South Dakota Social Studies Standards

The standards for ninth through twelfth grade involve the study of the historical development of American ideas and institutions from the Age of Exploration to the present. Through the study of geography, students will study the earth’s people, places, and environments. Students will know where things are, what they are like, why they are located in particular places, and why they are important. Civics standards will include the development of the United States government: the Articles of Confederation; the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights; and later amendments to the Constitution. These social studies courses will include the study of the rights, responsibilities, and privileges of citizenship. Government will include a survey of all branches and levels of government found in the United States: national, state, and local government. Functions and services of government and the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government will be stressed. Students will learn economic principles through the study of government, history, and geography.

1. summarize causes and effects of the Industrial Revolution with emphasis on new inventions and industrial production methods; economic changes to capitalism and free enterprise; impact of immigration on the labor supply and the movement to organize workers; the impact of immigration on the labor supply and the movement to organize workers; government policies affecting trade, monopolies, taxation, and money supply; impact of industrialization, urbanization, and immigration on American society; and political response to the economic change including the Progressive movement.
2. analyze and explain the participation of the United States in world affairs and the importance of World War I in terms of political, social, and economic motives for American acquisition of the colonial empire; causes and effects of the Spanish-American War; American colonial policies; causes of World War I; consequences of World War I on the declining role of Great Britain and the expanding role of the United States in world affairs; and end of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of new states in the Middle East.
3. analyze and explain the Great Depression with emphasis on causes and effects of changes in business cycles, weaknesses in key sectors of the economy in the late 1920s, United States government economic policies in the late 1920s, causes and effects of the Stock Marker Crash, impact of the Depression on the American people, impact of New Deal economic policies, and impact of the expanded role of government in the economy since the 1930s.
4. demonstrate an understanding of the origins and effects of World War II with emphasis on the rise of totalitarian regimes and the response of the United States and other European nations prior to the outbreak of war such as isolationism, appeasement, and debates; the impact of mobilization for war home and abroad; major battles, military turning points, and key strategic and foreign policy decisions; the Holocaust and its impact.
5. analyze and explain United States foreign policy from World War II through the 1990s, with emphasis on the origins of the Cold War; United States policies of containment in Europe, Latin America, and Asia such as the Berlin Crisis, Korea, and Vietnam; Middle Eastern policies; strategic, economic and military elements such as Camp David Peace Accords and Persian Gulf War; arms-space race and control of nuclear weapons; the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War; new challenges to America’s leadership role in the Post-Cold War world.
6. demonstrate an understanding of domestic history from World War II through the 1990s by examining the civil rights movement and assessing respective federal and state policies; assessing the impact of cold War on American society, such as McCarthyism; comparing and contrasting conservative to liberal economic and political ideologies and programs such as Fair Deal, Great Society and Reagonomics; examining political turning points, such as the election of 1968, Watergate, the Iran hostage crisis, and the impeachment of President Clinton; explaining current patterns of Supreme Court nominations and decisions and evaluate their impact, such as the Warren Court and the Thomas/Bork nominations; comparing the positions of the political parties and interest groups on major issues; and analyzing the causes and manifestation of social change, such as feminism, counter culture, and the youth movement.
7. study the relationships between geography the historical development of the United States, including locate and explain the location and expansion of the original colonies; trace the advance of the frontier and territorial expansion of the United States, and explain how the physical environment influenced it; locate new states as they were added to the Union; understand the settlement patterns, migration routes, and cultural influence of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups; compare patterns of agricultural and industrial development in different regions as they relate to natural resources, markets, and trade, and; analyze the political, social, and economic implications of demographic changes in the nation over time.

1. critique the influence of European political thought on the formation of the United States constitutional system.
2. identify fundamental political principles contained in documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Bill of Rights, and the United States Constitution.
3. analyze national government with emphasis on the structures, functions, and authority of each branch of government; the principles of federalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances; the extent to which power is shared rather than divided or separated; and procedures for a constitutional amendment.
4. summarize constitutional issues relating to the rationale for constitutional amendments and the conflicts they address; landmark decisions of the United States Supreme Court; and the historical trends and contemporary patterns of the United States Supreme Court decisions.
5. analyze the interrelationships and structures of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches with regard to the constitutional requirements and institutional procedures; the legislative process; judicial review; the hierarchy of the federal court system; the presidential powers including expressed and implied; executive departments, regulatory bureaucracies, and agencies; and the impact of bureaucracies and government agencies on the U.S. constitutional system.
6. analyze local public issues and distinguish between state and local governments including cities, counties and towns.
7. analyze campaigns for national, state, and local elective office, including the nominating process; campaign funding and spending; the influence of media coverage, campaign advertising, and public opinion polls; demographic causes and political effects of reapportionment and redistricting; voter turnout and the constituencies of the major political parties; and the Electoral College.
8. develop the skills needed for informed participation in public affairs by analyzing public issues, evaluating candidates for public office, evaluating the performance of public officials, and communicating with public officials.
9. explain and give current examples of how political parties, interest groups, the media, and individuals influence the policy agenda and decision-making of government institutions.
10. analyze current issues confronting local, state, and national governments in terms of perennial challenges to democracies, including conflicts between majority rule and minority rights, individual rights and the public interest, levels of taxation and the expectation of public services, and state and national authority in a federal system.
11. compare the United States political systems with those of major democratic and authoritarian nations in terms of the structures and powers of political institutions, the rights and powers of the governed including grass roots citizen movements, economic goals and institutions and the role of government in the economy, the relationships between economic freedom and political freedom, and the allocation of resources and impact on productivity.
12. identify and explain fundamental concepts of democracy and the rights, responsibilities, and benefits of citizenship in the United States.

1. demonstrate an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of being an American citizen by describing ways individuals participate in the political process, being an informed voter and participating in the election process, being a productive participant in school and community life, describing the process of naturalization, explaining how United States citizenship differs from that in authoritarian and totalitarian political systems, and analyzing the nature of civic responsibility in a diverse society.
2. compare the state, local, and tribal governments with emphasis on their structures, functions, and powers; the election and appointment of officials; the division and sharing of powers between levels of government; the separation of powers within levels of government; and the role of the citizen in the legislative and electoral process such as referendum, recall, and initiative.
3. compare the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution of the United States, and the South Dakota Constitution with emphasis on their treatment of fundamental political principles including constitutionalism and limited government, rule of law, democracy and republicanism, sovereignty, consent of the governed, separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism; and fundamental liberties, rights and values including religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition, due process, equality under the law, individual worth and dignity, majority rule and minority rights.
4. distinguish between the judicial systems established by the South Dakota and United States Constitutions with emphasis on the organization and jurisdiction of South Dakota and United States courts; the exercise of the power of judicial review; the process of bringing and resolving criminal and civil cases in South Dakota’s judicial system; and the function and process of the juvenile justice system in South Dakota.
5. analyze the role of the national government with emphasis on the three branches of government; the law making process; the functions of departments, agencies, and regulatory bodies; the nature and functions of major political parties as they relate to the national government; and the impact and role of interest groups on the federal government.
6. describe the role of governments in the United States economy with emphasis on the basic concepts of the free market; provision of public goods and services; protection of consumer rights, contracts, and property rights; the impact of government taxation, borrowing, and spending on individuals and on the production of goods and services; and the role of the Federal Reserve System.
7. evaluate the impact of current social, ecological, economic, and political issues and events as an informed citizen.

1. use maps, globes, and other geographic tools to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective by selecting appropriate maps, map projections, and other graphic representations to analyze geographic problems; constructing maps using fundamental cartographic principles including translating narratives about places and events into graphic representations; interpreting maps and other geographic tools through the analysis of case studies and using data; and using geographic tools to represent and interpret the earth’s physical and human systems.
2. develop knowledge of the earth to locate people, places, and environments by drawing a complex and accurate map from memory to answer questions about the location of human and physical features; identifying and locating physical and human features, in the student’s own and nearby communities, in the United States, and in regions of the world (e.g., rivers, mountains, regions, and countries); and analyzing maps of a certain location people have made from memory and compare to determine similarities and differences.
3. know how to analyze the dynamic spatial organization of people, places, and environments by analyzing geographic information using a variety of scales - local, national, and international (e.g., growth issues in Sioux Falls, New York City, and Southeast Asia); analyzing patterns of distribution and arrangement of settlements; and analyzing patterns and processes of the diffusion of human activities.
4. know the physical and human characteristics of places by analyzing human and physical characteristics that give a place meaning and significance, and describing the changing human and physical characteristics of places.
5. know how and why people define regions by applying the concept of regions to organize the study of a geographic issue using multiple criteria, and analyzing changes in regions and recognizing the patterns of those changes (e.g., the Middle East has become a region of economic importance to the United States).
6. know how culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and regions by analyzing why places and regions are important to human identity, comparing and contrasting how and why different groups in society view places and regions differently, and analyzing the ways places and regions reflect cultural change (e.g., the change in the use of the South Dakota prairie from grazing to cultivated crops).
7. know how the physical process shapes the earth’s surface patterns by explaining the various interactions resulting from the earth-sun relationship; explaining the interaction of the earth’s physical systems (e.g., the interaction of climate and ocean water as exemplified by El Nino); and explaining the variation in the effects of physical processes across the earth’s surface (e.g., the effects of wind variations in shaping landforms).
8. know the characteristics, location, distribution, and migration of human populations by analyzing reasons for variation in population distribution, analyzing the causes and types of human migration and its effects on places, evaluating trends and effects of world population numbers and patterns, and analyzing the physical and cultural impact of human migration.
9. know the nature and spatial distribution of cultural patterns by analyzing how cultures shape the character of a region, describing the processes of cultural diffusion, and describing the effect of technology on the development and change of cultures.
10. know the patterns and networks of economic interdependence by comparing and contrasting the characteristics and distribution of economic systems; analyzing factors influencing economic interdependence of countries, including world trade; analyzing connections among local, regional, and world economies (e.g., transportation routes, movement patterns, and market areas); and analyzing how and why levels of economic development vary among places.
11. know the processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement by explaining the causes and effects of urbanization (e.g., rural-to-urban migration leads to urbanization), comparing and contrasting the differing characteristics of settlement in developing and developed countries, and examining how and why large cities grow together.
12. know how cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of the earth’s surface by describing how cooperation and conflict among people contribute to political, economic, and social divisions of the earth’s surface; describing the forces and processes of cooperation that unite people across the earth’s surface (e.g., the nations of Western Europe have joined together in the European Union); and analyzing how differing points of view and self-interests play a role in conflict over territory and resources.
13. know how human actions modify the physical environment by analyzing ways that humans depend upon, adapt to, and affect the physical environment; and evaluating ways in which technology has expanded human capacity to modify the physical environment.
14. know how physical systems affect human systems by comparing and contrasting how changes in the physical environment can increase or diminish its capacity to support human activity (e.g., the Sahel), identifying and evaluating alternative strategies to respond to constraints placed on human systems by the physical environment (e.g., the use of irrigation in arid environments), and analyzing how humans perceive and react to natural hazards.
15. know the changes that occur in the meaning, use, location, distribution, and importance of resources by analyzing how technology affects the definition of, access to, and use of resources; describing why people have different viewpoints with respect to resource use; and evaluating policies and programs for resource use and management.
16. know how to apply geography to understand the past by analyzing how differing perceptions of places, people, and resources have affected events and conditions in the past; and analyzing the fundamental role that places and environments have played in history (e.g., the Russian winter played an important part in the defeat of Napoleon’s army).
17. know how to apply geography to understand the present and plan for the future by evaluating a contemporary issue using geography knowledge, skills, and perspectives; and comparing and contrasting how different viewpoints influence the development of policies designed to use and manage the earth’s resources.