Standards
Students construct various time lines of key events, people, and periods of the historical era they are studying.
Generate resourceStudents use a variety of maps and documents to identify physical and cultural features of neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries and to explain the historical migration of people, expansion and disintegration of empires, and the growth of economic systems.
Generate resourceStudents explain the central issues and problems from the past, placing people and events in a matrix of time and place.
Generate resourceStudents understand and distinguish cause, effect, sequence, and correlation in historical events, including the long-and short-term causal relations.
Generate resourceStudents explain the sources of historical continuity and how the combination of ideas and events explains the emergence of new patterns.
Generate resourceStudents recognize that interpretations of history are subject to change as new information is uncovered.
Generate resourceStudents interpret basic indicators of economic performance and conduct cost-benefit analyses of economic and political issues.
Generate resourceStudents frame questions that can be answered by historical study and research.
Generate resourceStudents distinguish fact from opinion in historical narratives and stories.
Generate resourceStudents distinguish relevant from irrelevant information, essential from incidental information, and verifiable from unverifiable information in historical narratives and stories.
Generate resourceStudents assess the credibility of primary and secondary sources and draw sound conclusions from them.
Generate resourceStudents detect the different historical points of view on historical events and determine the context in which the historical statements were made (the questions asked, sources used, author's perspectives).
Generate resourceStudents analyze the causes and effects of the vast expansion and ultimate disintegration of the Roman Empire.
Generate resourceStudy the early strengths and lasting contributions of Rome (e.g., significance of Roman citizenship; rights under Roman law; Roman art, architecture, engineering, and philosophy; preservation and transmission of Christianity) and its ultimate internal weaknesses (e.g., rise of autonomous military powers within the empire, under-mining of citizenship by the growth of corruption and slavery, lack of education, and distribution of news).
Generate resourceDiscuss the geographic borders of the empire at its height and the factors that threatened its territorial cohesion.
Generate resourceDescribe the establishment by Constantine of the new capital in Constantinople and the development of the Byzantine Empire, with an emphasis on the consequences of the development of two distinct European civilizations, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic, and their two distinct views on church-state relations.
Generate resourceStudents analyze the historical developments of the Scientific Revolution and its lasting effect on religious, political, and cultural institutions.
Generate resourceDiscuss the roots of the Scientific Revolution (e.g., Greek rationalism; Jewish, Christian, and Muslim science; Renaissance humanism; new knowledge from global exploration).
Generate resourceUnderstand the significance of the new scientific theories (e.g., those of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton) and the significance of new inventions (e.g., the telescope, microscope, thermometer, barometer).
Generate resourceUnderstand the scientific method advanced by Bacon and Descartes, the influence of new scientific rationalism on the growth of democratic ideas, and the coexistence of science with traditional religious beliefs.
Generate resourceStudents analyze political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason).
Generate resourceKnow the great voyages of discovery, the locations of the routes, and the influence of cartography in the development of a new European worldview.
Generate resourceDiscuss the exchanges of plants, animals, technology, culture, and ideas among Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the major economic and social effects on each continent.
Generate resourceExamine the origins of modern capitalism; the influence of mercantilism and cottage industry; the elements and importance of a market economy in seventeenth-century Europe; the changing international trading and marketing patterns, including their locations on a world map; and the influence of explorers and map makers.
Generate resourceExplain how the main ideas of the Enlightenment can be traced back to such movements as the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution and to the Greeks, Romans, and Christianity.
Generate resourceDescribe how democratic thought and institutions were influenced by Enlightenment thinkers (e.g., John Locke, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, American founders).
Generate resourceDiscuss how the principles in the Magna Carta were embodied in such documents as the English Bill of Rights and the American Declaration of Independence.
Generate resourceStudents analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Islam in the Middle Ages.
Generate resourceIdentify the physical features and describe the climate of the Arabian peninsula, its relationship to surrounding bodies of land and water, and nomadic and sedentary ways of life.
Generate resourceTrace the origins of Islam and the life and teachings of Muhammad, including Islamic teachings on the connection with Judaism and Christianity.
Generate resourceExplain the significance of the Qur'an and the Sunnah as the primary sources of Islamic beliefs, practice, and law, and their influence in Muslims' daily life.
Generate resourceDiscuss the expansion of Muslim rule through military conquests and treaties, emphasizing the cultural blending within Muslim civilization and the spread and acceptance of Islam and the Arabic language.
Generate resourceDescribe the growth of cities and the establishment of trade routes among Asia, Africa, and Europe, the products and inventions that traveled along these routes (e.g., spices, textiles, paper, steel, new crops), and the role of merchants in Arab society.
Generate resourceUnderstand the intellectual exchanges among Muslim scholars of Eurasia and Africa and the contributions Muslim scholars made to later civilizations in the areas of science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, art, and literature.
Generate resourceStudents analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of China in the Middle Ages.
Generate resourceDescribe the reunification of China under the Tang Dynasty and reasons for the spread of Buddhism in Tang China, Korea, and Japan.
Generate resourceDescribe agricultural, technological, and commercial developments during the Tang and Song periods.
Generate resourceAnalyze the influences of Confucianism and changes in Confucian thought during the Song and Mongol periods.
Generate resourceUnderstand the importance of both overland trade and maritime expeditions between China and other civilizations in the Mongol Ascendancy and Ming Dynasty.
Generate resourceTrace the historic influence of such discoveries as tea, the manufacture of paper, wood-block printing, the compass, and gunpowder.
Generate resourceDescribe the development of the imperial state and the scholar-official class.
Generate resourceStudents analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the sub-Saharan civilizations of Ghana and Mali in Medieval Africa.
Generate resourceStudy the Niger River and the relationship of vegetation zones of forest, savannah, and desert to trade in gold, salt, food, and slaves; and the growth of the Ghana and Mali empires.
Generate resourceAnalyze the importance of family, labor specialization, and regional commerce in the development of states and cities in West Africa.
Generate resourceDescribe the role of the trans-Saharan caravan trade in the changing religious and cultural characteristics of West Africa and the influence of Islamic beliefs, ethics, and law.
Generate resourceTrace the growth of the Arabic language in government, trade, and Islamic scholarship in West Africa.
Generate resourceDescribe the importance of written and oral traditions in the trans-mission of African history and culture.
Generate resourceStudents analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Medieval Japan.
Generate resourceDescribe the significance of Japan's proximity to China and Korea and the intellectual, linguistic, religious, and philosophical influence of those countries on Japan.
Generate resourceDiscuss the reign of Prince Shotoku of Japan and the characteristics of Japanese society and family life during his reign.
Generate resourceDescribe the values, social customs, and traditions prescribed by the Content lord-vassal system consisting of shogun, daimyo, and samurai and lasting influence of the warrior code throughout the twentieth century.
Generate resourceStudy the ninth and tenth centuries' golden age of literature, art, and drama and its lasting effects on culture today, including Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji.
Generate resourceAnalyze the rise of a military society in the late twelfth century and the role of the samurai in that society.
Generate resourceStudents analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Medieval Europe.
Generate resourceStudy the geography of Europe and the Eurasian land mass, including their location, topography, waterways, vegetation, and climate and their relationship to ways of life in Medieval Europe.
Generate resourceDescribe the spread of Christianity north of the Alps and the roles played by the early church and by monasteries in its diffusion after the fall of the western half of the Roman Empire.
Generate resourceUnderstand the development of feudalism, its role in the medieval European economy, the way in which it was influenced by physical geography (the role of the manor and the growth of towns), and how feudal relationships provided the foundation of political order.
Generate resourceDemonstrate an understanding of the conflict and cooperation between the Papacy and European monarchs (e.g., Charlemagne, Gregory VII, Emperor Henry IV).
Generate resourceKnow the significance of developments in medieval English legal and constitutional practices and their importance in the rise of modern democratic thought and representative institutions (e.g., Magna Carta, parliament, development of habeas corpus, an independent judiciary in England).
Generate resourceDiscuss the causes and course of the religious Crusades and their effects on the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish populations in Europe, with emphasis on the increasing contact by Europeans with cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean world.
Generate resourceMap the spread of the bubonic plague from Central Asia to China, the Middle East, and Europe and describe its impact on global population.
Generate resourceUnderstand the importance of the Catholic church as a political, intellectual, and aesthetic institution (e.g., founding of universities, political and spiritual roles of the clergy, creation of monastic and mendicant religious orders, preservation of the Latin language and religious texts, St. Thomas Aquinas's synthesis of classical philosophy with Christian theology, and the concept of "natural law").
Generate resourceKnow the history of the decline of Muslim rule in the Iberian Penin-Grade Seven sula that culminated in the Reconquista and the rise of Spanish Portuguese kingdoms.
Generate resourceStudents compare and contrast the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the Meso-American and Andean civilizations.
Generate resourceStudy the locations, landforms, and climates of Mexico, Central America, and South America and their effects on Mayan, Aztec, and Incan economies, trade, and development of urban societies.
Generate resourceStudy the roles of people in each society, including class structures, family life, warfare, religious beliefs and practices, and slavery.
Generate resourceExplain how and where each empire arose and how the Aztec and Incan empires were defeated by the Spanish.
Generate resourceDescribe the artistic and oral traditions and architecture in the three civilizations.
Generate resourceDescribe the Meso-American achievements in astronomy and mathematics, including the development of the calendar and the Meso-American knowledge of seasonal changes to the civilizations' agricultural systems.
Generate resourceStudents analyze the origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance.
Generate resourceDescribe the way in which the revival of classical learning and the arts fostered a new interest in humanism (i.e., a balance between intellect and religious faith).
Generate resourceExplain the importance of Florence in the early stages of the Renaissance and the growth of independent trading cities (e.g., Venice), with emphasis on the cities' importance in the spread of Renaissance ideas.
Generate resourceUnderstand the effects of the reopening of the ancient "Silk Road" between Europe and China, including Marco Polo's travels and the location of his routes.
Generate resourceDescribe the growth and effects of new ways of disseminating information (e.g., the ability to manufacture paper, translation of the Bible into the vernacular, printing).
Generate resourceDetail advances made in literature, the arts, science, mathematics, cartography, engineering, and the understanding of human anatomy and astronomy (e.g., by Dante Alighieri, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo di Buonarroti Simoni, Johann Gutenberg, William Shakespeare).
Generate resourceList the causes for the internal turmoil in and weakening of the Catholic church (e.g., tax policies, selling of indulgences).
Generate resourceDescribe the theological, political, and economic ideas of the major figures during the Reformation (e.g., Desiderius Erasmus, Martin Luther, John Calvin, William Tyndale).
Generate resourceExplain Protestants' new practices of church self-government and the influence of those practices on the development of democratic practices and ideas of federalism.
Generate resourceIdentify and locate the European regions that remained Catholic and those that became Protestant and explain how the division affected the distribution of religions in the New World.
Generate resourceAnalyze how the Counter Reformation revitalized the Catholic church and the forces that fostered the movement (e.g., St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits, the Council of Trent).
Generate resourceUnderstand the institution and impact of missionaries on Christianity and the diffusion of Christianity from Europe to other parts of the world in the medieval and early modern periods; locate missions on a world map.
Generate resourceDescribe the Golden Age of cooperation between Jews and Muslims in medieval Spain that promoted creativity in art, literature, and science, including how that cooperation was terminated by the religious persecution of individuals and groups (e.g., the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain in 1492).
Generate resourceHow did the Reformation divide the Christian Church, millions of people, and European states?
Generate resourceWhy were natural rights, the social contract, and other ideas of the Enlightenment revolutionary?
Generate resourceHow did the environment and technological innovations affect the growth and contraction of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and medieval Christendom? What impact did human expansion have on the environment?
Generate resourceHow did the religion of Christianity develop and change over time? How did Christianity spread through the empire and to other cultures?
Generate resourceHow did the decentralized system of feudalism control people but weaken state power?
Generate resourceHow did the environment affect the development and expansion of the Persian Empire, Muslim empires, and cities? What impact did this expansion have on the environment?
Generate resourceHow did Islam develop and change over time? How did Islam spread to multiple cultures?
Generate resourceWhat were the multiple ways people of different cultures interacted at the sites of encounter, such as Baghdad?
Generate resourceHow did the Muslim empires and institutions help different regions of Afroeurasia become more interconnected?
Generate resourceUnder the Gupta Empire, how did the environment, cultural and religious changes, and technological innovations affect the people of India?
Generate resourceHow did Indian monks, nuns, merchants, travelers, and empires from what is now modern India and other parts of South Asia spread religious ideas and practices and cultural styles of art and architecture to Central and Southeast Asia?
Generate resourceHow did the Tang and Song Dynasties gain and maintain power over people and territories?
Generate resourceHow did the environmental conditions and technological innovations cause the medieval economic revolution? What were the effects of this revolution?
Generate resourceHow did Chinese culture, ideas and technologies, and Buddhism influence Korea and Japan?
Generate resourceWhat influence did samurai customs and values have on the government and society of medieval Japan?
Generate resourceHow did the environment affect the expansion of agriculture, population, cities, and empires in Mesoamerica and the Andean region?
Generate resourceWhy did the Maya civilization, the Aztec Empire, and the Inca Empire gain power over people and territories?
Generate resourceHow did the environment affect the development and expansion of the Ghana and Mali Empires and the trade networks that connected them to the rest of Afroeurasia?
Generate resourceWhy was Mali a site of encounter? What were the effects of the exchanges at Mali?
Generate resourceHow did Arab/North African and West African perspectives differ on West African kingdoms?
Generate resourceHow did the Mongol Empire destroy states and increase the interconnection of Afroeurasia?
Generate resourceHow did increasing interconnection and trade, competition between states (and their people), and technological innovations lead to voyages of exploration?
Generate resourceWhat impact did human expansion in the voyages of exploration have on the environment, trade networks, and global interconnection?
Generate resourceWhat were the causes of colonialism? What were the effects of colonialism on the colonized people?
Generate resourceWhat were the effects of exchanges at Tenochtitlán/Mexico City in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries?
Generate resourceHow did the gunpowder empires (Ming/Manchu China, Mughal India, Safavid Persia, Ottoman Empire, Russia, Spain, later France and England) extend their power over people and territories?
Generate resourceHow did the environment and technological innovations affect the expansion of agriculture, cities, and human population? What impact did human expansion have on the environment?
Generate resourceWhy did many states and empires gain more power over people and territories over the course of medieval and early modern times?
Generate resourceHow did the distant regions of the world become more interconnected through medieval and early modern times?
Generate resourceHow did major religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism) and cultural systems (Confucianism, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment) develop and change over time? How did they spread to multiple cultures?
Generate resourceWhat were the multiple ways people of different cultures interacted at sites of encounter? What were the effects of their interactions?
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