Native American Unit

This unit satisfies the following Colorado State Social Studies Standards for 6th Grade:

Standard 1 - History

Concept 1 - Analyze and interpret historical sources to ask and research historical questions

Evidence

Students can:

a. Identify ways different cultures record history
b. Interpret documents and data from multiple primary and secondary sources while formulating historical questions
c. Critique information to determine if it is sufficient to answer historical questions

Standard 1 - History

Concept 2 - The historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas and themes in regions of the Western Hemisphere and their relationships with one another

Evidence

Students can:

a. Explain how people, products, cultures, and ideas interacted and are interconnected over key eras in the Western Hemisphere
b. Determine and explain the historical context of key people, events, and ideas over time including the examination of different perspectives from people involved. Topics to include but not limited to Aztec, Maya, Inca, Inuit, early Native American cultures of North America, colonizers of countries in the Western Hemisphere, and the Colombian Exchange
c. Identify examples of the social, political cultural, and economic development in key areas of the Western Hemisphere

Standard 2 - Geography

Concept 1 - Use geographic tools to solve problems

Evidence

Students can:

a. Use longitude, latitude, and scale on maps and globes to solve problems
b. Collect and analyze data to interpret regions in the Western Hemisphere
c. Ask multiple types of questions after examining geographic sources
d. Interpret and communicate geographic data to justify potential solutions to problems
e. Distinguish different types of maps and use them in analyzing an issue

Standard 2 - Geography

Concept 2 - Human and physical systems vary and interact

Evidence

Students can:

a. Classify and analyze the types of connections between places
b. Identify physical features and explain their effects on people in the Western Hemisphere
c. Give examples of how people have adapted to their physical environment
d. Analyze positive and negative interactions of human and physical systems in the Western Hemisphere

Standard 3 - Economics

Concept 1 - Identify and analyze different economic systems

Evidence

Students can:

a. Describe the characteristics of traditional, command, market, and mixed economic systems
b. Explore how different economic systems affect job and career options and the population's standards of living
c. Use economic reasoning to explain why certain careers are more common in one region than in another and how specialization results in more interdependence

Standard 4 - Civics

Concept 1 - Analyze the interconnectedness of the United States and other nations

Evidence

Students can:

a. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of living in an interconnected world
b. Examine changes and connections in ideas about citizenship in different times and places
c. Describe how groups and individuals influence the government and other nations
d. Explain how political ideas and significant people have interacted, are interconnected, and have influenced nations
e. Analyze political issues from both a national and global perspective over time
f. Identify historical examples illustrating how Americans from diverse backgrounds perceived and reacted to various global issues

Standard 4 - Civics

Concept 2 - Compare multiple systems of government

Evidence

Students can:

a. Describe different forms of government
b. Identify how different forms of government relate to their citizens
c. Compare the economic components of different forms of government
d. Compare various forms of governments and the liberties of their citizens

This unit satisfies the following voluntary National Council of Social Studies standards for 6th grade:

History - Historical Thinking Standards

Standard 1: Chronological Thinking

A. Distinguish between past, present, and future time.
E. Interpret data presented in time lines and create time lines.
F. Reconstruct patterns of historical succession and duration; explain historical continuity and change.

Standard 2: Historical Comprehension

A. Identify the author or source of the historical document or narrative and assess its credibility.
D. Differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations.
F. Appreciate historical perspectives.
G. Draw upon data in historical maps.

Standard 3: Historical Analysis and Interpretation

A. Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas.
B. Consider multiple perspectives.
E. Distinguish between unsupported expressions of opinion and informed hypotheses grounded in historical evidence.
H. Hold interpretations of history as tentative.
J. Hypothesize the influence of the past.

Standard 4: Historical Research Capabilities

A. Formulate historical questions.
B. Obtain historical data from a variety of sources.
F. Support interpretations with historical evidence.

Standard 5: Historical Issues - Analysis and Decision-Making

A. Identify issues and problems in the past.
B. Marshal evidence of antecedent circumstances.
C. Identify relevant historical antecedents
D. Evaluate alternative courses of action.
E. Formulate a position or course of action on an issue.
F. Evaluate the implementation of a decision.

History - US History Content Standards

Era 1

Standard 1 - Comparative characteristics of societies in the Americas, Western Europe, and Western Africa that increasingly interacted after 1450

Standard 2 - How early European exploration and colonization resulted in cultural and ecological interactions among previously unconnected peoples

Era 4

Standard 1 - United States territorial expansion between 1801 and 1861, and how it affected relations with external powers and Native Americans

Standard 2 - How the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions

History - World History Content Standards

Era 6

Standard 4 - Economic, political, and cultural interrelations among peoples of Africa, Europe, and the Americas, 1500-1750

Era 7

Standard 4 - Patterns of nationalism, state-building, and social reform in Europe and the Americas, 1830-1914

Geography

Standard 1 - How to Use Maps and Other Geographic Representations, Tools, and Technologies to Acquire, Process, and Report Information From a Spatial Perspective

Standard 2 - How to Use Mental Maps to Organize Information About People, Places, and Environments in a Spatial Context

Standard 4 - The Physical and Human Characteristics of Places

Standard 5 - That People Create Regions to Interpret Earth’s Complexity

Standard 6 - How Culture and Experience Influence People’s Perceptions of Places and Regions

Standard 9 - The Characteristics, Distribution, and Migration of Human Population on Earth’s Surface

Standard 11 - The Patterns and Networks of Economic Interdependence on Earth’s Surface

Standard 12 - The Processes, Patterns, and Functions of Human Settlement

Standard 13  - How the Forces of Cooperation and Conflict Among People Influence the Division and Control of Earth’s Surface

Standard 15 - How Physical Systems Affect Human Systems

Standard 17 - How to Apply Geography to Interpret the Past

Standard 18 - How to Apply Geography to Interpret the Present and Plan for the Future

Civics and Government

Standard 1 - What are Civic Life, Politics, and Government?

A. What is civic life? What is politics? What is government? Why are government and politics necessary? What purposes should government serve?
B. What are the essential characteristics of limited and unlimited government?
D. What are alternative ways of organizing constitutional governments?

Standard 2 - What are the Foundations of the American Political System?

B. What are the distinctive characteristics of American society
D. What values and principles are basic to American constitutional democracyy?

Standard 4 - What is the Relationship of the United States to Other Nations and to World Affairs?

A. How is the world organized politically?
B. How has the United States influenced other nations and how have other nations influenced American politics and society?

Economics

Standard 1 - Scarcity

Productive resources are limited. Therefore, people can not have all the goods and services they want; as a result, they must choose some things and give up others.

Standard 2 - Decision Making

Effective decision making requires comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits. Many choices involve doing a little more or a little less of something: few choices are "all or nothing" decisions.

Standard 3 - Allocation

Different methods can be used to allocate goods and services. People acting individually or collectively must choose which methods to use to allocate different kinds of goods and services

Standard 5 - Trade

Voluntary exchange occurs only when all participating parties expect to gain. This is true for trade among individuals or organizations within a nation, and among individuals or organizations in different nations.

Standard 6 - Specialization

When individuals, regions, and nations specialize in what they can produce at the lowest cost and then trade with others, both production and consumption increase.

Standard 7 - Markets and Prices

A market exists when buyers and sellers interact. This interaction determines market prices and thereby allocates scarce goods and services.

Standard 8 - Role of Prices

Prices send signals and provide incentives to buyers and sellers. When supply or demand changes, market prices adjust, affecting incentives.

Standard 9 - Competition and Market Structure

Competition among sellers lowers costs and prices, and encourages producers to produce what consumers are willing and able to buy. Competition among buyers increases prices and allocates goods and services to those people who are willing and able to pay the most for them.

Technology

Standard 1 - Demonstrate creativity and innovation

Standard 2 - Communicate and collaborate

Standard 3 - Conduct research and use information

Standard 4 - Think critically, solve problems, and make decisions

Standard 5 - Use technology effectively and productively