7th grade Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in 7th grade social studies in the Arizona Academic Standards, and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- The Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment and revolutions
- Industry, imperialism and the world wars
- The Cold War and the world today
Easy ways to practice social studies at home
- Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently.
- Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying.
- Use an atlas or online map to trace a trade or travel route.
- Ask “Whose voice is missing from this story?” when reading about the past.
What each unit covers
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.
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.
Industry & Empire
The Industrial Revolution (steam power, factories, railroads, cities and labor unions) and the age of imperialism that followed: why industrial nations sought colonies, how empires divided Africa and Asia, how colonized peoples were harmed and resisted, and how many colonies won independence.
World War I
The causes of World War I (alliances, militarism, empires and nationalism), the war in Europe and the entry of the United States, life on the home front, and the war's results around the world.
World War II
The road to World War II, the war in Europe and the Pacific, the Holocaust, the home front including the forced removal of Japanese Americans, and the war's results, including the United Nations.
The Cold War
The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union: communism and democracy, NATO, the arms and space races, conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Civil Rights
The civil rights movement in the United States and how individual rights have grown: Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery bus boycott, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, and movements for the rights of women, farm workers and others.
The World Since 1945
The world since 1945: the end of empires and new nations, the United Nations, human rights, globalization and shared challenges such as climate and migration.
Population & Migration
Where people live and why: population growth, cities, push and pull factors of migration, refugees, and how moving people and cultures change places.
Economies & Global Trade
Command, market and mixed economies, supply, demand and prices, and global trade: exports, imports, tariffs and trade agreements.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practicing the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Arizona report card guide.
Common questions
Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently. Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Arizona Academic Standards 7th grade social studies units include Science & the Enlightenment, Age of Revolutions, Industry & Empire, World War I, World War II, The Cold War.
Free printable 7th grade social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.