WATERFORD PUBLIC SCHOOLS

SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM

WORLD HISTORY I

GRADE 9

 

Unit Title: Unit 1 Introduction to History/Archaeology

 

Standard:  WHS Student Academic Standards

 

1.   Communicate in Standard English for a variety of purposes.

2.   Read a variety of materials for the understanding, evaluation, and synthesis of information.

3.   Acquire and evaluate information in order to interpret events, issues, and/or ideas, and to make informed judgements and responses.

4.   Utilize technology to obtain, organize, and communicate information and solve problems.

 

Connecticut Content Standards

 

1.   Content Standard 1: Historical Thinking: 1.9-10.1; 1.9-10-2; 1.9-10.3

2.   Content Standard 2: Local, United States, and World History: 2.9-10.1; 2.9-10.2; 2.9-10.3

3.   Content Standard 4: Applying History: 4.9-10.1; 4.9-10.2; 4.9-10.5

 

Estimated Number of Days to Complete Unit: 5 – 10 days

 

 

ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS / DESIRED RESULTS

 

The student will understand that:

1.

Study and discovery of the past helps us to understand the present.

2.

There is value in the ideas of others and we can learn the ideas of others through study.

3.

All information contains the perspective of its author or source.  Information becomes propaganda when bias is added

4.

Civilizations share the same core characteristics.

5.

Discovery of the past requires teamwork and luck.

 

 

ASSESSMENTS / ACCEPTABLE EVIDENCE

 

1.

Reading assignments and quizzes; vocabulary quizzes; map quizzes; discussion and participation in class; projects; unit test.

2.

Sample assessments/activities:

History Alive! Experiencing the Challenge of Interpreting the Past.  Students create personal history collages and then act as historians to interpret events from the past.

3.

Archaeological Dig.  Students excavate a peer’s shoebox and infer the meaning/purpose of hidden artifacts.

4.

Students read and analyze two sources on the same event.  Students discover the concepts of perspective and bias.

5.

History Alive! Investigation of the Past: Assembling an Archaeological Team.  Students appoint six archaeological specialists to investigate three sites: Laetoli, Catal Hoyuk, and Ur.

6.

Bring History Alive! Analyze the story of the Piltdown Hoax. Explain why people believed that the fossils were genuine.  Explain methods used to expose the

7.

Document Based Question

 

 

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

 

1.

What is history?

2.

Why study history?

3.

How can opinion and bias be distinguished from fact?

4.

Why is objectivity important?

5.

Why is propaganda a powerful tool (Piltdown Hoax)? 

6.

What characteristics do civilizations have in common?  And what distinguishes civilizations from each other?

7.

Why are human achievements such as the development of writing so important to the growth of civilization?

8.

Are we a civilization?

9.

How do scientists working together unearth the past?  How do scientists help us to understand early human history?

 

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 

The student will be able to:

1.

Evaluate visual information and draw conclusions about it.

2.

Identify the challenges historians face as they interpret the past.

3.

Explain why it is valuable to continue to reexamine the past.

4.

Read a timeline and use the key chronological terms decade, century, millennium, and BCE and CE

5.

Identify six archaeological specialists and describe some of the methods each use to investigate archaeological sites.

6.

Explain the collaborative nature of archaeological analysis.

7.

Describe the types of evidence and methods of investigation that archaeologists have used to reconstruct human and cultural evolution.

7.

Demonstrate the ability to distinguish between fact, opinion, and bias.

8.

Identify and describe the fundamental characteristics of early civilizations.

 

 

SUGGESTED RESOURCES

 

1.

Textbook – Ancient Civilizations Chapter 1

2.

History Alive! Early Humans binder

3.

World History Unfolding: Ancient Times to 1500 (DBQ’s)

4.

The “Nystrom Desk Atlas”

5.

Middle East Political and Physical Features Maps

 

 

 

Unit Title: Unit 2 Early Humans

 

Standard:  WHS Student Academic Standards

 

5.   Communicate in Standard English for a variety of purposes.

6.   Read a variety of materials for the understanding, evaluation, and synthesis of information.

7.   Acquire and evaluate information in order to interpret events, issues, and/or ideas, and to make informed judgements and responses.

8.   Utilize technology to obtain, organize, and communicate information and solve problems.

 

Connecticut Content Standards

 

1.   Content Standard 1: Historical Thinking 1.9-10.1

2.   Content Standard 4: Applying History 4.9-10.1; 4.9-10.5

3.   Content Standard 9: Places and Regions 9.9-10.2

4.   Content Standard 12: Human and Environmental Interaction 12.9-10.3

 

Estimated Number of Days to Complete Unit: 5 – 10 days

 

 

ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS / DESIRED RESULTS

 

The student will understand that:

1.

Early human achievements had a tremendous affect on modern life.

2.

Environmental challenges lead to cultural development (communication, technology, and religion).

3.

Although humans do share some characteristics with animals they are uniquely different.

4.

History involves interpretation and historians can and do disagree.

 

 

ASSESSMENTS / ACCEPTABLE EVIDENCE

 

1.

Reading assignments and quizzes; vocabulary quizzes; map quizzes; discussion and participation in class; projects; unit test.

2.

Sample assessments/activities:

3.

History Alive! What do we know about human ancestors?  Students analyze and assemble skulls of five hominids and arrange them on a spectrum of increasing capability and skill.

4.

Bring History Alive! – Based on examination of a week’s worth of household garbage, what could you infer about your own way of life?  Compare your conclusions with inferences you could make about an early hunter-gatherer community based on remains associated with it.

5.

“Describe your find” – In an article to a scientific journal detail a hominid find you have made.  Include the process of discovery and the functions of the scientists working with you.

6.

Bring History Alive! Create a Paleolithic tool kit and explain the possible uses of each implement.

7.

Document Based Question

 

 

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

 

1.

What specific contributions were made by early hominids/humans?

2.

How would language be useful to hunters who wished to trap and kill a mammoth?  How would language have helped communities make complex rules governing their societies?

3.

What new challenges did early hominids/humans have to meet as they moved from one climatic zone to another?

4.

How does the environment lead to cultural development?  In what ways did humans develop tools to help control their environment?

5

Which aspects of modern culture – economic, food, clothing, shelter, politics, religion, communications, recreation, art, family, and society – do other animals share?  Which are uniquely human?  What does it mean to be “human?”  What defines a hominid?  What is a human?

6.

What is a theory?  How is a theory different from a fact?

7.

What inferences have scientists drawn about the behavior and way of life of early African hominids from evidence discovered?  Which inferences are most reliably supported by the evidence and what is the evidence that supports them?

8.

What evidence do scientists use to support the hypothesis that tools were deliberately manufactured, rather than merely found and used by early hominids?

 

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 

The student will be able to:

1.

Hypothesize about the capabilities and skills of human ancestors by examining hominid skulls and artifacts.

2.

Describe five hominids and their key characteristics.

3.

Summarize two theories on human origins.

4.

Summarize and compare and contrast theories for bipedalism.

5.

Explain how early hominids adapted to their environments.

6.

Trace the approximate chronology, sequence, and territories of the early hominid evolution in east Africa from the Australopithecines onward.

7.

Describe the types of evidence and methods of investigation that archaeologists and anthropologists have used to reconstruct human physical and cultural evolution.

 

 

SUGGESTED RESOURCES

 

1.

Textbook – World History: Perspectives on the Past – Chapter1 Sections 1 and 2.

2.

History Alive! Early Humans binder

3.

Bring History Alive! Sourcebook.

4.

Video – excerpts from “Walking with Prehistoric Beasts”

5.

Video – excerpts from “Walking with Cavemen”

6.

Video – excerpts from National Geographic’s “Mysteries of Mankind”

7.

World History Unfolding: Ancient Times to 1500 (DBQ’s)

8.

Textbook Ancient Civilizations Chapters 3,4,5

9.

National Geographic articles

 

 

 

Unit Title: Unit 3 Hunter-Gatherers and Early Farmers

 

Standard:  WHS Student Academic Standards

 

9.   Communicate in Standard English for a variety of purposes.

10.          Read a variety of materials for the understanding, evaluation, and synthesis of information.

11.          Acquire and evaluate information in order to interpret events, issues, and/or ideas, and to make informed judgements and responses.

12.          Utilize technology to obtain, organize, and communicate information and solve problems.

 

Connecticut Content Standards

 

1.      Content Standard 1: Historical Thinking 1.9-10.2

2.