Grade 8 Social Studies Curriculum
Family-facing version of the grade 8 Social Studies curriculum
Quarterly Overview of Grade 8 Social Studies
The objectives and outcomes for each unit are common across FCPS and based on the Virginia Standards of Learning. Teacher teams are encouraged to choose a sequencing that supports learning at their particular school. Some schools choose to start the year with economics, while others choose Roots of American Democracy or Citizenship.
The cyclical nature of Civics will require teachers to address standards more than once during throughout the year.
Honors
Grade 8 Civics and Economics Honors provides students the opportunity to engage in more rigorous and complex content such as exposure to advanced readings, processes, products, and assessments that reflect their understanding of key concepts.
Week 1Week 2Week 3
Week 4Week 5Week 6
Week 7Week 8Week 9
Quarter 2
Quarter 3
Units and Details
Students will:
- Be introduced to skills for historical thinking, economic decision making, and responsible citizenship.
- Examine current events to gain a greater understanding of government and economics.
Students will consider:
- What makes someone a responsible member of their community?
- What can I do to contribute to my community?
- What role do people play in the economic and political systems of the United States?
The student will:
- Apply social science skills to understand citizenship and the rights, duties, and responsibilities of citizens by:
- Describing the processes by which an individual becomes a citizen of the United States.
- Describing the First Amendment freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition, and the rights guaranteed by due process and equal protection of the laws.
- Describing the duties of citizenship, including obeying the laws, paying taxes, defending the nation, and serving in court.
- Examining the responsibilities of citizenship, including registering and voting, communicating with government officials, participating in political campaigns, keeping informed about current issues, and respecting differing opinions in a diverse society.
- Evaluating how civic and social duties address community needs and serve the public good.
- Demonstrate personal character traits that facilitate thoughtful and effective participation in civic life by
- Practicing the personal traits of a good citizen.
- Demonstrating effective participation in civic life.
Students will consider:
- What actions exemplify the ideal citizen?
- What is the role of a citizen in our society?
- How do civic duties and responsibilities serve the public good?
- How does the United States define citizenship?
- What are our First Amendment freedoms? What are their limits, and who gets to decide?
- How has the relationship between citizens and government changed over time?
- How does perspective impact your definition of freedom?
- What strategies do responsible citizens use to stay informed?
The student will apply social science skills to:
- Understand the political process at the local, state, and national levels of government by:
- Describing the functions of political parties.
- Comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences of political parties.
- Analyzing campaigns for elective office, with emphasis on the role of the media.
- Evaluating and explaining the role of campaign contributions and costs.
- Examining the history of and requirements for voter registration and participation, including the barriers to voting.
- Evaluating the effectiveness of the Electoral College in the election of the president and vice president.
- Understand how public policy is made at the local, state, and national levels of government by:
- Examining the impact of the media on public opinion and public policy.
- Describing how individuals and interest groups influence public policy.
- Describing the impact of international issues and events on local decision making.
Students will consider:
- Who has political power in the United States and why?
- How do individuals and groups influence elections in the US political system?
- What role should the electoral college play in presidential elections?
- How might people’s identities shape their relationship to their government?
- What are some ways individuals in a democracy can take action to impact their communities, nation, and world?
- How should I decide what to believe when reading or watching media sources?
Students will apply social science skills to:
- Understand the foundations of American constitutional government by:
- Explaining the fundamental principles of consent of the governed, limited government, rule of law, democracy, and representative government.
- Examining and evaluating the impact of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of Virginia and the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights.
- Describing the purposes for the Constitution of the United States as stated in its Preamble.
- Examining the process for amending the Constitution of Virginia and the Constitution of the United States.
Students will consider:
- How have the beliefs about how we should be governed in the US changed over time?
- How have people experienced democracy differently over time?
- How are governments influenced by the past?
- How did the identities of the writers of the Constitution impact the version that was eventually ratified? Whose voices were missing?
- To what extent are the goals of the preamble being met?
- What are the responsibilities of the people to hold the government accountable?
- Why do we amend the Constitution?
- Should it be difficult to amend the Constitution?
Students will apply social science skills to:
- Understand the foundations of American constitutional government by explaining the fundamental principles of consent of the governed, limited government, rule of law, democracy, and representative government.
- Understand the American constitutional government at the national level by:
- Describing the structure and powers of the national government.
- Explaining the principle of separation of powers and the operation of checks and balances.
- Understand the American constitutional government at the state level by explaining the relationship of state governments to the national government in the federal system.
Students will consider:
- Why do we have a written plan of the government?
- How does the constitution establish the government’s power while keeping it in check?
- What are the limitations of checks and balances?
- What are the benefits and disadvantages of federalism?
- How does the structure of our government foster productive debate and continuous compromise?
- To what extent is it possible for the people to hold the government accountable?
Students will apply social science skills to:
- Understand the American constitutional government at the national level by analyzing the structure and powers of the legislative branch.
- Understand the American constitutional government at the national level by explaining and/or simulating the lawmaking process on the national level.
- Understand the American constitutional government at the state level by describing the structure and powers of the legislative branch of Virginia.
- Understand the American constitutional government at the local level by describing the structure and powers of the local government.
Students will consider:
- Who makes the laws that impact my life and the lives of people in my community?
- To what extent should a democratic government demographically reflect its people?
- How do legislators’ identities impact the laws they create?
- How can I use my voice to impact our government?
- Who and what influences lawmakers’ decisions?
- What challenges and opportunities does the design of the legislative branch present?
- How has the legislative branch influenced people’s access to their rights?
Students will apply social science skills to:
- Understand the American constitutional government at the national level by analyzing the structure and powers of the executive branch.
- Describe the roles and powers of the executive branch.
- Understand the American constitutional government at the state level by:
- Describing the structure and powers of the executive branch of Virginia.
- Describing the primary issues in the legislative process at the state level.
- Understand the American constitutional government at the local level by describing the structure and powers of the local government.
Students will consider:
- What powers are designated to the Executive Branch and how do they affect our daily lives?
- How much power should the Executive Branch have?
- How has the power of the bureaucracy changed over the last 200 years?
- How do presidents, governors, and local executives decide how and whether to enforce laws?
- How accountable is the executive branch to the people of the United States?
- How does the power of the bureaucracy challenge the distribution of power in government?
- Why are presidential decisions so important on a global scale?
Students will apply social science skills to:
- Understand the judicial system established by the Constitution of Virginia and the Constitution of the United States by:
- Understanding that the United States has a dual court system, which consists of federal courts whose organization and jurisdiction are derived from the Constitution of the United States and federal laws, and state courts, like Virginia, whose organization and jurisdiction are derived from Virginia’s constitution and state laws.
- Describing the exercise of judicial review.
- Comparing and contrasting civil and criminal cases.
- Defining Due Process of law as the constitutional protection against unfair governmental actions and laws.
Students will consider:
- What is justice?
- What is the role of law enforcement in the judicial system?
- To what extent does the current judicial system “establish justice”, as promised in the preamble?
- How does jurisdiction and the organization of the courts help ensure fair treatment?
- What is the key similarity and difference between civil and criminal cases?
- How do civil cases improve individual and group accountability?
- What is due process and how is it applied?
- Does judicial review effectively protect the integrity of the Constitution?
- Can judges interpret the law without personal bias?
Students will:
- Describe the procedures outlined in the Constitution of Virginia.
- Apply social science skills to understand the American constitutional government at the state level by:
- Explaining the primary responsibilities of the state government.
- Apply social science skills to understand the American constitutional government at the local level by:
- Describing the defined and limited powers exercised by local governments.
- Explaining the relationship of local government to the state government of Virginia.
Students will consider:
- Why should people vote in state and local elections?
- How do state and local governments address global issues?
- How does tension between the federal and state/local governments impact our daily lives?
- How well do state and local budgets reflect values and priorities of the people?
- What is the role of citizens in affecting government decisions that impact their communities?
- How does proximity impact your power?
Students will apply social science skills to:
- Understand how economic decisions are made in the marketplace by:
- Explaining that because of scarcity, consumers, producers, and governments must make choices, understanding that everyone’s choice has an opportunity cost.
- Comparing and contrasting how traditional, free market, command, and mixed economies decide how to allocate their limited resources.
- Understand the United States economy by describing how in a market economy supply and demand determine price.
Students will consider:
- How does economics impact your everyday life?
- How does the allocation of limited resources impact people’s choices?
- What is the relationship between scarcity, choice and opportunity cost?
- How does the power of the consumer differ in each of the economic systems?
- What are the opportunities and challenges of living in a country with a free market economy (capitalism)?
- What are the unforeseen consequences of our economic choices?
Students will apply social science skills to:
- Understand the United States economy by:
- Describing the characteristics of the United States economy, including limited government, private property, profit, markets, consumer sovereignty, and competition.
- Describing the types of business organizations and the role of entrepreneurship.
- Explaining the circular flow that shows how consumers (households), businesses (producers), and markets interact.
- Explaining how financial institutions channel funds from savers to borrowers.
- Analyzing the relationship of the United States to the global economy, with emphasis on the impact of technological innovations.
Students will consider:
- What motivates producers and consumers in a global economy?
- How does the US Economy reflect the principle of limited government?
- What are the characteristics of the US economy?
- How do the characteristics of the US economy create a resource and opportunity gap?
- How does profit motive affect consumers and producers?
- When does circular flow move faster? What causes circular flow to slow?
- To what extent has our world become increasingly connected through technological innovations and trade?
Students will apply social science skills to:
- Understand the role of government in the United States economy by:
- Examining competition in the marketplace.
- Explaining how and why the government provides certain goods and services.
- How local, state, and federal governments allocate their budgets and collect taxes to pay for goods and services they provide.
- Explaining the structure and main function of the Federal Reserve System and how it acts as the nation’s central bank.
- Describing how governments regulate to protect consumers, labor, the environment, competition in the marketplace, and property rights.
- Explaining the role of government currency and analyzing the purpose of a money economy.
Students will consider:
- How should the US government carry out its economic roles?
- When and how does the US government intervene in the economy?
- Why does the US government provide public goods and services?
- How do the government’s decisions about its budget reflect its priorities?
- How does a mixed market economy demonstrate the fundamental principle of democracy?
Students will apply social science skills to:
- Understand personal finance by:
- Understanding how to build human capital and how it impacts career opportunities.
- Explaining that career planning starts with self-assessment.
- Examining the impact of technology and globalization on career opportunities.
- Analyzing the financial responsibilities of citizenship.
Students will consider:
- What are the financial behaviors of responsible citizenship?
- What are the opportunity costs of financially responsible decision making?
- Why does choosing a career begin with self assessment?
- What is the connection between education, skills and income?
- How and why do we make budgets?
Students will apply social science skills to:
- Understand world geography by:
- Analyzing the characteristics of the world around them by identifying and analyzing the location of major geographic regions on maps and globes.
- Analyzing the characteristics of the regions of the world describing major physical and environmental features.
- Explaining how characteristics of regions have led to regional labels.
- Applying the concept of a region by developing and refining mental maps of world regions. Mental maps are an individual’s internalized representation of aspects of the Earth’s surface.
Students will consider:
- How do cultural differences reflect regional perspectives?
- How do physical and environmental features impact how people of a particular region live?
- How do mental maps help us better understand the world around us?
- Why is it important to have mental maps of world regions?
Assessments
Student assessments are part of the teaching and learning process.
- Teachers give assessments to students on an ongoing basis to
- Check for understanding
- Gather information about students' knowledge or skills.
- Assessments provide information about a child's development of knowledge and skills that can help families and teachers better plan for the next steps in instruction.
For testing questions or additional information about how schools and teachers use test results to support student success, families can contact their children's schools.
In Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), eighth grade tests focus on measuring content knowledge and skill development.
