Seventh Grade Social Studies Curriculum Development
Focus:
Time Period:
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World Geography, History & Culture: Patterns of Continuity and Change
The Great Global Convergence (1450 - 1800) to the Present – Represents the last five
Eras of the National Standards
Expansion of knowledge, skills and understandings about the world from a more modern perspective
Focuses heavily on the discipline of geography by using the themes of location, place, movement,
human-environment interaction and region to understand modern societies from the Age of
Exploration to more contemporary times
Takes a systematic look at the history and culture of various world regions including the development
of economic, political and social systems through the following lens:
o Change and continuity
o Conflict and cooperation
o Economic development
o Population shifts
o Political thought and organization
o Cultural values and beliefs
o Environment
o Global interaction
Examine the various factors that shaped the development of societies and regions in the modern world
Examine both similarities and differences among these areas [regions]
Integrate various civilizations, societies and regions across the global (Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe
and the Americas)
Recognize and interpret the “lessons of social studies;” those transferable understandings that are
supported throughout time by recurring themes and issues.
Organization of the new Essential Standards around five broad conceptual strands:
Curriculum developers should take an integrated approach to designing curriculum that will help students
understand the modern world. Thus, were possible, each strand should be included in each unit of
instruction. In this way, students will be able to take a more holistic approach to their studies.
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History
Geography and Environmental Literacy
Economics and Personal Financial Literacy
Civics and Government
Culture
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Last Revised:
2/15/12
Seventh Grade Social Studies Curriculum Development
National World History Standards:
http://nchs.ucla.edu/Standards/world-history-standards
The periodization of the new Essential Standards for seventh grade social studies is based on the last five eras
identified by the National Standards for World History,
Era 5:
Era 6:
Era 7:
Era 8:
Era 9:
Intensified Hemispheric Interactions, 1000 – 1500 CE/AD
The Emergency of the First Global Age, 1450 – 1770 CE/AD
An Age of Revolutions, 1750 - 1914
A Half-Century of Crisis and Achievement, 1900 – 1945 CE/AD
The 20th Century Since 1945: Promises and Paradoxes
National Geographic Resources:
 Xpeditions Archives: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/
o Lesson Plans
o Atlas Maps
o Standards
o Xpedition Hall (virtual museum)
 New Education Beta Site: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/?ar_a=1
Organization of the curriculum around conceptual units of instruction:
We recommend that districts/schools organize their curriculum around integrated units of instruction. While
the seventh grade standards use periodization as a way to focus content, the lens by which curriculum
developers should design units of instruction should be informed by the broad concepts identified by the
standards. These organizing concepts or conceptual lenses will provide students deeper and richer
understanding of these periods of time by focusing on the generalizations or lessons of social studies (also
known as big ideas or essential understandings).
For example, if you want to use the last five eras of World History as unit foundations, what topics would lead
to a more in-depth study of each era that are connected to major concepts in the Essential Standards? What
generalizations would students have to understand for each unit that are both tied to specific strands, but also
show the integration of each strand?
Some major concepts for which student should understand in seventh grade social studies are:
 Global interaction
 Continuity and change (over time and in various modern societies and regions)
 Conflict and cooperation (social, economic, military and political)
 Economic Development/Systems (trade and economic decision-making)
 Political Thought
 Power and Authority
 Compromise and negotiation
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Last Revised:
2/15/12
Seventh Grade Social Studies Curriculum Development
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Migration and population distribution
Cultural expression/practices and diffusion
Values and Beliefs
Human-environment interaction
Societal organization (economic, political, and social systems)
Technology and innovation
Freedom, justice, and equality
Unit Development Ideas:
If you elected to organize your curriculum around units of instruction, here is a suggestion for including era six
in your curriculum.
You could develop a unit that focuses on the Age of Exploration, both reasons and impacts.
Throughout the unit, students could explore the quest for trade, innovation, power, authority and
wealth among European nations led to increased global interaction throughout the world. Included in
this inquiry, could be the implications of these global interactions i.e. cultural diffusion (goods, religion,
cultural practices, ideas, etc.), colonization, wealth, slave trading, etc. And, finally, how these global
interaction specifically led to European exploration and inhabitation of the Americas. From a more
modern perspective, students could study implications of global exploration today i.e. exploration for
new natural resources.
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Last Revised:
2/15/12