Standards

** Note: ** Each of the benchmarks listed below are for the middle school level.
 * Michigan Curriculum Framework **

** Social Studies: ** ** Strand II: Geographic Perspective **** Content Standard 1: All students will describe, compare, and explain the locations and characteristics of places, cultures, and settlements. (People, Places and Cultures) ** 1. Locate and describe the diverse places, cultures, and communities of major world region.2. Describe and compare characteristics of major world cultures including language, religion, belief systems, gender roles, and traditions.3. Explain why people live and work as they do in different regions.

** Content Standard 2: All students will describe, compare, and explain the locations and characteristics of ecosystems, resources, human adaptation, environmental impact, and the interrelationships among them. (Human/Environment Interaction) ** 1. Explain the importance of different kinds of ecosystems to people.2. Locate, describe, and compare the ecosystems, resources, and human environment interactions of major world regions.3. Locate major ecosystems, describe their characteristics, and explain the process that created them.

** Content Standard 3: All students will describe, compare, and explain the locations and characteristics of economic activities, trade, political activities, migration, information flow, and the interrelationships among them. (Location, Movement and Connections) ** 1. Locate and describe major economic activities and occupations of major world regions and explain the reasons for their locations.2. Explain how governments have divided land and sea areas into different regions.3. Describe the major economic and political connections between the United States and different world regions and explain their causes and consequences.

** Content Standard 4: All students will describe and compare characteristics of ecosystems, states, regions, countries, major world regions, and patterns and explain the processes that created them. (Regions, Patterns and Processes) ** 2. Locate and describe major cultural, economic, political and environmental features of Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and North and South America and the processes that created them. 4. Compare major world regions with respect to cultures, economy, governmental systems, environment, and communications. ** Strand IV: Economic Perspective ** ** Content Standard 5: All students will describe how trade generates economic development and interdependence and analyze the resulting challenges and benefits for individuals, producers, and government. (Trade) ** 1. Identify the current and potential contributions of national and world regions to trade. ** Strand V: Inquiry ** ** Content Standard 1: All students will acquire information from books, maps, newspapers, data sets and other sources, organize and present the information in maps, graphs, charts and timelines, interpret the meaning and significance of information, and use a variety of electronic technologies to assist in accessing and managing information. (Information Processing) ** 1. Locate and interpret information about the natural environments and cultures of countries using a variety of primary and secondary sources and electronic technologies, including computers and telecommunications where appropriate. 3. Interpret social science information about the natural environment and cultures of countries from a variety of primary and secondary sources.

** Content Standard 2: All students will conduct investigations by formulating a clear statement of a question, gathering and organizing information from a variety of sources, analyzing and interpreting information, formulating and testing hypotheses, reporting results both orally and in writing, and making use of appropriate technology. (Conducting Investigations) ** 1. Pose a social science question about a culture, world region, or international problem. 2. Gather and analyze information using appropriate information technologies to answer the question posed.

** Language Arts: ** ** Content Standard 3: All students will focus on meaning and communication as they listen, speak, view, read, and write in personal, social, occupational, and civic contexts. **

1. Integrate listening, viewing, speaking, reading, and writing skills for multiple purposes and in varied contexts. An example is using all the language arts to prepare and present a unit project on career exploration. 3. Read and write fluently, speak confidently, listen and interact appropriately, view critically, and represent creatively. Examples include reporting formally to an audience, debating issues, and interviewing members of the public.

** Content Standard 6: All students will learn to communicate information accurately and effectively and demonstrate their expressive abilities by creating oral, written, and visual texts that enlighten and engage an audience. ** 2. Demonstrate their ability to use different voices in oral and written communication to persuade, inform, entertain, and inspire their audiences. 4. Document and enhance a developing voice through multiple media. Examples include reflections for their portfolios, audio and video tapes, and submissions for publications.

** Content Standard 10: All students will apply knowledge, ideas, and issues drawn from texts to their lives and the lives of others. ** 2. Perform the daily functions of a literate individual. Examples include acquiring information from multiple sources and then evaluating, organizing, and communicating it in various contexts. ** Content Standard 11: All students will define and investigate important issues and problems using a variety of resources, including technology, to explore and create texts. ** 2. Explain and use resources that are most appropriate and readily available for investigating a particular question or topic. Examples include knowledgeable people, field trips, tables of contents, indexes, glossaries, icons/headings, hypertext, storage addresses, CDROM/ laser disks, electronic mail, and library catalogue databases. 3. Organize, analyze, and synthesize information to draw conclusions and implications based on their investigation of an issue or problem. ** Technology: ** ** Content Standard 2: All students will use technologies to input, retrieve, organize, manipulate, evaluate, and communicate information. ** 1. Demonstrate skill using technologies to prepare, evaluate and synthesize information collected and stored (voice, data, video, graphics, etc). 3. Retrieve, communicate and input information using a technological system (voice, data, video, graphics, etc). 4. Evaluate information received through technologies. ** Content Standard 3: All students will apply appropriate technologies to critical thinking, creative expression, and decision making skills. ** 2. Use technologies as tools for creative expression and communication of ideas (voice, data, video, graphics, etc). 4. Use technologies to organize thoughts in a logical process (voice, data, video, graphics, etc).