7th grade Social Studies
11 units matched to the California Content Standards.
Focus areas
- World history: medieval and early modern times
- Islam, China, West Africa, Japan, Europe and the Americas
- The Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment
Units
Unit 1
The Islamic World
The early Islamic world and its cities, scholars and discoveries (such as algebra and optics), the exchange of knowledge through trade and translation, and the Ottoman Empire.
Learning standard: 7.2.2; 7.2.5; 7.2.6 · the origins of Islam, the growth of cities and trade, and the exchange of ideas among Muslim scholars
Unit 2
Empires of Asia
China from the Tang to the Ming, the Mongol Empire, feudal Japan, the Mughal and Ottoman empires, Korea and the Khmer, and how technology and trade spread ideas.
Learning standard: 7.3.1; 7.3.4; 7.3.5 · China under the Tang, Song, Mongol and Ming dynasties, and its trade and inventions
Unit 3
African Kingdoms & Empires
Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Great Zimbabwe, the Swahili coast, Benin and Ethiopia from about 600 to 1900, trade across the Sahara and the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic slave trade and African resistance to colonization.
Learning standard: 7.4.1; 7.4.3; 7.4.5 · the kingdoms of West Africa, trans-Saharan trade and the role of written and oral traditions
Unit 4
Japan: Land, Beliefs & Values
Japan's islands and mountains, its farming and fishing, and the Shinto, Buddhist and Confucian ideas that helped shape how people lived and what they valued.
Learning standard: 7.5.1; 7.5.3 · Japan's geography and how it shaped the culture and government of medieval Japan
Unit 5
Medieval Europe
How medieval Europe was organized (kings, nobles, knights and peasants), the role of the Church and guilds, the Magna Carta, the Black Death, and how change came to the feudal system.
Learning standard: 7.6.1; 7.6.3; 7.6.5 · the geography of Europe, feudalism and the development of English legal practices
Unit 6
Renaissance & Reformation
The rebirth of art and learning in Italy, how the printing press spread ideas, the Reformation, and how questioning led to new science.
Learning standard: 7.8.1; 7.8.4; 7.9.1; 7.9.2 · humanism, the printing press, and the causes and ideas of the Reformation
Unit 7
Age of Revolutions
The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, revolutions in England, America, France, Haiti and Latin America, the Industrial Revolution, and the end of slavery and serfdom.
Learning standard: 7.11.5; 7.11.6 · how Enlightenment thinkers and the Magna Carta shaped democratic thought and revolutions
Unit 8
Rome's Fall & Byzantium
Rome's lasting contributions, why the Western Empire fell, Constantine and Constantinople, Justinian and the Byzantine Empire, and the split between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
Learning standard: 7.1.1; 7.1.2; 7.1.3 · Rome's strengths and lasting contributions, the reasons for its decline, and the rise of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire
Unit 9
Maya, Aztec & Inca
How the Maya, Aztec (Mexica) and Inca arose, their cities, farming, achievements in mathematics and astronomy, and how the Aztec and Inca empires were defeated by Spain. Maya, Nahua and Quechua peoples are living communities today.
Learning standard: 7.7.1; 7.7.2; 7.7.3; 7.7.4; 7.7.5 · the geography, societies, rise and fall, arts and achievements of the Maya, Aztec and Inca
Unit 10
Exploration & Exchange
The great voyages, the ships and tools that made them possible, mapmaking, the Columbian Exchange and the rise of colonial empires and mercantilism.
Learning standard: 7.11.1; 7.11.2; 7.11.3 · the great voyages and cartography, the exchanges among Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, and the origins of modern capitalism
Unit 11
Science & the Enlightenment
Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton, the scientific method, the roots of the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment thinkers whose ideas about rights and government shaped the American founding.
Learning standard: 7.10.1; 7.10.2; 7.10.3; 7.11.4; 7.11.5; 7.11.6 · the roots and theories of the Scientific Revolution, the scientific method, and how Enlightenment ideas and the Magna Carta shaped democratic thought
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