High School Social Studies Wisconsin Standards

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will explore given technologies and identify their intended purposes in relation to how it assists them.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will examine the influence of a given form of technology within various societies or cultures.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will examine the progression of specific forms of technology and their influence within various societies or cultures.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will explore how human behavior and cultures can influence people.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will examine how human behavior and cultures can influence people, events, or other cultures.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will examine how human behavior and cultures can influence people, events, and other cultures (Anthropology).

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will compare and contrast different groups of people.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify examples of cultural expression.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will investigate interactions between individuals and groups (Sociology).

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will examine a person's learning, behavior, or identity.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will examine biological and environmental factors that influence a person's perception and identity.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will examine individual learning, perception, behavior, and identity (Psychology).

Wisconsin students will examine individual learning, perception, behavior, and identity (Psychology).

Wisconsin students will investigate interactions between individuals and groups (Sociology).

Wisconsin students will examine how human behavior and cultures can influence people, events, and other cultures (Anthropology).

Wisconsin students will examine the progression of specific forms of technology and their influence within various societies or cultures.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will identify how economic policies affect their individual or families’ lives.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify how economic policies and government decisions affect others.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will identify government decisions and their impact on individuals, businesses, markets, and resources (Role of Government).

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will recognize that prices change over time and explore the value of saving money as it relates to changes in the economy as a whole.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify how the economy can affect people.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will identify how an economy functions as a whole (Macroeconomics).

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will identify the relationship between a consumer and producer and identify products that consumers would receive from a given producer.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will differentiate between demand and supply and identify the factors of production.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will understand how decisions are made and interactions occur among consumers (i.e., individuals and households) and producers (firms/businesses) (Microeconomics).

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will differentiate between a want and a need and provide an example of an opportunity cost.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify how costs, benefits, and incentives affect decision-making.

Target Level: Wisconsin students use economic reasoning to understand issues.

Wisconsin students use economic reasoning to understand issues.

Wisconsin students will understand how decisions are made and interactions occur among consumers (i.e., individuals and households) and producers (firms/businesses) (Microeconomics).

Wisconsin students will identify how an economy functions as a whole (Macroeconomics).

Wisconsin students will identify government decisions and their impact on individuals, businesses, markets, and resources (Role of Government).

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will explore positive or negative effects of human actions on our natural resources and physical environment.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify positive and negative effects of human actions on our natural resources and physical environment.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will examine the relationships between humans and the environment.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will identify how the physical characteristics of a place affect the people who live there.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify how the human characteristics of a place affect the people who live there.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will examine the relationship between identity and place.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will identify a renewable resource and ways that people, things, and ideas move across spaces.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify how they access resources and the social and economic inter-relationships between states, regions, or countries.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will identify the effects of global distribution of resources and geographic networks.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will explore the movement of people.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will explore reasons for human movement and population distribution.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will identify reasons for human movement and explore population patterns.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will explore the use of geographic tools to explore the world.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will use geographic tools and identify geographic ways of thinking to explore the world.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will use geographic tools and ways of thinking to explore the world.

Wisconsin students will use geographic tools and ways of thinking to explore the world.

Wisconsin students will identify reasons for human movement and explore population patterns.

Wisconsin students will identify the effects of global distribution of resources and geographic networks.

Wisconsin students will examine the relationship between identity and place.

Wisconsin students will examine the relationships between humans and the environment.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will identify the intended audience and author’s point of view of a given primary source.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will differentiate between primary and secondary sources and identify the intended audience, purpose, and point of view (POV) of a given primary or secondary source.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will examine a variety of primary and secondary sources to identify the historical context, intended audience, purpose, and/or author's point of view (Historical Methodology).

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will explore historical people or events and identify how the person or event had an impact on their own life.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify different historical perspectives of a given event and identify an effect of a given historical event on the lives of other people living in the present.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will connect historical events, people, and ideas to the present, identify different perspectives, and identify current implications.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will explore patterns of continuity and change over time and explore the context of a given historical event.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify patterns of continuity and change over time and identify the context of a given historical event.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will recognize patterns of continuity and change over time and contextualization of historical events.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will identify a cause and effect for a given event.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will explain a cause and effect for a given event.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will use historical evidence for determining cause and effect.

Wisconsin students will use historical evidence for determining cause and effect.

Wisconsin students will recognize patterns of continuity and change over time, and contextualization of historical events.

Wisconsin students will connect historical events, people, and ideas to the present, identify different perspectives, and identify current implications.

Wisconsin students will examine a variety of primary and secondary sources to identify the historical context, intended audience, purpose, and/or author's point of view (Historical Methodology).

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will identify issues of importance.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify potential solutions to issues of importance.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will be civically engaged.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will communicate conclusions of a claim.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will explore strengths and weaknesses of a claim.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will communicate and critique conclusions of a claim.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will use one piece of evidence to support their claim (opinion).

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will use multiple pieces of evidence to support their claim (opinion).

Target Level: Wisconsin students will develop claims to answer an inquiry question.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will identify sources related to a social studies topic or issue.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify what constitutes a reliable source in regard to a social studies topic or issue.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will gather and select reliable sources related to a social studies topic or issue.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will develop closed-ended questions on a social studies topic.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will recognize the difference between open- and closed-ended questions and identify follow-up questions on a social studies topic.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will construct meaningful questions related to a social studies topic.

Wisconsin students will construct meaningful questions related to a social studies topic.

Wisconsin students will gather and select reliable sources related to a social studies topic or issue.

Wisconsin students will develop claims to answer an inquiry question.

Wisconsin students will communicate and critique conclusions of a claim.

Wisconsin students will be civically engaged.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will identify relevant information from provided credible sources to a topic and identify examples of a current or historic compromise.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will identify a credible source and provide examples of diplomacy.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will develop and employ skills for civic literacy.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will explore the role people have in elections, the effect of media on elections, and the branches and powers of government.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will explore federalism, political parties, and identify civic institutions.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will identify the roles and processes of political and civic institutions.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will identify basic rights and responsibilities of being a good community member.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will investigate the rights, privileges, and responsibilities in a society.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will identify differences between a right, a responsibility, and a privilege.

Initial Level: Wisconsin students will identify rules or laws.

Precursor Level: Wisconsin students will explain the importance of a rule or law.

Target Level: Wisconsin students will identify democratic principles and ideals.

Wisconsin students will identify democratic principles and ideals.

Wisconsin students will identify differences between a right, a responsibility, and a privilege.

Wisconsin students will identify the roles and processes of political and civic institutions.

Wisconsin students will develop and employ skills for civic literacy.

Political Science

History

Geography

Economics

Behavioral Sciences

Social Studies Inquiry Practices and Processes

Individual cognition, perception, and behavior

Personal identity and empathy

Relationship of people and groups

Cultural patterns

Social Interactions

Progression of technology

Choices and Decision-Making

Incentives

Consumers, Producers, and Markets

Supply, Demand, and Competition

Firm/Business Behavior and Costs of Production

Economic Indicators

Money

Economic Fluctuations and Business Cycles

Economic Systems and Allocation of Resources

Institutions

Role of Government

Impact of Government Interventions

Specialization, Trade, and Interdependence

Tools of Geography

Spatial Thinking (map interpretation)

Mental Mapping/Maps from Memory

Population and Place

Reasons People Move

Impact of Movement

Urbanization

Distribution of Resources

Networks

Characteristics of Place

Human Environment Interaction

Interdependence

Cause

Effect

Patterns stay the same over a period of time

Patterns change over a period of time

Contextualization

Connections

Perspective

Current Implications

Historical Context

Intended Audience

Purpose

Point of View (POV)

Develop questions based on a topic

Plan inquiry

Gather diverse sources (electronic, digital, print, and other mass media) applicable to the inquiry

Evaluate sources

Develop claims to answer inquiry question

Cite evidence from multiple sources to support claim

Elaborate how evidence supports claim

Communicate conclusions

Critique conclusions

Civic engagement

Values & Principles of American Constitutional Democracy

Origins & Foundation of the Government of the United States

Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

Fundamentals of Citizenship

Asserting and Reaffirming of Human Rights

Political Participation

Linkage Institutions

Power in Government

Public Policy

Argumentation

Compromise, Diplomacy, and Consensus Building

Wisconsin students will examine individual cognition, perception, behavior, and identity (Psychology).

Analyze biological and environmental factors that influence a person's cognition, perception, and behavior.

Explain the interaction of biology and experience (i.e., nature and nurture) and its influence on behavior.

Using scientific practices, conduct research related to a problem or issue affecting individuals and/or society.

Examine the effects of discrimination on identity.

Explore developmental theories (e.g., Piaget, Erikson, Maslow) as they relate to cultural bias

Wisconsin students will investigate and interpret interactions between individuals and groups (Sociology).

Investigate how language and culture can unify a group of people.

Evaluate the factors that contribute to cooperation and conflict among peoples of a country and the world (e.g., language, religion, culture, race, ethnicity, gender, social or financial inequity, political beliefs, access to resources, economics, environment).

Critique interpretations of how different cultures interact with their environment.

Wisconsin students will assess the role that human behavior and cultures play in the development of social endeavors (Anthropology).

Analyze the means by and extent to which groups and institutions can influence people, events, and cultures in both historical and contemporary settings.

Become critically aware of ethnocentrism, its manifestations, and consequences in a world that is increasingly interconnected.

Wisconsin students will examine the progression of specific forms of technology and their influence within various societies.

Evaluate the purpose for which a technology is created, and analyze the consequences (intended and unintended) to different cultures.

Wisconsin students use economic reasoning to understand issues.

Perform a cost-benefit analysis on a real-world situation, using economic thinking to describe the marginal costs and benefits of a particular decision.

Evaluate how incentives determine what is produced and distributed in a competitive market system.

Wisconsin students will analyze how decisions are made and interactions occur among individuals, households, and firms/businesses (Microeconomics).

Connect the roles of consumers and producers in the product, labor, and financial markets, and the economy as a whole.

Analyze the roles of the market for goods and services (product market) and the market for factors of production (factor market).

Differentiate between supply and demand and the resulting impact on equilibrium prices and quantities produced.

Compare and contrast various degrees of competition in markets (e.g., perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, monopoly) and how the extent of competition in various markets can affect price, quantity, and variety.

Calculate the costs of production and explain their role in firm decision-making.

Differentiate between and calculate revenue and profit for a given firm.

Wisconsin students will analyze how an economy functions as a whole (Macroeconomics).

Assess how decisions about spending and production made by households, businesses, and governments determine the nation's levels of income, employment, and prices.

Analyze why unemployment rates differ for people of different ages, races, and genders.

Use economic indicators to analyze the current and future state of the economy.

Evaluate the structure and functions of money in the United States, including the role of interest rates.

Connect the components of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to different parts of an economy, and differentiate between real and nominal GDP.

Compare and contrast the parts of a business cycle of an economy (i.e., expansion/prosperity, peak, contraction/recession, trough).

Wisconsin students will evaluate government decisions and their impact on individuals, businesses, markets, and resources (Role of Government).

Evaluate how values and beliefs (e.g., economic freedom, economic efficiency, equity, full employment, price stability, security, efficiency and growth) help to form different types of economic systems, and analyze how they have been affected by specific political and social systems and important events.

Analyze how the allocation of resources can impact the distribution of wealth and income equality/inequality.

Analyze the impact economic institutions (such as the Federal Reserve, property rights, legal systems/rule of law, corporations, minimum wage, regulations) have on our nation.

Analyze the impact of institutions (e.g., corporations, labor unions, civil service system, government, associations) on wages, benefits, living standards and a local community's economy.

Assess how property rights are defined, protected, enforced, and limited by government (e.g., zoning laws, copyright laws, patents, intellectual property).

Evaluate types of taxes (i.e., progressive, regressive) and earned benefits with eligibility criteria (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid).

Justify the selection of fiscal and monetary policies in expanding or contracting the economy.

Evaluate the intended and unintended costs and benefits (i.e., externalities) of government policies to improve market outcomes and standards of living.

Analyze the effectiveness of how people, government, policies and economic systems have attempted to address income inequality and working conditions both now and in the past

Draw conclusions of the effect of specialization and trade on production and consumption of goods and services upon individuals, businesses, and societies

Analyze the role of comparative advantage in international trade of goods and services.

Wisconsin students will use geographic tools and ways of thinking to analyze the world.

Use printed and digital maps to ask and answer geographic questions (e.g., Where are there patterns? Why there? So what?) and evaluate the appropriateness of geographic data and representations to understand real world problems.

Explain how current geospatial technologies (e.g., Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), satellite images, remote sensing) are used for personal, business, and government purposes.

Interpret maps and images (e.g., political, physical, relief, thematic, virtual/electronic) to analyze geographic problems and changes over time.

Compare and contrast a mental map before and after an event to see if perception reshaped their perspectives.

Explain how using a virtual or electronic mapping application can aid in the development of a more complete and accurate mental map of places and region

Wisconsin students will analyze human movement and population patterns.

Evaluate population policies by analyzing how governments affect population change.

Analyze population compositions (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity) and the different implications each has on countries or regions throughout the world.

Evaluate the impact of major international migrations, both past and present, on physical and human systems

Analyze the social impact of movement of people to different locations in a variety of time periods and locations throughout the world.

Evaluate the impact of spatial inequality as a result of urbanization, and develop various solutions to address these inequalities.

Analyze the impact of rural decline and urbanization on a place.

Wisconsin students will examine the impacts of global interconnections and relationships.

Evaluate in both current and historical context how the prospect of gaining access to resources in contested zones creates competition among countries.

Assess how and why consumption of resources (e.g., petroleum, coal, electricity, steel, water, food) differs between developed and developing countries now and in the past.

Analyze the evolution of the global economy to its present state and the role it plays in the economic development of world regions.

Analyze the role of supranational organizations (e.g., NAFTA, NATO, UN).

Wisconsin students will evaluate the relationship between identity and place.

Evaluate the effect of culture on a place over time.

Analyze how physical and human characteristics interact to give a place meaning and significance (e.g., Panama Canal, Chunnel) and shape culture.

Explain how and why place-based identities can shape events at various scales (e.g., neighborhood, regional identity).

Explain how and why people view places and regions differently as a function of their ideology, race, ethnicity, language, gender, age, religion, politics, social class, and economic status.

Wisconsin students will evaluate the relationship between humans and the environment.

Analyze the intentional and unintentional spatial consequences of human actions on the environment at the local, state, tribal, regional, country, and world levels.

Hypothesize how changes in human behavior (e.g., organic agriculture, Genetically Modified Organisms, ecotourism) can result in changes that have effects on a global scale.

Wisconsin students will use historical evidence for determining cause and effect.

Evaluate multiple events from different perspectives using primary and secondary sources, and analyze intended and unintended causes from both long- and short-term perspectives; evaluate how different groups and individuals contributed to the event or cause.

Evaluate multiple events from different perspectives using primary and secondary sources, and analyze intended and unintended effects from both long- and short-term perspectives; evaluate how different groups and individuals contributed to the effect.

Wisconsin students will analyze, recognize, and evaluate patterns of continuity and change over time and contextualization of historical events.

Evaluate a variety of primary and secondary sources to apply knowledge of major eras, enduring themes, turning points, and historical influences to analyze the patterns of continuity in the community, the state, the United States and the world.

Evaluate a variety of primary and secondary sources to apply knowledge of major eras, enduring themes, turning points, and historical influences to analyze the patterns of change in the community, the state, the United States and the world.

Evaluate how the historical context influenced the process or nature of the continuity or change that took place.

Wisconsin students will connect past events, people, and ideas to the present; use different perspectives to draw conclusions; and suggest current implications.

Analyze significant historical periods and their relationship to present issues and events.

Evaluate historical perspectives to create arguments with evidence concerning current events.

Evaluate and justify predictions of potential outcomes of current events based on the past.

Wisconsin students will evaluate a variety of primary and secondary sources to interpret the historical context, intended audience, purpose, and/or author's point of view (Historical Methodology).

Analyze how the historical context (situation) influences a primary or secondary source.

Analyze how the intended audience influences a primary or secondary source

Analyze the intended purpose of a specific primary or secondary source.

Analyze how the POV of the author can influence the content and intent of a primary or secondary source, and identify whose voices may be left out.

Wisconsin students will construct meaningful questions that initiate an inquiry.

Frame researchable, complex, and open-ended questions, integrating multiple social studies strands that call for investigation.

Construct questions that support the research and identify the sources that will be used in the student-developed research proposal.

Wisconsin students will gather and evaluate sources.

Explore evidence discovered through personal research through a variety of disciplinary lenses (e.g., economics, history, political science) and multiple perspectives (e.g., race, gender, ethnicity, language, disability, sexual orientation, family background, and/or family income) with a variety of sources including primary and secondary sources and media resources.

Analyze and weigh relevance of source through a disciplinary lens to determine how the author, context, audience, and purpose affect the reliability, limitations, and usefulness of a source.

Wisconsin students will develop claims using evidence to support reasoning.

Develop a defensible claim to provide focus for an inquiry that is based upon the analysis of sources.

Support claim with evidence using sources from multiple perspectives and mediums (electronic, digital, print, and other mass media).

Analyze the extent to which evidence supports or does not support a claim, and if it does not, modify claim appropriately.

Wisconsin students will communicate and critique conclusions.

Communicate conclusions while taking into consideration that audiences from diverse backgrounds (e.g., gender, class, proximity to the event or issue) may interpret the information in different ways).

Examine a claim's strengths and weaknesses, including an evaluation of supporting evidence, taking into consideration cultural, social, economic, political, geographic, and historic influences that inform these perspectives.

Wisconsin students will be civically engaged.

Explore opportunities, informed by the knowledge and methods of the social sciences, for personal or collaborative civic engagement with community, school, state, tribal, national, and/or global implications.

Wisconsin students will identify and analyze democratic principles and ideals.

Analyze how constitutionalism attempts to preserve fundamental societal values, protects individual freedoms and rights, promotes the general welfare, and responds to changing circumstances and beliefs by defining and limiting the powers of government.

Analyze sources of governmental authority.

Evaluate the work and actions of historically significant people and their contributions to the founding principles of the United States.

Analyze the foundational ideas of United States government which are embedded in founding era documents.

Analyze landmark Supreme Court decisions regarding how Rights limits the government, protects individual rights, supports the principle of majority rule, while protecting the rights of the minority, and promotes the general welfare.

Analyze the meaning and importance of rights in the Wisconsin Constitution, and compare/contrast to the United States Constitution.

Wisconsin students will examine and interpret rights, privileges, and responsibilities in society.

Critique the struggle for suffrage and citizenship since the founding period.

Analyze the constitutional tension between protecting individual rights and promoting the general welfare and security of the country, as well as between majority rule and minority rights.

Assess the impact of individuals, groups, and movements on the development of civil rights for different groups.

Assess the difference in constitutional and legal protections for citizens vs. noncitizens.

Demonstrate the skills necessary to participate in the election process (i.e., registering to vote, identifying and evaluating candidates and issues, and casting a ballot).

Analyze how the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the restriction and enabled the expansion of rights for groups.

Evaluate different goals and methods of groups who have advocated for access to greater rights (e.g., women, religious groups, civil rights groups, Indigenous peoples, LGBTQ).

Analyze the role of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and nongovernment organizations (NGOs such as Save the Children or the Red Cross) in how human rights have been addressed in different countries.

Wisconsin students will analyze and evaluate the powers and processes of political and civic institutions.

Create and evaluate solutions to increase voter participation.

Evaluate their role in government at the local, state, tribal, and federal levels.

Evaluate the role of various types of media in elections and functions of government.

Analyze how the United States political system is shaped by political parties, elections and the election process, including the caucus and primary systems and procedures involved in voting.

Evaluate civic institutions and explain how competing interests impact societal change (e.g., lobbying, citizens groups, special interest groups).

Evaluate the structure and functions of governments at the local, state, tribal, national, and global levels.

Evaluate the purpose of political institutions at the local, state, tribal, national, global, and supranational/non-government organization (NGO) levels distinguishing their roles, powers, and limitations.

Evaluate the effectiveness of public policy actions and processes.

Wisconsin students will develop and employ skills for civic literacy.

Create arguments by researching and interpreting claims and counterclaims.

Analyze the effects of a political compromise with major historical impact.