Grade 6 Social Studies Mississippi standards Standards

World Geography and Civics

Grade 6

Describe the world using the tools of geography including maps, globes, and technological representations.

Demonstrate the use of map essentials (e.g., directions, latitude and longitude, globes, maps, etc.).

Interpret global connections by using maps to form a geographic spatial perspective.

Explain how experiences and cultures influence perceptions and help people create mental maps.

Examine the ways governments are organized.

Identify and give examples of governments with rule by one, few, or many.

Compare the ways other sovereign nation-states (e.g., China, Germany, India, North Korea, Russia, etc.) organize government and how they function.

Connect the origins of democracy to Athens (present-day Greece) and the republic to the Roman Republic.

Describe the difference between limited and unlimited government.

Describe examples of limited and unlimited government.

Explain the rule of law and that government powers are defined by laws that limit its actions (United States Constitution , Bill of Rights, Civil Rights, Americans with Disabilities Act, etc.).

Explain reasons for limiting the power of governments.

Examine governments of nations that abuse the citizens by oppressing religious, ethnic, or political groups.

Analyze the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship

Define U.S. citizenship.

Examine the naturalization process (e.g., the citizenship exam, etc.).

Describe being an informed citizen.

Explain the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

Plan ways a citizen can participate at the local, state, and national level.

Examine the challenges of civic engagement in the contemporary world.

Define civic.

Categorize the positive and negative impacts of new media resources when obtaining reliable information for informed decision making.

Assess how growing concerns about security have impacted civil liberty protection.

Describe how civil rights and citizenship roles vary based on the culture and government of various nation-states.

Define civil and citizenship.

Formulate an understanding of citizenship roles in sovereign nation-states within cultural regions of the world.

Compare and contrast human rights and liberties of other sovereign nation-states to those in American founding documents.

Compare and contrast the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Amendments with the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Explain the geographic patterns of economic interactions.

Define and give examples of primary, secondary, and tertiary economic activities in the United States and other countries.

Define the factors of production.

Illustrate traditional, command and market economic systems.

Chart the characteristics of communism, socialism, and free enterprise by how they answer the three basic economic questions.

Applying the concept of the basic economic questions contrast modern economic interactions with those from the past.

Analyze the impact of globalization on modern economic interactions by investigating the origins of things such as personal belongings or various foods.

Compare and contrast economic and social metrics of various countries (e.g., GDP per capita, Human Misery Index, Gross National Happiness, Infant and Child Mortality Rates, Life Expectancy, Literacy Rates, Human Freedom Index, etc.).

Formulate an understanding of the cultural regions of the world:<ul><li>Western Europe</li><li>Eastern Europe</li><li>North America</li><li>Latin America</li><li>South Asia</li><li>East Asia</li><li>Middle East</li><li>North Africa</li><li>Sub-Saharan Africa</li><li>Oceania</li></ul>

Explain the characteristics and development of culture.

Describe the major aspects of culture (e.g., religion, beliefs, languages, practices, art, architecture, behaviors, etc.).

Explain the significance of religious holidays and observances.

Explain how culture changes as it is passed from one generation to the next.

Investigate patterns of cultural diffusion.

Investigate how food relates to geography and cultural diffusion.

Identify then contrast the major culture regions around the world to cultures within United States.

Identify geographic patterns in the environment that result from the processes of Earth's physical systems.

Define atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere.

Describe how Earth-Sun relationships regulate seasonal changes in temperature, precipitation, vegetation, and weather patterns at various locations on Earth.

Explain the major processes and natural phenomena that shape the physical environment and how humans adapt to them.

Investigate ways humans change their environments.

Analyze how regions are used to describe the organization of the Earth's surface.

Define formal, functional, and perceptual regions.

Identify physical and human features used as the criteria for establishing each type of region.

Identify the formal world regions.

Differentiate the formal regions by their main characteristics.

Analyze the concept, usage, and value of natural resources.

Characterize and differentiate renewable and non-renewable resources.

Identify important resources in the contemporary world and their usage.

Construct maps showing major deposits of important resources (e.g., continents, oceans, major landforms, trade routes on maps, etc.).

Analyze the impact of globalization on modern economic interactions.

Evaluate how places gain meaning.

Describe the distinguishing physical and human characteristics of the United States and other countries.

Investigate how people bring meaning to places when they live in a location.

Describe how places impact personal, community, national identities, and culture.

Explain how place-based identities can create stereotypes.

Describe the characteristics and causes of human population changes and migration.

Identify the spatial patterns of population distribution and density.

Explain how physical and human factors impact the population of a place.

Identify major migration patterns in the United States and the world.

Examine the push/pull factors that drive the major migration patterns of the United States and the world.

Describe the patterns of human settlements and the factors that contribute to their formation.

Classify spatial patterns of settlement, including types, sizes, and models.

Explain why some locations are more conducive for settlement than others.

Describe the relationship between settlement patterns and the location of resources.

Examine how humans and the physical environment are impacted by the extraction of resources and by natural hazards.

Identify and describe ways in which humans modify the physical environment.

Explain how people use technology to access resources.

Assess the opportunities and constraints for human activities created by the physical environment.

Locate environmental hazards and the proximity of human populations.

Describe how people respond to natural hazards.

Analyze how sovereign nation-states interact with one another.

Define state, country, and nation-state.

List and explain the features of a sovereign state (nation-state) as a territory with a population that has a defined border, a government to make and enforce laws, and the sovereignty to interact with other nations.

Locate and describe different types of territorial divisions.

Identify political boundaries that are based on physical and human factors.

Assess ways the use of land and resources has led to conflict, cooperation, and compromise among nation-states.

Cite evidence of conflict, cooperation, and compromise among nation-states including treaties and wars.