American History

Historical Thinking

Founding Documents

Industrialization and Progressivism

Foreign Affairs from Imperialism to Post–World War I (1898–1930)

From Isolation to World War (1930–1945)

The Cold War (1945–1991)

Social Transformation in the United States (1945–1994)

United States and the Post–Cold War World (1991–Present)

The use of primary and secondary sources of information includes an examination of the credibility of each source.

Historians develop theses and use evidence to support or refute positions. 

Historians analyze cause, effect, sequence, and correlation in historical events, including multiple causation and long- and short-term causal relations.

The Declaration of Independence elaborates on the rights and role of the people in building the foundations of the American nation through the principles of unalienable rights and consent of the people. 

The Northwest Ordinance elaborates on the rights and role of the people in building the foundations of the American nation through its establishment of natural rights and setting up educational institutions.

The U.S. Constitution established the foundations of the American nation and the relationship between the people and their government. 

The debate presented by the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers over protections for individuals and limits on government power resulted in the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights provides constitutional protections for individual liberties and limits on governmental power. 

The rise of corporations, heavy industry, mechanized farming, and technological innovations transformed the American economy from an agrarian to an increasingly urban industrial society. 

The rise of industrialization led to a rapidly expanding workforce. Labor organizations grew amidst unregulated working conditions, laissez-faire policies toward big business, and violence toward supporters of organized labor.

Immigration, internal migration, and urbanization transformed American life. 

Continued settlement by Americans in the west intensified conflict with American Indians and reinforced the policy of the reservation system.

Following Reconstruction, old political and social structures reemerged, and racial discrimination was institutionalized.

The Progressive era was an effort to address the ills of American society stemming from industrial capitalism, urbanization and political corruption. 

As a result of overseas expansion, the Spanish-American War and World War I, the United States emerged as a world power. 

After World War I, the United States pursued efforts to maintain peace in the world. However, as a result of the national debate over the Versailles Treaty ratification and the League of Nations, the United States moved away from the role of world peacekeeper and limited its involvement in international affairs. 

Racial intolerance, anti-immigrant attitudes, and the Red Scare contributed to social unrest after World War I.

An improved standard of living for many— combined with technological innovations in communication, transportation, and industry— resulted in social and cultural changes and tensions.

Movements, such as the Harlem Renaissance, AfricanAmerican migration, women’s suffrage, and Prohibition all contributed to social change.

The Great Depression was caused, in part, by the federal government’s monetary policies, stock-market speculation, and increasing consumer debt. The role of the federal government expanded as a result of the Great Depression. 

During the 1930s, the U.S. government attempted to distance the country from earlier interventionist policies in the Western Hemisphere, as well as retain an isolationist approach to events in Europe and Asia until the beginning of WWII. 

United States policy and mobilization of its economic and military resources during World War II affected American society. Despite mistreatment, marginalized groups played important roles in the war effort while continuing to protest unfair treatment. 

Use of atomic weapons changed the nature of war, altered the balance of power and began the nuclear age. 

The United States followed a policy of containment during the Cold War in response to the spread of communism. 

The Second Red Scare and McCarthyism reflected Cold War fears in American society. 

The Cold War and conflicts in Korea and Vietnam influenced domestic and international politics. 

Following World War II, the United States experienced a struggle for racial and gender equality and the expansion of civil rights. 

The postwar economic boom and advances in science and technology produced changes in American life.

The continuing population flow from cities to suburbs, the internal migrations from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt, and the increase in immigration resulting from passage of the 1965 Immigration Act have had social and political effects. 

Political debates focused on the extent of the role of government in the economy, environmental protection, social welfare and national security. 

Improved global communications, international trade, transnational business organizations, overseas competition, and the shift from manufacturing to service industries have impacted the American economy. 

Focusing on domestic policy, the United States faces ongoing social, political, national security and economic challenges in the post–Cold War era and following the attacks on September 11, 2001. 

Focusing on foreign policy, the United States faces ongoing economic, political, military, and social challenges in the post–Cold War era and following the attacks of September 11, 2001. 

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Explain the difference between a primary and secondary source.

Distinguish between credibility within primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspapers are likely credible; personal blogs are less likely to be credible). 

Identify a credible source of information.

Identify features of credible sources (qualifications of the writer/author, purpose of the content, agreement with other credible sources, use of supporting evidence, disclosure of biases due to affiliation(s)).

Recognize that credible sources convey accurate information supported by evidence. 

Understand that sources of information are not always credible.

Engage in the use of information from a variety of sources.

Identify a source of information as a primary or secondary source. 

Identify features of secondary sources (written after the event, author summarizing events, author not present at event, refer to source information, describe primary sources). 

Identify features of primary sources (author’s perspective using “I,” “we;” created at the time of the event; eyewitness account). 

Engage with primary sources, such as photographs, diary entries, or letters.

Develop a thesis to support or refute a position.

Given a thesis, identify a piece of evidence that supports it.

Identify a thesis statement or main idea of a historical text. 

Interpret historical evidence to draw a conclusion and write a thesis. 

Construct a thesis that summarizes a position and the evidence supporting it.

Research evidence to answer a question about history.

Historians ask questions about history and look for evidence to answer those questions.

Understand that students of history are historians and develop expertise. 

Understand that a historian is a professional in the field of historical research and education.

Engage in learning about historical information.

Create a sequence of historical events, including the cause and result of this event.

Use a source to create a sequence of events in history (e.g., interviews, videos, books). 

Given two or more historical events, place the events in the order they occurred. 

Recognize that historic events have short-term and long-term causes (multiple causation). 

Using a timeline, identify the long term cause of a specific historic event.

Using a timeline, identify an immediate effect/short-term effect following a historic event.

Events from history can be organized on a timeline.

Recall personal examples of cause and effect.

Engage in activities involving the use of a timeline.

Engage in cause and effect experiences.

State the three unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence and define “consent of the people.

State the three unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence.

Identify one of the unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence. 

Define rights as personal freedoms with limits. 

Read/listen to the second paragraph of the Declaration, “We hold these truths...,” focusing in on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Engage with a replica of the Declaration of Independence, focusing on the names and signatures.

Explain the importance of the Northwest Ordinance in establishing educational institutions.

Identify a right listed in the Northwest Ordinance that is not in the Declaration of Independence that relates to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness.

Identify a right listed in the Northwest Ordinance.

Understand that the Northwest Ordinance outlined rights and responsibilities of settlers in the new territory.

Define rights as personal freedoms established by laws found in the Northwest Ordinance. 

Identify rights and responsibilities students have within the classroom, home, and community.

Self-advocate for own rights.

Engage in actions that respect the rights of others.

Explain why the U.S. Constitution was written.

Match the branches of the federal government to their roles. 

Identify the branches of the federal government.

Identify the leaders of each of the three branches (e.g., president - executive branch). 

Identify personnel linked to each of the three branches (e.g., local - police - executive branch). 

Match each branch of government to the building where it operates. 

Identify the 3 branches of government. 

Identify that governments help society run (voting, military-national security). 

Engage with personnel linked to the three branches of government.

Identify the limits of government provided by the Bill of Rights.

Explain why the Bill of Rights was written.

Identify a right provided by the Bill of Rights.

Identify that the First Amendment lists rights protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Understand that the Bill of Rights consists of 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Engage with a replica of the U.S. Constitution, focusing on the Bill of Rights. 

Engage in freedom of speech by expressing oneself using any modality.

Explain why urban living became more popular after the rise of heavy industry, mechanized farming and technological innovations. 

Identify how a technological innovation made life more efficient (e.g., mechanized assembly lines made production more efficient). 

Identify a technological innovation that made life more efficient (e.g., telephone, light bulb, washing machine, airplane).

Identify the Industrial Age as happening between 1750- 1900.

Participate in an assembly line simulation (similar to task boxes) given a visual outline/task analysis of the Process, including the final product. In order to understand efficiency, complete the task as an individual and compare the process to the assembly line approach.

Participate in an assembly line simulation (similar to task boxes) given a visual outline/task analysis of the process, including the final product. Each student takes on one specific step in the process. 

Match the cause of needing more products across a wider span of the U.S. with development of new technological innovation. 

Organize representations of telephones (or other technology example) from earliest invention to modern.

Recognize that the technological tools we have today have changed over time as needs arose. 

Technological innovations have been created by inventors.

Recognize that the technological tools we have today have not always been around.

Engage with representations of different types of telephones across time.

Engage with technological innovations from this time period using modern examples (e.g., lights, phone).

Describe what a labor union represents for positive and negative influences on industrialization.

Identify a grievance a labor employee might have.

Identify a career that might be associated with a labor union.

Workers felt the need to protect themselves and joined together to create unions.

Compare the viewpoints of laborers and employers about improving working conditions.

Understand that working conditions were not originally regulated by the government therefore many factories were hazardous, workers worked long hours, wages were low, children worked in factories, and more.

Use research to identify specific working conditions/ hazards laborers encountered during industrialization.

Understand that industrialization was a period of rapid advancement in technology and manufacturing.

Engage in the selections (objects, images, graphics) that represent safety items used to protect workers today. 

Distinguish between immigration and internal migration and explain why a person might migrate or immigrate. 

Identify why a person might migrate to another region of the U.S. 

Identify the meanings of immigration and migration.

Understand that cities grew during industrialization because workers moved from rural to urban areas (migration).

Understand that immigrants moved to the U.S. because of the availability of manufacturing jobs and land (immigration).

Sort images/representations of rural and urban areas during industrialization. 

Discuss difference between rural (farming, population spread out, small towns) and urban (cities, taller buildings, factories, crowded, pollution).

Identify internal migration as movement within a county to a different permanent residence.

Identify if the local community is more rural or more urban.

Engage with individuals within school or community who have immigrated or migrated into the local community.

Explain how Westward Expansion affected American Indians.

Identify why Americans continued to move west.

Identify the meaning of settlement. 

Understand that U.S. settlements spread into American Indian territories from east to west, north from the Florida peninsula, west to east via California, and from south to north via Mexico and Texas

Utilize a physical map of the U.S. to identify areas east of the Mississippi River and west of the Mississippi River.

Visually/physically move images or objects representing groups of people across the U.S. map to show the movement of American Indians and new settlers over time

Identify the regional cultural groups of American Indians living west of the Mississippi prior to Westward Expansion.

Identify regional cultural groups of American Indians living east of the Mississippi prior to European settlement of North America.

Identify western states on a map of the U.S.

Identify west on a compass rose. 

Engage with physical maps of the U.S.

Describe racial discrimination practices in post Reconstruction America. 

Define a separate-but-equal practice that was institutionalized with the passage of the Jim Crow laws. 

Identify the meaning of racial discrimination. 

Following the removal of federal troops from the South in 1877, identify that racial discrimination began to rise again in the South. 

Understand that racial discrimination included social and political separation of the races. 

Understand that racial discrimination is unjust treatment of a person or group based on race (a group united by common skin color or other characteristic).

Identify two previous time periods in American history as the Civil War (1860-1865) and Reconstruction (1865-1877), which left the country with continuing racial tensions. 

Locate the states that are in the North and South.

Identify Southern states on a map of the U.S.

Identify south on a compass rose.

Discuss/identify a time when students felt they were treated unfairly based on physical traits or how they look.

Engage with maps showing the North and South.

Engage in simulations of equality and inequality through the even/uneven distribution of an item (e.g., food, manipulatives) among students.

Describe an ill of American society during the Progressive era and its proposed solution. 

Categorize ills of American society as stemming from industrial capitalism, urbanization, or political corruption. 

Identify one American societal ill that stems from industrial capitalism, urbanization, and/or political corruption.

Link American ills from urbanization to the solutions, such as Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act.

Link American ills from industrial capitalism to the solutions, such as anti-trust acts, creation of Federal Reserve to control the nation’s money supply and regulate the banking system

Link American ills from political corruption to the solutions, such as 17th Amendment (direct election of U.S. Senators), 19th Amendment (women’s suffrage), introduction of reforms to make the political process more democratic.

Identify American ills from urbanization using examples, such as illiteracy, spread of disease, unsafe food, poverty. 

Identify American ills from industrial capitalism using examples, such as pollution, dangerous working conditions, unemployment, and child labor.

Identify American ills from political corruption using examples, such as bribery, favoritism, discrimination.

Define the progressive era (1890s to the 1920s) as period of social activism and reform in response to industrialization. 

Understand that industrialization was a period of rapid advancement in technology and manufacturing.

Identify that problems may arise in communities that undergo rapid change. 

Identify that problems in society require solutions. 

Understand that citizens work together to influence their government to solve problems.

Understand that citizens work together to identify problems and propose solutions.

Engage with others to solve a problem.

Explain how the United States had economic prosperity after World War I when the European countries had to focus on rebuilding.

Define the benefits of fighting a war “not on American soil.” 

Identify the meaning of “a world power.”

Identify characteristics of U.S. after World War I that made the U.S. a world power, including ports around the world, economic strength, lack of damage from war (as in Europe).

Define “world power” as a country that has significant influence in international affairs

Identify that World War I was fought in Europe and not on American soil. 

View a political map of Europe to understand that Europe is made up of multiple countries with different priorities. 

Understand that the United States wanted to expand into Hawaii and take control of Puerto Rico and Philippines from Spain to create naval ports and expand trade. 

Utilize political maps to show location of Philippines and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.

Identify Puerto Rico, Philippines, and Hawaii on a world map. 

Identify the globe or world map as containing continents and countries.

Engage with representations of contents and countries linked to a world map.

Identify a reason why the United States adopted a policy of isolationism after World War I. 

Define isolationism. 

Identify the purpose of a treaty.

Link loss of American lives in WWI, and economic cost of war as reasons to adopt isolationism. 

Identify the Treaty of Versailles as the end of WWI.

Understand the League of Nations was created to encourage world peace in Europe. The U.S. chose to be isolated and did not join the league. 

Define isolationism as a policy of remaining apart from other countries and avoid involvement in international affairs.

Treaties and international organizations allow two or more countries to work together to achieve common goals.

Describe how leaders represent citizens in the local, national and international community.

Engage in an agreement with a classmate or group.

Explain how a negative political cartoon might affect social unrest and violence.

Describe how negative stereotypes affect a group or community

Distinguish political posters, cartoons, and presentations from non-political posters, cartoons and presentations.

Link the spread of racial intolerance, anti-immigrant attitudes, and fear of communism with social conflict and violence. 

Link the rise of nationalism (extreme form of the feeling of superiority over other countries) to racial intolerance, anti- immigrant attitudes and fear of communism. 

Identify the fear of communism as the Red Scare. 

Understand that intolerance, stereotypes, and fear were spread through newspapers, posters, cartoons, speeches, and other media.

Understand that racial intolerance included social and political separation of the races.

Understand that intolerance and discrimination are the result of negative attitudes about a person or group based on race (a group united by common skin color or other characteristic), ethnicity, country of origin, or religious or political beliefs. 

In response to intolerance people can advocate for greater acceptance and equity.

Understand that intolerance, stereotypes, and fear contribute to discrimination of other groups of people today (persons with disabilities). 

Understand that one’s own actions, words, and artistic representations can convey both negative stereotypes and positive attitudes about others.

Engage with reproductions of media from the time.

Explain how advancements in technology contributed to social change between World War I and World War II.

Describe causes and effects of the advancement of the automobile industry on society.

Identify a technological advancement that influenced social change between World War I and World War II. 

Link advancements in technology with increased spread of ideas, leisure time, and engagement with media (e.g., movies, newsreels, radio, newspapers, magazines) 

Identify technological innovations of the time, including commercial radio broadcasts, automobiles, expansion of roads, movies, wire service, beginning of air travel, increased access to electric lights, factory work, and appliances. 

Understand that technological innovation can offer both benefits and drawbacks.

Engage in the use of technology that emerged as a result of this time of innovation.

Explain how movements, such as the Harlem Renaissance, African-American migration, women’s suffrage, and Prohibition all contributed to social change.

Define the Harlem Renaissance, AfricanAmerican migration, women’s suffrage, and Prohibition.

Identify pictures relevant to the Harlem Renaissance, African-American migration, women’s suffrage and Prohibition.

Identify the Harlem Renaissance as an intellectual, social, and artistic movement centered in the African American community of Harlem, NY (e.g., music, literature, painting, public social events).

Identify African American migration as the movement of African Americans from rural south to northern cities for job opportunities and social freedoms.

Identify women’s suffrage as the effort to expand voting rights to women, resulting in the 19th Amendment.

Identify Prohibition as a movement to ban production and sale of alcohol, resulting in the 18th Amendment.

Identify that emerging tensions and intolerance from earlier eras led to the need for social change.

Identify with groups of people involved in social change movements.

Engage with images or objects representing movements for social change.

Explain one reason for the Great Depression.

Describe life during the Great Depression.

Identify the Great Depression as a time when millions of people were unemployed and had little money. 

Understand that during the Great Depression the role of the federal government expanded in an effort to create jobs (e.g., government hired workers for construction projects) and regulate the economy (e.g., Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation FDIC).

Understand that prior to the Great Depression the federal government provided little regulation of the banking system, leading to high corporate and consumer debt. 

Identify the Great Depression as an economic crisis resulting from the lack of regulation of the economy by the federal government. 

Understand that a banking panic arises when many customers lose confidence in the banks at the same time and demand their deposits in cash; Banks do not have enough cash to meet the demand and need to take out loans and often fail (go out of business). 

Map sequential events of the Great Depression (people use banks for loans and savings, stock market crashes, people lose faith in banks, people request their savings in cash, banks call back loan monies to pay out cash from savings, banks sell all assets to cover cash savings, no money to cover cash payouts, banks begin to fail, people can’t pay their bills because they can’t access their money, people lose assets, businesses fail, workers lose jobs). 

Understand that prior to the Great Depression banks were independent and decided how much money to loan and to whom. 

Understand that consumers can request loans from banks (credit) in which they will have to pay the money back over time with interest.

Understand that people deposit money from earnings into banks with access to use their money at any time. 

Understand that people have wants and needs that require money.

Understand how causes lead to effects using classroom examples.

Compare lifestyles with and without employment.

Engage with tools used in banking.

Describe the events that brought the United States into World War II.

List one pro-isolationist argument and one pro-interventionist argument. 

Identify the results of an agreement or disagreement.

Understand that the U.S. government changed foreign affairs policies from interventionist (WWI), to isolationist (post WWI), back to interventionist (WWII).

Identify that interventionist and isolationist are opposite approaches to foreign affairs.

Define isolationism as a policy of remaining apart from other countries and avoid involvement in international affairs.

Define interventionist policies as involvement in the affairs of other countries to attain a favorable outcome. 

Discuss choices to intervene or ignore around an observed problem.

Define the root terms isolation and intervention.

Describe a time when you worked alone and a time when you worked together with others in a group. 

Engage by giving attention to an observed problem.

Explain how the mobilization of resources during World War II affected American society. 

Describe what rationing of supplies might mean to a family. 

Identify an example of rationing. 

Opportunities in the workplace expanded for women and minorities. 

Recognize that African Americans participated in military and other war efforts yet continued to be discriminated against at home.

Understand that the U.S. prioritized resources for use by the military in fighting WWII, resulting in shortages and rationing at home.

Identify people as resources used in the war effort.

Define rationing as conserving resources by allotting fixed amounts of resources during a shortage. 

Identify effects that might emerge with shortages of food, water, housing, etc. 

Identify the needs required to maintain a home and family (shelter, food, electricity, water, etc.). 

Engage with objects or images representing resources that might have been limited during WWII.

Explain how atomic weapons and world superpowers are related.

Define nuclear age. 

Identify the highly destructive weapon created in the nuclear age.

Recognize that the U.S. became more powerful internationally after the use of two atomic weapons that ended WWII. 

Understand that the use of atomic weapons represented a significant increase in destructive power and military strength.

During the nuclear age, superpowers were defined as countries that had atomic weapons. 

Define nuclear age as beginning in 1945 with the first use of atomic weapons and an increase in the use of nuclear energy. 

Relate nuclear to the nucleus of an atom.

Engage with images showing atomic weapons tests (mushroom cloud).

Engage with images showing the rings of destruction from an atomic weapon.

Describe how the United States tried to contain communism during the Cold War

Explain the difference between communism and democracy. 

Identify a communist country and a democratic country from the Cold War era.

Define policy of containment as efforts to limit the spread of communism to additional countries. 

Define communism as a political system wherein all property is publicly owned by the people collectively and controlled by the government. 

Define democracy as a political system wherein the government is elected by citizens. 

Label map of prominent countries as communist or democratic.

Engage with maps showing countries as communist or democratic.

Explain reasons for Cold War fears.

Explain what the term cold in Cold War means. 

Identify people who were influential during the Cold War.

Recognize that the Cold War was a state of conflict between primarily the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. during which no direct military action was taken.

Understand that the Second Red Scare was a renewed fear of communism during which Americans felt that communists were secretly working and living in the U.S. 

Identify U.S. Senator McCarthy as the instigator of attempts to identify suspected communists operating inside the U.S. 

Recall a time when someone experienced being wrongly accused.

Understand that accusations of communist activity destroyed some personal lives and professional careers. 

Observe hostility present in the McCarthy hearings.

Engage in watching documentary footage related to the McCarthy hearings.

Explain how Korea and/or Vietnam exemplified the policy of containment during the Cold War.

Explain what “cold war” means.

Identify countries involved in the Korean and/or Vietnam wars.

Recognize that U.S. involvement in Vietnam angered many Americans who protested openly.

Understand that the U.S. intervened in conflicts in both Korea and Vietnam in an effort to stop the spread of communism.

Define containment as efforts to limit the spread of communism to additional countries.

Define the conflict between U.S. and the U.S.S.R. as competing for global power and influence.

Recognize that the Cold War was a state of conflict between primarily the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. during which no direct military action was taken. 

Define conflict as a serious disagreement or argument. 

Locate Korea and Vietnam on a map.

Engage with maps during discussions about the Cold War era.

Explain how African Americans and women continued their efforts to gain their civil rights following World War II. 

Identify a famous African American and/ or woman and their contributions to post– World War II society.

Identify a right of women, African Americans or minorities were fighting for during the civil rights era.

Investigate protest methods used by marginalized groups, including court actions, non-violent protests, militarized organizations, and legislative processes.

Understand that the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of all citizens, but some citizens were denied their rights in practice (e.g., poll taxes, literacy tests, limited voting participation).

Understand that civil rights have been extended to marginalized groups over time. 

Define civil rights as rights protected by the U.S. Constitution. Civil rights include the right to vote and other opportunities for civic participation.

Identify that civil rights apply to all marginalized groups, including individuals with disabilities. 

Identify rights students have within the classroom, home, and community. 

Self-advocate for own rights.

Engage in actions that respect the rights of others.

Explain how advancements in technology contributed to changes in society after World War II. 

Identify a post–World War II technology and explain how it improved a way of life. 

Identify a technological advancement that influenced society following World War II.

Trace examples of change in medicine, power, transportation, and/or communications in America from 1945-1994, using timelines when possible.

Organize images/representations of the advances in automobile technology from earliest invention to modern.

Identify a technology used in the classroom. 

Discuss examples of technology improving the lives of people with disabilities. 

Engage with images/representations of automobiles across time. 

Engage with images/representations of advertisements of new products in the immediate post-WWII era (circa 1945-1960).

Identify and research one immigrant group; explain where they settled and what they did (e.g., home, work).

Identify causes and effects of the migrations from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt.

Match Rust Belt and Sun belt with their definitions. 

Understand that different regions of the U.S. grew during this time because workers moved from the Rust Belt (northern cities that previously were heavily industrialized) to new economic opportunities in the South and Southwest.

Understand that more immigrants came to the U.S. from different regions (e.g., Asia, Africa, Latin America) because of the changes in immigration laws (e.g., easing of quotas, addition of work visas, refugees and asylum seekers). 

Sort images/representations of urban (apartment living, buses, subways, parks) and suburban (planned neighborhoods, driveways, cars, backyards) life. 

Identify internal migration as movement within a county to a different permanent residence. 

Identify if the local community is more rural, suburban, or urban.

Engage with maps that depict different regions of U.S. 

Engage with individuals within school or community who have immigrated or migrated into the local community

Identify differences in political beliefs between Republicans and Democrats.

Match political parties with their views on major topics (e.g., the economy, the environment, social welfare.) 

Identify the two major political parties.

Understand that political beliefs of each party have changed over time.

Understand the general differences between the two parties views on major topics, such as economy. (Democratic - active role for the government in regulating the economy vs Republican - minimal role for the government in regulating the economy).

Recognize that candidates for political office share their views during debates and public events. 

Identify the symbols of the Democratic and Republican parties.

Engage with other students in talking about (debating) a school issue.

Describe a post–Cold War technological development and its impact.

Describe the growth and use of computers in one or more facet(s) of daily life.

Identify computers and how they are used, and describe how they affect daily life.

Track interaction or use of computers through a typical day in the life of a student. 

Understand that many products sold in the United State are manufactured in other countries. Use an example like automobiles to discuss how parts may come from multiple countries and be assembled in Ohio.

Understand that the use of computers and the Internet have increased international communication, trade, and business.

Discuss how computer technology has improved the lives of people with disabilities.

Understand that the use of computers have changed in this time period from large businesses to personal/home/ classroom uses. 

Engage with representations of computers and people using computers. 

Explain the effects of the 2001 attacks on the United States, and describe subsequent changes in its domestic.

Describe the significance of the 2001 attacks on the United States. 

Identify the places that were targeted in the September 2001 attacks. 

Recognize that after the September 11 attacks, Islamophobia (fear of Islam) and fear of domestic terrorism increased.

Understand that after the September 11 attacks the American government sought to balance citizens’ freedoms with the need for additional security.

Define domestic policy as a nation’s strategy for dealing with problems and challenges within the country.

Locate New York City and Washington, D.C. on a map of the U.S.

Engage with images of the September 11 memorials.

Identify a current foreign policy issue, and evaluate how that issue affects the United States.

Identify a current foreign policy issue.

Identify a current school or community issue.

Define foreign policy as a nation’s strategy for dealing with other nations.

Define an issue as a problem or challenge to be solved.

Locate the United States on a political world map or globe. Recognize other countries as foreign in relation to the United States.

Engage with a political map of the world.