Senior High/Contemporary Issues/Social Studies Curriculum

Contemporary Issues Standard: Students will apply concepts of civics and government, economics, geography, and history to understand contemporary issues. / Benchmark A: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of governmental systems of Kansas and the United States and other nations to understand contemporary issues.
Indicator/Objective / Essential Concepts/Skills / Implementation / Assessment
The student:
440.SS.CI.A.1(A) evaluates the purposes and function of law.
440.SS.CI.A.2▲(A) analyzes how the rule of law can be used to protect the rights of individuals and to promote the commongood
440.SS.CI.A.3(K) defines civic life, politics, and governments.
440.SS.CI.A.4▲(K) understands core civicvalues inherent in the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence that have been the foundation for unity in American society.
440.SS.CI.A.5(A) analyzes policies, actions, and issues regarding the rights of individuals to equal protection under the law.
440.SS.CI.A.6(K) explains how public policy is formed and carried out at local, state, and national levels and what roles individuals and groups can play in the process.
440.SS.CI.A.7▲(A) examines the role of political parties and interest groups and their role in the political process and impact on government policy.
440.SS.CI.A.8(A) compares various governmental systems with that of the United States government in terms of sovereignty, structure, function, decision-making processes, citizenship roles, and political culture and ideology.
440.SS.CI.A.9(K) discusses the purpose and structure of international relations and multinational organizations.
440.SS.CI.A.10 Explain the continuing role of the United States government in the international community and the use of various tools in carrying out United States’ foreign policy. / What students need to know:
  • United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights
  • Various forms of government
  • Purpose and function of law
  • Political parties
  • Special interest groups
  • Public and foreign policy
What students need to do:
  • Discern various viewpoints on foreign and domestic policy
  • Detect the role of propaganda in carrying out foreign and domestic policy
  • Analyze contemporary issues as they relate to constitutional law
  • Debate and discuss contemporary issues as they relate to civics and government
  • Use a variety of resources to research and understand contemporary issues
Vocabulary
Eminent domain
Rule of law
Common good
International diplomacy
Mayor
City manager
constitutional monarchy parliamentarydemocracy
dictatorship
totalitarianism
fascism
socialism
communism
human rights
education
infrastructure
citizen
responsibility
NGO(non-government organization)
Propaganda
Principles of a just war / Scope and Sequence
Students will have studied the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence in 5th, 8th, and 11th grade American history classes.
Students will have studied the formation and roles of political parties in 8th grade American history.
Students will have compared various governmental systems in 6th grade and in 9th grade history classes.
Students will have studies United States foreign policy in 8th, 9th, and 11th grade history classes.
Implementation
Students utilize a variety of print and other media resources to facilitate their understanding of Contemporary Issues. Those resources include, but are not limited to:
  • Olathe Daily News
  • US News & World Report
  • Time Magazine
  • Newsweek
  • Time for Kids(useful for ELL)
  • UpFront(from New York Times)
  • Annual Editions
  • News programs, including 60 Minutes, Dateline, Frontline,and shows on the History Channel
  • CNN Student News
  • Opposing Viewpoints(available on the Gale Research site online)
  • People’s Century(VHS)
Teaching Strategies
  • Best practice strategies include the use of cooperative learning, higher level thinking, effective questioning, and other strategies that actively engage students in their learning.
  • Reading and writing strategies are used in Contemporary Issues for essays, article reviews, weekly readings, debates, and opposing viewpoints research.
  • Teachers and students should reference the state standards document forReading: The student reads and comprehends text across the curriculum. Benchmark 4: The student comprehends a variety of texts (narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive) and Writing: The student writes effectively for a variety of audiences, purposes, and contexts.Benchmark 2: The student writes expository text using the writing process and Benchmark 4: The student writes persuasive text using the writing process.
Teaching Resources
The following resources have been provided for all teachers:
  • Reading Strategies for the Social Studies Classroom by Holt, Rinehart, & Winston
The AP Vertical Teams Guide for Social Studies / Items marked with ▲ are on the high school Kansas Social Studies Objective Assessment. The test is administered to 9th grade and 11th grade students through their history classes. Some students may be taking Contemporary Issues prior to the assessments; some may take the course after the assessments have been given. The indicators are marked as assessed for informational purposes only.
Contemporary Issues Standard: Students will apply concepts of civics and government, economics, geography, and history to understand contemporary issues. / Benchmark B: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of major economic concepts, issues, and systems to understand contemporary issues.
Indicator/Objective / Essential Concepts/Skills / Implementation / Assessment
The student:
440.SS.CI.B.1(K) explains how economic choices made by individuals, businesses, or governments often have intended and unintended consequences.
440.SS.CI.B.2 understands how the market economy works in a global society.
440.SS.CI.B.3 analyzes how different incentives, economic systems and their institutions, and local, national, and international interdependence affect people.
440.SS.CI.B.4explains the advantages and disadvantages of the use of fiscalpolicy by the federal government to influence the United States economy.
440.SS.CI.B.5▲(A) evaluates the costs and benefits of governmental economic and social policies on global society.
440.SS.CI.B.6 evaluates the decisions made as a consumer, producer, saver, investor, and citizen in a global society. / What students need to know:
  • Basic economics vocabulary
  • Concepts related to economic choices
  • Market economy
What students need to do:
  • Use economic concepts to explain contemporary issues
  • Discern various viewpoints on the role of economics in foreign and domestic policy
  • Detect the role of economic decisions in carrying out foreign and domestic policy
  • Debate and discuss contemporary issues as they relate to economics
  • Use a variety of resources to research and understand contemporary issues in the economy
Vocabulary
Social security
Medicare
Medicaid
Isolationism
Capitalism
Resource
Multi-national corporations
Interest rate
Price
Supply
Demand
Consumer
Consumption
Economy
Embargo
Equilibriumpoint(Equilibrium Price)
Exports
FederalReserveSystem
Government
GrossDomesticProduct(GDP)
Interestrate
Resource
Scarcity
Technology
Allocation
Benefit
Comparativeadvantage
Cost
Exchangerate
Production
Specialization
Tariff
Trade
Wages
Benefit
Budget
Debt
Deficit
Fiscalpolicy
Goods
Infrastructure
Services
Society
Spending
Credit
Expenditures
Income
Productivity
Savings / Scope and Sequence
Students will have learned about international trade, exports, and imports beginning and 3rd grade and continuing through each grade.
Students will have learned about opportunity cost and economic decisions beginning in 4th grade and continuing through each grade.
Students will have learned about income, borrowing, and lending beginning in 3rd grade and continuing through each grade.
Students will have learned about market economies beginning in 5th grade and continuing through each grade.
Students will have learned about community infrastructure in 3rd grade, state infrastructure in 7th grade, and national infrastructure in 5th, 8th, and 11th grades.
Students will have learned about various economic systems in 9th grade.
Students will have learned about government economic policy in 5th, 8th, and 11th grades.
Implementation
Students utilize a variety of print and other media resources to facilitate their understanding of Contemporary Issues. Those resources include, but are not limited to:
  • Olathe Daily News
  • US News & World Report
  • Time Magazine
  • Newsweek
  • Time for Kids(useful for ELL)
  • UpFront(from New York Times)
  • Annual Editions
  • News programs, including 60 Minutes, Dateline, Frontline,and shows on the History Channel
  • CNN Student News
  • Opposing Viewpoints(available on the Gale Research site online)
  • People’s Century(VHS)
Teaching Strategies
  • Best practice strategies include the use of cooperative learning, higher level thinking, effective questioning, and other strategies that actively engage students in their learning.
  • Reading and writing strategies are used in Contemporary Issues for essays, article reviews, weekly readings, debates, and opposing viewpoints research.
  • Teachers and students should reference the state standards document forReading: The student reads and comprehends text across the curriculum. Benchmark 4: The student comprehends a variety of texts (narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive) and Writing: The student writes effectively for a variety of audiences, purposes, and contexts.Benchmark 2: The student writes expository text using the writing process and Benchmark 4: The student writes persuasive text using the writing process.
Teaching Resources
The following resources have been provided for all teachers:
  • Reading Strategies for the Social Studies Classroom by Holt, Rinehart, & Winston
  • The AP Vertical Teams Guide for Social Studies
/ Items marked with ▲ are on the high school Kansas Social Studies Objective Assessment. The test is administered to 9th grade and 11th grade students through their history classes. Some students may be taking Contemporary Issues prior to the assessments; some may take the course after the assessments have been given. The indicators are marked as assessed for informational purposes only.
Contemporary Issues Standard: Students will apply concepts of civics and government, economics, geography, and history to understand contemporary issues. / Benchmark C: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of the relationships between peoples and places and physical and human environments in order to explain the interactions that occur in Kansas, the United States, and in our world in contemporary issues.
Indicator/Objective / Essential Concepts/Skills / Implementation / Assessment
The student:
440.SS.CI.C.1(A) interprets maps and other graphicrepresentations to analyze United States and world issues.
440.SS.CI.C.2 Analyzes the factors that contribute to human changes in regions based on past and present issues.
440.SS.CI.C.3 Recognizes how regional identity and people’s perception of places and regions affects their decisions.
440.SS.CI.C.4 analyzes the patterns of physicalprocesses and their effect on humans.
440.SS.CI.C.5 understands how economic, political, cultural, and social processes interact to shape patterns of human populations, interdependence, cooperation, and conflict.
440.SS.CI.C.6▲(A) examines the impact that technology has on human modification of the physicalenvironment.
440.SS.CI.C.7▲(A) examines alternative strategies to respond to constraints placed on humansystems by the physicalenvironment.
440.SS.CI.C.8(A) discusses the pros and cons of specific policies and programs for resource use and management. / What students need to know:
  • Five Themes of Geography
  • Map skills
  • Concept of region
  • Physical geography
What students need to do:
  • Use map and data analysis skills to analyze United States and world issues.
  • Recognize the role of culture in affecting people’s perceptions and decision making in contemporary issues.
  • Describe the impact of physical processes of the earth on humans.
  • Examine the impact of humans on their environment.
  • Discuss the movement of people, goods, and ideas as they impact contemporary issues.
  • use the concept of regions to analyze United States and world issues.
  • Debate and discuss contemporary issues as they relate to geography.
  • Use a variety of resources to research and understand contemporary issues as they relate to geography.
Vocabulary
Conservation
Community
Database
Natural resources
Relative location
Physical features
Political features
Distribution
Migration
Five Themes of Geography
  • Location
  • Place
  • Movement
  • Human-environment interaction
  • Regions
Cultural diffusion
Diaspora
Ethnic enclaves
Megalopolis
Culture
Mental maps
Sustainability
Diversity / Scope and Sequence
Students will have been introduced to map skills in 3rd grade and continuing throughout each grade.
Students will have learned the difference between physical and political systems in 4th grade.
Students will have explored the concept of world regions in 6th and 7th grades.
Students will have studied world cultures in ancient to medieval times in 6th grade and through a study of geography in 7th grade.
Students will have studied the Five Themes of Geography in 7th grade.
Students will have studied geography as it impacted modern world history in 9th grade.
Implementation
Students utilize a variety of print and other media resources to facilitate their understanding of Contemporary Issues. Those resources include, but are not limited to:
  • Olathe Daily News
  • US News & World Report
  • Time Magazine
  • Newsweek
  • Time for Kids(useful for ELL)
  • UpFront(from New York Times)
  • Annual Editions
  • News programs, including 60 Minutes, Dateline, Frontline,and shows on the History Channel
  • CNN Student News
  • Opposing Viewpoints(available on the Gale Research site online)
  • People’s Century(VHS)
Teaching Strategies
  • Best practice strategies include the use of cooperative learning, higher level thinking, effective questioning, and other strategies that actively engage students in their learning.
  • Reading and writing strategies are used in Contemporary Issues for essays, article reviews, weekly readings, debates, and opposing viewpoints research.
  • Teachers and students should reference the state standards document forReading: The student reads and comprehends text across the curriculum. Benchmark 4: The student comprehends a variety of texts (narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive) and Writing: The student writes effectively for a variety of audiences, purposes, and contexts.Benchmark 2: The student writes expository text using the writing process and Benchmark 4: The student writes persuasive text using the writing process.
Teaching Resources
The following resources have been provided for all teachers:
  • Reading Strategies for the Social Studies Classroom by Holt, Rinehart, & Winston
  • The AP Vertical Teams Guide for Social Studies
/ Items marked with ▲ are on the high school Kansas Social Studies Objective Assessment. The test is administered to 9th grade and 11th grade students through their history classes. Some students may be taking Contemporary Issues prior to the assessments; some may take the course after the assessments have been given. The indicators are marked as assessed for informational purposes only.
Contemporary Issues Standard: Students will apply concepts of civics and government, economics, geography, and history to understand contemporary issues. / Benchmark D: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of significant individuals, groups, ideas, events, eras and developments in the history of Kansas, the United States, and the world, utilizing essential analytical and research skills to understand contemporary issues.
Indicator/Objective / Essential Concepts/Skills / Implementation / Assessment
The student:
440.SS.CI.D.1 (A) researches a contemporary issue in Kansas, the United States, and/or the world and constructs a well developed argument in support or opposition of a position on that issue.
440.SS.CI.D.2 (A) examines the history of racial and ethnic relations in Kansas, the United States, and/or the world and applies this knowledge to current events.
440.SS.CI.D.3 (A) analyzes a theme in Kansas, United States, and/or world history to explain patterns of continuity and change over time related to contemporary issues.
440.SS.CI.D.4 (A) develops historical questions on a specific topic in Kansas, United States, and/or world history and analyzes the evidence in primarysource documents to speculate on the answers related to contemporary issues.
440.SS.CI.D.5 (A) investigates an event in Kansas, United States, and/or world history using primary and secondarysources and develops a credible interpretation of the event, speculating on its meaning related to contemporary issues.
440.SS.CI.D.6 (A) compares competing historical narratives in Kansas, United States, and/or world history by contrasting different historians’ choice of questions, use of sources, and points of view, in order to demonstrate how these factors contribute to different interpretations related to contemporary issues. / What students need to know:
  • Historical thinking and research skills
  • Kansas, United States, and world history events
What students need to do:
  • use primary and secondary sources to examine contemporary issues from an historical perspective.
  • Use knowledge of historical events to understand contemporary issues.
  • Debate and discuss the historical basis of contemporary issues.
  • Analyze and debate viewpoints regarding contemporary issues over time.
  • Recognize historical themes in contemporary issues.
Vocabulary/Themes
Drug traffic
Developing nations
Education
Generations – e.g. baby boomers, X, Y, etc.
Terrorism
Post-war prosperity
Environment
Energy
AIDS
Pandemics
Fundamentalism
Entitlements
Foreign policy
Genocide
Sports
Human rights
Pop culture
Women
Minorities
Immigration
Migration
Religion
War
Technology
Politics/reform
Media
Natural disasters / Scope and Sequence
Students will have studied local community history in 3rd grade.
Students will have studied American history to 1800 in 5th grade.
Students will have studied world history from ancient to medieval times in 6th grade.
Students will have studied Kansas history in 7th grade.
Students will have studied American history from 1800-1900 in 8th grade.
Students will have studied world history from the Renaissance to the present in 9th grade.
Students will have studied American history from 1900 to present in 11th grade.
Implementation
Students utilize a variety of print and other media resources to facilitate their understanding of Contemporary Issues. Those resources include, but are not limited to:
  • Olathe Daily News
  • US News & World Report
  • Time Magazine
  • Newsweek
  • Time for Kids(useful for ELL)
  • UpFront(from New York Times)
  • Annual Editions
  • News programs, including 60 Minutes, Dateline, Frontline,and shows on the History Channel
  • CNN Student News
  • Opposing Viewpoints(available on the Gale Research site online)
  • People’s Century(VHS)
Teaching Strategies
  • Best practice strategies include the use of cooperative learning, higher level thinking, effective questioning, and other strategies that actively engage students in their learning.
  • Reading and writing strategies are used in Contemporary Issues for essays, article reviews, weekly readings, debates, and opposing viewpoints research.
  • Teachers and students should reference the state standards document forReading: The student reads and comprehends text across the curriculum. Benchmark 4: The student comprehends a variety of texts (narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive) and Writing: The student writes effectively for a variety of audiences, purposes, and contexts.Benchmark 2: The student writes expository text using the writing process and Benchmark 4: The student writes persuasive text using the writing process.
Teaching Resources
The following resources have been provided for all teachers:
  • Reading Strategies for the Social Studies Classroom by Holt, Rinehart, & Winston
  • The AP Vertical Teams Guide for Social Studies
/ Items marked with ▲ are on the high school Kansas Social Studies Objective Assessment. The test is administered to 9th grade and 11th grade students through their history classes. Some students may be taking Contemporary Issues prior to the assessments; some may take the course after the assessments have been given. The indicators are marked as assessed for informational purposes only.

Indicator/Objective Coding:  KS Tested Indicator (include all appropriate codes)  USD #233, Olathe, Kansas BOE Approved (12/06)