Last Updated: June 5, 2003
In the fall of 2002, the Massachusetts Department of Education issued a new curriculum framework in the area of History and Social Science. In order to maintain currency with its curriculum, the District organized a Social Studies Task Force, appointed by the Superintendent. Comprised of teachers, curriculum staff, and a school administrator, their task was to realign the District’s current curriculum with the current state frameworks.
Mr. James Hedlund, the Humanities Curriculum Specialist, provided the group with copies of the state’s former framework, an April 2001 construct of recommended realignments, as well as the State’s newest curriculum. The committee was divided into three groups of teachers (representing grade levels K-5, 6-7, and 8-12) to analyze and discuss similiarities and differences among the documents.
All members of the task force agreed that since the state has directed the study for each grade level, only a minimal amount of discussion was necessary regarding the topics and areas covered by each grade level. Students will eventually have to pass the MCAS exam in United States history to graduate, but it has not yet been determined if the MCAS History/Social Science test will be administered to students in grade 10 or 11; consequently the area of greatest concern to the task force was how to determine which pathway to follow to fulfill this requirement.
Teachers in grades K-7 agreed to change and modify the current Wachusett Regional School District K-7 curriculum to align with that of the latest Massachusetts Department of Education History/Social Science Framework 2002. With alignments in place, and the resolve to maintain the integrity of a chronological presentation of history and social sciences for all students in grades K-7, the curriculum will include a one-year course in World Geography for students in both grades 6 and 7 for the 2003-2004 school year only. In 2004-2005, the rotation will be World Geography for students in grade 6, and Ancient Civilizations for students in grade 7.
For students in grades 8-12, the committee voted to take no action on the curriculum at this time and to continue with the District’s current scope and sequence.
INTRODUCTION
The Massachusetts History/Social Science Curriculum Framework is one of seven curriculum frameworks that advance Massachusetts Educational Reform in learning, teaching, and assessment. It was created, and has been revised by Massachusetts teachers and administrators of history and social science programs in kindergarten through grade twelve. Teachers and curriculum specialists use the Massachusetts History/Social Science Curriculum Framework as a guide to determine the content that should be taught in grades K-12.
Because the 1993 Education Reform Act required that frameworks be reviewed and revised periodically, a panel of Wachusett Regional School District teachers examined the new document with the current curriculum to ensure the scope and sequence presented is organized thorough throughout the grade levels. The panel utilized the following reference sources to create this document: Massachusetts Department of Education: “History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks” (October, 2002 and February, 2001); DOE History and Social Science consultants, Mr. John Keh and Mr. Anders Lewis, Ph.D.
ORGANIZATION OF THE FRAMEWORK
The guiding principles present a set of tents about effective K-12 programs and instruction in history and social sciences. These principles articulate the ideals of teaching, learning, assessing, and administering history and social science programs in the District. In addition, they show how educators may create educational environments that encourage curiosity, an understanding of the value history plays in one’s future, geographical skills, appreciation of differences, citizenship, civic mindedness, economic inquiry, and the ability to understand the global society in which one is a member.
Guiding Principles
Guiding Principle One
Every student should study history and social science every year from kindergarten to high school.
Guiding Principle Two
An effective history and social science curriculum combines the learning of content and skills in the study of history, geography, economics, and civics and government.
Guiding Principle Three
An effective curriculum in history and social science draws on many disciplines.
Guiding Principle Four
While encouraging respect for differences in home backgrounds, an effective history and social science curriculum nurtures students’ sense of their common ground as present or future American citizens in order to prepare them for responsible participation in our schools and in civic life.
Guiding Principle Five
An effective history and social science curriculum emphasizes the development of the political principles and institutions of Western civilization.
Guiding Principle Six
An effective history and social science curriculum prepares students to understand the world outside of the United States.
Guiding Principle Seven
The historical narrative should provide a continuous setting for learning in social science, and the frame of reference from which teachers choose the current events and public policy issues for student study: presentations, and classroom discussions.
CORE CONCEPT
The goal of a history and social science curriculum is to enable students to systematically study to acquire the knowledge, skill, and judgment to continue to learn for themselves; to participate intelligently, justly, and responsibly in civic life, and in deliberation about local, national, and international issues; and to avail themselves of historical and cultural resources-historic sites, museums, parks, libraries, multimedia information sources- wherever they may live or travel.
The Integration of History, Geography, Economics, and Civics
In this curriculum framework, the four disciplines of history, geography, economics, civics and government are integrated into the learning standards and skills’ they are not presented in four separate strands. This District supports teaching a coherent, historical narrative. The history of the arts, philosophy, literature, religions, ethics, mathematics, science, and technology are incorporated into this area of the curriculum when these disciplines will augment the students’ understanding of a particular historical period.
History/Social Science Learning Standards
History and Social Science Curriculum Framework
History
Historical time is the lens through which we see change and continuity in human affairs. The study of history is central to the history and social science framework because an understanding of the past is essential for citizens of democratic societies. Knowledge of history allows us to compare our own lives and ideals to those of people in other eras and circumstances; ignorance of history isolates us from human realities and predisposes us to accept simplistic solutions to complex problems.
History is the story of men, women, and children of the past. We read original sources and historians’ accounts to discover what people have accomplished, how they have made sense of the world around them, and how they have suffered and persevered. Their ideas, character, and contingency, intended an unintended consequences, and points of view, gain meaning only when they are applied to the historical narratives of particular times and places.
As they study history, students practice the principles and techniques of the discipline: maintaining standards of objectivity, working with primary documents, differentiating between historical fact, historical interpretation, and historical fiction, weighing evidence, and forming and testing hypotheses.
Geography
The science of geography provides a framework for exploring the varied physical and human features of Earth’s surface in a spatial context. A geographic perspective helps individuals better understand the distribution of features and conditions in the world about us-where things are, what they are like, why they are in a particular place, and why they are important.
Geography is in integrative discipline that encompasses both the physical and social sciences. It differs from other sciences because it is identified by its spatial methodology rather than by its content. The chief spatial, or geographic, question is “where?” Organizing and analyzing furthers students’ knowledge of Earth’s locations and places; features and conditions; movements, interrelations and interactions; and regional distributions and patterns.
The study of geography should emphasize basic map reading skills because the ability to read and interpret maps is essential to geographic study. Students should also know the locations of Earth’s major physical and cultural features that give its varied places their unique character. Finally, because of the basic relationships that exist between humans and the natural environments they occupy, students should recognize the different ways by which humans inhabit, adapt to, use, and change Earth’s varied natural conditions. Students achieve these geographic understandings by addressing standards that embed five major geographic concepts: location, place, human interaction with the environment, movement, and region.
History and Geography
Standard: As a result of activities in grades K-5, students should develop the ability to:
| Identify sequences such as chronological order. |
| Identify temporal sequences such as days, weeks, months, years and seasons. |
| Tell or show what a map is and what a globe is. |
| Identify direction(s). |
| Define and locate North and South Pole. |
| Define and give examples of a continent, mountain, river, and ocean. |
| Use a calendar. |
| Read globes and maps and follow narrative accounts on them. |
| Identify direction(s) and apply them to maps and other locations such as a classroom. |
| Explain the meaning of time periods and/or dates in historical narratives (decade, century) and use them correctly in speaking and writing. |
| Observe visual sources such as historic paintings and photographs, and describe details such as clothing, setting, and action. |
| Use directions to identify locations in New England and Massachusetts. |
| Use map and globe skills to determine absolute locations (latitude and longitude) of places studied. |
| Identify locations of the North and South Poles, Equator, Prime Meridian and the four Hemispheres. |
| Interpret a map using a compass. |
| Observe and describe national historic sites. |
| Interpret time line of events. |
| Distinguish between political and topographical maps. |
| Compare maps of the modern world with historical maps. |
History and Geography
Standard: As a result of activities in grades 6-7, students should develop the ability to:
| Use map and globe skills learned in pre k-grade five to interpret different kinds of projections, as well as topographic, land form, political climate. |
| Use geographical terms correctly. |
| Interpret geographic information from a graph of chart and construct a graph or chart that conveys geographic information. |
| Explain the difference between absolute and relative location. |
| Explain the organization of an atlas. |
| Explain what time zones are. |
| Use demographics correctly: ethnic group, religious group. |
| Compare information shown on modern and historical maps of the same region. |
| Use correctly the words or abbreviations for identifying time periods or dates in historical narrative: decade, era. |
| Construct and interpret timeliness of events and civilizations. |
| Distinguish between primary and secondary sources. |
| Identify cause and effect when explaining historical events. |
| Describe ways of interpreting archaeological evidence. |
History and Geography
Standard: As a result of activities in grades 8-12, students should develop the ability to:
| Understand the Anglo-American political heritage: Greco-Roman history, Magna Carta, Evolution of Parliament, Mayflower Compact, the English Revolution, colonial governments, and the ideas of the Enlightenment. |
| Understand expansion and the conflict surrounding the Louisiana Purchase and the War of 1812. |
| Trace the industrialization of New England invention and enterprise. |
| Trace the emergence of distinctly American religion, art, and literature. |
| Identify new immigrants, migration patterns, and nativist hostility. |
| Trace westward migration, Indian removals, and the war against Mexico. |
| Understand slave life, families, religion, and resistance in the American South. |
| Understand the causes of a nation divided, the failed attempts at compromise over slavery, Abraham Lincoln’s beliefs, election, secession, and war. |
| Comprehend the scenes of war: battlefield, farm factory, home, and hospital. |
| Relate the Civil War to Massachusetts soldiers: Ft. Wagner and the Wilderness. |
| Identify and explain leaders, deciding factors, turning points, and human toll of the Civil War. |
| Interpret Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, second inaugural, and reasons for assassination. |
| Trace and compare the growth of agricultural and commercial civilizations (500-1500 A.D.). |
| Trace and compare the emergence of a global age (1450-1750) through events of the Italian Renaissance, China under Ming and Manchu dynasties, Japan, and European conquests, colonization, and consequences in the Americas. |
| Trace the scientific revolution, enlightenment in Europe and America, as well as the origins, stages and consequences of the American and French Revolutions. |
| Understand the age of revolutionary change including the Latin American wars for independence, the agricultural and industrial revolutions in the western world, cities and urban life in the 19th century, democratic and social reforms in Europe, Chinese revolution, and Japan’s modernization. |
Civics and Government
The study of civics and government pertains to the rights and responsibilities of citizens. Students study how people have organized authority and exercised power from earlier civilizations to present. While several forms of government will be introduced as part of the study of the past, the philosophy, structure, and evolution of American government are recurrent topics. Students will repeatedly examine the founding documents such as the declaration of independence, the constitution, The Bill of Rights, other Constitutional amendments, and key Supreme Court decisions and explain their relevance to current events.
The fundamental ideals of democracy/liberty and justice for all depend on institutions of government; laws that apply equally to those who govern and are governed; and non-governmental religious, social, and economic institutions for their security. As they study American history, students learn the concepts and principles central to American constitutionalism-representative government, the purposes of a written constitution, citizenship, rights, duties, ordered liberty, justice, law, privacy, authority, and power. Further, as students study U.S. and world history, and as they analyze different types of government, they will learn that the quest for freedom and justice transcends national boundaries.
Civics and Government
Standard: As a result of activities in grades K-5, students should develop the ability to:
| Give examples that show the meaning of the following words: politeness, achievement, courage, honesty, and reliability. |
| Define and give examples of the some of the rights and responsibilities that students, as citizens, have in the school. |
| Give examples of fictional characters or real people in the school or community who were good leaders and good citizens. |
| Give examples of why it is necessary for communities to have governments. |
| Give examples of the ways people in a community can influence their local government. |
| Give examples of the major rights that immigrants have acquired as citizens of the U.S. |
| Give examples of the different ways immigrants can become citizens of the U.S. |
| Define and use correctly words related to government: citizen, suffrage, and rights. |
| Give examples of the responsibilities and powers associated with major federal and state officials. |
| Explain the structure of the student’s city or town government. |
Standard: As a result of activities in grades 6-7, students should develop the ability to:
| Define a nation and give examples of the different ways nations are formed. |
| Give examples of several well-known international organizations (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the World Bank). |
| Define and use correctly words and terms relating to government such as city-state, dynasty, kingdom, and empire. |
Standard: As a result of activities in grades 8-12, students should develop the ability to:
| Identify and describe leading founders, founding documents and major events that created the American Nation. |
| Understand and apply the U.S. Constitution and trace the federal system at its origins; union; separation of powers; and three-fifths compromise. |
| Trace the early republic including Washington as founding statesman and the birth of party politics. |
| Trace the evolution of the Supreme Court including John Marshall and Marbury v. Madison. |
| Identify pre-Civil War reformers and Jacksonian democracy. |
| Define the Emancipation Proclamation and describe the purpose of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. |
| Define Western feudalism and manorialism. |
| Explain the similarities and differences between absolute monarchies and constitutional governments. |
| Trace the democratic and social reforms in Europe including evolutions and revolutions. |
| Explain rising European nationalism and motives for new Western imperialism. |
Economics
Economics at the elementary and secondary level can be taught developmentally so that students gain an understanding of how economics applies to their own lives and to people’s actions in the past. Students’ understanding will be enhanced by such concepts as scarcity, human, natural, and capital resources, opportunity costs, positive and negative incentives, and voluntary trade and specialization.
Students study the economic history of many times and places, but it is vitally important to their own lives that they first understand the economic history of Massachusetts, New England, and the United States. They need to understand the relative concentrations of agriculture, industry, and commerce, and the rise and decline of particular industries, the history of labor, the growth of banking and finance, and the record of economic expansions and recessions. In addition, they should understand the difference between public and private influences on economic activity, including the role of private investment and the role of the federal, state, and municipal governments in taxation, regulation, and public investments.
Economics
Standard: As a result of activities in grades K-5, students should develop the ability to:
| Give examples of products that people buy and use. |
| Give examples of services that people do for each other. |
| Give examples of people in the community and school who are both producers and consumers. |
| Give examples of buyers and sellers. |
| Define a tax is and the purposes of taxes. |
| Give examples of specialized jobs in the community. |
| Define barter and give examples of it. |
| Define and give examples of natural resources in the United States. |
| Give examples of limited and unlimited resources. |
| Give examples of how the interaction of buyers and sellers influences the prices of goods and services in markets. |
| Give examples of the ways people save their money. |
| Define entrepreneur. Give examples from history. |
| Define profit and describe how profit is an incentive for entrepreneurs. |
| Give examples of how changes in supply and demand affect prices. |
Economics
Standard: As a result of activities in grades 6-7, students should develop the ability to:
| Provide examples of currencies from several countries and explain why international trade requires a system for exchanging currency among nations. |
| Give examples of products that are traded among nations, and examples of barriers to trade in these and other products. |
| Define supply and demand and describe how changes affect prices. |
| Define key elements of a market economy. |
| Describe how different economic systems try to answer the basic economic questions of what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce. |
| Compare the standard of living in various countries today using gross domestic product per capita as an indicator. |
| Define and apply economic concepts learned in pre-kindergarten through grade 6: producers, consumers, goods, services, etc. |
Economics
Standard: As a result of activities in grades 8-12, students should develop the ability to:
| Explain the rise of the Northern economic system including capital, industry, labor, and trade. |
| Explain the rise and fall of the Southern economic system including land, agriculture, slavery, and trade. |
| Describe the aims, obstacles, and phases of the post Civil War reconstruction. |
Go to Social Studies Curriculum Guide