History/Social Studies

History

The History Department at César Chávez Middle School covers a wide range of historical topics from Ancient history all the way to the Industrial Revolution of the late 1800’s. Students will begin their study of the global past beginning with the early hunter-gatherer societies to earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, Africa, Europe, Japan and Mesoamerica.  Students will analyze the relationship between humanity and the physical world, trade, conflict, the development of new political institutions, and philosophies, as well as the birth and spread of religious traditions.

Students will continue to learn about these developments through a variety of primary and secondary source documents,  and will analyze this evidence to answer broader questions of historical significance.

Historical thinking requires understanding and evaluating change and continuity over time, and making appropriate use of historical evidence in answering questions and developing arguments about the past. . . . It involves locating and assessing historical sources of many different types to understand the contexts of given historical eras and the perspectives of different individuals and groups within geographic units that range from the local to the global. 

Historical inquiry also involves acquiring knowledge about significant events, developments, individuals, groups, documents, places, and ideas to support investigations about the past. 

Finally, the history curriculum places a continuing emphasis on democratic values in the relations between citizens and the state.   Whether studying United States history, world history, government, economics, or geography, students should be aware of the presence, absence, or contestation of fundamental human rights. These include the rights of the individual, the rights of minorities, the right of the citizen to participate in government, the right to speak or publish freely without governmental coercion, the right to freedom of religion and association, the right to trial by jury and to be treated fairly by the criminal justice system, the right to form trade unions, and other basic democratic and human rights. Students should understand the ways that various forms of government have encouraged or discouraged the expansion of these rights.

Most importantly, in these discussions about the role of citizens in society, students will gain an appreciation of how necessary an informed electorate is in making possible a successful democracy. Students learn that reading informational text in newspapers, articulating similarities and differences between political candidates, making claims supported by evidence, and discerning genres of arguments, for example, are all essential virtues that an informed citizenry must possess.

Taken from California History Frameworks

6th Grade History 

7th Grade History

8th Grade History