Kansas State Standards for Social Studies: Grade 8

KS.1. Civics-Government: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of governmental systems of Kansas and the United States and other nations with an emphasis on the United States Constitution, the necessity for the rule of law, the civic values of the American people, and the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of becoming active participants in our representative democracy.

1.1. The student understands the rule of law as it applies to individuals; family; school; local, state and national governments.

1.1.1. This benchmark will be taught at another grade level.

1.2. The student understands the shared ideals and diversity of American society and political culture.

1.2.1. (K) The student explains the recurring problems and solutions involving minority rights (e.g., Title IX, job discrimination, affirmative action). 30
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 1.2.1.

1.3. The student understands how the United States Constitution allocates power and responsibility in the government.

1.3.1. (K) The student understands that the United States Constitution is written by and for the people and it defines the authority and power given to the government as well as recognizes the rights retained by the state governments and the people (e.g., separation of power, limited government, state's rights, the concept 'by and for the people') 9
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 1.3.1.

1.3.2. (A) The student researches historical examples of how legislative, executive, and judicial powers have been challenged at the national level (e.g., secession, appointment of officials, Marbury v Madison). 64
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 1.3.2.

1.3.3. (K) The student explains how the United States Constitution can be changed through amendments. 12
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 1.3.3.

1.3.4. (A) The student analyzes the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution to identify essential ideas of American constitutional government. 11
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 1.3.4.

1.4. The student identifies and examines the rights, privileges, and responsibilities in becoming an active civic participant.

1.4.1. (K) The student compares the popular vote with the Electoral College as a means to elect government officials. 24
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 1.4.1.

1.4.2. (A) The student researches and analyzes a current issue involving rights from an historical perspective (e.g., civil rights, native Americans, organized labor). 15
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 1.4.2.

1.5. The student understands various systems of governments and how nations and international organizations interact.

1.5.1. (A) The student examines government responses to international affairs from an historical perspective (e.g., immigration, Spanish-American war). 10
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 1.5.1.

KS.2. Economics: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of major economic concepts, issues, and systems applying decision-making skills as a consumer, producer, saver, investor, and citizen of Kansas and the United States living in an interdependent world.

2.1. The student understands how limited resources require choices.

2.1.1. (A) The student analyzes the effect of scarcity on the price, production, consumption and distribution of goods and services (e.g., price goes up and production goes down, consumption goes down and distribution is limited). 4
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 2.1.1.

2.2. The student understands how the market economy works in the United States.

2.2.1. (K) The student explains how relative price, people's economic decisions, and innovations influence the market system (e.g., cotton gin led to increased productivity, more cotton produced, higher profits, and lower prices; steamboat led to increased distribution of goods, which brought down prices of goods and allowed goods to be more affordable to people across the United States; development of railroad led to transportation of cattle to eastern markets, price was decreased and profit was increased, timely access to beef). 11
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 2.2.1.

2.2.2. (K) The student describes the four basic types of earned income (e.g., wages and salaries, rent, interests, and profit). 4
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 2.2.2.

2.2.3. (K) The student explains the factors that cause unemployment (e.g., seasonal demand for jobs, changes in skills needed by employers, other economic influences, downsizing, outsourcing). 3
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 2.2.3.

2.2.4. (K) The student describes the positive and negative incentives to which employees respond (e.g., wage levels, benefits, work hours, working conditions). 3
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 2.2.4.

2.3. The student analyzes how different incentives, economic systems and their institutions, and local, national, and international interdependence affect people.

2.3.1. (K) The student describes examples of specialized economic institutions found in market economies (e.g., corporations, partnerships, proprietorships, labor unions, banks, and non-profit organizations). 31
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 2.3.1.

2.4. The student analyzes the role of the government in the economy.

2.4.1. (K) The student gives examples of how monopolies affect consumers, the prices of goods, laborers, and their wages (e.g., monopolistic employers and development of labor unions; oil, steel, and railroad monopolies; anti-trust laws). 15
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 2.4.1.

2.5. The student makes effective decisions as a consumer, producer, saver, investor, and citizen.

2.5.1. (K) The student explains how saving accumulation is influenced by the amount saved, the rate of return and time. 3
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 2.5.1.

2.5.2. (A) The student determines the opportunity cost of decisions related to a personal finance plan or budget. 8
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 2.5.2.

KS.3. Geography: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of the spatial organization of Earth's surface and relationships between peoples and places and physical and human environments in order to explain the interactions that occur in Kansas, the United States, and in our world.

3.1. Geographic Tools and Location: The student uses maps, graphic representations, tools, and technologies to locate, use, and present information about people, places, and environments.

3.1.1. (K) The student locates major political and physical features of Earth from memory and describes the relative location of those features (e.g., Atlanta, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Columbia River, St. Louis, Rio Grande, Black Hills, Continental Divide). 7
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 3.1.1.

3.1.2. (A) The student creates maps, graphs, charts, databases and/or models to support historical research. 5
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 3.1.2.

3.2. Places and Regions: The student analyzes the human and physical features that give places and regions their distinctive character.

3.2.1. (K) The student identifies and explain the changing criteria that can be used to define a region (e.g., North, South, Border States, Northwest Territory). 1
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 3.2.1.

3.2.2. (A) The student explain why labels are put on regions to create an identity (e.g., Coal/Iron/Rust Belt, North-Yankee/ South-Dixie). 14
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 3.2.2.

3.3. Physical Systems: The student understands Earth's physical systems and how physical processes shape Earth's surface.

3.3.1. This benchmark will be taught at another grade level.

3.4. Human Systems: The student understands how economic, political, cultural, and social processes interact to shape patterns of human populations, interdependence, cooperation, and conflict.

3.4.1. (A) The student evaluates demographic data to analyze population characteristics in the United States over time (e.g., birth/death rates, population growth rates, migration patterns: rural, urban). 4
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 3.4.1.

3.4.2. (A) The student analyzes push-pull factors including economic, political, and social factors that contribute to human migration and settlement in United States (e.g., economic: availability of natural resources, job opportunities created by technology; political: Jim Crow laws, free-staters; social factors: religious, ethnic discrimination). 4
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 3.4.2.

3.4.3. (K) The student compares cultural elements that created the distinctive cultural landscapes during the Civil War (e.g., technology, crops, housing types, agricultural methods, settlement patterns). 12
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 3.4.3.

3.4.4. (K) The student identifies the geographic factors that influenced United States- world interdependence in the 19th century (e.g., location advantage, resource distribution, labor cost, technology, trade networks). 7
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 3.4.4.

3.5. Human-Environment Interactions: The student understands the effects of interactions between human and physical systems.

3.5.1. (A) The student examines how human beings removed barriers to settlement by moving needed resources across the United States. 10
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 3.5.1.

KS.4. History (Kansas, United States, and World History): The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of significant individuals, groups, ideas, events, eras, and developments in the history of Kansas, the United States, and the world, utilizing essential analytical and research skills.

4.1. The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of individuals, group, ideas, developments, and turning points in the early years of the United States.

4.1.1. (A) The student explains the major compromises made to create the Constitution (e.g., Three-Fifth's Compromise, Great Compromise, Bill of Rights). 8
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.1.1.

4.1.2. (K) The student describes how the conflicts between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton resulted in the emergence of two political parties (e.g., Alien and Sedition Act, National Bank, view on foreign policy). 10
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.1.2.

4.1.3. (A) The student describes the impact of the War of 1812 (e.g., nationalism, political parties, foreign relations). 3
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.1.3.

4.1.4. (A) The student explains the impact of constitutional interpretation during the era (e.g., Alien and Sedition Act, Louisiana Purchase, Marshall Court -Marbury vs. Madison, McCullough vs. Maryland (1819)). 15
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.1.4.

4.1.5. (A) The student analyzes how territorial expansion of the United States affected relations with external powers and American Indians (e.g., Louisiana Purchase, concept of Manifest Destiny, previous land policies-Northwest Ordinance, Mexican-American War, Gold Rush). 12
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.1.5.

4.1.6. (A) The student explains how the Industrial Revolution and technological developments impacted different parts of American society (e.g., interchangeable parts, cotton gin, railroads, steamboats, canals). 7
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.1.6.

4.1.7. (K) The student defines and gives examples of issues during Andrew Jackson's presidency (e.g., expansion of suffrage, appeal to the common man, justification of spoils system, opposition to elitism, opposition to Bank of the U.S., Indian Removal of 1830). 10
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.1.7.

4.1.8. (K) The student analyzes the development of nativism as a reaction to waves of Irish and German immigrants. 4
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.1.8.

4.1.9. (A) The student explains the impact on American society of religious, social, and philosophical reform movements of the early 19th century (e.g., abolition, education, mental health, women's rights, temperance). 27
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.1.9.

4.2. The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of individuals, groups, ideas, developments, and the causes and effects of the Civil War.

4.2.1. (K) The student explains the issues of nationalism and sectionalism (e.g., expansion of slavery, tariffs, westward expansion, internal improvements, nullification). 5
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.2.1.

4.2.2. (A) The student discusses the impact of constitutional interpretation during the era (e.g., Dred Scott vs. Sanford, Plessy vs. Ferguson, Lincoln's suspension of Habeas Corpus). 8
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.2.2.

4.2.3. (K) The student retraces events that led to sectionalism and secession prior to the Civil War (e.g., Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act-Popular Sovereignty, Uncle Tom's Cabin). 28
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.2.3.

4.2.4. (A) The student explains the issues that led to the Civil War (e.g., slavery, economics, and state's rights). 16
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.2.4.

4.2.5. (K) The student describes the turning points of the Civil War (e.g., Antietam, Gettysburg, Emancipation Proclamation, and Sherman's March to the Sea). 18
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.2.5.

4.2.6. (A) The student compares and contrasts various points of views during the Civil War era (e.g., abolitionists vs. slaveholders, Robert E. Lee vs. Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln vs. Jefferson Davis, and Harriett Beecher Stowe vs. Mary Chestnut). 136
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.2.6.

4.2.7. (A) The student compares and contrasts different plans for Reconstruction (e.g., plans advocated by President Lincoln, congressional leaders, President Johnson). 14
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.2.7.

4.2.8. (K) The student discusses the impeachment and trial of President Andrew Johnson (e.g., constitutional powers and Edmund G. Ross). 5
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.2.8.

4.2.9. (A) The student analyzes the impact of the end of slavery on African Americans (e.g., Black Codes; sharecropping; Jim Crow; Amendments 13, 14, and 15; Frederick Douglass; Ku Klux Klan; Exodusters). 19
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.2.9.

4.3. The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of individuals, groups, ideas, events, eras, and developments in the history of Kansas, the United States, and turning points in the era of the Industrial era.

4.3.1. (A) The student interprets the impact of the romance of the west on American culture (e.g., Frederick Jackson Turner, western literature, Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, Frederick Remington, the cowboy). 3
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.3.1.

4.3.2. (K) The student explains the impact of the railroad on the settlement and development of the West (e.g., transcontinental railroad, cattle towns, Fred Harvey, town speculation, railroad land, immigrant agents). 8
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.3.2.

4.3.3. (K) The student describes federal American Indian policy after the Civil War (e.g., Dawes Act, boarding schools, forced assimilation). 10
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.3.3.

4.3.4. (K) The student explains American Indians' reactions to encroachment on their lands and the government response (e.g., Chief Joseph, Helen Hunt Jackson, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Sand Creek, Washita, Little Big Horn, and Wounded Knee). 14
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.3.4.

4.3.5. (K) The student explains how the rise of big business, heavy industry, and mechanized farming transformed American society. 9
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.3.5.

4.3.6. (A) The student interprets data from primary sources to describe the experiences of immigrants and native-born Americans of the late 19th century. 3
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.3.6.

4.3.7. (A) The student compares and contrasts the experiences of immigrants in urban versus rural settings. 3
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.3.7.

4.4. The student engages in historical thinking skills.

4.4.1. (A) The student examines a topic in United States history to analyze changes over time and makes logical inferences concerning cause and effect. 1
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.4.1.

4.4.2. (A) The student examines a variety of different types of primary sources in United States history and analyzes them in terms of credibility, purpose, and point of view (e.g., census records, diaries, photographs, letters, government documents). 29
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.4.2.

4.4.3. (A) The student uses at least three primary sources to interpret a person or event from United States history to develop a historical narrative. 29
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.4.3.

4.4.4. (A) The student compares contrasting descriptions of the same event in United States history to understand how people differ in their interpretations of historical events. 29
Suggested Titles for Kansas Social Studies State Standard 4.4.4.