Seventh Grade Social Studies Content Standards

Students develop an understanding of society and the ability to describe the past through the eyes and experiences of those who were there.

Students develop an understanding of the history of the world’s many cultures.

Students see the connection between ideas and behavior, between the values and ideals that people hold and the ethical consequences of those beliefs in order to foster the kind of mutual respect, patience, and civic courage required in our increasingly independent world.

Students differentiate past, present and future time. They seek and evaluate evidence, use resources to distinguish bias in text, compare and contrast historical information, interpret the historical record and construct their own historical narratives.

Seventh grade students are expected to:

Understand and use the cultural model to analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious and social structures

World History and Geography: medieval and early modern times

• Roman Empire
  • Analyze cause and effects of expansion and disintegration of Roman Empire including:
    • The strengths, contributions and its internal weaknesses
    • The geographic borders at its height and factors that threatened territorial cohesion
    • Constantine’s establishment of Constantinople and development of Byzantine
• Islamic civilization
  • Analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious and social structures including:
    • The relationship of physical features and climate between nomadic and sedentary ways of life
    • The origins of Islam and life and teachings of Muhammad, including the connection to Judaism and Christianity
    • The significance of the Qur’an and Sunna
    • The expansion of Muslim rule through conquests and treaties
    • The growth of cities and trade through Asia, Africa and Europe
    • The intellectual exchanges among Muslim scholars and the contributions made to later civilization
• African civilization
  • Analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious and social structures, of Ghana and Mali including:
    • The Niger River in relationship to trade in gold, food, salt, and slaves
    • The importance of family, labor and commerce
    • The impact of trans-Saharan caravan trade in changing religious and cultural characteristics
    • The Arabic language used in government, trade and scholarship
    • The written and oral traditions in transmitting history and culture
• Chinese civilization
  • Analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious and social structure of China
  • The reunification under the Tang Dynasty and the spread of Buddhism
  • The agricultural, technological, and commercial developments during Tang and Sung periods
  • Confucianism and changes in Confucian thought in the Sung and Mongol (Yuan) periods
  • The importance of overland trade and maritime expeditions in Mongol Ascendancy and Ming Dynasty
  • The influence of discoveries: tea, paper, wood block printing, compass, and gunpowder
  • The development of the imperial state and the scholar-official class
• Medieval Japan
  • Analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of Japan
    Its proximity to China and Korea and the intellectual, linguistic, religious and philosophical influence on Japan
  • Prince Shotoku’s reign
  • The values, social customs, and traditions of the lord-vassal system and influence of the warrior code
  • The forms of Japanese Buddhism
  • The lasting effects on culture of literature, art and drama
  • The rise of a military society and the role of the samurai
• Medieval Europe
  • Analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of Europe
    • The spread of Christianity
    • The development of feudalism
    • The Papacy and European monarchs
    • The development of medieval England’s legal and constitutional practice
    • The Religious Crusades’ effect on Christian, Muslim and Jewish populations
    • The Bubonic Plague and its impact on global population
    • The Catholic Church as a political, intellectual and aesthetic institution
    • The decline of Muslim rule in the Siberian Peninsula and rise of Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms
• Renaissance
  • Analyze the origins, accomplishments and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance
    • The revival of classical learning and the arts and interests in “humanism”
    • Florence and the growth of independent trading cities
    • The reopening of the ancient “Silk Road” between Europe and China, including Marco Polo
    • The dissemination of information
    • Advances in literature, the arts, science, mathematics, cartography, engineering, and understanding of human anatomy and astronomy
• The Reformation
  • Analyze the historical developments of the Reformation
    • The internal turmoil and weakening of the Catholic church
    • The theological, political, and economic ideas during the reformation
    • The new practices of the church on the development of democratic practices and ideas of federalism
    • How the Counter-Reformation revitalized the Catholic church
    • The institution and impact of missionaries on Christianity and the diffusion of Christianity from Europe to other parts of the world
    • The “Golden Age” of cooperation between Jews and Muslims in Medieval Spain
• Scientific revolution
  • Analyze the historical developments of the Scientific Revolution and its lasting effect on religious, political and cultural institutions including:
    • The roots of the scientific revolution
    • The significance of the new scientific theories and inventions
    • The scientific method advanced by Bacon and Descartes
• Changes in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries
  • Analyze the political and economic changes from the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason including:
    • The voyages of discovery and development of a new European world view
    • Cultural diffusion among Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas
    • The origins of modern capitalism
    • Tracing the ideas of the Enlightenment through historical movements
    • How democratic thought and institutions influenced by Enlightenment thinkers
    • How the principles of the Magna Carta were embodied in English Bill of Rights and the American Declaration of Independence

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