5 Components
of
Social Studies
THE 5 COMPONENTS OF
SOCIAL STUDIES
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Geography
History
Culture and Society
Civics and Government
Economics
The 5 themes of Geography
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Location
Human-Environment Interactions
Place
Regions
Movement
Geography
• The location of places in the world
• Physical features such as landforms,
bodies of water, etc.
• Climate
Examples: mountains, valleys, rivers, the
desert
THEME 1: LOCATION
• Relative location – tells where a place is in
relation to other places
• Absolute location – the exact location of a
place
THEME 2: HUMANENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS
• Modify – to change your surroundings
• Adapt – to change to fit your surroundings
THEME 3: PLACE
• Physical features – landforms, bodies of
water, climate, animal life
• Human features – buildings, roads
THEME 4: REGIONS
• Regions – areas on Earth that differ from
each other because of their features
THEME 5: MOVEMENT
• Cause – an action that makes something
happen
• Effect – what happens as a result of that
action
History
-The Past
-Famous (and well-known) people
-Events
Examples: Abraham Lincoln, the Civil
War, the Declaration of Independence
HISTORY VOCABULARY
• History – what happened in the past
• Chronology – time order in which events take
place in history
• Oral history – a story told aloud by a person who
did not write down wht happened
• Perspectives – different points of view
• Historical empathy – the ability to understand
people of the past in their own frame of
reference
Culture and society
• Traditions of a group of people
• Beliefs/values
• Behaviors
Examples: Clothing, type of music, ways
of greeting someone
CULTURE VOCABULARY
• Culture – ways of acting, speaking, and
believing
• Society – human group
• Heritage – the wealth of ideas that have
been passed down through their history
Civics and Government
• Who leads a country
• How the country is run
• Laws
Examples: President, King or Queen,
democracy, the Constitution
GOVERNMENT VOCABULARY
• Government – a system of leaders and
laws that helps people live safely together
• Civic participation – being concerned and
involved in issues related to your
community
Economics
• Money!
• How money is spent
• Things that help a country make money
Examples: finances, taxes, salaries,
industries, unemployment
ECONOMICS VOCABULARY
• Economy – a system of using resources to
meet needs
• Economics – the study of the way that
goods and wealth are produced,
distributed, and used in the world
SKILLS’ LESSON
• Primary source – gives the actual words of
people who were there when an event
took place
• Secondary source – gives information
written at a later time by someone who
was not there when it happened