Grade 8 Social Studies Wyoming standards Standards

Citizenship, Government, and Democracy: Students analyze how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance to understand the continuing evolution of governments and to demonstrate civic responsibility.

Culture and Cultural Diversity: Students demonstrate an understanding of the contributions and impacts of human interaction and cultural diversity on societies.

Production, Distribution, and Consumption: Students describe the influence of economic factors on societies and make decisions based on economic principles.

Time, Continuity, and Change: Students analyze events, people, problems, and ideas within their historical contexts.

People, Places, and Environments: Students apply their knowledge of the geographic themes (location, place, movement, region, and human/environment interactions) and skills to demonstrate an understanding of interrelationships among people, places, and environment.

Technology, Literacy, and Global Connections: Students use technology and literacy skills to access, synthesize, and evaluate information to communicate and apply social studies knowledge to global situations.

Explain the rights, duties, and responsibilities of a United States citizen.

Explain the rights, duties, and responsibilities of being a tribal member on the Wind River Indian Reservation (e.g., inherent rights, treaty obligations, and tribal sovereignty).

Explain how to participate in the political process, (i.e., tribal, local, state, and national elections).

Explain the historical development of the United States Constitution and treaties (e.g., 1868 Fort Bridger Treaty) and how they have shaped the United States, Wyoming, and tribal government.

Understand the difference between United States civil and criminal legal systems within the federal, state, and tribal levels.

Describe the structures of the United States and Wyoming Constitutions (e.g., Articles, Bill of Rights, amendments).

Describe how the U.S. Constitution creates a special relationship with tribal governments (i.e., Plenary Power, Indian Commerce Clause - Article I, Section 8, Clause 3; Supremacy Clause - Article VI, Clause 2; Cherokee Nation v. Georgia).

Understand the basic structures of various political systems (e.g., tribal, local, national, and world).

Compare and contrast the ways various groups (e.g., ethnic communities, and Indigenous Tribes of Wyoming) meet human needs and concerns (e.g., self-esteem, friendship, and tribal heritage) and contribute to identity, situations, and events.

Evaluate how human expression (e.g., language, literature, arts, architecture, traditions, beliefs, and spirituality) contributes to cultural development, understanding, and continuity (e.g., oral tradition, Pow Wows, ceremonies, and assimilation).

Analyze the unique cultural characteristics of various groups within Wyoming and the nation, including Indigenous Tribes of Wyoming (e.g., language, traditions, spirituality, art, and lifestyle).

Explain the cultural contributions of and tensions between groups in Wyoming, the United States, and the World (e.g., racial, ethnic, social and institutional).

Explain the cultural contributions of and interactions between Native Americans and immigrant groups in Wyoming and the United States.

Identify and apply basic economic concepts (e.g., supply, demand, production, exchange and consumption, labor, wages, scarcity, prices, incentives, competition, and profits).

Compare and contrast how people organize for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services in various economic systems (e.g., characteristics of market, command, and mixed economies).

Describe the impact of technological advancements on production, distribution, and consumption. (e.g., businesses and/or corporations in the United States and the world).

Explain or illustrate how money is used by individuals, groups, and financial institutions.

Describe how values and beliefs influence individual, family, and business decisions (microeconomics).

Describe how historical events impact the future (cause and effect) and how change spreads to other places (e.g., spread of industrial revolution or causes of the Civil War, impacts of Manifest Destiny, aftermath of French and Indian War, and progression of Indian Removal Act).

Describe how tools and technology in different historical periods impacted the way people, including Indigenous Tribes of Wyoming, lived, made decisions, and saw the world (e.g., impact of horses and European trade goods on Plains Indian cultures, mechanized agriculture, and Industrial Revolution technologies).

Analyze the way current events affect all people, including Indigenous Tribes of Wyoming. Investigate the history leading up to those events and suggest alternative ways such events may have played out.

Identify historical interactions between and among individuals, groups, and/or institutions (e.g., family, neighborhood, political, economic, religious, social, cultural, and workplace).

Identify how federal policies have impacted Indigenous Tribes of Wyoming historically and currently (e.g., reservations, treaties, allotment, boarding schools, and forced assimilation).

Identify relevant primary (e.g., historical photographs, artifacts, and documents, including treaties) and secondary sources for research. Compare and contrast treatment of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources, which may include oral history and traditional storytelling.

Use and create models of the Earth to analyze the interactions of physical and human systems to demonstrate global interconnectedness.

Analyze the impact of natural resources on tribal locations, past and present.

Analyze and evaluate how physical features and changes influenced historical events (e.g., route of Union Pacific Railroad, location of Wind River Indian Reservation, state and national monuments and parks) and participate in collaborative problem solving and decision making in the selection of professional and personal choices.

Explain how communities' current and past demographics, migrations, and settlement patterns influence place (e.g., culture, needs, and political and economic systems) and use this analysis to predict future settlement patterns.

Explain how the migration and settlement patterns of indigenous tribes influence place (e.g., migration of pre-Columbian Tribes, and reservation movement).

Analyze the changes to and consequences of human, natural, and technological impacts on the physical environment.

Analyze how cultural practices continue to influence how Indigenous Tribes of Wyoming interact with the environment.

Use and evaluate multiple sources of information in diverse formats and media in order to address a question or solve a problem.

Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.

Use digital tools to research, design, and present social studies concepts (e.g., understand how individual responsibility applies in usage of digital media).

Use accurate, sufficient, and relevant information from primary and secondary sources to support writing.