Grade 4

Students reconstruct, interpret, and critique the causes and consequences of past events in the context of the institutions, values, and beliefs of the periods in which they took place.

Students investigate historical experiences of American Samoa, Oceania, the U.S., and the world to reveal patterns of continuity and change.

Students cite evidence that cultures are dynamic and change over time.

Students research and report on where people and places are located and why, utilizing multiple geographic representations and tools (maps, globes, geospatial technologies).

Students draw conclusions about changes in the relationship between people, places, and environments.

Students analyze how people create, learn, share, and adapt to culture.

Students synthesize the sociocultural interactions among individuals, groups, and institutions to investigate structures of power and their impacts on authority and governance.

Students apply concepts to explain how people organize for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

Use chronological order to explain causal relationships between people and events

Investigate historical events from a specific time period and place, using primary (firsthand accounts of events) and secondary sources (distinguishing whether information found was historical fact or opinion).

Analyze interpretations of how indigenous people settled and interacted with their environment in different ways

Cite evidence on causes for exploration and colonization in the Americas and the Samoa Islands, and on how exploration and colonization brought changes to these places

Explain how a colony increases or gains independence

Describe the impact of settlement, industrialization, and transportation on the expansion of the U.S., American Samoa, and Oceania

Describe both change and continuity in different aspects of Samoan culture, including religion, land use, and social systems, and explain how these aspects have evolved over time

Describe the interactions, such as economic exchanges and wars, among different cultural and ethnic groups in early Samoa

Use a globe and/or a map to determine the absolute location of places in a region

Compare the climates of different regions in the world, and explain how climate affects the environment of one region in relation to another

Describe how physical and human characteristics are used to define regions, and how physical or human influences have changed a region

Cite examples of human activities that address and resolve weather and climate issues across different geographic regions

Make connections between factors contributing to conflict and cooperation among people locally and globally, including language, religion, political beliefs, resources, and changes in the environment

Describe the changes in Samoan culture through contact with Westerners

Identify the characteristics of democracy, including limited government, majority rule, equality, individual rights and freedoms, and selection of leaders

Compare the organizational relationship of American Samoa with that outlined in the U.S. Constitution Sample Performance Indicators:

Investigate how leadership is acquired and exercised in groups

Identify and analyze how the productive resources in the regions of the U.S. have produced and provided goods and services, and explain what the opportunity costs were given the context at particular times

Debate how the availability of productive resources promotes specialization in the production of goods and services and how it requires conservation practices

Compare economic patterns of early settlements in American Samoa and regions of the U.S., and explain how and why they are different from or similar to today