Montana State Standards for Social Studies: Grade 12

MT.1. Students access, synthesize, and evaluate information to communicate and apply social studies knowledge to real world situations.

1.1. Students will analyze and adapt an inquiry process (i.e., identify question or problem, locate and evaluate potential resources, gather and synthesize information, create a new product, and evaluate product and process).

1.2. Students will apply criteria to evaluate information (e.g., origin, authority, accuracy, bias, and distortion of information and ideas).

1.3. Students will synthesize and apply information to formulate and support reasoned personal convictions within groups and participate in negotiations to arrive at solutions to differences (e.g., elections, judicial proceedings, economic choices, community service projects).

MT.2. Students analyze how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance to understand the operation of government and to demonstrate civic responsibility.

2.1. Students will analyze the historical and contemporary purpose of government and how the powers of government are acquired, modified, justified and used (e.g., checks and balances, Bill of Rights, court decisions).

2.2. Students will compare and contrast various world political systems (e.g., ideologies, structure, institutions) with that of the United States.

2.3. Students will identify representative political leaders and philosophies from selected historical and contemporary settings.

2.4. Students will relate the concept of tribal sovereignty to the unique powers of tribal governments as they interact with local, state and federal governments.

2.5a. Students will analyze the effectiveness of various systems of government to protect the rights and needs of citizens and balance competing conceptions of a just society.

2.5b. Students will analyze the impact of the Constitution, laws and court decisions on the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

2.6. Students will analyze and evaluate conditions, actions and motivations that contribute to conflict and cooperation within and among groups and nations (e.g., current events from newspapers, magazines, television).

2.7. Students will analyze laws and policies governing technology and evaluate the ethical issues and the impacts of technology on society.

MT.3. Students apply geographic knowledge and skills (e.g., location, place, human/environment interactions, movement, and regions).

3.1. Students will interpret, use, and synthesize information from various representations of the Earth (e.g., maps, globes, satellite images, geographic information systems, three-dimensional models).

3.2. Students will differentiate and analyze the relationships among various regional and global patterns of geographic phenomena, (e.g., land forms, soils, climate, vegetation, natural resources, population).

3.3. Students will assess the major impacts of human modifications on the environment (e.g., global warming, deforestation, erosion, pollution).

3.4. Students will analyze how human settlement patterns create cooperation and conflict which influence the division and control of the Earth (e.g., treaties, economics, exploration, borders, religion, exploitation, water rights).

3.5. Students will select and apply appropriate geographic resources to analyze the interaction of physical and human systems (e.g., cultural patterns, demographics, unequal global distribution of resources) and their impact on environmental and societal changes.

3.6. Students will analyze the short-term and long-term effects that major physical changes in various parts of the world have had or might have on the environments (e.g., land use, population, resources).

3.7. Students will describe and compare how people create places that reflect culture, human needs, government policy, and current values and ideas as they design and build (e.g., buildings, neighborhoods, parks, industrial and agricultural centers, farms/ranches).

MT.4. Students demonstrate an understanding of the effects of time, continuity, and change on historical and future perspectives and relationships.

4.1. Students will select and analyze various documents and primary and secondary sources that have influenced the legal, political, and constitutional heritage of Montana and the United States.

4.2. Students will interpret how selected cultures, historical events, periods, and patterns of change influence each other.

4.3. Students will apply ideas, theories, and methods of inquiry to analyze historical and contemporary developments, and to formulate and defend reasoned decisions on public policy issues.

4.4a. Students will analyze the significance of important people, events, and ideas (e.g., political and intellectual leadership, inventions, discoveries, the arts) in the major eras/civilizations in the history of Montana, American Indian tribes, the United States, and the world.

4.4b. Students will analyze issues (e.g., freedom and equality, liberty and order, region and nation, diversity and civic duty) using historical evidence to form and support a reasoned position.

4.5. Students will analyze both the historical impact of technology (e.g., industrialization, communication, medicine) on human values and behaviors and how technology shapes problem solving now and in the future.

4.6. Students will investigate, interpret, and analyze the impact of multiple historical and contemporary viewpoints concerning events within and across cultures, major world religions, and political systems (e.g., assimilation, values, beliefs, conflicts).

4.7. Students will analyze and illustrate the major issues concerning history, culture, tribal sovereignty, and current status of the American Indian tribes and bands in Montana and the United States (e.g., gambling, artifacts, repatriation, natural resources, language, jurisdiction).

MT.5. Students make informed decisions based on an understanding of the economic principles of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption.

5.1. Students will analyze the impact that supply and demand, scarcity, prices, incentives, competition, and profits influence what is produced and distributed in various economic systems.

5.2. Students will use basic economic concepts (e.g., production, distribution, consumption, market economy and command economy) to compare and contrast local, regional, national, and global economies across time and at the present time.

5.3. Students will assess the costs and benefits to society of allocating goods and services through private and public sectors.

5.4. Students will compare and contrast how values and beliefs influence economic decisions in different economic systems.

5.5. Students will explain the operations, rules, and procedures of common financial instruments (e.g., stocks and bonds, retirement funds, IRAs) and financial institutions( credit companies, banks, insurance companies).

5.6. Students will explain and evaluate the effects of new technology, global economic interdependence, and competition on the development of national policies (e.g., social security system, Medicare, other entitlement programs) and on the lives of the individuals and families in Montana, the United States and the world (e.g., international trade, space exploration, national defense).

MT.6. Students demonstrate an understanding of the impact of human interaction and cultural diversity on societies.

6.1. Students will analyze and evaluate the ways various groups (e.g., social, political, cultural) meet human needs and concerns (e.g., individual needs, common good) and contribute to personal identity.

6.2. Students will analyze human experience and cultural expression (e.g., language, literature, arts, traditions, beliefs, spirituality, values, behavior) and create a product which illustrates an integrated view of a specific culture.

6.3. Students will analyze the impact of ethnic, national and global influences on specific situations or events.

6.4. Students will evaluate how the unique characteristics of American Indian tribes and other cultural groups have contributed to Montana's history and contemporary life (e.g., legal and political relationships between and among tribal, state, and federal governments).

6.5. Students will analyze the conflicts resulting from cultural assimilation and cultural preservation among various ethnic and racial groups in Montana, the United States and the world.

6.6. Students will analyze the interactions of individuals, groups and institutions in society (e.g., social mobility, class conflict, globalization).