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Skills available for Maryland eighth-grade social studies standards

Standards are in black and IXL social studies skills are in dark green. Hold your mouse over the name of a skill to view a sample question. Click on the name of a skill to practice that skill.

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1.0 Students will understand the historical development and current status of the fundamental concepts and processes of authority, power, and influence, with particular emphasis on the democratic skills and attitudes necessary to become responsible citizens.

2.0 Students will understand the diversity and commonality, human interdependence, and global cooperation of the people of Maryland, the United States and the World through both a multicultural and historic perspective.

3.0 Students will use geographic concepts and processes to examine the role of culture, technology, and the environment in the location and distribution of human activities and spatial connections throughout time.

  • 3.A Using Geographic Tools

  • 3.B Geographic Characteristics of Places and Regions

  • 3.C Movement of People, Goods and Ideas

    • 3.C.1 Analyze population growth, migration and settlement patterns in the United States prior to 1877

  • 3.D Modifying and Adapting to the Environment

    • 3.D.1 Analyze why and how people in the United States modify their natural environment and the impact of those modifications

      • 3.D.1.a Analyze the trade offs of using resources to pursue economic opportunities v. preserving the environment, such as westward movement

      • 3.D.1.b Explain the consequences of modifying the natural environment, such as soil erosion, loss of soil fertility and over-fishing

      • 3.D.1.c Identify and explain land use issues that illustrate the conflict between economic growth and using the environment

      • 3.D.1.d Analyze how land use was managed by the federal government such as the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787

4.0 Students will develop economic reasoning to understand the historical development and current status of economic principles, institutions, and processes needed to be effective citizens, consumers, and workers participating in local communities, the nation, and the world.

5.0 Students will examine significant ideas, beliefs, and themes; organize patterns and events; and analyze how individuals and societies have changed over time in Maryland, the United States and around the world.

6.0 Students shall use reading, writing, and thinking processes and skills to gain knowledge and understanding of political, historical, and current events using chronological and spatial thinking, economic reasoning, and historical interpretation, by framing and evaluating questions from primary and secondary sources.

  • 6.A Read to Learn and Construct Meaning about Social Studies

    • 6.A.1 Use appropriate strategies and opportunities to increase understandings of social studies vocabulary

      • 6.A.1.a Acquire and apply new vocabulary through investigating, listening, independent reading and discussing a variety of print and non-print sources

      • 6.A.1.b Identify and use new vocabulary acquired through study of relationships to prior knowledge and experiences

      • 6.A.1.c Use context clues to understand new social studies vocabulary

      • 6.A.1.d Use new vocabulary in speaking and writing to gain and extend content knowledge and clarify expression

    • 6.A.2 Use strategies to prepare for reading (before reading)

      • 6.A.2.a Identify the characteristics of informational texts, such as print features, graphic aids, informational aids, organizational aids, and online features

      • 6.A.2.b Preview the text by examining features, such as the title, pictures, maps, illustrations, photographs, charts, timelines, graphs, and icons

      • 6.A.2.c Set a purpose for reading the text

      • 6.A.2.d Ask questions and make predictions about the text

      • 6.A.2.e Make connections to the text using prior knowledge and experiences

    • 6.A.3 Use strategies to monitor understanding and derive meaning from text and portions of text (during reading)

      • 6.A.3.a Identify and use knowledge of organizational structures, such as chronological order, cause/effect, main ideas and details, description, similarities/differences, and problem/solution to gain meaning

      • 6.A.3.b Reread slowly and carefully, restate, or read on and revisit difficult parts

      • 6.A.3.c Use a graphic organizer or another note-taking technique to record important ideas or information

      • 6.A.3.d Look back through the text to search for connections between and among ideas

      • 6.A.3.e Make, confirm, or adjust predictions about the text

      • 6.A.3.f Periodically summarize or paraphrase important ideas while reading

      • 6.A.3.g Visualize what was read for deeper meaning

      • 6.A.3.h Explain personal connections to the ideas or information in the text

    • 6.A.4 Use strategies to demonstrate understanding of the text (after reading)

      • 6.A.4.a Identify and explain what is directly stated in the text

      • 6.A.4.b Identify, paraphrase, or summarize the main idea of the text

      • 6.A.4.c Determine and explain the author's purpose

      • 6.A.4.d Distinguish between facts and opinions

      • 6.A.4.e Explain whether or not the author's opinion is presented fairly

      • 6.A.4.f Explain what is not directly stated in the text by drawing inferences

      • 6.A.4.g Confirm or refute predictions made about the text to form new ideas

      • 6.A.4.h Connect the text to prior knowledge or personal experiences

      • 6.A.4.i Draw conclusions and make generalizations based on the text, multiple texts, and/or prior knowledge

  • 6.B Write to Learn and Communicate Social Studies Understandings

    • 6.B.1 Select and use informal writing strategies, such as short/response/essay answer/ brief constructed responses, journal writing, note taking, and graphic organizers, to clarify, organize, remember, and/or express new understandings

      • 6.B.1.a Identify key ideas

      • 6.B.1.b Connect key ideas to prior knowledge (personal experience, text and world)

    • 6.B.2 Use formal writing, such as multi-paragraph essays, historical investigations, research reports, letters, summaries, to inform

      • 6.B.2.a Identify form, audience, topic, and purpose before writing

      • 6.B.2.b Organize facts and/or data/statistics to support a topic

      • 6.B.2.c Provide introduction, body, and conclusion

      • 6.B.2.d Cite sources when paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting

      • 6.B.2.e Enhance text with graphics, such as charts, maps, and diagrams

    • 6.B.3 Use formal writing, such as multi-paragraph essays, historical investigations, editorials, and letters to persuade

      • 6.B.3.a Identify form, audience, topic, and purpose

      • 6.B.3.b State a clear opinion or position

      • 6.B.3.c Modify or refute a position when appropriate

      • 6.B.3.d Provide reasons and cite reliable supporting evidence

      • 6.B.3.e Demonstrate understandings of social studies knowledge

    • 6.B.4 Use timed, on-demand writing to demonstrate understanding on assessments (Constructed Responses)

      • 6.B.4.a Address the topic

      • 6.B.4.b Provide accurate information

      • 6.B.4.c Support topic with appropriate details

      • 6.B.4.d Integrate social studies concepts and skills

  • 6.C Ask Social Studies Questions

    • 6.C.1 Identify a topic that requires further study

      • 6.C.1.a Identify prior knowledge about the topic

      • 6.C.1.b Pose questions the about the topic

      • 6.C.1.c Formulate research questions

      • 6.C.1.d Develop a plan for how to answer questions about the topic

    • 6.C.2 Identify a situation/issue that requires further study

      • 6.C.2.a Define the situation/issue

      • 6.C.2.b Identify prior knowledge about the situation/issue

      • 6.C.2.c Pose questions about the situation/issue from a variety of perspectives

      • 6.C.2.d Pose questions that elicit higher order thinking responses

      • 6.C.2.e Formulate research questions

      • 6.C.2.f Develop a plan for how to answer questions about the situation/issue

  • 6.D Acquire Social Studies Information

    • 6.D.1 Identify primary and secondary sources of information that relate to the topic/situation/problem being studied

    • 6.D.2 Engage in field work that relates to the topic/ situation/ problem being studied

      • 6.D.2.a Gather data

      • 6.D.2.b Make and record observations

      • 6.D.2.c Design and conduct surveys and oral histories

  • 6.E Organize Social Studies Information

    • 6.E.1 Organize information from non-print sources

      • 6.E.1.a Prioritize information gathered according to importance and relevance

      • 6.E.1.b Distinguish factual from fictional information

      • 6.E.1.c Find relationships among gathered information

      • 6.E.1.d Display information on various types of graphic organizers, maps, and charts

      • 6.E.1.e Summarize information obtained from surveys and field work

    • 6.E.2 Organize information from print sources

      • 6.E.2.a Prioritize information gathered according to importance and relevance

      • 6.E.2.b Determine the bias and reliability of a source

      • 6.E.2.c Find relationships among gathered information

      • 6.E.2.d Construct various types of graphic organizers, maps, and charts to display information

  • 6.F Analyze Social Studies Information

  • 6.G Answer Social Studies Questions

    • 6.G.1 Describe how the country has changed over time and how people have contributed to its change, drawing from maps, photographs, newspapers, and other sources

      • 6.G.1.a Present social studies information in a variety ways, such as mock trials, simulations, debates, and skits

      • 6.G.1.b Engage in civic participation and public discourse

      • 6.G.1.c Use effective speaking techniques to deliver narrative, persuasive, and research presentations

    • 6.G.2 Use historic contexts to answer questions

      • 6.G.2.a Use historically accurate resources to answer questions, make predictions, and support ideas

      • 6.G.2.b Explain why historic interpretations vary and are subject to change

      • 6.G.2.c Construct a sound historical interpretation

      • 6.G.2.d Understand the meaning, implication and impact of historic events and recognize that events could have taken other directions

    • 6.G.3 Use current events/issues to answer questions

      • 6.G.3.a Summarize the main points of an issue explaining different viewpoints

      • 6.G.3.b Make a decision based on the analysis of issues and evaluate the consequences of these decisions

      • 6.G.3.c Identify and formulate a position on a course of action or an issue

      • 6.G.3.d Propose and justify solutions to social studies problems

      • 6.G.3.e Use media resources to deliberate and advocate issues and policy