EPPING MIDDLE SCHOOL
COURSE SYLLABUS
Course Title:
Course
Description
District
Competencies
for Learning
District Skills
Competencies
for Learning
World Regions
In the seventh grade social studies course, students will utilize maps, graphs, primary and
secondary sources, as well as current events in order to better understand the changing
geographic world around them.
Students will also concentrate their attention on the interactions global citizens have with
people both similar and dissimilar to themselves with regard to conflict, cooperation,
religion, the environment, immigration, public health issues, human rights, and economics.
Students will understand concepts and demonstrate ability to transfer skills across
content areas and apply concepts and skills to real-life situation.
People, Places & Environment – Students will understand that individuals, groups
and societies interact with each other, their social and physical environments such
that cultures evolve over time.
Conflict & Cooperation – Students will understand that conflict and cooperation
together shape the development of society.
Global Connections – Students will understand that society is impacted by its
history, the arts, literature, language and technological advances.
Citizenship – Students will understand the role of citizens as members of national
and global communities and their responsibilities as individual members of a group.
Students will become a:
Collaborator – Students will understand that respect, collaboration, and leadership
are critical to interacting and working effectively with others.
Communicator – Students will demonstrate the ability to communicate clearly using
the most appropriate and effective means.
Contributor – Students will demonstrate the ability to contribute toward a better
world through community service, acceptance and tolerance of diverse people, and
responsibility for the environment.
Evaluator – Students will demonstrate the ability to access, evaluate, use, and
manage information.
Learner – Students will demonstrate the ability to be flexible, adaptable, and
accountable throughout the learning process.
Producer – Students will demonstrate the ability to manage projects, produce
results, and create media products.
Technology User – Students will demonstrate the ability to use technology
respectfully and apply it effectively.
Thinker – Students will demonstrate the ability to think critically, creatively, and
systemically to define and solve problems.
The Epping Middle School community educates and empowers students within a safe environment to
become Respectful, Involved, and Knowledgeable citizens.
EPPING MIDDLE SCHOOL
COURSE SYLLABUS
School Based
Course
Competency
Statements
(CCS linked to
DCL)
1. Access and use resources, such as the various types of maps. Students will be able to
demonstrate the ability to identify and analyze cultural traits. (People, Places, and
Environment)
2. Determine how the physical geography impacts human population. Students will
demonstrate the ability to identify the causes and effects of refugee populations, public
health issues, and apartheid. (People, Places, and Environment, Conflict and
Cooperation)
3. Understand the meaning of “revolution” and analyze the causes and effects of
revolutions, cultural, technological, and political. Students will demonstrate the ability to
understand as well as compare and contrast forms of government, such as communism
and democracy. (Global Communication, Citizenship)
4. Explain the impact of overpopulation on resources and evaluate the impact of responses,
such as China’s One Child Policy. (People, Places, and Environment)
5. Explain the key people, core beliefs, rites and holidays of the world’s five major religions:
Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. (Global Communication)
6. Understand and use in authentic applications economic concepts, such as supply and
demand, goods and services. (Citizenship)
7. Identify the causes and effects of immigration as well as the challenges to assimilation to
one’s new nation. (People, Places, and Environment, Global Communication)
Units of Study
1. Tools of Geo: Resources, Maps, and The Five Themes of Geography
2. Culture and Globalization
3. Sub-Saharan Africa
4. Europe and Russia
5. World Religions
6. Asia
7. Middle East
8. Economics /Enterprise City
9. Immigration
10. South America
Unit 1:
a. Students will be able to recognize the various parts/features of their social
studies text and be able to understand the purpose of each part/feature.
b. Students will be able to identify the five themes of geography.
c. Students will be able to summarize a current events article and news clip.
[introducing current events journal that will be used throughout course]
d. Students will be able to understand ways in which we show Earth’s surface
and identify different parts of a map.
Course Unit
Content and
Skills
The Epping Middle School community educates and empowers students within a safe environment to
become Respectful, Involved, and Knowledgeable citizens.
EPPING MIDDLE SCHOOL
COURSE SYLLABUS
e. Students will be able to understand and define latitude and longitude as well
as locate places on a map given their latitude and longitude coordinates.
f. Students will be able to describe earth’s major landforms and understand
how physical features affect lives of people.
g. Students will be able to differentiate between climate and weather and
analyze special purpose maps and graphs.
h. Students will be able to evaluate how political borders are created and how
it can impact lives of people.
i. Students will analyze the influence that physical features have upon creating
borders and human activities.
j. Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of parts of maps,
differences among types of maps, and how to utilize the various features of
maps.
Unit 2:
a. Students will be able to define culture and identify traits of another culture
through a primary source reading.
b. Students will be able to describe the characteristics of major forms of
government.
c. Students will be able to describe the four types of economies and identify
the benefits of each.
d. Students will be able to understand the difference between a developed and
developing nation and identify ways a nation could increase its economic
development.
e. Students will be able to understand the concept of globalization.
f. Students will be able to understand the factors that impact globalization.
g. Students will be able to analyze the causes and effects of international
conflict and cooperation.
Unit 3:
a. Students will develop an understanding of the physical geography of subSaharan Africa (specifically West and Central Africa) and how it impacts the
lives of people.
b. Students will analyze the impact of human environment interaction (HEI),
i.e., desertification
c. Students will develop an understanding of the human geography of West
and Central Africa.
d. Students will develop an understanding of colonialism and its impact on
people of Africa.
e. Students will analyze current event news stories in sub-Saharan Africa.
f. Students will develop an understanding of the physical geo of South and East
The Epping Middle School community educates and empowers students within a safe environment to
become Respectful, Involved, and Knowledgeable citizens.
EPPING MIDDLE SCHOOL
COURSE SYLLABUS
Africa and identify cause-effect relationships between phys and human geo.
g. Students will determine cause and effect as well as analyze the history of
apartheid in South Africa and create a breaking news alert about one event.
h. Students will develop an understanding of the causes and effects of civil war
in Eastern Africa.
i. Students will demonstrate their understanding of how conflict shapes
people’s lives and how political and economic changes affect lives
Unit 4:
a. Students will develop an understanding of the physical geography of Europe
and Russia (separated by region: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and
Russia) and how it impacts the lives of people.
b. Students will analyze the causes and effects of the Russian Revolution.
c. Students will develop an understanding of the physical as well as ideological
division communism caused in Eastern Europe.
d. Students will develop an understanding of the purpose of the European
Union and determine the pros & cons of a nation joining the EU.
Unit 5:
a. Develop an understanding of “religion” versus “belief.”
b. Develop an understanding of the distribution of religions in the world.
c. Develop an understanding of Judaism: key figures, holidays, customs, etc.
d. Develop an understanding of Judaism: key figures, holidays, customs, etc.
e. Develop an understanding of Christianity: key figures, holidays, customs,
etc.
f. Develop an understanding of Islam: key figures, holidays, customs, etc.
g. Develop an understanding of the five pillars of faith in Islam.
h. Develop an understanding of Buddhism and Hinduism: key figures, holidays,
customs, etc.
i. Develop an understanding of the Sikh religion.
j. Develop an understanding of pilgrimage and importance of holy sites.
Unit 6:
a. Students will develop an understanding of the physical geography of Asia
(taken by region: east and southeast & south and central).
b. Students will develop an understanding of the physical and human features
of India.
c. Students will be able to identify the physical features of China and how
some impact daily life.
d. Students will be able to describe the Cultural Revolution in China and
identify the effects and impact of it on China today.
Students will learn how China’s command economy eased its control and
The Epping Middle School community educates and empowers students within a safe environment to
become Respectful, Involved, and Knowledgeable citizens.
EPPING MIDDLE SCHOOL
COURSE SYLLABUS
began to move toward a capitalistic system.
e. Students will develop an understanding of the division in Korea and identify
the major differences of two nations (especially government).
f. Students will develop an understanding of the physical features of southeast
Asia.
g. Students will analyze current events from this region.
Unit 7: Middle East
a. Understand the physical features of the Middle East Region
b. Analyze the causes and effects of the water crisis in the Middle East region.
c. Develop an understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
d. Develop an understanding of the causes and impact of a civil war in Syria
and the Arab Spring.
e. Develop an understanding of ME current event by creating a news report
and editorial.
Unit 8: Economics/Enterprise City
a. Students will develop the skills to write checks, record in the check register,
and deposit tickets.
b. Students develop an understanding the necessary steps to start a business,
e.g. taking out loan, raw materials, pricing, etc.
c. Students will develop an understanding of goods, services, and scarcity and
abundance.
d. Students develop an understanding of sales and marketing.
e. Students develop an understanding of the accountant role in each business.
Unit 9: Immigration
a. Students will develop an understanding of the push/pull factors for
immigration in the 1800s.
b. Students will develop an understanding of the push/pull factors for
emigration from places such as Sudan, Syria, etc.
c. Students will develop an understanding of the challenges of assimilation for
immigrants.
Unit 10: South America
a. Students will develop an understanding of the physical features of South
America.
b. Students develop an understanding of settlement patterns in the northern
countries of South America.
c. Students develop an understanding of the causes of conflict in Columbia.
d. Students develop an understanding of the regional economies in South
America.
e. Students develop an understanding of Brazil’s landforms, natural resources,
The Epping Middle School community educates and empowers students within a safe environment to
become Respectful, Involved, and Knowledgeable citizens.
EPPING MIDDLE SCHOOL
COURSE SYLLABUS
Instructional
Strategies
Assessment
Strategies
Approved
Revised
and population.
Students will learn through lecture, whole-class and cooperative group discussions,
and individual and cooperative group projects, and research. In order to allow
students to better access the curriculum, learning strategies such as determining
importance, prediction, making connections, visualizing, making inferences, asking
questions, and synthesizing will be used.
Tests, create your own country map, want ads, advertisement for pilgrimage, travel
brochure/ itinerary, photo stories, breaking news alerts, country profile.
February 2012
June 2013
The Epping Middle School community educates and empowers students within a safe environment to
become Respectful, Involved, and Knowledgeable citizens.