8th grade Social Studies
12 units matched to the Arizona Academic Standards.
Focus areas
- The founding documents and citizens' rights
- Elections, media and civic action
- Personal finance and economics
Units
Unit 1
Founding Ideas
Ideas the Founders drew from Greece and Rome, the Enlightenment and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, why the Articles of Confederation failed, and the compromises and debates of the Constitution.
Learning standard: 8.C1.1 · the ideas in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights
Unit 2
Rights & Amendments
What the first ten amendments protect, the Reconstruction Amendments, and why rights come with limits and responsibilities.
Learning standard: 8.C2.2; 8.C2.3 · the rights and responsibilities of people in a democracy, and the rule of law
Unit 3
Taking Part
Ways to take part before and after 18, volunteering and civil society, petitions and peaceful protest, deliberating about tensions in our democracy, and checking news for reliability.
Learning standard: 8.C1.4; 8.C4.1 · how citizens work for change and help their communities
Unit 4
Media & Democracy
Why a free and responsible press matters, broadcast, print and online media, how officials use media to shape opinion, and how to spot misinformation, bias and spin.
Learning standard: 8.SP3.5; 8.C3.1 · judging news sources and the role of the media in politics
Unit 5
Sources & Evidence
Children practice choosing and judging sources, reading artifacts and art, comparing accounts and drawing conclusions from evidence.
Learning standard: 8.SP3.4; 8.SP4.4 · judging sources and comparing arguments about the past
Unit 6
Maps, Graphs & Data
Reading map scales and legends, choropleth maps, scatter graphs and correlation (and why correlation does not prove cause), and what population pyramids say about a country's age and growth. The data in the questions are made up for practice.
Learning standard: 8.G1.1 · using maps and graphs to study issues
Unit 7
Elections & Voting
How people register and vote, primaries and political parties, campaigns and polls, the Electoral College and redistricting, and the powers citizens have in elections.
Learning standard: 8.C3.1; 8.C2.1 · the impact of political parties, interest groups and elections, and the powers of citizens
Unit 8
Citizens & Civil Society
Civic virtues such as honesty, respect and responsibility, how volunteers, nonprofits and community groups help the common good, and how personal interests shape the way people address problems.
Learning standard: 8.C1.2; 8.C1.3 · civic virtues that contribute to the common good, and how personal interests influence how people address issues
Unit 9
Money Smarts
Personal finance: income and taxes, making a budget, saving and compound interest, credit and debt, investing and risk, and insurance.
Learning standard: 8.E1.5; 8.E1.2 · creating a budget, and the relationship between interest rates, saving and credit
Unit 10
Supply & Demand
How supply and demand set prices in markets, shortages and surpluses, competition, and the roles of buyers, sellers and profits.
Learning standard: 8.E3.2; 8.E3.1 · how supply, demand and competition influence prices, and the roles of buyers, sellers and profits
Unit 11
Markets & the Economy
How the whole economy works: GDP, inflation and unemployment, the Federal Reserve and interest rates, specialization and trade, and command, market and mixed economic systems.
Learning standard: 8.E4.1; 8.E5.2 · how inflation and unemployment affect people, and comparing economic systems
Unit 12
Freedom & Change
Free Black communities in the North, abolitionists and the Underground Railroad, the women's rights movement, pioneer women in the West and the Exodusters, including Arizona's early vote for women in 1912.
Learning standard: 8.H3.2; 8.H3.1 · how individuals and groups worked for change in American society
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