Colorado Academic Standards

Colorado Department of Education

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clear Content Area: // Grade Level: High School // Standard Category: 1. History

Social Studies - 2019

High School, Standard 1. History

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More information icon Prepared Graduates:

  • 1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

More information icon Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use the historical method of inquiry to formulate compelling questions, evaluate primary and secondary sources, analyze and interpret data, and argue for an interpretation defended by textual evidence.

More information icon Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

  1. Formulate compelling and supporting questions after evaluating primary sources for point of view and historical context.
  2. Gather and analyze historical information to address questions from a range of primary and secondary sources containing a variety of perspectives.
  3. Gather and analyze historical information from a range of qualitative and quantitative sources. For example: demographic, economic, social, and political data.
  4. Construct and defend a historical argument that evaluates interpretations by analyzing, critiquing, and synthesizing evidence from the full range of relevant historical sources.

More information icon Academic Contexts and Connections:

More information icon Colorado Essential Skills:

  1. Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts, including multilingual. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Communication)
  2. Interpret, analyze, and draw conclusions using historical sources. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
  3. Synthesize ideas in original and innovative ways. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)

More information icon Inquiry Questions:

  1. How does the point of view of a historian affect how history is interpreted?
  2. Do historians come to agreement on the historical significance of events? If so, how?
  3. What if the history of a war was told by someone other than the winners?
  4. Why are historical questions important?
  5. How do historical thinkers use primary and secondary sources to formulate historical arguments?
  6. How might historical inquiry be used to make decisions on contemporary issues?

More information icon Nature and Skills of History:

  1. Historical thinkers use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.
  2. Historical thinkers evaluate historical sources for audience, purpose, point of view, context, and authenticity.
  3. Historical thinkers use primary and secondary sources to evaluate and develop hypotheses and diverse interpretations of historical events and figures and patterns and trends.
  4. Historical thinkers evaluate the credibility of a source by examining how experts value the source.
  5. Historical thinkers use information and context to interpret, evaluate, and inform decisions or policies regarding such issues which societies find contentious or worthy of debate and discussion.

More information icon Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

  1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of a text as a whole.
  2. Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
  3. Analyze in detail how a complex primary and/or secondary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text contribute to the whole.
  4. Evaluate historians' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence.
  5. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
  6. Individually and with others, students construct compelling questions, and explain points of agreement and disagreement about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question.
  7. Explain how compelling questions contribute to an inquiry and how, through engaging source work, new compelling and supporting questions emerge.
  8. Interpret, analyze, and detect bias in historical sources.
  9. Write content-specific arguments in which they state a claim, provide evidence from texts and sources to support the claim, and organize the evidence in well-reasoned, meaningful ways.
  10. Integrate multimedia as effective tools for presenting and clarifying information.

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More information icon Prepared Graduates:

  • 2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

More information icon Grade Level Expectation:

2. Key concepts of continuity and change, cause and effect, complexity, unity and diversity, and significant ideas in the United States from Reconstruction to the present.

More information icon Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

  1. Analyze continuity and change in eras over the course of United States history.
  2. Investigate causes and effects of significant events throughout United States history. For example: world and regional conflicts, urbanization and suburbanization, economic cycles, and popular and countercultures.
  3. Analyze the complexity of events throughout United States history. For example: the civil rights movement, migration, immigration and displacement, mass media, landmark Supreme Court cases, and the war on terror.
  4. Examine and evaluate issues of unity and diversity from Reconstruction to present. For example: the systemic impact of racism and nativism, role of patriotism, expansion of rights, and the role of religion.
  5. Investigate the historical development and impact of major scientific and technological innovations in the Industrial Age, the Space Age, and the Digital Age. For example: Ford's assembly line, NASA, personal computing.
  6. Evaluate the historical development and impact of political thought, theory and actions. For example: the development of political parties, suffrage, reform, activist groups, and social movements.
  7. Analyze the origins of fundamental political debates and how opposing perspectives, compromise, and cooperation have shaped national unity and diversity. For example: suffrage, human and civil rights, and the role of government.
  8. Analyze ideas critical to the understanding of American history. For example: populism, progressivism, isolationism, imperialism, anti-communism, environmentalism, liberalism, fundamentalism, and conservatism.
  9. Describe and analyze the historical development and impact of the arts and literature on the culture of the United States. For example: the writings of the Muckrakers, political cartoons, the Harlem Renaissance, and protest songs and poems.

More information icon Academic Contexts and Connections:

More information icon Colorado Essential Skills:

  1. Make predictions and design data/information collection and analysis strategies to test historical hypotheses. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
  2. Apply knowledge and skills to implement sophisticated, appropriate, and workable solutions to address complex national problems using interdisciplinary perspectives independently or with others. (Civics/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)

More information icon Inquiry Questions:

  1. How does society decide what is important in United States history?
  2. What ideas have united the American people over time?
  3. How does diversity affect the concept of change over time? Is change over time a matter of perspective?
  4. What if the belief “all men are created equal” had not been written in the United States Declaration of Independence?

More information icon Nature and Skills of History:

  1. Historical thinkers understand that the ability to negotiate the complex relationships among change, diversity, and unity throughout United States history, is an essential attribute for success in a more interconnected world.
  2. Historical thinkers understand that the ability to negotiate the complex interrelationship among political, social, and cultural institutions throughout United States history, is essential to participation in the economic life of a free society and our civic institutions.
  3. Historical thinkers analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.
  4. Historical thinkers analyze how historical events and spatial diffusion of ideas, technology, and cultural practices have influenced migration patterns and the distribution of human population.

More information icon Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

  1. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
  2. Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
  3. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes.
  4. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
  5. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
  6. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.
  7. Collaborate with peers, experts, and others using contemporary media to contribute to a content related knowledge base to compile, synthesize, produce, and disseminate information.

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More information icon Prepared Graduates:

  • 2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

More information icon Grade Level Expectation:

3. Key concepts of continuity and change, cause and effect, complexity, unity and diversity, and significant ideas throughout the world from the Renaissance to the present.

More information icon Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

  1. Evaluate continuity and change over the course of world history. For example: social and political movements related to nationality, ethnicity, and gender; revolutions; the World Wars, the Holocaust, the Cold War; and independence movements/decolonization.
  2. Investigate causes and effects of significant events throughout world history. For example: the Renaissance; the Protestant Reformation; the Industrial Revolution; the French, Russian, and Chinese Revolutions; the World Wars; genocides; and the Arab Spring movement.
  3. Analyze the complexity of events throughout world history. For example: religious rifts such as the Protestant Reformation and the Shiite/Sunni split in Islam; independence movements in Africa, the Americas, and Asia; and globalization and the rise of modern terrorist organizations.
  4. Examine and evaluate issues of unity and diversity throughout world history. For example: migration and immigration, nationalist movements, revolutions, colonialism, world conferences/international agreements, human rights issues, and the resulting changes in political geography.
  5. Discuss the historical development and contemporary impact of philosophical movements and major world religions. For example: the Enlightenment, the development and expansion of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, and Taoism.
  6. Investigate the historical development and impact of major scientific and technological innovations in the Industrial Age, the Space Age, and the Digital Age. For example: the British factory system, Sputnik, and the miniaturization of technology.
  7. Describe and analyze the historical development and impact of the arts and literature on the cultures of the world. For example: the Renaissance, Modernism, propaganda, and the use of art and literature as forms of resistance.

More information icon Academic Contexts and Connections:

More information icon Colorado Essential Skills:

  1. Make predictions and design data/information collection and analysis strategies to test historical hypotheses. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
  2. Apply knowledge and skills to implement sophisticated, appropriate, and workable solutions to address complex global problems using interdisciplinary perspectives independently or with others. (Civic Interpersonal: Global/Cultural Awareness)

More information icon Inquiry Questions:

  1. How have different cultures influenced world history?
  2. How do historians work from/with cultural assumptions to decide what is important in world history?
  3. What ideas transcend cultural, political, economic, and social differences in world history?
  4. How does cultural, political, economic and social diversity affect perceptions of change over time?
  5. How are human rights respected and defended in a world of different nations and cultures?

More information icon Nature and Skills of History:

  1. Historical thinkers understand that the ability to negotiate the complex relationships among change, diversity, and unity throughout world history is an essential attribute for success in a more interconnected world.
  2. Historical thinkers understand that the ability to analyze the significance of interactions among eras, ideas, individuals, and groups is an essential skill in an increasingly globalizing world.
  3. Historical thinkers analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.
  4. Historical thinkers analyze how historical events and spatial diffusion of ideas, technology, and cultural practices have influenced migration patterns and the distribution of human population.

More information icon Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

  1. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
  2. Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
  3. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes.
  4. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
  5. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
  6. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.
  7. Collaborate with peers, experts, and others using contemporary media to contribute to a content related knowledge base to compile, synthesize, produce, and disseminate information.

Need Help? Submit questions or requests for assistance to bruno_j@cde.state.co.us