Introduction to the Middle Grades: Flexible Options for Teaching Social Studies 

Cultural Geography and Cultures in Grades 6 and 7

The purposes of the grades 6 and 7 standards are to: 

• extend students’ knowledge of  the physical and cultural geography of the world

• expand their capacity for geographical reasoning 

• strengthen their ability to develop research questions and conduct inquiries

• introduce the cultural achievements of ancient and classical civilizations worldwide

• establish foundational knowledge about types of societies and governments in preparation for  Civics in grade 8 and World History and United States History in high school  about 

The Framework organizes the Content Standards for grades 6 and 7 by seven regions: 

• North Africa, the Middle East, and Western Asia

• Sub-Saharan Africa

• Central America, the Caribbean, South America

• South and Central Asia

• East Asia

• Southeast Asia and Oceania

• Europe

The topics within this two-year sequence offer rich opportunities for students to inquire about their world and humanity’s very long history of achievements.  The topics also lend themselves to exploration of what it means to be human and part of a human community, and the concepts that have arisen in societies to guide ethical interactions among individuals, communities, and nations. Teachers, administrators, schools, and districts should make their own instructional decisions about the best ways to inspire their students to become interested in and deepen their understanding of international events and the lives of people around the globe.  

While it is important for grades 6-7 instruction in history/social science to address all the Cultural Geography Content Standards, teachers, administrators and their schools and districts should not feel bound to address them exactly as they appear in the Framework. They may, for example, choose to retain the regional approach, but change the order in which regions are taught, or they may choose to focus one year of instruction on world geography and the other on ancient and classical civilizations. They may design humanities courses that integrate language arts and social studies, selecting literary and informational texts for language arts that reflect particular regions or civilizations. They may place strong emphasis on investigating current global events and relating them to geographic data. 

United States Civics in Grade 8

The purposes of the grade 8 standards are to: 

• extend students’ knowledge of United States and New Hampshire government

• expand their capacity for civic reasoning 

• strengthen their ability to develop research questions and conduct inquiries

• introduce significant recurring questions about the United States Constitution, rights, responsibilities, citizenship, a free press, and the concept of the common good

• establish foundational knowledge about government in preparation for  High School United States and World History

The Framework organizes the Content Standards for grade 8 Civics in seven topics. 

• Topics 1 and 2: The founding principles and development of the United States political system and its institutions 

• Topic 3: The structure of United States government

• Topics 4 and 5: Rights and responsibilities of citizens and the development of the Constitution through amendments, court decisions, and legislation 

• Topic 6: The structure of New Hampshire state and local governments

• Topic 7: Freedom of the press and news/media literacy

The Civics course offers a comprehensive survey of how democratic government is designed to work in the nation, the Commonwealth, and in cities and towns. Teachers, administrators and schools and districts should make their own instructional decisions about the best ways to teach this content and to inspire their students to become informed and engaged citizens.

While it is important for civics instruction to address all the Content Standards for grade 8, teachers, administrators and their schools and districts should not feel bound to address them exactly as they appear in the Framework. They may, for example, choose to teach about New Hampshire state and local government or freedom of the press/media literacy first. They may select different sets of court cases to illustrate concepts in Topic 5, or make connections between current events in government and politics and historical debates about the role of government. 

As they apply the Standards for Practice in Social Studies and the Standards for Literacy in Social Studies, students in the middle grades conduct informal research routinely and efficiently to find information and engage in more sustained research projects that begin with defining a research question or problem and result in written, oral, or media presentations. Appendix B includes resources on inquiry and research.

In order to build a coherent and rigorous curriculum, teachers and administrators of elementary, middle and high school social studies should collaborate to make decisions about topic sequences, instructional materials, research projects, and assessments.