5025 social studies

History

the record of significant events throughout past time

Chronology

refers to the arrangement of events in their correct order

Continuity

refers to periods of time that are relatively stable in history with no major changes

Periodization

the process of summing up time into periods

Civilization

a human society that has established complex means of surviving as a group

First complex civilization

Mesopotamia

City-state

an independently sovereign city that does not depend on another government (ex. Mesopotamia, Vatican City)

Empires

larger sovereign states with multiple territories, though they are usually governed centrally by a monarch or emperor

Primary sources

first-hand accounts of an event, such as a transcript of a speech, a recording, statistics, or a work of art

Secondary sources

indirect records, such as text books, newspapers, and other forms of reviews of the primary sources

Almanacs

books that are published each year to express current information for consideration in the coming year

Encyclopedias

resources that cover a variety of topics broadly for the purpose of giving the reader an overview

Bibliographies

a list of resources used in composing a scholarly work

Periodical guides

a series of publications over time, usually in the form of magazines or journals

Biographical dictionaries

a resource that contains a list of important names to know about the given subject and a description of how they contributed to the field

Maps

representations of land and territories that can display a variety of factors, including geographical features, political features, economics, demographics, and many more aspects

Oral history

provides an account of an event that happened in the past, which is told by the person who was there when it happened

Newspapers

provide a detailed account of the past, which cannot be found in books or other sources

Diaries/journals

provide valuable information for historians because they are detailed histories of people’s lives

Artifacts

objects created by humans, which can give hints at the peoples’ material culture and intangible culture

Personal correspondence

gives an insight into the lives and interactions of ordinary people

Socialization

the process by which individuals learn their society’s norms, values, beliefs, and attitudes and what behaviors society expects of them relative to those parameters

Culture

a system of shared beliefs,values, customs, behaviors and artifacts that members of society use to cope with their worlds and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning

Collectivism

focus on interdependence, social interactions, relationships, and connections among individuals

Individualism

focus on independence, uniqueness, self-determination, and self-actualization

Culturally competent professional

demonstrates the ability to enable “mutually rewarding interactions and meaningful relationships in the delivery of effective services for children and family whose cultural heritage differs from his or her own”

Acculturation

describes the process whereby people adapt or change their cultural traditions, values, and beliefs as a result of coming into contact with and being influenced by other cultures over times

Assimilation

one dominate culture assimilates others

Concepts considered essential in geography

location, distance, achievability, patterns, morphology, agglomeration, utility value, interaction, area differentiation, spatial interrelatedness

Location

identifies “where” a place is and examines the positive and negative properties of any place on the surface of the Earth. Absolute is based on latitude and longitude. Relative is based on changing characteristics of a region and is influenced by surrounding areas

Distance

identifies “how far” a place is, and is often described in terms of location

Achievability

identifies how accessible a geographical area is based on the conditions on the Earth’s surface

Patterns

found in geographical forms and in how geographical phenomena spread, which affects dependency on those phenomena

Morphology

the shape of our planet’s surface resulting from inner and outer forces

Agglomeration

collecting into a mass and refers to a geographic concentration of people, activities, and/or settlements within areas that are most profitable and relatively narrow in size

Utility value

refers to the existence and relative usefulness of natural resources

Interaction

the reciprocal and interdependent relationship between two or more geographical areas, which can generate new geographical phenomena, configurations, and problems

Area differentiation

informs the study of variations among regional geographical phenomena

Spatial interrelatedness

shows the relationship between/among geographic and non-physical phenomena, like rural and urban areas

Tools that cartographers use

compass, scale, keys/legends