resolve an issue.
  • SS.08.SA.05 Consider two or more outcomes, responses, or solutions; identify their strengths and weaknesses; then conclude and justify which is the best.

• Strand: History

  Content Standard I: Students are able to identify important people and events in order to analyze significant patterns, relationships, themes, ideas, beliefs, and turning points in New Mexico, United States, and world history in order to understand the complexity of the human experience. Students will:

  • Grade 7 Benchmark I-A—New Mexico:

    Explore and explain how people and events have influenced the development of New Mexico up to the present day.

    Performance Standards

    1. Early civilizations of the eastern hemisphere (e.g., Sumerians, Babylonians, Hebrews, Egyptians) and their impact upon societies, to include:
       • a. effect on world economies and trade;
       • b. roles of people, class structures, language;
       • c. religious traditions and forms of government;
       • d. cultural and scientific contributions (e.g., advances in astronomy, mathematics, agriculture, architecture, artistic and oral traditions, development of writing systems and calendars);
    2. Describe the characteristics of other indigenous peoples that had an effect upon New Mexicoís development (e.g., pueblo farmers, great plains horse culture, nomadic bands, etc. - noting their development of tools, trading routes, adaptation to environments, social structure, domestication of plants and animals).
    3. Explain the significance of trails and trade routes within the region (e.g., Spanish trail, Camino Real, Santa Fe trail).
    4. Describe how important individuals, groups and events impacted the development of New Mexico from 16th century to the present (e.g., Don Juan de OÒate, Don Diego de Vargas, pueblo revolt, PopÈ, 1837 revolt, 1848 rebellion, treaty of Guadalupe Hildago, William Becknell and the Santa Fe trail, buffalo soldiers, Lincoln county war, Navajo long walk, Theodore Roosevelt and the rough riders, Robert Goddard, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Smokey Bear, Dennis Chavez, Manuel Lujan, Manhattan project, Harrison Schmitt, Albuquerque international balloon fiesta).
    5. Explain how New Mexicans have adapted to their physical environments to meet their needs over time (e.g., living in the desert, control over water resources, pueblo structure, highway system, use of natural resources).
    6. Explain the impact of New Mexico on the development of the American west up to the present, to include: availability of land (e.g., individual, government, railroad, tribal, etc.); government land grants/treaties; transportation (e.g., wagons, railroads, automobile); identification and use of natural and human resources; population growth and economic patterns; and cultural interactions among indigenous and arriving populations and the resulting changes.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark I-B—United States:

    Analyze and interpret major eras, events and individuals from the periods of exploration and colonization through the civil war and reconstruction in United States history.

    Performance Standards

    1. Analyze United States political policies on expansion of the United States into the southwest (e.g., Mexican cession, Gadsden purchase, broken treaties, long walk of the Navajos).

  • Grade 7 Benchmark I-C—World:

    Compare and contrast major historical eras, events and figures from ancient civilizations to the age of exploration.

    Performance Standards

    1. Compare and contrast the influence of Spain on the western hemisphere from colonization to the present.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark I-D—Skills:

    Research historical events and people from a variety of perspectives.

    Performance Standards

    1. Analyze and evaluate information by developing and applying criteria for selecting appropriate information and use it to answer critica questions.
    2. Demonstrate the ability to examine history from the perspectives of the participants.
    3. Use the problem-solving process to identify a problem; gather information, list and consider advantages and disadvantages, choose and implement a solution and evaluate the effectiveness of the solution using technology to present findings.

• Strand: Geography

  Content Standard II: Students understand how physical, natural, and cultural processes influence where people live, the ways in which people live, and how societies interact with one another and their environments.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark II-A:

    Analyze and evaluate the characteristics and purposes of geographic tools, knowledge, skills and perspectives and apply them to explain the past, present and future in terms of patterns, events and issues.

    Performance Standards

    1. Describe ways that mental maps reflect attitudes about places.
    2. Describe factors affecting location of human activities, including land-use patterns in urban, suburban and rural areas.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark II-B:

    Explain the physical and human characteristics of places and use this knowledge to define regions, their relationships with other regions, and their patterns of change.

    Performance Standards

    1. Select and explore a region by its distinguishing characteristics.
    2. Describe the role of technology in shaping the characteristics of places.
    3. Explain how and why regions change, using global examples.
    4. Describe geographically-based pathways of inter-regional interaction (e.g., the Camino Realís role in establishing a major trade and communication route in the new world, the significance of waterways).

  • Grade 7 Benchmark II-C:

    Understand how human behavior impacts man-made and natural environments, recognize past and present results and predict potential changes.

    Performance Standards

    1. Explain how differing perceptions of places, people and resources have affected events and conditions in the past.
    2. Interpret and analyze geographic information obtained from a variety of sources (e.g., maps, directly witnessed and surveillanced photographic and digital data, personal documents and interviews, symbolic representations - graphs, charts, diagrams, tables, etc.).
    3. Recognize geographic questions and explain how to plan and execute an inquiry to answer them.
    4. Explain a contemporary issue using geographic knowledge, tools and perspectives.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark II-D:

    Explain how physical processes shape the earthís surface patterns and biosystems.

    Performance Standards

    1. Explain how physical processes influence the formation and location of resources.
    2. Use data to interpret changing patterns of air, land, water, plants and animals.
    3. Explain how ecosystems influence settlements and societies.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark II-E:

    Explain how economic, political, cultural and social processes interact to shape patterns of human populations and their interdependence, cooperation and conflict.

    Performance Standards

    1. Analyze New Mexico settlement patterns and their impact on current issues.
    2. Describe and analyze how the study of geography is used to improve our quality of life, including urban and environmental planning.
    3. Explain the accessibility to the New Mexico territory via the Santa Fe trail and the railroad, conflicts with indigenous peoples and the resulting development of New Mexico.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark II-F:

    Describe how natural and man-made changes affect the meaning, use, distribution, and value of resources.

    Performance Standards

    1. Describe and evaluate the use and distribution of resources and their impact on countries throughout the world.
    2. Describe how environmental events (e.g., hurricanes, tornados, floods) affect human activities and resources.

• Strand: Civics and Government

  Content Standard III: Students understand the ideals, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship and understand the content and history of the founding documents of the United States with particular emphasis on the United States and New Mexico constitutions and how governments function at local, state, tribal, and national levels.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark III-A:

    Demonstrate understanding of the structure, functions and powers of government (local, state, tribal and national).

    Performance Standards

    1. Explain the structure and functions of New Mexicoís state government as expressed in the New Mexico constitution, to include:
       • a. roles and methods of initiative, referendum and recall processes;
       • b. function of multiple executive offices;
       • c. election process (e.g., primaries and general elections);
       • d. criminal justice system (e.g., juvenile justice);
    2. Explain the roles and relationships of different levels of the legislative process, to include:
       • a. structure of New Mexico legislative districts (e.g., number of districts, studentsí legislative districts, representatives and senators of the studentsí districts);
       • b. the structure of the New Mexico legislature and leaders of the legislature during the current session (e.g., bicameral, house of representatives and senate, speaker of the house of representatives, senate pro tem).
    3. Compare the structure and functions of the New Mexico legislature with that of the stateís tribal governments (e.g., pueblo Indian council; Navajo, Apache and Hopi nations).

  • Grade 7 Benchmark III-B:

    Explain the significance of symbols, icons, songs, traditions and leaders of New Mexico and the United States that exemplify ideals and provide continuity and a sense of unity.

    Performance Standards

    1. Explain the concept of diversity and its significance within the political and social unity of New Mexico.
    2. Describe ways in which different groups maintain their cultural heritage.
    3. Explain how New Mexicoís state legislature and other state legislatures identify symbols representative of a state.
    4. Identify official and unofficial public symbols of various cultures and describe how they are or are not exemplary of enduring elements of those cultures.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark III-C:

    Compare political philosophies and concepts of government that became the foundation for the American revolution and the United States government.

    Performance Standards

    1. Compare and contrast New Mexicoís entry into the United States with that of the original thirteen colonies.
    2. Understand the structure and function of New Mexico government as created by the New Mexico constitution and how it supports local, tribal and federal governments.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark III- D:

    Explain how individuals have rights and responsibilities as members of social groups, families, schools, communities, states, tribes and countries.

    Performance Standards

    1. Explain the obligations and responsibilities of citizenship (e.g., the obligations of upholding the constitution, obeying the law, paying taxes, jury duty).
    2. Explain the roles of citizens in political decision-making (e.g., voting, petitioning public officials, analyzing issues).

• Strand: Economics

  Content Standard IV: Students understand basic economic principles and use economic reasoning skills to analyze the impact of economic systems (including the market economy) on individuals, families, businesses, communities, and governments.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark IV-A:

    Explain and describe how individuals, households, businesses, governments and societies make decisions, are influenced by incentives (economic as well as intrinsic) and the availability and use of scarce resources, and that their choices involve costs and varying ways of allocating.

    Performance Standards

    1. Explain how economic and intrinsic incentives influence how individuals, households, businesses, governments and societies allocate and use their scarce resources.
    2. Explain why cooperation can yield higher benefits.

  • Grade 7 Benchmark IV-B:

    Explain how economic systems impact the way individuals, households, businesses, governments and societies make decisions about resources and the production and distribution of goods and services.

    Performance Standards

    1. Identify governmental activities that affect local, state, tribal and national economies.
    2. Analyze the impact of taxing and spending decisions upon individuals, organizations, businesses and various government entities.
    3. Explain the relationship of New Mexico with tribal governments regarding compact issues (e.g., taxes, gambling revenue, rights of way).

  • Grade 7 Benchmark IV-C:

    Describe the patterns of trade and exchange in early societies and civilizations and explore the extent of their continuation in todayís world.

    Performance Standards

    1. Explain how specialization leads to interdependence and describe ways most Americans depend on people in other households, communities and nations for some of the goods they consume.
    2. Understand the interdependencies between the economies of New Mexico, the United States and the world.
    3. Understand the factors that currently limit New Mexico from becoming an urban state, including: the availability and allocation of water, and the extent to which New Mexico relies upon traditional economic forms (e.g., the acequia systems, localized agricultural markets).
    4. Describe the relationship between New Mexico, tribal and United States economic systems.
    5. Compare and contrast New Mexico commerce with that of other statesí commerce.

AL.7 Standard: Geography

In this one-semester geography course, students increase their knowledge about the physical and human nature of the world and about relationships between people and their environments. Interwoven throughout the course are the three interrelated components of geography. These components include Earth as a physical object, a physical environment, and a place in which humans live; geographic skills; and spatial and ecological perspectives.

7.1

• 7.1.1 Students will:

  Describe the world in spatial terms using maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies. (Economics, Geography, Civics and Government)

• 7.1.2 Students will practice:

  • Explaining the use of map essentials, including type, projections, scale, legend, distance, direction, grid, and symbols

  • Grade Level Example:

    type—reference, thematic, planimetric, topographic, globes and map projections, aerial photographs, satellite images
    direction—lines of latitude and longitude, cardinal and intermediate directions
    distance—fractional, graphic, and verbal scales

  • Identifying geospatial technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective

  • Grade Level Example:

    Google Earth, Global Positioning System (GPS), geographic information system (GIS), satellite remote sensing, aerial photography

  • Utilizing maps to explain relationships and environments among people and places, including trade patterns, governmental alliances, and immigration patterns
  • Applying mental maps to answer geographic questions, including how experiences and cultures influence perceptions and decisions
  • Categorizing the geographic organization of people, places, and environments using spatial models

  • Grade Level Example:

    urban land-use patterns, distribution and linkages of cities, migration patterns, population density patterns, spread of culture traits, spread of contagious diseases through a population

7.2

• 7.2.1 Students will:

  Determine how regions are used to describe the organization of Earth’s surface. (Economics, Geography)

• 7.2.2 Students will practice:

  • Identifying physical and human features used as criteria for mapping formal, functional, and perceptual regions

  • Grade Level Example:

    physical features—landforms, climates, water bodies, resources
    human features—language, religion, culture, economy, government

  • Interpreting processes and reasons for regional change, including land use, urban growth, population, natural disasters, and trade
  • Analyzing interactions among regions to show transnational relationships, including the flow of commodities and Internet connectivity

  • Grade Level Example:

    winter produce to Alabama from Chile and California, poultry from Alabama to other countries

  • Comparing how culture and experience influence individual perceptions of places and regions

  • Grade Level Example:

    cultural influences—language, religion, ethnicity, iconography, symbology, stereotypes

  • Explaining globalization and its impact on people in all regions of the world

  • Grade Level Example:

    quality and sustainability of life, international cooperation

7.3

• 7.3.1 Students will:

  Compare geographic patterns in the environment that result from processes within the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere of Earth’s physical systems. (Geography)

• 7.3.2 Students will practice:

  • Comparing Earth-Sun relationships regarding seasons, fall hurricanes, monsoon rainfall, and tornadoes
  • Explaining processes that shape the physical environment, including long-range effects of extreme weather phenomena

  • Grade Level Example:

    processes—plate tectonics, glaciers, ocean and atmospheric circulation, El Niño long-range
    effects—erosion on agriculture, typhoons on coastal ecosystems

  • Describing characteristics and physical processes that influence the spatial distribution of ecosystems and biomes on Earth’s surface
  • Comparing how ecosystems vary from place to place and over time

  • Grade Level Example:

    place to place—difference in soil, climate, and topography
    over time—alteration or destruction of natural habitats due to effects of floods and forest fires, reduction of species diversity due to loss of natural habitats, reduction of wetlands due to replacement by farms, reduction of forest and farmland due to replacement by housing developments, reduction of previously cleared land due to reforestation efforts

  • Comparing geographic issues in different regions that result from human and natural processes

  • Grade Level Example:

    human—increase or decrease in population, land-use change in tropical forests
    natural processes—hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, floods

7.4

• 7.4.1 Students will:

  Evaluate spatial patterns and the demographic structure of population on Earth’s surface in terms of density, dispersion, growth and mortality rates, natural increase, and doubling time. (Economics, Geography, History, Civics and Government)

  • Grade Level Example:

    population structure—age and sex distribution using population pyramids
    special patterns—major population clusters

• 7.4.2 Students will practice:

• Predicting reasons and consequences of migration, including push and pull factors

• Grade Level Example:

  push factors —politics, war, famine
  pull factors—potential jobs, family

7.5

• 7.5. Students will:

  Explain how cultural features, traits, and diffusion help define regions, including religious structures, agricultural patterns, ethnic enclaves, ethnic restaurants, and the spread of Islam. (Economics, Geography, History)

7.6

• 7.6.1 Students will:

  Illustrate how primary, secondary, and tertiary economic activities have specific functions and spatial patterns. (Economics, Geography, History, Civics and Government)

  • Grade Level Example:

    primary—forestry, agriculture, mining
    secondary—manufacturing furniture, grinding coffee beans, assembling automobiles
    tertiary—selling furniture, selling coffee latte, selling automobiles

• 7.6.2 Students will practice:

• Comparing one location over another for production of goods and services

• Grade Level Example:

  fast food restaurants in highly accessible locations, medical offices near hospitals, legal offices near courthouses, industries near major transportation routes

• Analyzing the impact of economic interdependence and globalization on places and their populations

• Grade Level Example:

  seed corn produced in Iowa and planted in South America; silicon chips manufactured in California and installed in a computer made in China that is purchased in Australia

• Explaining why countries enter into global trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), the European Union (EU), the Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

7.7

• 7.7.1 Students will:

  Classify spatial patterns of settlement in different regions of the world, including types and sizes of settlement patterns. (Economics, Geography, History, Civics and Government)

  • Grade Level Example:

    types—linear, clustered, grid
    sizes—large urban, small urban, and rural areas

• 7.7.2 Students will practice:

  • Explaining human activities that resulted in the development of settlements at particular locations due to trade, political importance, or natural resources

  • Grade Level Example:

    Timbuktu near caravan routes; Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and Birmingham, Alabama, as manufacturing centers near coal and iron ore deposits; Singapore near a major ocean transportation corridor

  • Describing settlement patterns in association with the location of resources

  • Grade Level Example:

    fall line settlements near waterfalls used as a source of energy for mills, European industrial settlements near coal seams, spatial arrangement of towns and cities in North American Corn Belt settlements

  • Describing ways in which urban areas interact and influence surrounding regions

  • Grade Level Example:

    daily commuters from nearby regions; communication centers that service nearby and distant locations through television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet; regional specialization in services or production

7.8

• 7.8.1 Students will:

  Determine political, military, cultural, and economic forces that contribute to cooperation and conflict among people. (Economics, Geography, History, Civics and Government)

• 7.8.2 Students will practice:

  • Identifying political boundaries based on physical and human systems

  • Grade Level Example:

    physical systems—rivers as boundaries between counties
    human systems—streets as boundaries between local government units

  • Identifying effects of cooperation among countries in controlling territories

  • Grade Level Example:

    Great Lakes environmental management by United States and Canada, United Nations (UN) Heritage sites and host countries, Antarctic Treaty on scientific research

  • Describing the eruption of territorial conflicts over borders, resources, land use, and ethnic and nationalistic identity

  • Grade Level Example:

    India and Pakistan conflict over Jammu and Kashmir, the West Bank, the Sudan, Somalia piracy, ocean fishing and mineral rights, local land-use disputes

7.9

• 7.9. Students will:

  Explain how human actions modify the physical environment within and between places, including how human induced changes affect the environment. (Economics, Geography, History)

  • Grade Level Example:

    within places—construction of dams and downstream water availability for human consumption, agriculture, and aquatic ecosystems
    between places—urban heat islands and global climate change, desertification and land degradation, pollution and ozone depletion

7.10

• 7.10.1 Students will:

  Explain how human systems develop in response to physical environmental conditions. (Economics, Geography, Civics and Government)

  • Grade Level Example:

    farming practices in different regions, including slash-and-burn agriculture, terrace farming, and center-pivot irrigation

• 7.10.2 Students will practice:

  • Identifying types, locations, and characteristics of natural hazards, including earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and mudslides
  • Differentiating ways people prepare for and respond to natural hazards, including building storm shelters, conducting fire and tornado drills, and establishing building codes for construction

7.11

• 7.11.1 Students will:

  Explain the cultural concept of natural resources and changes in spatial distribution, quantity, and quality through time and by location. (Economics, Geography, History)

• 7.11.2 Students will practice:

  • Evaluating various cultural viewpoints regarding the use or value of natural resources

  • Grade Level Example:

    salt and gold as valued commodities, petroleum product use and the invention of the internal combustion engine

  • Identifying issues regarding depletion of nonrenewable resources and the sustainability of renewable resources

  • Grade Level Example:

    ocean shelf and Arctic exploration for petroleum, hybrid engines in cars, wind-powered generators, solar collection panels

7.12

• 7.12. Students will:

  Explain geographic contexts that influenced historical events. (Economics, Geography, History, Civics and Government)

  • Grade Level Example:

    physical features—fall line, Cumberland Gap, Westward Expansion in the United States, weather conditions at Valley Forge and the outcome of the American Revolution, role of ocean currents and winds during exploration by Christopher Columbus
    environmental issues—boundary disputes, ownership of ocean resources, revitalization of downtown areas

AL.7 Standard: Civics

Seventh grade students should be able to assume more responsibilities in their family, school, and community roles. To address this concern, students are given opportunities to apply civic knowledge to problem-based learning situations in the community and to other activities that foster increased personal responsibility.

7.1

• 7.1. Students will:

  Compare influences of ancient Greece, the Roman Republic, the Judeo-Christian tradition, the Magna Carta, federalism, the Mayflower Compact, the English Bill of Rights, the House of Burgesses, and the Petition of Rights on the government of the United States. (History, Civics and Government)

7.2

• 7.2. Students will:

  Explain essential characteristics of the political system of the United States, including the organization and functions of political parties and the process of selecting political leaders. (History, Civics and Government)

• Grade Level Example:

  Describing the influence of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Paine, Niccolò Machiavelli, Charles de Montesquieu, and Voltaire on the political system of the United States

7.3

• 7.3.1 Students will:

  Compare the government of the United States with other governmental systems, including monarchy, limited monarchy, oligarchy, dictatorship, theocracy, and pure democracy. (History, Civics and Government)

7.4

• 7.4. Students will:

  Describe structures of state and local governments in the United States, including major Alabama offices and officeholders. (Economics, History, Civics and Government)

  • Grade Level Example:

    Describing how local and state governments are funded

7.5

• 7.5.1 Students will:

  Compare duties and functions of members of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Alabama’s local and state governments and of the national government. (Economics, Geography, History)

• 7.5.2 Students will practice:

  • Locating political and geographic districts of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Alabama’s local and state government and of the national government
  • Describing the organization and jurisdiction of courts at the local, state, and national levels within the judicial system of the United States
  • Explaining concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances among the three branches of state and national governments

7.6

• 7.6.1 Students will:

  Explain the importance of juvenile, adult, civil, and criminal laws within the judicial system of the United States. (History, Civics and Government)

• 7.6.2 Students will practice:

  • Explaining rights of citizens as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights under the Constitution of the United States
  • Explaining what is meant by the term rule of law
  • Justifying consequences of committing a civil or criminal offense
  • Contrasting juvenile and adult laws at local, state, and federal levels

7.7

• 7.7.1 Students will:

  Determine how people organize economic systems to address basic economic questions regarding which goods and services will be produced, how they will be distributed, and who will consume them. (Economics, Geography, History)

• 7.7.2 Students will practice:

  • Using economic concepts to explain historical and current developments and issues in global, national, or local contexts

  • Grade Level Example:

    increase in oil prices resulting from supply and demand

  • Analyzing agriculture, tourism, and urban growth in
    Alabama for their impact on economic development

7.8

• 7.8.1 Students will:

  Appraise the relationship between the consumer and the marketplace in the economy of the United States regarding scarcity, opportunity cost, trade-off decision making, and the stock market. (Economics, History, Civics and Government)

• 7.8.2 Students will practice:

  • Describing effects of government policies on the free market
  • Identifying laws protecting rights of consumers and avenues of recourse when those rights are violated
  • Comparing economic systems, including market, command, and traditional

7.9

• 7.9. Students will:

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

7.10

• 7.10.1 Students will:

  Describe individual and civic responsibilities of citizens of the United States. (History, Civics and Government)

  • Grade Level Example:

    individual—respect for rights of others, self- discipline, negotiation, compromise, fiscal responsibility
    civic—respect for law, patriotism, participation in political process, fiscal responsibility

• 7.10.2 Students will practice:

  • Differentiating rights, privileges, duties, and responsibilities between citizens and noncitizens
  • Explaining how United States’ citizenship is acquired by immigrants
  • Explaining character traits that are beneficial to individuals and society

  • Grade Level Example:

    honesty, courage, compassion, civility, loyalty

7.11

• 7.11.1 Students will:

  Compare changes in social and economic conditions in the United States during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. (Economics, History, Civics and Government)

  • Grade Level Example:

    social—family values, peer pressure, education opportunities, women in the workplace
    economic—career opportunities, disposable income, change in consumption of goods and services

• 7.11.2 Students will practice:

  • Determining benefits of Alabama’s role in world trade
  • Tracing the political and social impact of the modern Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to the present, including Alabama’s role

7.12

• 7.12.1. Students will:

  Defend how the United States can be improved by individual and collective participation in civic and community activities. (Economics, History, Civics and Government)

• 7.12.2 Students will practice:

  • Identifying options for civic and community action

  • Grade Level Example:

    investigating the feasibility of a specific solution to a traffic problem, developing a plan for construction of a subdivision, using maps to make and justify decisions about best locations for public facilities

  • Determining ways to participate in the political process

  • Grade Level Example:

    voting, running for office, serving on a jury, writing letters, being involved in political parties and political campaigns

7.13

• 7.13. Students will:

  Identify contemporary American issues since 2001, including the establishment of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the enactment of the Patriot Act of 2001, and the impact of media analysis. (Civics and Government)