Social Studies Essential Questions for Sixth Grade
Geography
1. Where are the continents and oceans located?
2. How are latitude and longitude used to find locations on a map?
3. What are the differences between a map and a globe?
4. What are some major geographical physical features?
5. What are the five themes of geography and how are they used?
Archaeology
1. What kinds of sources do historians use to learn about the past?
2. What is the difference between primary and secondary sources?
3. How are the layers formed in an archaeological site?
4. How does an archaeologist determine the age of an artifact or fossil?
5. How are ideas spread through cultural diffusion?
6. How can modern scientific methods help historians interpret the past?
Human Origins
1. Why was the work of Donald Johanson and the Leakeys in Africa significant?
2. What technology was necessary to progress from the Paleolithic (hunter-gatherer)
Age to the Neolithic (agricultural) Age?
3. What are the major stages/species of human development?
4. What were the Ice Ages and how did humans adapt to them?
5. What are all the aspects of culture?
Mesopotamia
1. How did the location, geography, and climate of Mesopotamia affect the
development of civilization there?
2. What are the five elements of a civilization?
3. What advances did the people of Mesopotamia make in the origins of technology,
urbanization, literacy, and legal systems?
4. How did the first kingship empires begin, expand, and eventually collapse?
5. How did the conditions of surplus and scarcity lead to the first trading economies?
Egypt
1. How did the location, geography, and climate of Egypt affect the development of
civilization there?
2. What was the impact of the Egyptian religious belief system on daily life,
particularly burial practices?
3. How were Egypt’s economic, social, and political levels structured?
4. What advances did the Egyptians make in technology, engineering, and literacy?
5. Who were key Egyptian pharaohs and what were their major accomplishments?
Greece
1. How did the location, geography, and climate of Greece affect the development of
civilization there?
2. How did democracy first develop in Greece and how has it impacted governments
today?
3. In what ways did life in Sparta differ from life in Athens?
4. What were the causes and effects of the Peloponnesian War?
5. What are some important contributions of the Greeks during the Golden Age to
philosophy, art, architecture, literature, and science?
6. How did Alexander the Great spread Greek culture and ideas?
Rome
1. How did the location, geography, and climate of Rome affect the development of
civilization there?
2. How were the Romans influenced by Greek culture and ideas?
3. How was the Roman Republic founded and organized?
4. Who was Julius Caesar and what effect did he have on the Roman Republic?
5. Who was Augustus Caesar and what were his major accomplishments?
6. What were the successes and failures of the Roman Empire?
7. How did the Roman Empire come to an end?
8. What were some of the most important contributions of the Romans?