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7.4 The Interactions Between People and Places 7.4.3. GRADE 3 7.4.6. GRADE 6 7.4.9. GRADE 9 7.4.12. GRADE 12 Pennsylvania's public schools shall teach, challenge and support every student to realize his or her maximum potential and to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to... A. Identify the impacts of physical systems on people.
* How people depend on, adjust to and modify physical systems on a local scale (e.g., soil quality and agriculture, snowfall and daily activities, drought and water use)
* Ways in which natural hazards affect human activities (e.g., storms, lightning, flooding)A. Describe the impacts of physical systems on people.
* How people depend on, adjust to and modify physical systems on regional scale (e.g., coastal industries, development of coastal communities, flood control)
* Ways in which people adjust to live in hazard-prone areas (e.g., California and earthquakes, Florida and hurricanes, Oklahoma and tornadoes)A. Explain the impacts of physical systems on people.
* How people depend on, adjust to and modify physical systems on National scale (e.g., soil conservation programs, projects of The Corps of Engineers)
* Ways in which people in hazard-prone areas adjust their ways of life (e.g., building design in earthquake areas, dry-farming techniques in drought-prone areas)A. Analyze the impacts of physical systems on people.
* How people depend on, adjust to and modify physical systems on international scales (e.g., resource development of oil, coal, timber)
* Ways in which people modify ways of life to accommodate different environmental contexts (e.g., building in permafrost areas; the role of air-conditioning in the United States South and Southwest; the development of enclosed spaces for movement in cold climates)B. Identify the impacts of people on physical systems.
* Effects of energy use (e.g., water quality, air quality, change in natural vegetation)
* Ways humans change local ecosystems (e.g., land use, dams and canals on waterways, reduction and extinction of species)B. Describe the impacts of people on physical systems.
* Changing spatial patterns on Earth's surface that result from human activities (e.g., lake desiccation as in the Aral Sea, construction of dikes, dams and storm surge barriers in the Netherlands, creation of state parks and forests throughout Pennsylvania)
* Ways humans adjust their impact on the habitat (e.g., endangered species act, replacement of wetlands, logging and replanting trees)B. Explain the impacts of people on physical systems.
* Forces by which people modify the physical environment (e.g., increasing population; new agricultural techniques; industrial processes and pollution)
* Spatial effects of activities in one region on another region (e.g., scrubbers on power plants to clean air, transportation systems such as Trans-Siberian Railroad, potential effects of fallout from nuclear power plant accidents)B. Analyze the impacts of people on physical systems.
* How people develop international agreements to manage environmental issues (e.g., Rio de Janeiro Agreement, the Law of the Sea, the Antarctica Treaty)
* How local and regional processes can have global effects (e.g., wind and hydroelectric power transmitted across regions, water use and irrigation for crop production)
* Sustainability of resources (e.g., reforestation, conservation)
* World patterns of resource distribution and utilization (e.g., oil trade, regional electrical grids)The Interactions Between People and Places must include local to global scales for all students at all grade levels for the standard statements and their descriptors. Basic concepts found in lower grade levels must be developed more fully throughout higher grade levels.
XXI. GLOSSARY
Absolute location: The position of a point on Earth's surface that can usually be described by latitude and longitude but also including nine digit zip code and street address. Acculturation: The process of adopting the traits of a cultural group. Assimilation: The acceptance, by one culture group or community, of cultural traits associated with another. Atmosphere: The body of gases, aerosols and other materials that surrounds Earth and is held close by gravity. It extends about twelve miles from Earth's surface. Barriers to migration: Factors that keep people from moving (e.g., lack of information about potential destination, lack of funds to cover the costs of moving, regulations that control migration). Basic map elements: Materials included on geographic representations. These include title, directions, date of map, mapmaker's name, a legend and scale. Often a geographic grid, the source of information and sometimes an index of places on the map are also included. Biosphere: The domain of Earth that includes all plant and animal life forms. Boundary: The limit or extent within which a system exists or functions, including a social group, a state or physical features. Capital: One of the factors of production of goods and services. Capital can be goods (e.g., factories and equipment, highways, information, communications systems) and/or funds (investment and working capital) used to increase production and wealth. Other factors are land, water and labor. Cardinal directions: The four main points of the compass; north, east, south and west. Carrying capacity: Maximum population that an area can support over time depending upon environmental conditions, human interventions and interdependence. Central Place Theory: The conceptual framework that explains the size, spacing and distribution of settlements and their economic relationships with their market areas. Choropleth map: Shows differences between areas by using colors or shading to represent distinct categories of qualities (e.g., vegetation type) or quantities (e.g. population density). Climate: Long-term patterns and trends in weather elements and atmospheric conditions. Climate graph (climagraph): A diagram that combines average monthly temperature and precipitation data for a particular place. Climatic processes: Earth-sun relationships, seasonal changes, heat redistribution by winds, air masses and ocean currents, redistribution of heat and moisture by storm systems, and the impact of land and water distribution altitude and landform orientation. Comparative advantage: The specialization by a given area in the production of one or a few commodities for which it has a particular edge (e.g., labor quality, resources availability, production costs). Concentric Zone Model: A framework that proposes that urban functions and the associated land uses are arranged in contiguous circles. One of three models developed to explain how cities and metropolitan areas are arranged internally. The other models are the Sector and the Multiple Nuclei. Contour map: A representation of some part of Earth's surface using lines along which all points are of equal elevation above or below a fixed datum, usually sea level. Country: Unit of political space often referred to as a state or nation-state. Cultural hearths: The core areas that produce the ideas, organizations and artifacts associated with a particular culture. Culture: Learned behavior of people, which includes their belief systems and languages, their social relationships, their institutions and organizations and their material goods-food, clothing, buildings, tools and machines. Cultural diffusion: The spread of cultural elements from one culture to another. Cultural landscape: The human imprint on the physical environment; the humanized image as created or modified by people. Demographic change: Variation in population size, composition, rates of growth, density, fertility and mortality rates and patterns of migration. Demography: The study of population statistics, changes and trends based on various measures of fertility (adding to a population), mortality (subtracting from a population) and migration (redistribution of a population). Density: The population or number of objects per unit area (e.g., per square kilometer or mile). Desertification: The spread of desert conditions in arid and semiarid regions resulting from a combination of climatic changes and increasing human pressures (e.g., overgrazing, removal of vegetation, cultivation of marginal land). Developed country: An area of the world that is technologically advanced, highly urbanized and wealthy and has generally evolved through both economic and demographic transitions. Diffusion: The spread of people, ideas, technology and products among places. Distance decay: The tendency for the acceptance of new ideas and technologies to decrease with distance from their source. Distribution: The arrangement of any items over a specified area. Earthquake: Vibrations and shock waves caused by the sudden movement of tectonic plates along fracture zones, called faults, in Earth's crust. Ecosystem (ecological system): A network formed by the interaction of all living organisms (plants, animals, humans) with each other and with the physical and chemical factors of the environment in which they live. Elevation: Height of a point or place above sea level (e.g., Mount Everest has an elevation of 29,028 feet above sea level). Enclaves: A country, territorial or culturally distinct unit enclosed within a larger country or community. Environment: Everything in and on Earth's surface and its atmosphere within which organisms, communities or objects exist. Equilibrium: The point in the operation of a system when driving forces and resisting forces are in balance. Equinox: The 2 days during the calendar year (usually September 23 and March 21) when all latitudes have twelve hours of both daylight and darkness and the sun is directly overhead at the Equator. Erosional processes: The removal and transportation of weathered (loose) rock material by water, wind, waves and glaciers. Deposition is the end result of erosion and occurs when transported material is dropped. Fall line: A linear connection joining the waterfalls on numerous rivers and streams that marks the point where each river and stream descends from the upland and the limit of the navigability of each river (e.g., the narrow boundary zone between the coastal plain and the Piedmont in the Eastern United States where there are falls and rapids on streams and rivers as they drop from the more resistant rocks of the Piedmont onto the softer rocks of the coastal plain). Fertility rate: A measure of the number of children a woman will have during her child-bearing years (15 to 49 years of age) in comparison to the adult female population in a particular place. Formal region: An area defined by the uniformity or homogeneity of certain characteristics (e.g., precipitation, landforms, subculture). Functional region: An area united by a strong core (node) or center of human population and activity (e.g., banking linkages between large cities and smaller cities and towns). Geographic Information System: A geographic database that contains information about the distribution of physical and human characteristics of places. In order to test hypotheses, maps of one characteristic or a combination can be produced from the database to analyze the data relationships. Geographic scale: The size of Earth's surface being studied. Study areas vary from local to regional to global. Scale also refers to the relationship between the size of space on a map and the size of that space on Earth's surface. Maps are referred to as large scale if they are of smaller (local) areas and small scale if they represent much or all of the Earth's surface. Map scale is expressed as a bar graph or representative fraction. Global warming: The theory that Earth's atmosphere is gradually warming due to the buildup of certain gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, which are released by human activities. The increased levels of these gases cause added heat energy from Earth to be absorbed by the atmosphere instead of being lost in space. Globe: A scale model of Earth that correctly represents area, relative size and shape of physical features, distance between points and true compass direction. Grid: A pattern of lines on a chart or map, such as those representing latitude and longitude, which helps determine absolute location and assists in the analysis of distribution patterns. Human features: Tangible and intangible ideas associated with the culture, society and economy of places or areas. These include the spatial arrangement of land uses including transportation, the design of buildings and the nature and timing of activities that people conduct in these spaces. Hydroelectric power: Electrical energy generated by the force of falling water which rotates turbines housed in power plants in dams on rivers. Hydrosphere: The water realm of Earth which includes water contained in the oceans, lakes, rivers, ground, glaciers and water vapor in the atmosphere. Industrialization: The growth of machine production and the factory system. The process of introducing manufacturing into countries or regions where most of the people are engaged in primary economic activities (e.g., farming, fishing, forestry). Infant mortality rate: The annual number of deaths among infants under 1 year of age for every 1,000 live births. It usually provides an indication of health care levels. The United States, for example, has a 1994 rate of 8.3 infant deaths per 1,000 live births while Angola has a rate of 137 infant deaths per 1,000 births. Interdependence: Ideas, goods and services in one area affect decisions and events in other areas reducing self-sufficiency. Intermediate directions: The points of the compass that fall between north and east, north and west, south and east, south and west (e.g., NE, NW, SE, SW). Intervening opportunities: An alternate area that is a source of a product or service or a destination in the case of migration. Lake desiccation: The reduction in water level (drying out) of an inland water body. Landform: The shape, form or nature of a specific physical feature of Earth's surface (e.g., plain, hill, plateau, mountain). Land degradation: The physical process that wears down and levels landforms and carries away the loosened debris. This term is also used to define human misuse of the land or the environment (e.g., farming on steep slopes increases erosion). Land use: The range of uses of Earth's surface made by humans. Uses are classified as urban, rural, agricultural, forested, etc. with more specific sub-classifications useful for specific purposes (e.g., low-density residential, light industrial, nursery crops). Life expectancy: The average number of remaining years a person can expect to live under current mortality levels in a society. Life expectancy at birth is the most common use of this measure. Lithosphere: The uppermost portion of the solid Earth including soil, land and geologic formations. Location: The position of a point on Earth's surface expressed by means of a grid (absolute) or in relation (relative) to the position of other places. Map: A graphic representation of a portion of Earth that is usually drawn to scale on a flat surface. Map projection: A mathematical formula by which the lines of a global grid and the shapes of land and water bodies are transferred from a globe to a flat surface. Materials: Raw or processed substances that are used in manufacturing (secondary economic activities). Most substances used in factories are already manufactured to some degree and come from other factories rather than from sources of raw materials. Megalopolis: The intermingling of two or more large metropolitan areas into a continuous or almost continuous built-up urban complex; sometimes referred to as a conurbation. Mental map: A geographic representation which conveys the cognitive image a person has of an area, including knowledge of features and spatial relationships as well as the individual's perceptions and attitudes regarding the place; also known as a cognitive map. Metropolitan area: The Federal Office of Management and Budget's designation for the functional area surrounding and including a central city; has a minimum population of 50,000; is contained in the same county as the central city; and includes adjacent counties having at least 15% of their residents working in the central city's county. Migration: The act or process of people moving from one place to another with the intent of staying at the destination permanently or for a relatively long period of time. Multinational organizations: An association of nations aligned around a common economic or political cause (e.g., the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Organization of American States). Multiple Nuclei Model: A representation of urban structure based on the idea that the functional areas (land use) of cities develop around various points rather than just one in the Central Business District. Municipality: A political unit incorporated for local self-government (e.g., Pennsylvania's boroughs, townships). Nation: A cultural concept for a group of people bound together by a strong sense of shared values and cultural characteristics including language, religion and common history. Natural hazard: An event in the physical environment, such as a hurricane or earthquake, that is destructive to human life and property. Natural resource: An element of the physical environment that people value and use to meet a need for fuel, food, industrial product or something else of value. Nonrenewable resource: A finite element that cannot be replaced once it is used (e.g., petroleum, minerals). Ocean currents: The regular and consistent horizontal flow of water in the oceans, usually in response to persistent patterns of circulation in the atmosphere. OPEC: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries; international cartel of thirteen nations designed to promote collective pricing of petroleum, unified marketing policies and regulation of petroleum extraction. Perceptual region: Ideas that people have about the character of areas based on impressions from a variety of sources of information including other individuals and media. Mental maps can be used to access these ideas to find out what people think about particular areas. Physical feature: An aspect of a place or area that derives from the physical environment. Physical process: A course or method of operation that produces, maintains or alters Earth's physical system (e.g., glacial eroding, depositing landforms). Place: An area with distinctive human and physical characteristics; these characteristics give it meaning and character and distinguish it from other areas. Plate tectonics: The theory that Earth's surface is composed of rigid slabs or plates (see tectonic plates). The divergence, convergence and slipping side-by-side of the different plates is responsible for present-day configurations of continents, ocean basins and major mountain ranges and valley systems. Pollution: The direct or indirect process resulting from human action by which any part of the environment is made potentially or actually unhealthy, unsafe or hazardous to the welfare of the organisms which live in it. Population density: The number of individuals occupying an area derived from dividing the number of people by the area they occupy (e.g., 2,000 people divided by ten square miles = 200 people per square mile). Population pyramid: A bar graph showing the distribution by gender and age of a country's population. Population size: The number of people in a particular place or area. Also, the number of members of a plant or animal species in an area. Primary economic activity: The production of naturally existing or culturally improved resources (i.e., agriculture, ranching, forestry, fishing, extraction of minerals and ores). Pull factors: In migration theory, the social, political, economic and environmental attractions of new areas that draw people away from their previous location. Push factors: In migration theory, the social, political, economic and environmental forces that drive people from their previous location. Region: An area with one or more common characteristics or features that give it a measure of consistency and make it different from surrounding areas. Regionalization: The partitioning of areas on Earth using a variety of criteria for the purpose of organizing elements in a complex space. Relative location: The site of a place or region in relation to other places or regions (e.g., northwest, downstream). Renewable resource: A substance that can be regenerated if used carefully (e.g., fish, timber). Resource: An aspect of the physical environment that people value and use to meet a need for fuel, food, industrial product or something else of value. Satellite image: A representation produced by a variety of sensors (e.g., radar, microwave detectors, scanners) that measure and record electromagnetic radiation. The collected data are turned into digital form for transmission to ground receiving stations. The data can be reconverted into imagery in a form resembling a photograph. Scale: On maps the relationship or ratio between a linear measurement on a map and the corresponding distance on Earth's surface. For example, the scale 1:1,000,000 means one unit (inch or centimeter) on the map represents 1,000,000 of the same units on Earth's surface. Also refers to the size of places or regions being studied. Sector Model: A theory of urban structure that recognizes the impact of transportation on land prices within the city and the resulting tendency for functional areas to be organized into sectors. Secondary economic activity: Processing of raw and manufactured materials into products with added value. Settlement pattern: The spatial distribution and arrangement of human habitations (e.g., rural, urban). Site: The specific location where something may be found including its physical setting (e.g., on a floodplain). Situation: The general location of something in relation to other places or features of a larger region (e.g., in the center of a group of cities). Soil: Unconsolidated material found at the surface of Earth, which is divided into layers (or horizons) characterized by the accumulation or loss of organic and inorganic compounds. Loam types and depths vary greatly over Earth's surface and are very much influenced by climate, organisms, rock type, local relief, time and human activity. Spatial: Pertains to space on Earth's surface. Spatial distribution: The distribution of physical and human elements on Earth's surface. Spatial organization: The arrangement on Earth's surface of physical and human elements. Suburbanization: The shift in population from living in higher density urban areas to lower density developments on the edge of cities. System: A collection of entities that are linked and interrelated (e.g., the hydrologic cycle, cities, transportation modes). Technology: Application of knowledge to meet the goals, goods and services needed and desired by people. Tectonic plates: Sections of Earth's rigid crust that move as distinct units on a plastic-like ledge (mantle) on which they rest. As many as twenty different plates have been identified, but only seven are considered to be major (e.g., Eurasian Plate, South American Plate). Thematic map: A geographic representation of a specific spatial distribution, theme or topic (e.g., population density, cattle production, climates of the world). Time zone: A division of Earth, usually 15 degrees longitude, within which the time at the central meridian of the division represents the whole division. Topography: The shape of Earth's surface. Urbanization: A process in which there is an increase in the percentage of people living/working in cities as compared to rural areas. Water cycle: The continuous circulation of water from the oceans, through the air, to the land and back to the sea. Water evaporates from oceans, lakes, rivers and the land surfaces and transpires from vegetation. It condenses into clouds in the atmosphere that may result in precipitation returning water to the land. Water then seeps into the soil or flows out to sea completing the circulation. Also known as Hydrologic Cycle.
Proposed Academic Standards for History
XXII. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction XXIII. THE ACADEMIC STANDARDS Historical Analysis and Skills Development 8.1. A. Chronological Thinking B. Historical Comprehension C. Historical Interpretation and Historical Research Pennsylvania History 8.2. A. Contributions of Individuals and Groups B. Documents, Artifacts and Historical Places C. Influences of Continuity and Change D. Conflict and Cooperation Among Groups United States History 8.3. A. Contributions of Individuals and Groups B. Documents, Artifacts and Historical Places C. Influences of Continuity and Change D. Conflict and Cooperation Among Groups World History 8.4. A. Contributions of Individuals and Groups B. Documents, Artifacts and Historical Places C. Influences of Continuity and Change D. Conflict and Cooperation Among Groups Glossary XXIV.
XXIII. INTRODUCTION This document includes Academic Standards for History that describe what students should know and be able to do in four areas:
* 8.1. Historical Analysis and Skills Development
* 8.2. Pennsylvania History
* 8.3. United States History
* 8.4. World History
The History Standards describe what students should know and be able to do at four grade levels (third, sixth, ninth and twelfth). They reflect an understanding of chronological events and the application of historical thinking skills in viewing the human record. These academic standards provide an organizing content for schools.
The Academic Standards for History are grounded in the Public School Code of 1949 which directs ''... study in the history and government of that portion of America which has become the United States of America, and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . . .''. Chapter 4--Academic Standards and Assessment in § 4.21 (relating to elementary education; primary and intermediate levels) reinforces the School Code by indicating that the history of the United States and the history of the Commonwealth must be taught once by the end of elementary school. In addition, § 4.22 (relating to middle level education) indicates that planned instruction in the history and cultures of the United States, the Commonwealth and world shall be provided. Chapter 4 also states that planned instruction shall be provided in the history and cultures of the United States, the Commonwealth and world in § 4.23 (relating to high school education).
To support the intent of the Public School Code and Chapter 4, this document creates four standard categories. The four standard categories were designed to meld historical thinking (8.1. Historical Analysis and Skills Development) with historical understanding (8.2. Pennsylvania History, 8.3. United States History, and 8.4. World History) to describe what students should know and be able to do.
Standard category 8.1. Historical Analysis and Skill Development provides the basis for learning the content within the other three standard categories. The intent of the history standards is to instill in each student an ability to comprehend chronology, develop historical comprehension, evaluate historical interpretation and to understand historical research. One should not view these standards as a list of facts to recall, rather as stated in the opening phrase to the Pennsylvania, United States and World standard categories, ''Pennsylvania's public schools shall teach, challenge and support every student to realize his or her maximum potential and to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to analyze the interaction of cultural, economic, geographic, political and social relations.''
These standards provide a history framework to permit every school and teacher to create planned instruction. The content within this document is general and does not represent a course or even a portion thereof. Every school is encouraged to move beyond these standards. These standards are merely a starting point for the study of history. Planned instruction to meet these standards is required; however, the methodology, resources and time are not recommended nor implied.
History is a discipline that interprets and analyzes the past. It is a narrative--a story. In order to tell the story it is not sufficient to simply recall facts; it is also necessary to understand the context of the time and place and to apply historical thinking skills. It is with this concept established, that the content delineated in Pennsylvania, United States and World histories should be approached. Having established the need to move beyond recall, it is the intent of these standards to give students throughout Pennsylvania a common cultural literacy.
Pennsylvania, United States, and World History standard categories use the same four standard statements to guide teachers in developing planned instruction. The four standard statements are: (A) Political and Cultural Contributions of Individuals and Groups; (B) Primary Documents, Material Artifacts and Historical Places; (C) How Continuity and Change Has Influenced History; (D) Conflict and Cooperation Among Social Groups and Organizations. The chart, Four Standard Statements within the Academic Standards for History: An Overview outlines standard statements and descriptors.
Although the standard statements are similar across grade levels and standard categories, the degree of comprehension, changes in content and shifts in chronology differ. Although different grade levels outline different chronological periods within the standards, it is intended, as any good teacher would do, that the specified chronological eras be linked to past learnings and that all eras be linked to the present. Linking to past learnings and the present is important, but so is addressing the standard statements in more depth. Therefore the following chronological time periods for the standard categories are established for the standard categories.
Pennsylvania and United States History
World History
Grades 1-3 Beginnings to Present Grades 1-3 Beginnings to Present Grades 4-6 Beginnings to 1824 Grades 4-6 Beginnings to Present Grades 7-9 1787 to 1914 Grades 7-9 Beginnings to 1500 Grades 10-12 1890 to Present Grades 10-12 1450 to Present
Districts are encouraged to delineate each chronological period into less expansive historical eras within their planned instruction. The content listed in grade levels 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12 should be age appropriate for the students in those grade levels and the reader should interpret each standard descriptor in that manner.
The proposed history standards consist of four standard categories (designated as 8.1., 8.2., 8.3., and 8.4.). Each category has four standard statements (designated A, B, C, and D). Most standard statements have bulleted items known as standard descriptors. The standard descriptors are items within the document to illustrate and enhance the standard statement. The categories, statements and descriptors are the proposed regulations. The descriptors many times are followed by an ''e.g..'' The ''e.g.'s'' are examples to clarify what type of information could be taught; however, these are suggestions and the choice of specific content is a local decision as is the method of instruction.
History along with civics and government, economics and geography are identified as social studies in Chapter 4. This identification is consistent with citizenship education in Chapters 49 and 354 (relating to certification of professional personnel; and preparation of professional educators). Based on these regulations, social studies/citizenship programs should include the four sets of standards as an entity in developing a scope and sequence for curriculum and planned instruction.
A glossary is included to assist the reader in understanding terminology contained in the standards.
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