Course Description

  • Social 8 features geography as the lead discipline with a strong secondary emphasis on contemporary world history. Like all other social studies classes K-12, content is drawn from citizenship and government and economics. This is what gives the class the actual title of Global Studies. Students will explore the regions of the world through a variety of resources and participate in civic discussion, research and presentations. Global Studies aligns with and covers the Minnesota Academic Standards.

Proficiency Targets

  • Civic Skills Proficiency

    As evidenced based on classroom assessments, the student is able to:

    • Exhibit civic discourse skills: listening, speaking, respecting diverse viewpoints, evaluate arguments
    • Demonstrate respect for people or groups that have different perspectives and reach consensus
    • Participate in a civic discussion on issues in the contemporary world

    Economics Proficiency

    As evidenced based on classroom assessments, the student is able to:

    • Apply reasoned decision-making techniques in making choices. Ex. PACED (8.2.1.1.1)
    • Explain why different governments faced with the same alternatives make different choices (8.2.1.1.1)
    • Identify factors which affect economic growth that leads to different standards of living in different countries/regions (8.2.3.4.1)
    • Explain why trade is mutually beneficial to countries (8.2.5.12.1)
    • Define and apply absolute and comparative advantage with respect to international trade (8.2.5.12.1)

    Geographic Proficiency

    As evidenced based on classroom assessments, the student is able to:

    • Obtain and analyze geographic information from a variety of sources including print and electronic sources and use the information to investigate places or answer specific geographic questions (8.3.1.1.1)
    • Create and use various types of maps and incorporate the TODALSS map basics (8.3.1.1.2)
    • Describe the human populations and cultural characteristics of:
    • United States and Canada (8.3.3.5.1)
    • Latin America (8.3.3.5.2)
    • Europe and Russia (8.3.3.5.3)
    • Southwest Asia and North Africa (8.3.3.5.4)
    • East Asia and Southeast Asia (8.3.3.5.5)
    • South and Central Asia (8.3.3.5.6)
    • Sub-Saharan Africa (8.3.3.5.7)
    • Australia and Oceania (8.3.3.5.8)
    • Describe how physical and environmental features affect human activity and settlement (for the above regions) (8.3.3.6.1-8)

    Historical Thinking Skills

    As evidenced based on classroom assessments, the student is able to:

    • Pose questions about a topic in world history
    • Gather and organize a variety of primary and secondary sources related to the topic
    • Analyze sources for credibility and bias
    • Write a thesis statement
    • Use sources to draw conclusions and support the thesis
    • Present supported findings and cite sources (8.4.1.2.1)

    World Religions

    As evidenced based on classroom assessments, the student is able to:

    • Describe varieties of religious beliefs in the contemporary world including: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Shamanism/Animism.

Materials Used

    • Refugee, a novel by Alan Gratz (used in an interdisciplinary unit with Language Arts)
    • UpFront Magazine by Scholastic (various topics concerning current events on national and global scales)
    • ArcGIS mapping
    • Curated materials from a variety of sources