Researching the Role of the Map in History Teaching

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oster, Map Your Course. . . , 1941-1945, Office of Emergency Mgm't., NARA
Question

I am doing some research on the use of maps to teach history. Any suggestions for research or theory would be helpful.

Answer

To get oriented to how maps can be used to teach history and begin exploring links to relevant websites, this newsletter can be a useful first stop. You will find links to videos of teachers using historical maps, checklists for what to focus on when teaching with maps, reviews of best practices, and links to teaching modules. The fundamental idea behind these resources is that geography can provide the context for sophisticated historical thinking if students are encouraged to actively think about what maps show and why they show it.

One of the clearest rationales for using maps to teach history that I have seen can be found in a recent book by David Rumsey(1) and Meredith Williams entitled Historical Maps in GIS. The authors argue that:

Historical maps often hold information retained by no other written source, such as place-names, boundaries, and physical features that have been modified or erased by modern development. Historical maps capture the attitudes of those who made them and represent worldviews of their time.

Geographic Information System (GIS) is an exciting new tool for history and geography educators that has been the focus of some recent research. If this is of interest you might begin your exploration of the benefits of using GIS by reading "Using GIS to Answer the 'Whys' of 'Where' in Social Studies" by Marsha Alibranadi and Herschel M. Sarnoff. In the article, the authors discuss not only the pedagogical and social benefits of using GIS, but also use real classroom examples to reflect on the challenges that the technology poses.

[. . . S]tudies might show how to develop map reading skills, but they rarely show how to interrogate the map as a document. . .

The most recent research on using maps to teach traditional geography that I could find was Ava L. McCall's "Promoting Critical Thinking and Inquiry through Maps in Elementary Classrooms" published in The Social Studies. The critical thinking that is promoted by this work is very similar to contextualized historical thinking. This is a key point. One of the difficulties in finding research on using maps in history education is that researchers often aren't looking for the dynamic recursive relationships between history and geography that are critical to both disciplines. For instance, studies might show how to develop map-reading skills, but they rarely show how to interrogate the map as a document as a means of determining why it was created and for whom, or how it helps us understand the past. There is very little research using this orientation to historical and geographical relationships.

Depending on your specific research interests, you may want to consult the following resources. You may not have access to all of the materials but if you see something of interest you can contact your librarian. Or you may try a trial membership. The large national database on educational research can be accessed here. Two journals (Theory and Research in Social Education and The History Teacher) devoted to history and social educational research can be accessed here and here. And finally, if you are interested in international research in geography education you may want to look at the Review of International Geographic Education Online or back issues of the journal Research in Geographic Education.

Good luck with your research and let us know if you discover anything.

(1)Rumsey is a map aficionado who has compiled an enormous database of historical map images that he has posted for free on the Internet. It's worth exploring.

TAH Projects and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Video Overview

Christina Chavarria of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum describes the many resources the museum can offer TAH Grant projects and her own perceptions on the value of the TAH Grant program.

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During the course of the time that I've been at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, we've had quite a few calls from TAH grant directors who are bringing teachers to Washington who would like a tour of the museum, and sometimes they might ask for a short professional development session.

So this really piqued our curiosity and we began to think of how we could work more intentionally with the TAH program, and it led us to really look at our resources and how our resources support American history, because even though the Holocaust took place in Europe, it is also very much a story about the United States and American responses and how those responses inform a lot of what we're teaching in schools today and issues that we're dealing with here in the United States.

We ask what the theme of the grant is and if there's any particular focus that they are looking at within the grant. For example, we had one TAH project director telling us about the focus on President Roosevelt. So we worked with our historians, our Senior Historians Office; we also work with collections, to see what collections we have that support American history, and we also look at using our permanent exhibition because our permanent exhibition does have a focus on the United States and the role of the United States.

So we try to put in time, of course, for the teachers to see the exhibit, that's very important. and a session on how to teach about the Holocaust and if there is a direct focus within the grant, we can look at our senior historians office to support a lecture about some historical topic that's related to the grant.

We also encourage teachers to hear Holocaust survivors, their testimonies. We do have Holocaust survivors who are at the museum every day. And if we have a phone call and if the project directors make contact with us early on, we can arrange to have Holocaust survivors speak, and that's very important, because we are losing that generation. So while we still have our survivors with us we do encourage teachers and the project directors to incorporate Holocaust testimony in the visit.

The standards in the United States for teaching U.S. history are either very explicit on teaching the Holocaust, where they state responses to what was happening in Nazi Germany and what was happening in occupied Europe during that time—those are very explicitly stated in many states. But when you look at other themes, American response, foreign policy respond, the rise of fascism, American responses to fascism—if you look at American responses to dictatorships, all of these strands within the elements and standards are very much a part of what we focus on at the museum. It's a very natural fit.

Pretty much everything you will see at the United States Holocaust Museum fits in perfectly to support U.S. history teachers when you're looking at 20th-century history. And even the precedents that were set before. You can look at the 19th century, you can look at the role of antisemitism. There are so many elements. And then of course, today, focusing on our responses to genocides since the Holocaust—that is an incredibly important topic to our museum. And, so, we would encourage U.S. history teachers to look at American foreign policy in trouble spots in places like Darfur, in the former Yugoslavia, like Rwanda, and how we've responded to those situations, and how the Holocaust gave us this, I don't want to say opportunity, but it gave us this light on the subject that is still very much with us today.

Because our primary focus is on the victims and our survivors and their testimonies, but, for example, in working with a Teaching American History group a few weeks ago, I focused on some interviews with an African American athlete, John Will—John Woodruff, excuse me, who was a participant in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and he speaks very eloquently about his experiences in Berlin in 1936, representing the United States and being proud to represent his country and his race and what he saw there and the euphoria of the crowds in reaction to his gold medal victory—also Jesse Owens, which is a story that many people know very well. And then when he returns home, he speaks about being excluded from the hall of fame, from the university where he, that he attended.

In looking at that, to show again what we do in a professional development is to show how expansive this history really is. And we use survivor testimony, we use witness testimony, we use liberator testimony. we also focus very much on photos and other primary source documents. And what we really want to do is to complicate the thinking of the teachers that come to us for professional development, to show that this history is so complex and so vast in its context from the years that it took place, but what happened in the years before, the decades and centuries before, and what's happening after.

June and July are very, very busy months for us and usually we're booked about a year before in our schedules, so I recommend to project directors that they contact us, perhaps in the fall, but as soon as they know that they want to come, they need to be in touch with us, and we will do our absolute best to get them in the museum—because that's very important and if there's time and if there's space and we're available to do so we would be very happy to provide professional development to them, as well.

And for groups that they cannot come to Washington, DC, we offer many resources offsite. First of all, our website is filled with archival material—our photo archives, for example. We also have exemplary lessons that have been tested by teachers and education experts, and they have been vetted for historical accuracy. We also have online exhibitions that contain collections that we encourage teachers to use for a more hands-on approach. More importantly, we have traveling exhibitions, and on our website, you can see a schedule of what exhibitions will be in certain venues around the country and when.

And from our standpoint, from the educational standpoint, we have a network of museum regional educators, our Regional Education Corps, and these are 30 educators who are deeply involved with our museum who are spread out around the country, and if you contact us in the Education Division, in the National Outreach for Teacher Initiatives branch, we can be in touch with our museum regional educators and they can work with a TAH project anywhere in the country to provide professional development even before a group comes to the museum, or after, or if they never come at all—we still have that on-ground support. We also have 246 museum Teacher Fellows around the country, one in each of the 50 states, and they are also resources whom we turn to to provide professional development in places where we're not able to go.

The value of Teaching American History is that it works so closely with a group of teachers and it provides sustainability, and sustainability in the career of a teacher is incredibly important. Sometimes you feel like you're alone as a teacher in your classroom, and when you have that network of support and it's ongoing and it's centered on a theme and a particular rational, that makes a teacher feel incredibly rewarded for having that experience, but more importantly that translates into student success.

And students will only benefit from a teacher having that kind of quality interaction with professionals around a sustained program that will keep them going. The network and the broad availability of resources in the form of other teachers and other grants and what is available online is astounding, and I hope that it continues, and I encourage teachers and educators throughout the country to look at this program, because it does sustain teachers, and if you sustain the teacher, the teacher can better sustain the student, so that that translates into success in the classroom for the student.

World War and Literature

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Poster, Books wanted for our men in camp..., c.1918-1923, C.B. Falls, LoC
Question

Can you suggest any literature covering World War I to World War II that my 10th-grade world history class can read? I am looking for short stories or novels from that period that would interest my students. I would like stories that include what life was like during these years for young people.

Answer

Historical literature can really grab your students' interest. Consider the following excerpt:

They had come for him just after midnight. Three men in suits and ties and black fedoras with FBI badges under their coats. 'Grab your toothbrush,' they’d said. This was back in December, right after Pearl Harbor, when they were still living in the white house on the wide street in Berkeley not far from the sea. The Christmas tree was up and the whole house smelled of pine, and from his window the boy had watched as they led his father out across the lawn in his bathrobe and slippers to the black car that was parked at the curb.

He had never seen his father leave the house without his hat on before. That was what had troubled him most. No hat. And those slippers: battered and faded, with the rubber soles curling up at the edges. If only they had let him put on his shoes then it all might have turned out differently. But there had been no time for shoes.

Grab your toothbrush.
Come on. Come on. You’re coming with us.
We just need to ask your husband a few questions.
Into the car, Papa-san

Later, the boy remembered seeing lights on in the house next door, and faces pressed to the window. One of them was Elizabeth's, he was sure of it. Elizabeth Morgana Roosevelt had seen his father taken away in his slippers.

The next morning his sister had wandered around the house looking for the last place their father had sat. Was it the red chair? Or the sofa? The edge of his bed? She had pressed her face to the bedspread and sniffed.

"The edge of my bed," their mother had said.

That evening she had lit a bonfire in the yard and burned all of the letters from Kagoshima. She burned the family photographs and the three silk kimonos she had brought over with her nineteen years ago from Japan. She burned the records of Japanese opera. She ripped up the flag of the red rising sun. She smashed the tea set and the Imari dishes and the framed portrait of the boy's uncle, who had once been a general in the Emperor's army. She smashed the abacus and tossed it into the flames. "From now on," she said, "we are counting on our fingers."

The next day, for the first time ever, she sent the boy and his sister to school with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in their lunch pails. "No more rice balls," she said. "And if anyone asks, you're Chinese."

The boy had nodded. "Chinese," he whispered. "I'm Chinese."

"And I," said the girl, "am the Queen of Spain."

"In your dreams," said the boy.

"In my dreams," said the girl, "I'm the King."

—When the Emperor Was Divine, a novel by Julie Otsuka, p. 73–75

Recommendations

This list includes books considered to be for adult readers as well as books considered to be for young adult readers. These labels are only somewhat useful. Occasionally the young adult books are less challenging, though perhaps equally rewarding, for the reader.

A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot won the Prix Interallie in 1991. This nonlinear mystery is a moving and incisive portrait of life in France during and after the First World War.

An ambitious, meticulously researched, novel, The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages is set in New Mexico in 1943 and told from the viewpoint of two disenfranchised children at Los Alamos where scientists and mathematicians converge (along with their families) to construct and test the first nuclear bomb. Grades 5–up.

No Pretty Pictures, Caldecott illustrator Anita Lobel's haunting memoir of her traumatic years in Nazi-occupied Poland, is told from the perspective of a child—she is just five when the war begins—who does not fully comprehend what she is witnessing. Grade 6–up.

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo is a slim, stunning, and easily accessible novel written by the author of War Horse. "Exquisitely written vignettes explore bonds of brotherhood that cannot be broken by the physical and psychological wars of the First World War," said Horn Book Magazine. Grade 7–up. Match with the superb photo-essay The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman.

Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney is a graceful, restrained, and detailed portrait of America's Great Depression, a time when the radio delivered the sound of Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington into living rooms across the country and boxing champion, Joe Lewis, the "Brown Bomber," came to represent so much more than the zenith of a sport. Grade 4–up.

Set on the Laguna Pueblo Reservation in the years immediately following World War II, Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, focuses on Tayo, a young vet of mixed Indian ancestry. The book is Tayo's story of return and redemption. "The novel is very deliberately a ceremony in itself—demanding but confident and beautifully written," said the Boston Globe.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is an unsettling, unsentimental, poetic novel, set in World War II and narrated by Death. This is not an easy read, but it is a book that can change a life. Grade 9–up.

We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson is a sumptuous history of Negro League Baseball from its beginning in the 1920s to 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the major leagues’ color barrier. Dazzling, almost iconic paintings illustrate the easygoing, conversational, historically detailed text, and all in all the book illuminates more than baseball in the '20s and '30s—it is a history of all of us. Grade 4–up.

The narrator of Ruta Sepetys's Between Shades of Gray, 15-year-old Lina, begins "They took me in my nightgown." In 1941, Stalin is deporting families from Lithuania and imprisoning them in Siberia where daily life is brutal. It is the slim possibility of survival that provides hope. This book is similar to Esther Hautzig's earlier autobiographical novel, Endless Steppe in that it is similarly themed and equally searing. In Endless Steppe, 10-year-old Esther Rudmin is arrested with her family in Poland as "enemies of the people" and exiled to Siberia. Grade 6–up.

Homestead, by Rosina Lippi, is a series of interconnected vignettes beginning in 1909, about life in Rosenau, a small isolated village in the Austrian Alps. The villagers harvest, tend animals, and make cheese. Against this pastoral backdrop are all of life's vicissitudes. The prose is clean and clear, each chapter is seemingly autonomous but as we see an event (over generations) from different characters' points of view, the life of Rosenau becomes increasingly rich and complex. This novel won the 1998 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for best first fiction and was short-listed for the 2001 Orange Prize.

Complete List of Titles
  • When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
  • A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot
  • The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
  • No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War by Anita Lobel
  • Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
  • The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman
  • Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney
  • Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  • We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
  • Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
  • The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia by Esther Hautzig
  • Homestead by Rosina Lippi
For more information

See here to search the California literature recommendations. Choose “historical fiction” as one of your search parameters.

This Ask a Master Teacher entry has some other helpful resources for finding historical literature.

International Spy Museum

Description

The International Spy Museum is "the only public museum in the United States solely dedicated to espionage," according to its website, featuring "the largest collection of international espionage artifacts ever placed on public display." The museum works to offer an apolitical view into the world of spies and espionage and to explore the importance of espionage work worldwide, both in the past and the present day.

The museum offers downloadable educator guides, pre- and post-visit materials, workshops for grades 5–12, bus tours, and long-distance web-conferencing-based programs.

Michael Yell on Making Every History Lecture Engaging

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Photography, Lecture in Milan Italy, 4 Sept 2011, Francesco Spagnolo, Flickr CC
Article Body

The lecture has fallen on difficult times . . . it relies too heavily on auditory input and makes students passive as opposed to active learners. —Silver, Strong, and Perini (1)

As history teachers we may often use the lecture format, and perhaps many of us had our first excitement about history ignited by an incredible lecture that sparked our interest in the past. But we also know that  for an engaging lesson, we need students to be actively involved in that lesson. They must be actively processing what they are hearing. Because interaction and engagement are the climate to set in our history classes, our focus must be on more than teacher-led lectures consisting of just "teacher talk/students listen." A lot more.

Incorporating two elements into your lecture will make it interactive and engaging for your student.

You may have decided that you are going to use a lecture to impart a certain amount of information to your students. And perhaps you have some slides you wish to have them view, so you have created a PowerPoint presentation. Can the lecture be made more engaging? Can the lecture become less a passive imparting of information and more an interactive experience grappling with that information? Absolutely! Incorporating two elements into your lecture will make it interactive and engaging for your students:

  1. An introduction that taps into students curiosity, involves them, and grabs their attention; and
  2. The use of processing strategies throughout the lecture allowing students to interact with the content, and with each other.
Beginning the Lecture

To begin with, make the students first encounter with your lecture an interactive encounter. Rather than “Okay, take out your notebooks,” you might choose to begin with a Discrepant Event Inquiry. In this strategy (which my students have always termed their favorite), a puzzling statement or story is presented to students which they must figure out using questions that are answerable with a yes or a no. Questions build upon questions and answers build upon answers as students try to figure out the puzzle. Try beginning a lecture on General U.S. Grant with an inquiry such as "Although this person failed at much, this person’s successes ensured his success."

Or perhaps begin your lecture with a Media Hook. In this simple strategy you will select a powerful visual image to show the class. If you have an LCD or Smartboard the image can be made large enough for students to come up and interact with. Imagine the interest generated by beginning a lecture on the Depression with viewing Dorothea Lange’s "Migrant Mother." Use guiding questions to have students identify specific components of the image.

During the Lecture

During the lecture give students time to review, formulate questions about the ideas, and process.

There are many excellent quick-write strategies that can be used to augment note-taking during the lecture.

One quick strategy for processing is a Think-Pair-Share. At particular points, stop lecturing and ask an open-ended question about the material that has been covered. Students are given a short amount of time to think about their answer. Students then pair up to discuss their answer, and a brief whole-class discussion ensues. A variation of this is a Timed-Pair-Share in which students think about the open-ended question and in pairs take turns discussing their ideas, each for a specified period of time. Another strategy for processing is Spencer Kagan’s Numbered-Heads-Together. After numbering off one through four in a group, students put their heads together to discuss. A number is then called; the students with that number in each group must explain their group’s ideas.

And if you are using PowerPoint or other presentation programs during the lecture, pause at a picture and discuss it, and/or listen to a recording. Imagine pausing during a lecture on the Civil War to have students listen to a recording of a reading of the Sullivan Ballou letter from the soundtrack of Ken Burns’s Civil War (there are a number of excellent YouTube clips with this letter and accompanying images).

Finally, there are many excellent quick-write strategies that can be used to augment note-taking during the lecture. One excellent example is Sentence Syntheses. In addition to inserting within a lecture, it is particularly good for closure. In this quick-write, students construct meaningful sentences on ideas from the lecture, using two or three key terms. They then share these sentences. In a lecture on the Constitution, for example, the teacher might select the words separation, Constitution, and branch. Students must use all three words in a sentence that might come out like this: "Separation of powers is the principle in our Constitution of dividing powers between the different branches of government."

Or you might pause and have students respond to a Question All Write (which is exactly what its name states; you as the teacher give your students a question and they all write the answer prior to the classroom discussion). At the end of the lecture, you might ask students to write and share Outcomes Sentences, which, as in a Question All Write, has students responding in writing to a teacher prompt. Students complete the sentence stem I learned that…, or I still wonder why….

A lecture need not be a passive experience for students. It can easily become an interactive experience that will engage them in the ideas you are imparting. Give some of these mini-strategies a try in your next lecture.

Bibliography

1 Harvey F. Silver, Richard W. Strong, and Matthew J. Perin, The Strategic Teacher: Selecting the Right Research-based Strategy for Every Lesson (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2007).

For more information

Yell recommends several resources for finding quick engaging mini-strategies that can be inserted to make a lecture more interactive:

  • Merrill Harman and Melanie Toth, Inspiring Active Learning (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2006).
  • Spencer Kagan and Miguel Kagan, Kagan Cooperative Learning (San Clemente, CA: Kagan, 1994).
  • Michael Yell, Geoffrey Scheurman, and Keith Reynolds, A Link to the Past: Engaging Students in the Study of History (Silver Spring, MD: National Council for the Social Studies, 2004).

Check out Yell's past blog entries here at Teachinghistory.org for more strategies, including ideas for teaching with documentary films, using textbooks, and drawing students into history as a mystery.

In a Ask a Master Teacher, we answer the question "How do I mix document-based teaching with lecture-style teaching to try to make sure the students learn the entire curriculum?"

Scholars in Action: Analyzing a Melville Story

Article Body

Scholars In Action presents case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence. This short story by Herman Melville was published serially in Putnam's Monthly magazine in November and December 1853. "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is the story of a copyist in a New York City legal office who refuses to perform any other work asked of him. It is also a story about office work and social relations at a time when urbanization and class stratification were increasing in New York City.

Economic and technological changes reshaped daily life dramatically in the mid-19th century. The rise of new categories of professionals and managers created a growing middle class that sought to impose its values and morals on the working class and poor through a wide range of reform movements. Melville's story of the relationship between the narrator, a lawyer, and his employee, Bartleby, was one of many stories about lawyers published in popular magazines in the 1850s and is part of a genre of stories that explore the culture of New York in that period.

Website
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/sia/melvillestory.htm

Diana Laufenberg's What If?

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Photo of illustration, Alternate Realities, May 24, 2010, jurvetson, Flickr
Article Body

NOTE: Deemed not acceptable for publication

  • What if Ben Franklin died in his electricity experiment?
  • What if Albert Einstein died before the theory of relativity was released?
  • What if Alice Paul and Lucy Burns were assassinated?
  • What if the Selective Service Act from World War I was not ratified?
  • What if Prohibition was not repealed?
  • What if Joseph Kennedy, Jr. lived?
  • What if JFK did not come to a diplomatic resolution to the Cuban Missile Crisis?
  • What if Ronald Reagan did not survive his assassination attempt?
  • What if Britain and the U.S. did not have the Revolutionary War?
  • What if Nat Turner did not get caught?
  • What if Puerto Rico did not become a U.S. territory?
  • What if Amelia Earhart survived her 1937 flight?
  • What if segregation in schools was never overturned?
  • What if Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring did not "catch on" and DDT was never banned?
  • What if Osama bin Laden died in 1980?
  • What if Bill Gates's middle school never bought a computer terminal and made it available to students?
  • What if al-Qaeda was successful in the car bombing of the Twin Towers in 1993?

This is a sampling of questions asked by my juniors in their final project for American History. Counterfactual or alternate history is a fringe topic amongst academic historians. However, as a class activity it challenges students to understand history as more than a series of inevitable events. The What If? project focuses on the specific engagement of the individual student with a deep investigation of the historical record. The steps that take the student through the exercise are challenging, couched in research, and steeped in creativity.

Student Steps for Executing the "What If?" Unit:
  1. Brainstorm for ideas—think back to the most interesting units of study from the past year as a place to start; what are you most curious about in American history? The goal is to establish the Point of Divergence (POD).
  2. Investigate 2–3 PODs for the project.
  3. Choose one POD and fill out the contract for completing the project.
  4. Receive the graphic organizer that serves as a one-stop shop for writing down the pieces of the project. You will fill this out as you work through the project.
  5. Identify at least three primary source documents that PRECEDE your POD. (This establishes students' understanding of the historical record leading up to their PODs.)
  6. Use the National Archives Primary Source Document Analysis Worksheets to analyze your primary sources.
  7. Brainstorm three NEW events to add to the altered timeline that results after the POD.
  8. Create two primary source documents for each new event, to establish the events as 'real.'

    9. Finally, after they complete these eight steps, students use all the pieces amassed on their graphic organizers to pull together multimedia projects that utilize each piece of their evidence, real and created, in order to represent 2011 as it exists after their PODs. Students then post their work on their blogs and each writes a lengthy reflection. They answer questions including

    • What did you like about this project?
    • What was most challenging?
    • Describe the most interesting fact or event that you investigated.
    • How do the actions of individuals impact the historical record?
    • How do systemic changes impact the historical record?
    • How influential can one decision be in the historical landscape?
    • How could this project be improved?
    • If you had it to do over, what would you change about your process for the project?
    Student Responses to the Project

    Many times over I hear the students say things like, "You have no IDEA how much I know about this topic." They push back when I try to poke holes in their logic with events from the historical record; they cite primary sources when I need more proof. Their reflections often are the most telling records of the learning that occurs during this process. They write:

    The thing that I found most fun about this project, was coincidentally the same thing I thought was the most difficult, and that was the fact that there were so many different possibilities. It was very fun to see how different events related to one another, and how changing one could set off this long domino effect about all of history. —Dennis

    My favorite part of the actual creating of the project was definitely fabricating primary source documents. I felt so cool, like some kind of all-powerful, primary-source-creating being. —Luna

    I liked that I had free control to change something in history. It gave me the opportunity to choose something I was passionate about and change it to my liking. On the flip side, it was hard to pick something to change that would give me the outcome I wanted. —Ayanna

    I really liked the hypothetical part of this benchmark, it left a lot of room for creativity. I enjoyed making my primary source documents and making up a different future for our country. However, topic choice was definitely the most difficult thing for me. —Emma

    What I like about the project was that it made me do a lot of thinking and I learned a lot of history by going out on my own and researching the information that I needed. —Sam

    Learning through Challenge

    This unit causes my brain to hurt. This project causes my students' brains to hurt. It puzzles, stumps, and perplexes us. Students choose topics poorly but do not realize it until well into the project. I approve a topic that is 'too big' and we are challenged to find a way out as the project comes to a close. There are contracts, organizers, analysis, predictions, and sweat involved in this project. In the end, each student learns. They learn content in an intense and curious manner. They learn skills with an urgency of 'I need to know this right now.' They learn their limitations and challenges in the most instructive of ways. This unit also pushes me in all these ways and more. It pushes me as a teacher and as a constant student of history to be the type of resource they need throughout this project. This is learning in its most messy and beautiful form.

For more information

In Ask a Historian, John Buescher looks at how complicated (and ultimately unanswerable) questions of 'what if? can be (here, for World War II history).

Ask students to 'stop action and assess alternatives,' suggests teacher educator Lori Shaller. This teaching strategy can help students realize that history, as it was happening, presented its participants with constant 'what ifs?'

Minnesota: 9th-Grade Standards

Article Body

Students in high school (grades 9–12) pursue in-depth study of social studies content that equips them with the knowledge and skills required for success in postsecondary education (i.e., freshman level courses), the skilled workplace and civic life. The amount of content in the standards for each discipline corresponds to the course credit graduation requirements identified in Minn. Stat. § 120B.024 which are as follows:
3.5 social studies credits encompassing at least United States history, geography, government and citizenship, world history, and economics
OR
3.0 social studies credits encompassing at least United States history, geography, government and citizenship, and world history, and .5 credit of economics taught in a school’s social studies, agriculture education, or business department.

Social Studies Strand 1: Citizenship & Government

Substrand 1: Civic Skills

  • 1. Democratic government depends on informed and engaged citizens who exhibit civic skills and values, practice civic discourse, vote and participate in elections, apply inquiry and analysis skills and take action to solve problems and shape public policy.
    • 9.1.1.1.1 Demonstrate skills that enable people to monitor and influence state, local and national affairs.
      For example: Working with others; conducting civil conversations; articulating ideas and interests; negotiating differences and managing conflict with people or groups who have different perspectives; using parliamentary procedures; building consensus.
    • 9.1.1.1.2 Demonstrate the skills necessary to participate in the election process, including registering to vote, identifying and evaluating candidates and issues, and casting a ballot.
    • 9.1.1.1.3 Evaluate sources of information and various forms of political persuasion for validity, accuracy, ideology, emotional appeals, bias and prejudice.
    • 9.1.1.1.4 Examine a public policy issue by defining the problem, developing alternative courses of action, evaluating the consequences of each alternative, selecting a course of action, and designing a plan to implement the action and resolve the problem.

Substrand 2: Civic Values and Principles of Democracy

  • 2. The United States is based on democratic values and principles that include liberty, individual rights, justice, equality, the rule of law, limited government, common good, popular sovereignty, majority rule and minority rights.
    • 9.1.2.2.1 Analyze how constitutionalism preserves fundamental societal values, protects individual freedoms and rights, promotes the general welfare, and responds to changing circumstances and beliefs by defining and limiting the powers of government.
    • 9.1.2.2.2 Identify the sources of governmental authority; explain popular sovereignty (consent of the governed) as the source of legitimate governmental authority in a representative democracy or republic.
  • 3. The United States is based on democratic values and principles that include liberty, individual rights, justice, equality, the rule of law, limited government, common good, popular sovereignty, majority rule and minority rights.
    • 9.1.2.3.1 Define and provide examples of foundational ideas of American government which are embedded in founding era documents: natural rights philosophy, social contract, civic virtue, popular sovereignty, constitutionalism, representative democracy, political factions, federalism and individual rights.
      For example: Documents—Mayflower Compact, English Bill of Rights, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the Constitution, selected Federalist Papers (such as 10, 39, 51, 78), the Bill of Rights.
    • 9.1.2.3.2 Analyze how the following tools of civic engagement are used to influence the American political system: civil disobedience, initiative, referendum and recall.
    • 9.1.2.3.3 Analyze the tensions between the government’s dual role of protecting individual rights and promoting the general welfare, the struggle between majority rule and minority rights, and the conflict between diversity and unity.

Substrand 3: Rights and Responsibilities

  • 4. Individuals in a republic have rights, duties, and responsibilities.
    • 9.1.3.4.1 Analyze the meaning and importance of rights in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments; compare and contrast these with rights in the Minnesota Constitution.
    • 9.1.3.4.2 Explain the scope and limits of rights protected by the First and Second Amendments and changes created by legislative action and court interpretation.
    • 9.1.3.4.3 Explain the scope and limits of rights of the accused under the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments and changes created by legislative action and court interpretation.
    • 9.1.3.4.4 Explain the current and historical interpretations of the principles of due process and equal protection of the law; analyze the protections provided by the Fourteenth Amendment.
    • 9.1.3.4.5 Explain the responsibilities and duties for all individuals (citizens and non-citizens) in a republic.
      For example: Paying taxes, obeying the law, responding to government requests such as subpoenas, informed participation in voting and public decision-making, developing and defending positions on public policy issues, monitoring, influencing decision making.
  • 5. Citizenship and its rights and duties are established by law.
    • 9.1.3.5.1 Define the legal meaning of citizenship in the United States, describe the process and requirements for citizenship, and explain the duties of citizenship including service in court proceedings (jury duty) and selective service registration (males).
    • 9.1.3.5.2 Describe the process of naturalization; explain the role of the federal government in establishing immigration policies.

Substrand 4: Government Institutions & Practical Processes

  • 6. The United States government has specific functions that are determined by the way that power is delegated and controlled among various bodies: the three levels (federal, state, local) and the three branches (legislative, executive, judicial) of government.
    • 9.1.4.6.1 Explain federalism and the provisions of the United States Constitution which delegate to the federal government the powers necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was established; distinguish between those powers and the powers retained by the people and the states.
      For example: Necessary and Proper Clause (“elastic clause”), Commerce Clause, Ninth and Tenth Amendments.
    • 9.1.4.6.2 Explain the purposes, organization, functions and processes of the legislative branch as enumerated in Article I of the United States Constitution.
    • 9.1.4.6.3 Explain the purposes, organization, functions and processes of the executive branch as enumerated in Article II of the United States Constitution.
    • 9.1.4.6.4 Explain the purposes, organization, functions and processes of the judicial branch as enumerated in Article III of the United States Constitution.
    • 9.1.4.6.5 Describe the systems of enumerated and implied powers, separation of powers and checks and balances.
    • 9.1.4.6.6 Evaluate the importance of an independent judiciary, judicial review and the rule of law.
    • 9.1.4.6.7 Explain the powers and operations of the State of Minnesota government as defined in its Constitution and its relationship with the federal government.
    • 9.1.4.6.8 Explain the powers and operations of local (county, city, school board, township) government in Minnesota.
    • 9.1.4.6.9 Compare and contrast the budgets of the United States and Minnesota governments describing the major sources of revenue and categories of spending for each.
      For example: Sources of revenue— sales, income and property taxes, fees. Categories of spending—leases (mineral, water, oil, lumber), defense, public safety, education, entitlements, transportation, welfare.
  • 7. The primary purposes of rules and laws within the United States constitutional government are to protect individual rights, promote the general welfare and provide order.
    • 9.1.4.7.1 Describe the purposes, types, and sources of laws and rules.
      For example: Types of laws—civil, criminal and juvenile. Sources of laws and rules—case, statutory, administrative, executive.
  • 8. Public policy is shaped by governmental and non-governmental institutions and political processes.
    • 9.1.4.8.1 Evaluate the impact of political parties on elections and public policy formation.
    • 9.1.4.8.2 Evaluate the role of interest groups, corporations, think tanks, the media and public opinion on the political process and public policy formation.
  • 9. Free and fair elections are key elements of the United States political system.
    • 9.1.4.9.1 Analyze how the United States political system is shaped by elections and the election process, including the caucus system and procedures involved in voting.

Substrand 5: Relationships of the United States to Other Nations and Organizations

  • 10. The United States establishes and maintains relationships and interacts with indigenous nations and other sovereign nations, and plays a key role in world affairs.
    • 9.1.5.10.1 Explain how tribal sovereignty establishes a unique relationship between American Indian Nations and the United States government.
    • 9.1.5.10.2 Evaluate the effectiveness of diplomacy and other foreign policy tools used by the United States government and other nations in historical or contemporary times.
    • 9.1.5.10.3 Explain why governments interact in world affairs; describe how the United States government develops and carries out United States foreign policy, including treaty-making.
  • 11. International political and economic institutions influence world affairs and United States foreign policy.
    • 9.1.5.11.1 Describe how individuals, businesses, labor and other groups influence United States foreign policy.
    • 9.1.5.11.2 Explain the role of international law in world affairs; evaluate the impact of the participation of nation states in international organizations.
      For example: International organizations— United Nations, Arab League, World Trade Organization, African Union, European Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organization of American States.
  • 12. Governments are based on different political philosophies and purposes; governments establish and maintain relationships with varied types of other governments.
    • 9.1.5.12.1 Compare the philosophies, structures and operations of different types of governments in other countries with those in the United States.
      For example: Different types of governments—monarchies, theocracies, dictatorships, representative governments.

Social Studies Strand 2: Economics

Substrand 1: Economic Reasoning Skills

  • 1. People make informed economic choices by identifying their goals, interpreting and applying data, considering the short- and long- run costs and benefits of alternative choices and revising their goals based on their analysis.
    • 9.2.1.1.1 Apply reasoned decision-making techniques in making choices; explain why different individuals, households, organizations and/or governments faced with the same alternatives might make different choices.
      For example: Decision-making techniques—PACED decision-making process (Problem, Alternative, Criteria, Evaluation, Decision) , benefit-cost analysis, marginal analysis, consideration of sunk costs, results of behavioral economics.

Substrand 2: Personal Finance

  • 2. Personal and financial goals can be achieved by applying economic concepts and principles to personal financial planning, budgeting, spending, saving, investing, borrowing and insuring decisions.
    • 9.2.2.2.1 Establish financial goals; make a financial plan considering budgeting and asset building to meet those goals; and determine ways to track the success of the plan.
      For example: Goals—college education, start a business, buy a house, retire comfortably; calculate net (or disposable) income. Plan— calculate necessary saving to meet a financial goal; create a cash-flow or income-expense statement; create a balance sheet showing assets and liabilities.
    • 9.2.2.2.2 Evaluate investment options using criteria such as risk, return, liquidity and time horizon; evaluate and apply risk management strategies in investing and insuring decisions.
      For example: Apply PACED decision- making process (Problem, Alternative, Criteria, Evaluation, Decision). Investment options—stocks, bonds, savings account, CDs, real estate. Risk management strategies— diversification, dollar-averaging, safe driving, buying homeowners insurance.
    • 9.2.2.2.3 Evaluate the benefits and costs of credit; describe the “three C’s” of credit (character, capacity and collateral) and explain how these attributes can affect one's ability to borrow, rent, get a job and achieve other financial goals.
      For example: Two typical costs of credit are the finance charges and a lower degree of financial security. A person’s FICO score is a measure of their character and the lower it is, the higher the interest rates they usually must pay to borrow.
    • 9.2.2.2.4 Explain the pricing, sales, advertising and other marketing strategies used to sell products from a consumer perspective.
      For example: Unit pricing, sales tactics which can help or hinder choices, advertising which can provide useful information or misleading claims, scams, fraudulent offers.

Substrand 3: Fundamental Concepts

  • 3. Because of scarcity, individuals, organizations and governments must evaluate trade-offs, make choices and incur costs.
    • 9.2.3.3.1 Identify the incentives and trade- offs related to a choice made by an individual, household, organization or government; describe the opportunity cost of a choice; and analyze the consequences of a choice (both intended and unintended).
      For example: An opportunity cost of choosing to spend more than your income, be it an individual or government, is less financial security and ability to spend later.
  • 4. Economic systems differ in the ways that they address the three basic economic issues of allocation, production and distribution to meet society’s broad economic goals.
    • 9.2.3.4.1 Explain how the availability of productive resources and technology limits the production of goods and services.
      For example: Productive resources— human, capital, natural, and entrepreneurial; production possibilities curve and shifts of this curve; effects of technological change.
    • 9.2.3.4.2 Compare and contrast the characteristics of traditional, command (planned), market-based (capitalistic) and mixed economic systems.
      For example: Characteristics— ownership of resources, consumer sovereignty, amount of government involvement, underlying incentives, compatibility with democratic principles. How does each system answer these questions: What to produce? How to produce? For whom to produce?
    • 9.2.3.4.3 Define broad economic goals and describe the trade-offs that exist between them; evaluate how different economic systems achieve these goals in theory and in practice.
      For example: Economic goals— efficiency, equity, security, stability, freedom, growth. Trade-offs—a market-based economy may achieve the goals of efficiency and freedom, but sometimes at the expense of security and equity; a command economy is more equitable in theory than in practice.

Substrand 4: Microeconomic Concepts

  • 5. Individuals, businesses and governments interact and exchange goods, services and resources in different ways and for different reasons; interactions between buyers and sellers in a market determines the price and quantity exchanged of a good, service or resource.
    • 9.2.4.5.1 Describe the role of households, businesses and governments in the movement of resources, goods and services, and money in an economy.
      For example: Circular flow model— households sell resources to earn income to buy goods and services; businesses buy resources to produce goods and services they sell for revenue; governments impose taxes and buy goods and services.
    • 9.2.4.5.2 Describe the role of markets in the movement of resources, goods and services, and money in an economy.
      For example: Product markets (exchange of goods and services), resource markets (households are sellers and businesses are buyers).
    • 9.2.4.5.3 Explain that market demand is based on each buyer’s willingness and ability to pay and the number of buyers in the market; analyze the effect of factors that can change demand.
      For example: Factors—income/wealth, prices of other goods, consumer tastes and preferences, expectations. An increase in the price of sugar leads to an increase in the demand for corn syrup, a substitute.
    • 9.2.4.5.4 Explain that market supply is based on each seller’s cost and the number of sellers in the market; analyze the effect of factors that can change supply.
      For example: Factors—productivity of resources, price of resources, government taxes and subsidies, profit expectations; a fall in the price of leather leads to an increase in the supply of baseball gloves due to the lower cost of production.
    • 9.2.4.5.5 Use demand and supply curves to explain how the equilibrium price and quantity in a market is determined as buyers and sellers adjust their offers in response to shortages or surpluses.
      For example: If the price of houses is such that the quantity offered by sellers exceeds the quantity demanded by buyers, a housing surplus would exist which would lead sellers to offer lower prices.
    • 9.2.4.5.6 Explain how changes (shifts) in the demand and supply of an item result in changes in its market price and quantity; explain how these shifts can lead to changes in prices and quantities in other markets.
      For example: An increase in the price of oil increases the cost of producing gasoline. This reduces (“leftward shifts”) the supply of gasoline, leading to an increase in the price of gasoline and a reduction in the quantity of gasoline sold.
  • 6. Profit provides an incentive for individuals and businesses; different business organizations and market structures have an effect on the profit, price and production of goods and services.
    • 9.2.4.6.1 Compare and contrast characteristics of various market structures.
      For example: Characteristics—number of firms, amount of product differentiation, amount of market integration, barriers to entry, type of business organization. Market structures—perfect competition, polyopoly (or monopolistic competition), oligopoly, monopoly.
    • 9.2.4.6.2 Explain the impact of various market structures on long-run profit, price, production, and efficiency in the market.
      For example: Impact—In perfectly- competitive markets, profits direct resources to their most-valued use (the "invisible hand of the market"); a monopoly will restrict output below the efficient (or competitive) amount in order to drive up price and earn economic profits.
  • 7. Resource markets and financial markets determine wages, interest rates and commodity prices.
    • 9.2.4.7.1 Explain the role of productivity, human capital, unions, demographics and government policies in determining wage rates and income in labor markets.
      For example: Retiring baby-boomers will likely lead to labor shortages; increases in worker productivity lead to increases in the demand for labor and higher wages; minimum wage laws lead to higher wages but also cause labor surpluses.
    • 9.2.4.7.2 Explain the role of financial institutions and credit markets in the acquisition of capital.
      For example: Financial institutions (intermediaries between savers and investors)—commercial banks, investment banks, credit unions, stock exchanges. Credit markets (interaction between borrowers and lenders) determine interest rates which affect capital purchases (or investment spending).
    • 9.2.4.7.3 Describe commodities as natural resources necessary to produce goods and services; explain how world events and market speculation can affect commodity and other prices.
      For example: Commodities—grains, minerals, oil, fruits, natural gas, wood. Effects—unrest in oil-producing nations raises the price of oil which raises the cost of energy of producing many goods and services.
  • 8. Market failures occur when markets fail to allocate resources efficiently or meet other goals, and this often leads to government attempts to correct the problem.
    • 9.2.4.8.1 Identify and analyze market failures caused by a lack of competition, lack of resource mobility (barriers), and lack of perfect information; evaluate the rationale and effectiveness of government attempts to remedy these problems.
      For example: Remedies—anti-trust laws, consumer protection laws, provision of consumer information, disclosure laws; Government agencies—Department of Justice, Securities Exchange Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
    • 9.2.4.8.2 Identify and analyze market failures caused by poorly-defined or poorly- enforced property rights, externalities, and public goods; evaluate the rationale and effectiveness of government attempts to remedy these problems.
      For example: Hunting licenses to control access to deer, fish and other wildlife populations; the creation of a tradable discharge permit market for sulfur to correct the negative externality of acid rains; provision of police and courts to enforce private property rights. Government attempts to remedy problems—legal system, agencies (Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources).
    • 9.2.4.8.3 Identify measures of income distribution, wealth distribution and poverty and explain how these affect, and are affected by, the economy; evaluate the effectiveness of, and incentives created by, government income redistribution programs.
      For example: Measures—Gini coefficient, poverty line, wealth of richest twenty percent divided by wealth of poorest twenty percent. Effects—a different income or wealth distribution would result in a different allocation of resources. Government programs—Social Security, basic welfare, unemployment compensation.

Substrand 5: Macroeconomic Concepts

  • 9. Economic performance (the performance of an economy toward meeting its goals) can be measured, and is affected by, various long-term factors.
    • 9.2.5.9.1 Measure economic growth in terms of percentage changes in real Gross Domestic Product over time; analyze past and recent data to identify factors that promote or impair long-run economic growth and its sustainability.
      For example: Factors—productivity, amount of resources, level of saving, investments, technological advances, research and development, education and training, natural resource availability.
    • 9.2.5.9.2 Measure inflation in terms of a percentage change in a price index; analyze past and recent data to explain how the money supply is related to long-run inflation with the equation of exchange.
      For example: Price indexes— consumer price index, producer price index, gross domestic product deflator. Equation of exchange—MV=PQ, given V (the velocity of money) constant and Q (output) at full employment, a percentage change in M (the money supply) will result in the same percentage change in P (the price level).
    • 9.2.5.9.3 Measure full employment in terms of the unemployment rate and various types of unemployment; analyze past and recent data to describe factors that impact the long-run growth of jobs in an economy.
      For example: Types of unemployment—frictional, structural, cyclical, seasonal; Factors— demographics, immigration, growth of output.
  • 10. The overall levels of output, employment and prices in an economy fluctuate in the short run as a result of the spending and production decisions of households, businesses, governments and others.
    • 9.2.5.10.1 Describe factors that can lead to changes in short-run total spending (by households, businesses, governments and foreigners) and changes in short-run output.
      For example: Total spending factors— household wealth, foreign incomes, interest rates, factory utilization rate, expectations. Output factors— resource prices, resource productivity, government regulations.
    • 9.2.5.10.2 Use a short-run aggregate demand and aggregate supply model to describe changes in output, employment and the price level.
      For example: A decrease in aggregate demand (due to a loss of household wealth) leads to a decrease in the price level, real gross domestic product (GDP), employment.
  • 11. The overall performance of an economy can be influenced by the fiscal policies of governments and the monetary policies of central banks.
    • 9.2.5.11.1 Explain how various government fiscal policies are likely to impact overall output, employment and the price level.
      For example: Fiscal policies—changes in spending levels or composition, tax rates, tax base, tax structure, budget decisions, debt, regulations; increases in government spending tend to increase output, employment, and the price level; crowding-out effect.
    • 9.2.5.11.2 Describe how various monetary policies of the Federal Reserve are implemented; explain how they are likely to impact overall output, employment, and the price level.
      For example: Monetary policies— changes in the rate of growth of the money supply, interest rates, the availability of credit, financial regulations; decreases in interest rates tends to increase output, employment, and the price level.
    • 9.2.5.11.3 Explain fiscal and monetary policies from various perspectives; provide arguments from one’s own perspective, supported by analysis, for a policy change that should be adopted.
      For example: Various perspectives— How do liberals and conservatives view the economic desirability of increasing tax rates on the wealthy?
    • 9.2.5.11.4 Evaluate the impact of at least two United States Supreme Court decisions on the United States economy.
      For example: Cases that define corporations as persons, child labor laws, commerce clause cases, anti- trust cases.
  • 12. International trade, exchange rates and international institutions affect individuals, organizations and governments throughout the world.
    • 9.2.5.12.1 Apply the principles of absolute and comparative advantage to explain the increase in world production due to specialization and trade; identify the groups that benefit and lose with free-trade treaties, trading blocs and trade barriers.
      For example: Dropping United States restrictions on the importation of sugar would benefit sugar consumers through lower prices, but hurt sugar beet farmers; however, the net economic benefit for the United States would be positive. Role of the World Trade Organization.
    • 9.2.5.12.2 Explain how the demand and supply of currencies determines exchange rates and, in turn, affects trade.
      For example: A rise in the demand for United States exports and assets leads to rise in the demand for United States dollars and an appreciation in the value of the United States dollar relative to other currencies.

Social Studies Strand 3: Geography

Substrand 1: Geospatial Skills

  • 1. People use geographic representations and geospatial technologies to acquire, process and report information within a spatial context.
    • 9.3.1.1.1 Create tables, graphs, charts, diagrams and various kinds of maps including symbol, dot and choropleth maps to depict the geographic implications of current world events or to solve geographic problems.
      For example: Maps showing changing political boundaries and tables showing the distribution of refugees from areas affected by natural disasters.
    • Apply geographic information from a variety of print and electronic sources to interpret the past and present and plan for the future; provide rationale for using specific technologies for each application.
      For example: Technologies—aerial photographs, satellite-produced imagery, and geographic information systems (GIS). Applications—determine obstacles that needed to be overcome in building the Suez and Panama Canals; gauge the extent of water pollution in a harbor complex in South Africa.
  • 2. Geographic Inquiry is a process in which people ask geographic questions and gather, organize and analyze information to solve problems and plan for the future.
    • 9.3.1.2.1 Use geospatial technologies to make and justify decisions about the best location for facilities.
      For example: Technologies— Geographic Information Systems (GIS), online atlases and databases, Google Earth or similar programs. Decision about location of facilities—determine the best location for an international airport in a given region.
    • Use geospatial technologies to develop plans for analyzing and solving local and regional problems that have spatial dimensions.
      For example: Geospatial technology— Geographic Information Systems (GIS), online atlases and databases, Google Earth or similar programs. Regional problems that have spatial dimensions might relate to urban development, environmental concerns, transportation issues, flood control.

Substrand 2: Places and Regions

  • 3. Places have physical characteristics (such as climate, topography and vegetation) and human characteristics (such as culture, population, political and economic systems).
    • 9.3.2.3.1 Make inferences and draw conclusions about the physical and human characteristics of places based on a comparison of maps and other geographic representations and geospatial technologies.
      For example: Physical characteristics— landforms (Rocky Mountains), ecosystems (forest), bodies of water (Mississippi River, Hudson Bay), vegetation, weather and climate. Human characteristics—bridges (Golden Gate Bridge), Erie Canal, cities, political boundaries, population distribution, settlement patterns, language, ethnicity, nationality, religious beliefs.
  • 4. People construct regions to identify, organize and interpret areas of the earth’s surface, which simplifies the earth’s complexity.
    • 9.3.2.4.1 Apply geographic models to explain the location of economic activities and land use patterns in the United States and the world.
    • 9.3.2.4.2 Identify the primary factors influencing the regional pattern of economic activities in the United States and the world.
    • 9.3.2.4.3 Explain how technological and managerial changes associated with the third agricultural revolution, pioneered by Norman Bourlaug, have impacted regional patterns of crop and livestock production.
    • 9.3.2.4.4 Describe patterns of production and consumption of agricultural commodities that are traded among nations.

Substrand 3: Human Systems

  • 5. The characteristics, distribution and migration of human populations on the earth’s surface influence human systems (cultural, economic and political systems).
    • 9.3.3.5.1 Describe the patterns of human population distribution in the United States and major regions of the world.
    • 9.3.3.5.2 Use the demographic transition model to analyze and explain the impact of changing birth and death rates in major world regions.
    • 9.3.3.5.3 Compare the population characteristics of places at a range of scales using population pyramids, birth and death rates, and other key demographic variables.
    • 9.3.3.5.4 Explain migration patterns in the modern era at a range of scales, local to global.
    • 9.3.3.5.5 Describe the factors influencing the growth and spatial distribution of large cities in the contemporary world.
      For example: Economic development, migration, population growth.
    • 9.3.3.5.6 Analyze how transportation and communication systems have affected the development of systems of cities.
    • 9.3.3.5.7 Describe how changes in transportation and communication technologies affect the patterns and processes of urbanization of the United States.
    • 9.3.3.5.8 Describe the factors (transportation, government policies, economic development, and changing cultural values) that shape and change urban and suburban areas in the United States.
  • 6. Geographic factors influence the distribution, functions, growth and patterns of cities and human settlements.
    • 9.3.3.6.1 Use generally accepted models to explain the internal spatial structure of cities in regions of the United States and other regions in the world.
      For example: Models— Concentric Zone, Sector, Multiple Nuclei, Western European city, Latin American city, Southeast Asian city, African city. Regions of the United States—eastern United States, western United States. Regions of the world— Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa South of the Sahara, Southwest Asia/ North Africa.
  • 7. The characteristics, distribution and complexity of the earth’s cultures influence human systems (social, economic and political systems).
    • 9.3.3.7.1 Explain the spread of culture using the concept of diffusion and diffusion models.
    • 9.3.3.7.2 Describe the spatial distribution of significant cultural and/or ethnic groups in the United States and the world and how these patterns are changing.
    • 9.3.3.7.3 Explain how social, political and economic processes influence the characteristics of places and regions.
  • 8. Processes of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of the earth’s surface.
    • 9.3.3.8.1 Define the concepts of nationalism and sovereign political states and explain how sovereignty is impacted by international agreements.
    • 9.3.3.8.2 Describe the effects of nationalism and supranationalism on the establishment of political boundaries and economic activities.
    • 9.3.3.8.3 Analyze the impact of colonialism on the emergence of independent states and the tensions that arise when the boundaries of political units do not correspond to the nationalities or ethnicities of the people living within them.

Substrand 4: Human Environment Interaction

  • 9. The environment influences human actions; and humans both adapt to and change, the environment.
    • 9.3.4.9.1 Analyze the interconnectedness of the environment and human activities (including the use of technology), and the impact of one upon the other.
  • 10. The meaning, use, distribution and importance of resources changes over time.
    • 9.3.4.10.1 Describe patterns of production and consumption of fossil fuels that are traded among nations.

Social Studies Strand 4: History

Substrand 1: Historical Thinking Skills

  • 2. Historical inquiry is a process in which multiple sources and different kinds of historical evidence are analyzed to draw conclusions about how and why things happened in the past.
    • 9.4.1.2.1 Pose questions about topics in history; suggest possible answers and write a thesis; locate and organize primary and secondary sources; analyze them for credibility and bias; corroborate information across the sources; use sources to support or refute the thesis; and present supported findings.
    • 9.4.1.2.2 Evaluate alternative interpretations of historical events; use historical evidence to support or refute those interpretations.

Substrand 3: World History

  • 6. Environmental changes and human adaptation enabled human migration from Africa to other regions of the world. (The Beginnings of Human History: 200,000- 8000 BCE)
    • 9.4.3.6.1 Develop a timeline that traces the migration of the earliest humans from Africa to other world regions, including the Americas; analyze the environmental factors that enabled their migration to other world regions and the ways in which they adapted to different environments. (The Beginnings of Human History: 200,000- 8000 BCE)
  • 7. The emergence of domestication and agriculture facilitated the development of complex societies and caused far- reaching social and cultural effects. (Early Civilizations and the Emergence of Pastoral Peoples: 8000 BCE-2000 BCE)
    • 9.4.3.7.1 Locate on a map and describe when and how humans began to domesticate wild plants and animals and develop agricultural societies. (Early Civilizations and the Emergence of Pastoral Peoples: 8000 BCE-2000 BCE)
    • 9.4.3.7.2 Compare and contrast the cultural differences between the hunter gatherer and early agricultural societies. (Early Civilizations and the Emergence of Pastoral Peoples: 8000 BCE-2000 BCE)
  • 8. The development of interregional systems of communication and trade facilitated new forms of social organization and new belief systems. (Classical Traditions, Belief Systems and Giant Empires: 2000 BCE – 600 CE)
    • 9.4.3.8.1 Describe the development, characteristics, and decline of civilizations in Africa, East Asia, and South Asia; describe their interactions. (Classical Traditions, Belief Systems, and Giant Empires: 2000 BCE – 600 CE)
      For example: African civilizations— Kush, Aksum. East Asian civilizations—Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han. South Asian civilizations—Indo- Aryan, Mauryan, Gupta.
    • 9.4.3.8.2 Describe the development, characteristics, and decline of civilizations in Southwest Asia and around the Mediterranean Sea (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome); describe their interactions. (Classical Traditions, Belief Systems, and Giant Empires: 2000 BCE – 600 CE)
    • 9.4.3.8.3 Analyze the emergence, development, and impact of religions and philosophies of this era, including Hinduism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity. (Classical Traditions, Belief Systems, and Giant Empires: 2000 BCE – 600 CE)
  • 9. Hemispheric networks intensified as a result of innovations in agriculture, trade across longer distances, the consolidation of belief systems and the development of new multi-ethnic empires while diseases and climate change caused sharp, periodic fluctuations in global population. (Post-Classical and Medieval Civilizations and Expanding Zones of Exchange: 600-1450)
    • 9.4.3.9.1 Describe the rise and significance of Islam in Southwest Asia and its expansion and institutionalization into other regions. (Post-Classical and Medieval Civilizations and Expanding Zones of Exchange: 600- 1450)
    • 9.4.3.9.2 Describe the characteristics of the Swahili, Ghana and Mali Songhai cultures in Africa, including trade across longer distances and the impact of Islam. (Post-Classical and Medieval Civilizations and Expanding Zones of Exchange: 600-1450)
    • 9.4.3.9.3 Compare and contrast the cultures of China (Yuan/ Mongol and Ming) and Japan (Heian and early Shogunates), including the consolidation of belief systems. (Post-Classical and Medieval Civilizations and Expanding Zones of Exchange: 600-1450)
    • 9.4.3.9.4 Analyze the impact of Indian Ocean trade on the cultures in South and Southeast Asia. (Post- Classical and Medieval Civilizations and Expanding Zones of Exchange: 600-1450)
    • 9.4.3.9.5 Compare and contrast the cultures in eastern and western Europe, including the role of Christianity, feudalism and the impact of diseases and climate change. (Post-Classical and Medieval Civilizations and Expanding Zones of Exchange: 600- 1450)
      For example: The Black Death, Byzantine Empire, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism.
    • 9.4.3.9.6 Analyze the factors that led to the emergence and expansion of the multi-ethnic Aztec and Inca empires in the Americas. (Post- Classical and Medieval Civilizations and Expanding Zones of Exchange: 600-1450)
    • 9.4.3.9.7 Describe the intensified exchanges of scientific, artistic and historical knowledge among Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia; evaluate the impact on Christian and Islamic societies. (Post-Classical and Medieval Civilizations and Expanding Zones of Exchange: 600-1450)
      For example: Dar al Islam, Crusades, Renaissance.
  • 10. New connections between the hemispheres resulted in the “Columbian Exchange,” new sources and forms of knowledge, development of the first truly global economy, intensification of coerced labor, increasingly complex societies and shifts in the international balance of power. (Emergence of the First Global Age: 1450-1750)
    • 9.4.3.10.1 Describe the Reformation and Counter-Reformation; analyze their impact throughout the Atlantic world. (Emergence of the First Global Age: 1450-1750)
    • 9.4.3.10.2 Explain the social, political and economic changes in Europe that led to trans-oceanic exploration and colonization. (Emergence of the First Global Age: 1450-1750)
      For example: Maritime technology, Reconquista.
    • 9.4.3.10.3 Describe the impact of interactions and negotiations between African leaders and European traders on long- distance trade networks. (Emergence of the First Global Age: 1450-1750)
    • 9.4.3.10.4 Describe the interactions and negotiations between Americans (Mayans, Aztecs, Incas) and European explorers, as well as the consequences. (Emergence of the First Global Age: 1450-1750)
    • 9.4.3.10.5 Assess the social and demographic impact of the Columbian Exchange on Europe, the Americas and Africa.
      (Emergence of the First Global Age: 1450-1750)
    • 9.4.3.10.6 Compare and contrast the forms of slavery and other non-free labor systems among African, European and Arab societies; analyze the causes and consequences of chattel slavery in the Atlantic. (Emergence of the First Global Age: 1450-1750)
    • 9.4.3.10.7 Describe the expansion of the Ottoman empire; define its relationships and exchanges with neighboring societies and religious and ethnic minorities. (Emergence of the First Global Age: 1450-1750)
    • 9.4.3.10.8 Analyze the varied responses in China and Japan to increasingly worldwide economic and cultural exchanges. (Emergence of the First Global Age: 1450-1750)
      For example: Seclusion of Tokugawa Shogunate, Ming trade, Jesuit Missionaries.
    • 9.4.3.10.9 Identify the major intellectual and scientific developments of seventeenth and eighteenth- century Europe; describe the regional and global influences on the European Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment, and assess their impact on global society. (Emergence of the First Global Age: 1450-1750)
  • 11. Industrialization ushered in wide- spread population growth and migration, new colonial empires and revolutionary ideas about government and political power. (The Age of Revolutions: 1750-1922)
    • 9.4.3.11.1 Describe the causes and the regional and global impact of the Industrial Revolution. (The Age of Revolutions: 1750-1922)
      For example: Causes—development of new sources of energy/ power, Enclosure Act, Agricultural Revolution. Impact—Emancipation of serfs in Russia, unionized labor, rise of banking, growth of middle class.
    • 9.4.3.11.2 Explain the causes and global consequences of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Era. (The Age of Revolutions: 1750-1922)
    • 9.4.3.11.3 Describe the independence movements and rebellions in the Caribbean and Central and South America; analyze the social, political and economic causes and consequences of these events. (The Age of Revolutions: 1750-1922)
      For example: Toussaint L’ Ouverture in Haiti, Simon Bolivar in Venezuela.
    • 9.4.3.11.4 Compare and contrast the shift from chattel slavery to other forms of labor in different world regions, and its effects on world- wide migration patterns. (The Age of Revolutions: 1750-1922)
      For example: Hindi plantation workers in Trinidad, Japanese cane workers in Hawaii, Aborigine domestic servants in Australia.
    • 9.4.3.11.5 Describe the origins and spread of the transatlantic abolition movement; evaluate its effects on the end of the African slave trade and chattel slavery in law and in practice. (The Age of Revolutions: 1750-1922)
      For example: French Revolutionaries’ abolition of slavery in 1794 and Napoleon’s re- legalization of slavery in French colonies in 1802; Haitian independence and abolition in 1804; 1787 founding of the British colony of Sierra Leone; British Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade and Parliament’s 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade Act; Mexican Revolutionaries’ abolition in 1810.
    • 9.4.3.11.6 Compare and contrast the development and results of state building and nationalism in the nineteenth century. (The Age of Revolutions: 1750-1922)
      For example: Mexico, Germany, Japan, Zionism.
    • 9.4.3.11.7 Describe European imperialism; explain its effects on interactions with colonized peoples in Africa and Asia. (The Age of Revolutions: 1750-1922)
      For example: Berlin Conference, Treaty of Nanking, Sepoy Rebellion (India’s First War of Independence).
    • 9.4.3.11.8 Compare and contrast the approaches of China and Japan to Western influence. (The Age of Revolutions: 1750-1922)
      For example: Opium War, Boxer Rebellion, Meiji Restoration.
  • 12. A rapidly evolving world dominated by industrialized powers, scientific and technological progress, profound political, economic, and cultural change, world wars and widespread violence and unrest produced a half century of crisis and achievement. (A Half Century of Crisis and
    Achievement: 1900- 1950)
    • 9.4.3.12.1 Describe the social, political and economic causes and consequences of World War I. (A Half Century of Crisis and Achievement: 1900-1950)
      For example: Treaty of Versailles, Turkey, expanding opportunities for women, Age of Anxiety, economic insecurity.
    • 9.4.3.12.2 Describe the rise and effects of communism and socialism in Europe and Asia, including the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) in Russia and the Chinese Revolution (1949). (A Half Century of Crisis & Achievement: 1900-1950)
    • 9.4.3.12.3 Describe the social, political and economic causes and main turning points of World War II. (A Half Century of Crisis and Achievement: 1900-1950)
      For example: Causes—Rise of totalitarianism, invasion of Manchuria, appeasement, invasion of Poland. Turning points— Stalingrad, Battle of Midway.
    • 9.4.3.12.4 Describe the causes and consequences of the Nazi Holocaust, including the effects of the Nazi regime’s “war against the Jews” and other groups, and its influence on the 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights movements of the post-WW II era. (A Half Century of Crisis and Achievement: 1900-1950)
    • 9.4.3.12.5 Identify major developments in science, medicine, and technology; analyze their benefits and dangers. (A Half Century of Crisis and Achievement: 1900-1950)
      For example: Developments— electricity, automobile, hydrogen bomb, vaccines.
  • 13. Post- World War II geopolitical reorganization produced the Cold War balance of power and new alliances that were based on competing economic and political doctrines. (The World After World War II: 1950- 1989)
    • 9.4.3.13.1 Trace the political and economic changes in China from the Communist Revolution until recent times. (The World After World War II: 1950-1989)
      For example: Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square.
    • 9.4.3.13.2 Evaluate the degree to which individuals and groups have shaped the development of various post-colonial governments. (The World After World War II: 1950-1989)
      For example: Individuals—Fidel Castro, Vaclav Havel, Nelson Mandela, Indira Gandhi. Groups— Khmer Rouge, Sandinistas, Palestine Liberation Organization.
    • 9.4.3.13.3 Explain how the Cold War shaped the global geopolitical climate, including proxy wars and the Non-Aligned Movement. (The World After World War II: 1950- 1989)
      For example: The Congo, Nicaragua, Afghanistan.
    • 9.4.3.13.4 Describe the response of the world community to human rights violations, including the response to apartheid in South Africa. (The World After World War II: 1950- 1989)
      For example: Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur.
  • 14. Globalization, the spread of capitalism and the end of the Cold War have shaped a contemporary world still characterized by rapid technological change, dramatic increases in global population and economic growth coupled with persistent economic and social disparities and cultural conflict. (The New Global Era: 1989- Present)
    • 9.4.3.14.1 Analyze the causes and consequences of the long-term unrest in the Middle East. (The New Global Era: 1989 to Present)
      For example: Israeli-Palestinian territorial dispute, Shia-Sunni tensions, competing power structures (secular versus religious, dictatorship versus democracy, Western versus traditional).
    • 9.4.3.14.2 Analyze the social, political and economic impact of globalization and technological advancement, including the effects on the economies of developing countries and the impact on political power and political boundaries. (The New Global Era: 1989 to Present)

Substrand 4: United States History

  • 15. North America was populated by indigenous nations that had developed a wide range of social structures, political systems and economic activities, and whose expansive trade networks extended across the continent. (Before European Contact)
    • 9.4.4.15.1 Compare and contrast selected examples of diverse societies that existed in North America prior to contact with Europeans; analyze their life ways, social organizations, political institutions, and the effect of their religious beliefs on environmental adaptations. (Before European Contact)
    • 9.4.4.15.2 Describe change over time in selected indigenous nations, including migration, trade and conflict. (Before European Contact)
  • 16. Rivalries among European nations and their search for new opportunities fueled expanding global trade networks and, in North America, colonization and settlement and the exploitation of indigenous peoples and lands; colonial development evoked varied responses by indigenous nations, and produced regional societies and economies that included imported slave labor and distinct forms of local government. (Colonization and Settlement: 1585-1763)
    • 9.4.4.16.1 Analyze the consequences of the transatlantic Columbian Exchange of peoples, animals, plants and pathogens on North American societies and ecosystems. (Colonization and Settlement: 1585-1763)
    • 9.4.4.16.2 Compare and contrast the motivations for exploration, conquest and colonization in North America by different European nations. (Colonization and Settlement: 1585-1763)
    • 9.4.4.16.3 Identify the varied economic, political and religious motives of free and indentured European immigrants who settled in North America. (Colonization and Settlement: 1585-1763)
    • 9.4.4.16.4 Explain the origin and growth of the Atlantic slave trade; describe its demographic, economic, and political impact on West Africa, Europe, and the Americas (North America, Caribbean, Central and South America), including the impact on enslaved Africans. (Colonization and Settlement: 1585-1763)
    • 9.4.4.16.5 Analyze the impact of European colonization within North America on indigenous nations; analyze the impact of indigenous nations on colonization. (Colonization and Settlement: 1585-1763)
    • 9.4.4.16.6 Compare and contrast the development of regional economies and labor systems in the British North American colonies (New England, Mid- Atlantic, and Southern colonies), including regional differences in the experiences of indentured servants, enslaved Africans and indigenous people. (Colonization and Settlement: 1585-1763)
    • 9.4.4.16.7 Describe the growth of colonial societies in British North America, including the evolution of representative forms of government, increased ethnic and religious pluralism, and changing concepts of racial identity, gender roles and family organization. (Colonization and Settlement: 1585-1763)
      For example: The Great Awakening, 1720s to early 1760s; the difference in gender roles North and South; Pennsylvania as an example of both ethnic and religious diversity in the colonial period.
  • 17. The divergence of colonial interests from those of England led to an independence movement that resulted in the American Revolution and the foundation of a new nation based on the ideals of self- government and liberty. (Revolution and a New Nation, 1754-1800)
    • 9.4.4.17.1 Describe the political and military events that caused some North American colonies to break with Great Britain, wage war and proclaim a new nation in 1776. (Revolution and a New Nation: 1754-1800)
      For example: Events—French and Indian War, Stamp Act.
    • 9.4.4.17.2 Analyze the American revolutionaries’ justifications, principles and ideals as expressed in the Declaration of Independence; identify the sources of these principles and ideals and their impact on subsequent revolutions in Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America. (Revolution and a New Nation: 1754-1800)
    • 9.4.4.17.3 Develop a timeline of the major events and turning points of the American Revolution, including the involvement of other nations; analyze the reasons for American victory. (Revolution and a New Nation: 1754-1800)
    • 9.4.4.17.4 Analyze the arguments about the organization and powers of the federal government between 1783 and 1800, including the debates over the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; explain the origins of the two-party political system and the significance of the election of 1800. (Revolution and a New Nation: 1754-1800)
      For example: Ratification debates—Federalists/Anti- Federalists, full funding and assumption, Neutrality Proclamation and the Election of 1800).
  • 18. Economic expansion and the conquest of indigenous and Mexican territory spurred the agricultural and industrial growth of the United States; led to increasing regional, economic and ethnic divisions; and inspired multiple reform movements. (Expansion and Reform: 1792-1861)
    • 9.4.4.18.1 Analyze the differential impact of technological change and innovation on regional economic development and labor systems. (Expansion and Reform: 1792-1861)
      For example: Technological changes—the cotton gin, the factory system, steam transportation, the Erie Canal, early railroads, the telegraph.
    • 9.4.4.18.2 Analyze how the expansion of United States territory and redefinition of borders affected the relationship of the United States with other nations, provided land for settlement, and resulted in political conflict. (Expansion and Reform: 1792-1861)
      For example: Louisiana Purchase; multiple treaty negotiations with and wars against indigenous nations and Native alliances; negotiated annexation of Texas; United States-Mexican War.
    • 9.4.4.18.3 Analyze changes in the United States political system including the simultaneous expansion and constriction of voting rights and the development of new political parties. (Expansion and Reform: 1792-1861)
      For example:The collapse of the first party system (Federalists and Democratic- Republicans), the emergence of the second party system (Democrats and Whigs), new third parties including Know- Nothing, Free Soil and Republican, extending right to vote to all white men while disenfranchising free Black men.
    • 9.4.4.18.4 Describe the efforts of individuals, communities and institutions to promote cultural, religious and social reform movements. (Expansion and Reform: 1792- 1861)
    • 9.4.4.18.5 Analyze the strategies, goals and impact of the key movements to promote political, cultural (including artistic and literary), religious and social reform. (Expansion and Reform: 1792-1861)
      For example: The "Woman" movement, abolition movement, the Second Great Awakening.
    • 9.4.4.18.6 Evaluate the responses of both enslaved and free Blacks to slavery in the Antebellum period. (Expansion and Reform: 1792- 1861)
      For example: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, tool breaking, purchasing relatives.
  • 19. Regional tensions around economic development, slavery, territorial expansion and governance resulted in a civil war and a period of Reconstruction that led to the abolition of slavery, a more powerful federal government, a renewed push into indigenous nations’ territory and continuing conflict over racial relations. (Civil War and Reconstruction: 1850- 1877)
    • 9.4.4.19.1 Compare and contrast the regional economies, societies, cultures and politics of the North, South and West leading up to the Civil War. (Civil War and Reconstruction: 1850-1877)
    • 9.4.4.19.2 Describe the recurring antebellum debates over slavery and state's rights, popular sovereignty, and political compromise; analyze how the American political system broke down in the 1850s and culminated in southern Secession, the establishment of the Confederate States of America, and the Union response. (Civil War and Reconstruction: 1850-1877)
    • 9.4.4.19.3 Describe the course of the Civil War, identifying key political and military leaders, issues, events and turning points on battlefields and home fronts, in South, North and West. (Civil War and Reconstruction: 1850-1877)
    • 9.4.4.19.4 Describe significant individuals, groups and institutions involved in the struggle for rights for African- Americans; analyze the stages and processes by which enslaved African- Americans were freed and emancipation was achieved during the war. (Civil War and Reconstruction: 1850-1877)
    • 9.4.4.19.5 Describe how the political policies, innovations and technology of the Civil War era had a lasting impact on United States society. (Civil War and Reconstruction: 1850- 1877)
    • 9.4.4.19.6 Outline the federal policies of war-time and post-war United States; explain the impact of these policies on Southern politics, society, the economy, race relations and gender roles. (Civil War and Reconstruction: 1850- 1877)
    • 9.4.4.19.7 Describe the content, context, and consequences of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments; evaluate the successes and failures of the Reconstruction, including the election of 1876, in relation to freedom and equality across the nation. (Civil War and Reconstruction: 1850- 1877)
  • 20. As the United States shifted from its agrarian roots into an industrial and global power, the rise of big business, urbanization and immigration led to institutionalized racism, ethnic and class conflict and new efforts at reform. (Development of an Industrial United States: 1870-1920)
    • 9.4.4.20.1 Explain how technological innovation, heavy industrialization, and intensified boom-bust cycles of an unregulated capitalist economy led to changes in the nature of work, economic scale and productivity, the advent of the modern corporation, and the rise of national labor unions. (Development of an Industrial United States: 1870-1920)
    • 9.4.4.20.2 Analyze how immigration and internal migration changed the demographic and settlement patterns of the United States population. (Development of an Industrial United States: 1870-1920)
    • 9.4.4.20.3 Analyze how the shift to mechanized farming and industrial production changed patterns in social organization, consumption and popular culture, and domestic life, including the rapid growth of cities in diverse regions of the country. (Development of an Industrial United States: 1870- 1920)
    • 9.4.4.20.4 Explain changes in federal Indian policy, especially in the areas of removal, sovereignty, land ownership, education and assimilation; describe the impact of the federal policies and responses by indigenous nations. (Development of an Industrial United States: 1870- 1920)
    • 9.4.4.20.5 Describe "Jim Crow" racial segregation and disenfranchisement in the South, the rise of "scientific racism," the spread of racial violence across the nation, the anti-Chinese exclusion movement in the West, and the debates about how to preserve and expand freedom and equality. (Development of an Industrial United States: 1870-1920)
    • 9.4.4.20.6 Describe the major political and social reform movements of the Progressive Era; analyze their impact on individuals, communities and institutions. (Development of an Industrial United States: 1870-1920)
    • 9.4.4.20.7 Evaluate the effectiveness of political responses to the problems of industrialism, monopoly capitalism, urbanization and political corruption. (Development of an Industrial United States: 1870-1920)
    • 9.4.4.20.8 Explain how the United States became a world power via trade and the imperialist acquisition of new territories. (Development of an Industrial United States: 1870- 1920)
    • 9.4.4.20.9 Describe the implications of United States involvement in World War I on domestic and foreign policy. (Development of an Industrial United States: 1870-1920)
  • 21. The economic growth, cultural innovation and political apathy of the 1920s ended in the Great Depression which spurred new forms of government intervention and renewed labor activism, followed by World War II and an economic resurgence. (Great Depression and World War II: 1920-1945)
    • 9.4.4.21.1 Describe the contributions of individuals and communities in relation to the art, literature and music of the period. (Great Depression and World War II: 1920-1945)
    • 9.4.4.21.2 Analyze the economic causes of the Great Depression and the impact on individuals, communities and institutions. (Great Depression and World War II: 1920-1945)
    • 9.4.4.21.3 Analyze how the New Deal addressed the struggles of the Great Depression and transformed the role of government. (Great Depression and World War II: 1920-1945)
    • 9.4.4.21.4 Describe the role of the United States as an emerging world leader and its attempts to secure peace and remain neutral; explain the factors that led the United States to choose a side for war. (Great Depression and World War II: 1920-1945)
    • 9.4.4.21.5 Identify major conflicts of World War II; compare and contrast military campaigns in the European and Pacific theaters. (Great Depression and World War II: 1920-1945)
    • 9.4.4.21.6 Evaluate the economic impact of the war, including its impact on the role of women and disenfranchised communities in the United States. (Great Depression and World War II: 1920-1945)
      For example: Japanese internment camps, Rosie the Riveter, the Bracero Program.
  • 22. Post- World War II United States was shaped by an economic boom, Cold War military engagements, politics and protests, and rights movements to improve the status of racial minorities, women and America’s indigenous peoples. (Post-World War II United States: 1945-1989)
    • 9.4.4.22.1 Analyze the technological and societal changes that affected popular culture in the post WWII era. (Post- World War II United States: 1945-1989)
      For example: Art, literature, rock n’ roll, the Beat poets.
    • 9.4.4.22.2 Compare and contrast market and command economic systems and their associated political ideologies; explain how these differences contributed to the development of the Cold War. (Post-World War II United States: 1945-1989)
      For example: Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis.
    • 9.4.4.22.3 Analyze the role of the United States in Southeast Asia including the Vietnam War; evaluate the impact of the domestic response to the war. (Post-World War II United States: 1945-1989)
    • 9.4.4.22.4 Analyze the causes and effects of the United States Secret War in Laos and how Hmong allies were impacted as a result of their involvement in this war. (Post-World War II United States: 1945-1989)
    • 9.4.4.22.5 Explain the roots of the various civil rights movements, including African American, Native American, women, Latino American and Asian American. (Post-World War II United States: 1945-1989)
    • 9.4.4.22.6 Identify obstacles to the success of the various civil rights movements; explain tactics used to overcome the obstacles and the role of key leaders and groups. (Post- World War II United States: 1945-1989)
    • 9.4.4.22.7 Evaluate the legacy and lasting effects of the various civil rights movements of the 1960s and 70s; explain their connections to current events and concerns. (Post-World War II United States: 1945-1989)
    • 9.4.4.22.8 Identify the changes over time in federal American Indian policy in terms of sovereignty, land ownership, citizenship, education and religious freedom; analyze the impact of these policies on indigenous nations. (Post- World War II United States: 1945-1989)
    • 9.4.4.22.9 Evaluate the effectiveness of United States policies in ending the Cold War. (Post- World War II United States: 1945-1989)
  • 23. The end of the Cold War, shifting geopolitical dynamics, the intensification of the global economy and rapidly changing technologies have given renewed urgency to debates about the United States’ identity, values and role in the world. (The United
    States in a New Global Age: 1980-present)
    • 9.4.4.23.1 Describe the competing views about the role of government in American life since 1980. (The United States in a New Global Age: 1980-present)
    • 9.4.4.23.2 Explain how United States involvement in world affairs after the Cold War continues to affect modern foreign policy. (The United States in a New Global Age: 1980-present)
    • 9.4.4.23.3 Explain the difference between an immigrant and a refugee; describe various immigrant, migrant and refugee groups including Hmong, Somali and Latinos who have come to the United States; analyze their contributions to United States society. (The United States in a New Global Age: 1980-present)
    • 9.4.4.23.4 Analyze the impact of twenty-first century technological innovations on society. (The United States in a New Global Age: 1980- present)
    • 9.4.4.23.5 Evaluate the United States' global economic connections and interdependence with other countries. (The United States in a New Global Age: 1980-present)

Joe Jelen Makes Students' Thinking Visible with Backchannel Discussion

Date Published
Image
Photography, Textual Revolution, 20 Sept 2008, Dayland Shannon, Flickr CC
Article Body

It is difficult to step into the minds of our students. As teachers, we are frequently seeking feedback from students and looking for those signals that let us know they understand. It is challenging to figure out both when students don’t understand something and what students don’t understand. Fortunately, much research has gone into this dilemma and we know that we must go beyond the simple tasks of checking for understanding and clarifying confusion. We must offer ample opportunity for students to explain their reasoning and foster metacognition. New technology, backchannel discussion, is making students’ thinking more visible to us teachers.

What is It?

Backchannel communication is simply the communication that occurs simultaneously, but secondarily to instruction. For example, it could be the text messages students send to their classmates about how boring U.S. History class is. These secondary conversations occur in any meeting, and one could easily construe these conversations as disruptive. For the purposes of education, we want to formalize this backchannel chatter and give it a legitimate use in the classroom. This may differ from classroom to classroom, but essentially, students would sign in to a site from their wireless device or computer, post questions, reply to posts, and engage in a secondary conversation to the one occurring at the front of the room. Teachers can display this as a live feed on a LCD projector during class or can simply refer to it on their own device while teaching. In addition, teachers could post questions to this “chat group” to begin conversations prior to class and have them continue after class. Used effectively, a backchannel means extending the reach of class.

Use in the Classroom

The first step in setting up a backchannel is to decide what site you would like to use and set up an account. Your best bet is to explore a variety of backchannel-friendly tools (Twitter, TodaysMeet, TinyChat, Chatzy, Wallwisher, Edmodo) and decide what best suits your needs. The second step is to make your chat room known to your students and accessible. Decide if you want the bulk of the conversation to take place during class or outside class time. In my classroom, I prefer instantaneous feedback. I have a LCD projector dedicated to displaying the running backchannel conversation. (By the way, LCD projectors have really come down in price, so you may be able to dedicate one to this purpose.) I like being able to refer to the screen to readily adapt my teaching or answer questions as we go. If I ever feel the conversation is visually distracting, I can simply turn off the LCD, but still allow students to post their comments.

Having a running backchannel allows more “voices” to be heard as students type or text their thoughts.

In an effort to make students’ thinking visible, I am committed to fostering dialogue between students so that I as the teacher can better guide them. Having a running backchannel allows more “voices” to be heard as students type or text their thoughts. In a classroom conversation, I first ask an open-ended question; I then allow a few students to voice their responses aloud. Next, I turn students loose to discuss the question at hand with their group and explain their thinking. While these group discussions are taking place, students are simultaneously asked to text or type their thinking behind their answers to our backchannel feed. Students are doing the majority of the talking in this environment, and on top of that, more students are able to participate through the backchannel than would be able to participate in a normal class discussion. Students whom I find typically afraid to speak up in class find a voice for their thinking in the backchannel. As our class progresses, I refer to the backchannel discussion and use it as an opportunity to praise good thinking and validate those risk-taking students who acknowledged confusion.

In a more formal use of backchannel communication, try using it during a fishbowl discussion. In a fishbowl discussion, an outer circle of students act as quiet observers and an inner circle of students discuss. The outer circle could use a projected backchannel to fact-check, ask follow-up questions, and provide instant feedback to the speakers in the inner circle. With the backchannel conversation visible to the inner circle, adjustments can be made to the conversation in real time.

Have you ever run out of time before answering students “burning questions?" Another practical use of backchannel communication is allowing students to post questions during class that you as the teacher can come back to and answer after class. Students would need to know to log in to the backchannel site later to see their questions answered or to ask any new questions. If it is not feasible to have students log in at home, simply opening the backchannel conversation from yesterday's class allows you to pick up where you left off.

It is important that you decide ahead of time how you intend to use a backchannel. Will there be extra credit associated? Participation points? Or will your students understand the utility of the backchannel to bolster their understanding without extrinsic motivators? Are you dedicated to its use? If you do not pause to use it during class or follow up on student comments after class, students will not take the backchannel seriously.

Drawbacks
Make students aware of their digital footprint, and wary of putting anything into writing that is inappropriate.

The same things that make a backchannel conversation productive can also make it problematic. On one hand, a backchannel opens the door for timid students to participate or confused students to ask questions if they can remain anonymous. However, I lean in the other direction towards requiring student accountability, and require my students to post their class ID (a number only I and they know, not a sensitive number) before comments. Even after explicitly instructing students on the proper use of the backchannel, without some system of accountability I find the system too susceptible to the "comment smoke bomb" (an inappropriate comment made for distraction). Since I like to project the backchannel conversation, it is even more susceptible to student abuse; like anything new and exciting in your class, be prepared to shut it down if it's abused. Also, make students aware of their digital footprint, and wary of putting anything into writing that is inappropriate.

The other important issue is the use of cell phones in your classroom and your school policy on cell phones. While a backchannel conversation is easy to have in a computer lab where all students are at a computer, it is a bit trickier in a classroom. Students need access to a cell phone or other wireless-enabled device. You should make students aware that participation in a backchannel discussion may involve text message use and if they are unsure of their allotted texts to abstain from the activity (my experience is that every student with a cell phone is keenly aware of their text message allotment and this is a non-issue). As for breaking school cell phone policy, my feelings are as long as students are using cell phones for educational purposes, I can justify breaking the rules in my mind and hopefully in the mind of my principal.

In spite of its drawbacks, the possibilities of this background conversation are immense. While clickers offer us the ability to instantly check for understanding, they do not show us how students arrived at a given answer. Backchannel conversations, however, do allow us to see student thinking and adjust instruction accordingly.

For more information

Ready to learn about more digital tools? Browse Tech for Teachers to discover tools that can add flexibility, reach, and depth to your classroom when used thoughtfully and well.

What does a backchannel look like? This video in Beyond the Chalkboard gives one example.

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