Grade 8 Social Studies Utah standards Standards

Foundational Principles

Students will explain how documents, challenges, events, and ideas such as the rule of law, the social contract, compromise, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, Shays' Rebellion, and the Federalist Papers significantly influenced the United States Constitution.

Students will describe the structure of the United States' form of government as a compound constitutional republic, including the ideas of federalism; checks and balances; separation of powers; commerce, elastic, and supremacy clauses; popular sovereignty; and limited government.

Students will explain the organization, functions, and processes of the United States government, such as the purpose of the President's cabinet, the function of judicial review, and how a bill becomes a law, and apply that understanding to current issues.

Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, and Responsibilities

Students will use historic and modern case studies, including Supreme Court cases, amendment initiatives, and legislation to trace the application of civil liberties, civil rights, and responsibilities spelled out in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and other amendments.

Students will examine various perspectives on a current rights-related issue; take a position; defend that position using the Constitution and Bill of Rights, historical precedents, Supreme Court decisions, and other relevant resources; and share that position, when possible, with relevant stakeholders.

Students will explain the purpose and importance of fulfilling civic responsibilities, including serving on juries; voting; serving on boards, councils, and commissions; remaining well-informed; contacting elected officials; and other duties associated with active citizenship

Distribution of Power

Students will explain the distribution of power among national, state, tribal, and local governments in order to identify how needs are met by governance systems.

Students will explain the role that local elected officers fulfill, such as mayors, council members, auditors, treasurers, surveyors, assessors, recorders, clerks, sheriffs, county commissioners, and district or county attorneys and how local government roles differ from state and federal roles.

Students will explain the processes and motivations for how and why people organize to participate in civic society, such as developing political affiliations, joining political parties, and supporting special interest groups and other non-governmental or non-partisan civic organizations, and evaluate the political impact of those affiliations.

Students will use data to evaluate election results and explain election processes and strategies.

Students will explain how the individual roles of the members of the President's cabinet are designed to meet various purposes in government.

Students will explain how the administrative rule-making process functions within the federal system and the extent and impact of these rules.

Fiscal Policies and Decisions

Students will examine the fiscal decisions governmental agencies must make and the economic philosophies that guide those decisions.

Students will explain how government services and other budget priorities are funded through various forms of revenue streams, such as fees, bonding, and regressive and progressive taxes, including property taxes, income taxes, and sales taxes.

Students will propose and defend budget priorities at either the local, state, tribal, or federal level; and share their findings with appropriate stakeholders.

The U.S. and Our Relationship to the World

Students will analyze the constitutional process of creating foreign policy and the structures through which the federal government interacts with foreign governments, such as the Department of State, treaties, agreements, and alliances.

Students will analyze the justification for, and effectiveness of, specific foreign policy positions, such as military intervention, isolationism, alliance formation, economic sanctions, or other security measures.

Students will evaluate how global economic interdependence and international trade policies affect the economy of the United States.

Students will craft an argument for an appropriate role for the United States to take in addressing a global economic, environmental, or social issue such as humanitarian aid, migration, pandemics, or the loss of wildlife habitat.

Three Worlds Meet

Students will analyze evidence, including artifacts and other primary sources to make evidence-based inferences about life among several American Indian nations prior to European exploration of the Americas.

Students will compare and evaluate historians' interpretations of the motivations and conditions that led to European exploration.

Students will draw from multiple perspectives and cite evidence to explain the effects of European exploration, specifically on Africa, the Caribbean, and North and South America.

Students will identify how the period of exploration has affected the current human geography of the Americas, and in particular the role their own cultural background has played.

Colonization

Students will identify the economic, social, and geographic factors that influenced the colonization efforts of the Dutch, English, French, and Spanish.

Students will compare and contrast the economic, political, and social patterns evident in the development of the 13 English colonies.

Students will use primary sources as evidence to contrast the daily life and contexts of individuals of various classes and conditions in and near the English colonies, such as gentry, planters, women, indentured servants, African slaves, landowners, and American Indians.

Students will explain historic and modern regional differences that had their origins in the colonial period, such as the institution of slavery; patterns of life in urban and rural areas; differences between the French continental interior, Spanish southwest, and English northeast; and the location of manufacturing centers.

The American Revolution

Students will use primary sources to identify the significant events, ideas, people, and methods used to justify or resist the Revolutionary movement.

Students will compare and evaluate historians' interpretations of the significant historical events and factors affecting the course of the war and contributing to American victory.

Students will use primary sources to compare the contributions of key people and groups to the Revolution, such as Paul Revere, Thomas Paine, Abigail Adams, the Sons and Daughters of Liberty, and Thomas Jefferson.

Students will explain how the ideas and events of the American Revolution continue to shape American identity.

The U.S. Constitution

Students will explain how the ideas, events, and compromises which led to the development and ratification of the Constitution are reflected in the document itself.

Students will describe the structure and function of the government that the Constitution creates.

Students will use historic case studies and current events to trace how and explain why the rights, liberties, and responsibilities of citizens have changed over time.

Students will use evidence to explain how the Constitution is a transformative document that contributed to American exceptionalism.

The Development of Political Institutions and Processes

Students will use evidence to document the development and evolution of the American political party system and explain the historic and current roles of political parties.

Students will identify the conditions that gave rise to, and evaluate the impact of, social and political reform movements such as Jacksonian Democracy, the women's rights movement, the Abolitionist movement, and anti-immigration reform.

Students will use case studies to document the expansion of democratic principles and rights over time.

Expansion

Students will compare and contrast historians' interpretations of the ideas, resources, and events that motivated the territorial expansion of the United States.

Students will use primary sources representing multiple perspectives to interpret conflicts that arose during American expansion, especially as American Indians were forced from their traditional lands and as tensions grew over free and slave holding territory.

Students will identify the economic and geographic impact of the early Industrial Revolution's new inventions and transportation methods, such as the Erie Canal, the transcontinental railroad, steam engines, the telegraph, the cotton gin, and interchangeable parts.

Students will make a case for the most significant cultural, political, and economic impacts of territorial and/or industrial expansion.

The Civil War and Reconstruction

Students will explain how slavery and other geographic, social, economic, and political differences between the North, South, and West led to the Civil War.

Students will use evidence to interpret the factors that were most significant in shaping the course of the war and the Union victory, such as the leadership of Lincoln, Grant, and Lee; the role of industry; demographics; and military strategies.

Students will compare historians' interpretations of the competing goals of Reconstruction and why many of those goals were left unrealized.

Students will use current events to evaluate the implications of the Civil War and Reconstruction for contemporary American life.

Industrialization

Students will assess how innovations in transportation, science, agriculture, manufacturing, technology, communication, and marketing transformed America in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Students will explain the connections between the growth of industry, mining, and agriculture and the movement of people into and within the United States.

Students will analyze the causal relationships between industrialization and the challenges faced by the growing working classes in urban settings.

Students will use historical evidence to compare how industrial capitalist leaders used entrepreneurship, free markets, and strategies to build their businesses.

Reform Movements

Students will use primary and secondary sources to identify and explain the conditions that led to the rise of reform movements, such as organized labor, suffrage, and temperance.

Students will explain how social reform movements influenced Constitutional amendments and changes to laws and democratic processes.

Students will evaluate the methods reformers used to bring about change, such as imagery, unions, associations, writings, ballot initiatives, recalls, and referendums.

Students will evaluate the short- and long-term accomplishments and effectiveness of social, economic, and political reform movements.

America on the Global Stage

Students will describe how the role of the U.S. in world affairs changed at the turn of the 20th century, and evaluate the arguments used to promote or discourage involvement in world affairs, such as those of the "big stick," Mahan, the Roosevelt Corollary, and the Antiimperialist League.

Students will examine and evaluate the role of the media and propaganda in promoting involvement in foreign affairs, using events such as the Spanish American War and World War I.

Students will evaluate the positive and negative impacts of imperialism on the U.S. and the U.S. territorial interests, such as the Philippines, Cuba, Guam, Hawaii, Panama, and Puerto Rico.

Students will explain the causes for U.S. involvement in World War I and the effects of the war on the home front, such as migration, trade, sedition act, shortages, voluntary rationing, and the Spanish flu.

Traditions and Social Change

Students will develop and defend an interpretation of why cultural clashes occurred in the 1920s, citing examples such as science vs. religion, rural vs. urban, Prohibition proponents vs. opponents, and nativism vs. immigration.

Students will use case studies involving African-American civil rights leaders and events to compare, contrast, and evaluate the effectiveness of various methods used to achieve reform, such as civil disobedience, legal strategies, and political organizing.

Students will identify the civil rights objectives held by various groups, assess the strategies used, and evaluate the success of the various civil rights movements in reaching their objectives, paying specific attention to American Indian, women, and other racial and ethnic minorities.

Students will identify significant counter-cultural movements of the 20th century as well as the reactions and counter-arguments to those movements, using examples such as the Beatniks, hippies, and the anti-Vietnam War movement.

Economic Boom, Bust, and the Role of the Government

Students will investigate how individual and institutional decisions made during the 1920s, such as over-production, buying on credit, poor banking policies, and stock market speculation helped lead to the boom of the 1920s and then the Great Depression.

Students will use evidence to investigate the effectiveness of the New Deal as a response to economic crises.

Students will explain how economic and environmental conditions, including the Dust Bowl, affected daily life and demographic trends during the Great Depression.

Students will craft an argument regarding the role of government in responding to economic conditions after learning about capitalism and other economic systems, historic cycles of boom and bust, and the New Deal.

Another Global Conflict and the Beginnings of the Cold War

Students will assess the causes and consequences of America's shift from isolationism to interventionism in the years leading up to World War II.

Students will use primary sources to describe the impact of World War II on the home front and the long-term social changes that resulted from the war, such as the baby boom, women in the workplace, and teenage culture.

Students will cite and compare historical arguments from multiple perspectives regarding the use of "total war" in World War II, focusing on the changing objectives, weapons, tactics, and rules of war, such as carpet bombing, civilian targets, the Holocaust, and the development and use of the atom bomb.

Students will research and prioritize the most significant events in the United States and the USSR's transition from World War II allies to Cold War enemies and superpowers.

Students will evaluate the impact of using international economic aid and diplomacy to secure national interests, specifically citing case studies of America's investment in war-torn nations following the war, such as the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift.

The Cold War Era and a Changing America

Students will compare the causes, major events, military tactics, and outcomes of the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Students will use government documents and other primary sources to investigate the motives behind a Cold War policy, event, or foreign operation, such as Truman Doctrine, containment, the domino theory, the Korean conflict, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and Olympic boycotts.

Students will develop interpretations of the impact of the Cold War on American society and culture using evidence such as cultural artifacts from the Cold War era, oral histories, and primary sources.

Students will explain how Reagan's neo-conservatism differed from the policies of previous presidential administrations of this era, most notably Johnson's Great Society.

Students will use evidence to demonstrate how technological developments (such as television and social media), government policies (such as Supreme Court decisions), trends (such as rock 'n' roll or environmental conservation), and/or demographic changes (such as the growth of suburbs and modern immigration) have influenced American culture.

Students will use historical events and trends associated with American policies toward Israel and Middle Eastern nations and groups to make suggestions for current policies.

The 21st Century United States

Students will select the most historically significant events of the 21st century and defend their selection.

Students will apply historical perspective and historical thinking skills to propose a viable solution to a pressing economic, environmental, or social issue, such as failing social security, economic inequalities, the national debt, oil dependence, water shortages, global climate change, pandemics, pollution, global terrorism, poverty, and immigration.

Students will use evidence from recent events and historical precedents to make a case for the most significant opportunities the country will have in the future.

Native Innovations and Adaptations

Students will make evidence-based inferences about the complex ancient cultures in Utah after studying artifacts from the prehistoric era. (history)

Students will analyze and explain the interactions and interconnections between the physical characteristics of Utah and American Indian cultures using a range of texts, oral histories, and geographic inquiry. (geography)

Students will explain the economic activity of a prehistoric and/or historic American Indian tribal community by using basic economic concepts, including supply, demand, trade, and scarcity. (economics)

Students will analyze primary and secondary sources to explain causes and effects of European-American exploration, including the response and involvement of Utah's American Indian tribes. (history)

Students will describe the cultural change and continuity of at least one of Utah's current sovereign nations as it has responded to changing political, social, and economic forces. Students will use a variety of resources that may include written primary and secondary sources, oral histories, photographs, artifacts, and art. (economics, civics)

Utah's Diverse Peoples

Students will explain the causes and lasting effects of the Mormon migration to Utah. (history)

Students will compare the causes and lasting effects of various non-Mormon groups' migrations to Utah. (history)

Students will use geographic inquiry to explain patterns in the settlement of Utah and the subsequent trends in urbanization, referring to a range of communities as case studies. (geography)

Students will research multiple perspectives to explain one or more of the political, social, cultural, religious conflicts of this period, including the U.S. Civil War and more localized conflicts such as the Utah War, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the Bear River Massacre, the Black Hawk War, or other Federal-Mormon conflicts. (history)

Students will construct an evidence-based argument to explain how the development of transportation and communication networks across the state changed Utah's economy and human geography. (economics, geography)

Students will explain how agriculture, railroads, mining, and industrialization created new communities and new economies throughout the state. (economics, geography)

Students will identify the political challenges that delayed Utah's statehood and explain how these challenges were overcome. (civics)

Students will explain how their own connection to Utah is a reflection of the complex history of the state. (history)

Utah in the Union

Students will identify the civic virtues and principles codified by the Utah Constitution. (civics)

Students will use primary sources and/or oral histories to analyze the impact of a national/global event such as World War I, the Spanish flu epidemic, the Great Depression, World War II, and Japanese American internment on an individual or community in Utah. (history)

Students will describe the effects of events, movements, and innovations on Utah's economic development, such as the organized labor movement, farming and industrial improvements, the World Wars, and the Great Depression. (economics)

Students will identify the causes and effects of the Progressive movement using examples from community or state history, such as the organized labor movement, tax reform, the Scofield mine disaster, and education and child labor reforms. (civics)

Utah in the World

Students will evaluate the impact of the Cold War on Utah, such as the uranium boom, nuclear testing, nuclear waste storage and disposal, and the MX missile controversy. (history)

Students will make an evidence-based argument regarding the appropriate roles of local, state, and federal governments in resolving a current and/or historical issue. (civics)

Students will describe the economic ties between Utah communities, the nation, and the world. (economic)

Students will use data and other evidence related to a cultural, ethnic, or religious group in Utah to interpret the group's historic/current conditions and experiences. (history, geography)

Students will describe the historic and present management of natural resources and make recommendations for natural resource management in the future. (geography)

Students will evaluate the impact of tourism on Utah's economy and geography, such as the development of tourism industries, state and national parks, and events including the 2002 Olympics. (economics)

Looking Towards Utah's Future

Students will select a recent event they think will be worthy of remembering, recording, or interpreting, and make an argument for its potential historical significance. (history)

Students will use geographic tools and resources to investigate a current issue, challenge, or problem facing Utah or their community, and propose a viable solution. (geography)

Students will use data regarding the key components of Utah's economy to make recommendations for sustainable development. (economics)

Students will use recent population growth and other demographic trends to make predictions about Utah's growth, and create and defend a public policy in response to those trends. (economics)

Students will research issues of civic importance in which city, county, tribal, or state governments have a role. Students will use their research to develop and write a policy proposal to the appropriate governmental entity, such as a board, commission, council, legislator, or agency. (civics)

Humans and their Physical Environment

Students will describe the significant forces that influence the physical environment, such as plate tectonics, erosion, climate, and natural disasters, and explain how the effects of physical processes vary across regions of the world.

Students will identify patterns evident in the geographic distribution of ecosystems and biomes and explain how humans interact with them.

Students will cite evidence of how the distribution of natural resources affects physical and human systems.

Students will use geographic reasoning to propose actions that mitigate or solve issues, such as natural disasters, pollution, climate change, and habitat loss.

Population Distribution and Migration

Students will evaluate the impact of population distribution patterns at various scales by analyzing and comparing demographic characteristics such as gender, age, ethnicity, and population density using maps, population pyramids, and other geographic data.

Students will explain push and pull factors causing voluntary and involuntary migration and the consequences created by the movement of people.

Students will investigate the effects of significant patterns of human movement that shape urban and rural environments over time, such as mass urbanization, immigration, and the movement of refugees.

Culture

Students will identify and describe the essential defining characteristics and functions of culture.

Students will explain how the physical environment influences and is influenced by culture.

Students will identify how culture influences sense of place, point of view and perspective, and the relative value placed upon people and places.

Students will identify the causes, methods, and effects for the diffusion and distribution of cultural characteristics among different places and regions.

Students will explain how the basic tenets of world religions affect the daily lives of people.

Students will cite examples of how globalization creates challenges and opportunities for different cultures.

Students will demonstrate an understanding of their own culture's connection to geography.

Political Systems

Students will explain why and how people organize into a range of political structures at different scales.

Students will describe and explain the role physical and human characteristics play in establishing political boundaries.

Students will explain how cooperation and conflict have many causes, such as differing ideas regarding boundaries, resource control, and land use, as well as ethnic, tribal, and national identities.

Economic Development

Students will explain the essential attributes of a developed economy and the patterns of development that differentiate less-developed from more-developed places.

Students will describe and compare the function and distribution of economic activities in primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors.

Students will explain key economic concepts and their implications for the production, exchange, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

Students will cite examples of various levels of economic interdependence between nations and peoples.

Students will describe the costs, benefits, and sustainability of development in terms of poverty rates, standards of living, the impact on indigenous people, environmental changes, gender equality, and access to education.

Prehistory to the Neolithic Revolution

Students will analyze the differences and interactions between sedentary farmers, pastoralists, and hunter-gatherers.

Students will use geographic concepts to explain the factors that led to the development of civilization, and compare and contrast the environmental impact of civilizations, pastoralists, and hunter-gatherers.

Students will use artifacts and early written records to make inferences about the significance of technological development and diffusion, including writing, in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus River civilization, and the Huang He (Yellow) River civilization.

Students will compare life before and after the Neolithic Revolution and cite the most significant effects of that revolution on the development of civilization(s).

The Rise of Classical Societies

Students will identify and explain patterns in the development and diffusion and syncretism of world religions and philosophies, including Judaism, Hinduism, Greek philosophy, Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam.

Students will use primary sources to identify patterns in the stratification of social and gender structures across classical civilizations.

Students will make evidence-based inferences about the cultural values of classical civilizations, using artistic expressions of various genres as primary sources.

Students will explain the impact of early trans-regional trade on the diffusion of religion, ideas, technology, and other aspects of culture.

Students will construct an argument for the significant and enduring political, economic, technological, social, or other cultural contributions of classical civilizations.

An Age of Expanding Connections

Students will use patterns in trade and settlement to explain how geographic features such as the Indian Ocean, the Saharan Desert, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Strait of Malacca, and the Mediterranean Sea supported or impeded trade.

Students will evaluate historians' interpretations regarding the patterns in the development of civilizations in the Americas compared to other places in the world.

Students will evaluate the long-term effects of the Mongol conquest, such as the diffusion of ideas, technologies, and diseases.

Students will explain the social, political, religious, technological, and economic changes in medieval Europe that created a context for later European colonization.

Students will identify patterns in the diffusion of technology, writing, religion, political systems, and other elements of civilization, using case studies such as the Chinese impact on Japan, the Arab impact on Mali, the Byzantine impact on Russia, the Roman impact on Europe, and the Olmec impact on later American civilizations.

Global Interactions

Students will compare the development of Europe's maritime empires with land-based empires such as those of the Ottoman Turks, Chinese, and Russians.

Students will develop an interpretation of whether the ideas embodied in movements such as the Renaissance, the Reformation, scientific revolution, and Enlightenment led to a changing balance of world power.

Students will describe the complex cultures of indigenous societies, such as those in Polynesia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia, and the Americas.

Students will analyze the long-term effects of the Columbian Exchange.

Students will compile and corroborate primary sources as evidence to explain the impact of global exchange and colonization.

Revolutions, Industrialization, and Empires

Students will identify the cause-and-effect relationships between absolutism, nationalism, and the political and social revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Students will analyze the underlying and immediate causes and the immediate and long-term effects of the Industrial Revolution on nations that industrialized versus those that did not.

Students will use a variety of data to identify push and pull factors affecting migration during the Industrial Revolution.

Students will use primary sources and evidence to evaluate the influence of leading intellectual movements such as realism, romanticism, capitalism, nationalism, and Marxism.

Students will compare and contrast the long-term effects of imperialism on a global scale.

Students will identify the key ideas and characteristics of current political, economic, and intellectual revolutions such as a contemporary revolution, a social movement, or an independence movement.

Global Conflicts

Students will identify cause and effect relationships between World War I, the global Great Depression, and World War II.

Students will identify and compare patterns and tactics of othering and demonization that are evident in selected genocides in the 20th century.

Students will explain the political ideas at the heart of decolonization, independence movements, and the formation of new political systems, such as liberation theology, civil disobedience, autonomy, separatist movements, and pan-Africanism.

Students will use primary and other sources to contextualize and explain the intellectual and artistic responses to global conflict and economic instability, such as conservatism, cubism, fascism, liberalism, self-determination, socialism, surrealism, and new forms of music.

Students will use case studies to identify the reach and implications of the Cold War for daily life, such as the Vietnam War, the Great Leap Forward, the Berlin Wall, East and West Germany, NATO, the Warsaw Pact, proxy wars, music, culture, and the Olympics.

Students will make a case for the most significant social, political, and economic consequences of 20th century global conflicts and crises, such as human migration, genocide, poverty, epidemics, the creation of social welfare systems, the rise of dictators, the nuclear arms race, and human rights violations.

The Contemporary World

Students will evaluate the role of global organizations, such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), multi-national corporations, military alliances, and other international civic and political institutions within the increasingly global culture of the world.

Students will use a variety of evidence, including quantitative data, to evaluate the social and environmental impacts of modern demographic trends, particularly population changes, urbanization, and migration.

Students will identify international human rights issues, seek and evaluate solutions, and share their ideas with appropriate public and/or private stakeholders.

Students will identify a pressing global problem and select the most promising political, technological, medical, or scientific advances being created to address those problems.