Grade 8 Social Studies Arizona Standards

Civics

Analyze ideas and principles contained in the founding documents of the United States, including the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and explain how they influence society and political systems.

Demonstrate civic virtues that contribute to the common good and democratic principles within a variety of deliberative processes and settings

Analyze the influence of personal interests and perspectives when people address issues and problems in government and civil society

Engage in projects to help or inform others such as community service and service-learning projects.

Analyze the powers of citizens in a variety of governmental and non-governmental contexts.

Explain specific roles, rights, and responsibilities of people in a society

Analyze concepts and ideals such as majority and minority rights, civil dissent, and the rule of law.

Explain how immigrants become naturalized citizens

Describe the impact of political and civic institutions such as political parties, interest groups, elections, and the media in shaping policy.

Examine the origins and purpose of constitutions, laws, treaties, and international agreements

Compare the structures, powers, and limits of government at different levels in the United States.

Compare historical and contemporary means of changing societies to promote the common good.

Assess specific rules and laws (both actual and proposed) as means of addressing public problems.

Analyze the purpose, process, implementation, and consequences of decision making and public policies in multiple settings and at different levels including the national, state, local (county, city, school board), and tribal.

Identify, research, analyze, discuss, and defend a position on a national, state, or local public policy issue including an action plan to address or inform others about the issue.

Analyze how a specific problem can manifest itself at the local, regional, and global levels, identifying its characteristics and causes, and the challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address the problem.  Apply a range of deliberative and democratic procedures to take action and solve the problem.

Economics

Analyze the relationship between education, income, and job opportunities

Analyze the relationship between investment and return

Examine the factors that influence spending decisions.

Create a budget and examine the benefits of budgeting.

Analyze the impact of debt on individuals.

Understand various types of financial investments and calculate rates of return

Identify ways insurance may minimize personal financial risk.

Explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses, and society.

Evaluate current economic issues in terms of benefits and costs for different groups.

Explain the roles of buyers, sellers, and profits in product, labor, and financial markets

Analyze the relationship between supply, demand, and competition and their influence on prices, wages, and production.

Analyze the influence of institutions such as corporations, non-profits, and labor unions in a market economy

Explain how inflation, deflation, and unemployment affect different groups.

Explain the influence of changes in interest rates on borrowing and investing

Explain the effect of productivity on standard of living.

Explain the interdependence of trade and how trade barriers influence trade among nations.

Compare various economic systems such as command, mixed, and free market.

Explain the benefits and the costs of trade policies to individuals, businesses, and society.

Geography

Use geographic tools and representations to analyze historical and modern political and economic issues and events

Examine impact of and responses to environmental issues such as air, water, and land pollution, deforestation, urban sprawl, and changes to climate

Evaluate how political, social, and economic decisions throughout time have influenced cultural and environmental characteristics of various places and regions.

Evaluate the impact of economic, political, and social decisions that have caused conflict or promoted cooperation throughout time.

Take an active stance on a geographic issue reflecting its scale (local, regional, state, national, or global).

History

Explain how different beliefs about the government's role in social and economic life have affected political debates and policies in the United States.

Investigate how conflict can be both unifying and divisive both domestically and internationally.

Explain how geographic and environmental factors shaped communities and how competition over resources have affected government policies.

Explain how and why prevailing civil, social, religious, and political movements changed the United States during the 20th and 21st centuries.

Explain how popular movements, reform efforts, and activist groups have sought to change American society and institutions

Compare how individual rights, freedoms, and responsibilities have evolved over time around the world.

Investigate a significant historical topic from United States History that has significance to an issue or topic today.

Disciplinary Skills and Processes

Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts.

Classify a series of historical events and developments as examples of change and/or continuity.

Evaluate the significance of past events and their effect on students' lives and society.

Use questions generated about individuals and groups to analyze why they, and the developments they shaped, are historically significant.

Analyze multiple factors that influence the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

Explain how and why perspectives of people have changed over time.

Analyze how people's perspectives influenced what information is available in the historical sources they created.

Create and answer compelling and supporting questions that reflect enduring issues in the field of history and social science.

Detect possible limitations in the historical record based on evidence collected from different kinds of historical sources.

Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to identify further areas of inquiry and additional sources.

Evaluate the relevance and utility of historical sources based on information such as author, date, origin, intended audience, and purpose.

Construct and present arguments based on claims and counterclaims while pointing out the strengths and limitations of the arguments.

Construct and present explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, details with relevant information and data, while acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of the explanations

Present arguments and explanations on topics of interest to others to reach multiple audiences in and outside of the classroom print, oral, and digital technologies.

Explain the multiple causes and effects of events and developments in the past.

Evaluate the influence of various causes of events and developments in the past.

Organize applicable evidence into a coherent argument about the multiple causes and effects of events and issues.

Compare the credibility, and authenticity of central arguments in secondary works of history on related topics in multiple media.

Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the source to guide the selection to support claims and counterclaims.

Analyze the relationship between interst rates, saving, and use of credit