Grade 8 Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 8 social studies in the BC Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Contacts and conflicts between peoples stimulated significant cultural, social, and political change.
- Human and environmental factors shape changes in population and living standards.
- Exploration, expansion, and colonization had varying consequences for different groups.
- Changing ideas about the world created tension between people wanting to adopt new ideas and those wanting to preserve established traditions.
Easy ways to practise 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
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.
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.
Trade & Empires
Trade routes across Asia and Africa, the wealth of Mali and Timbuktu, the Mongol Empire, Zheng He's voyages, and how trade carried goods and ideas, and sometimes conflict.
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.
Exploration & Exchange
Why Europeans sailed across oceans, what the Mexica and Inca empires were like, the Columbian Exchange of foods, animals and diseases, and the serious consequences for Indigenous peoples and for enslaved Africans.
People on the Move
Why people move (push and pull factors), the difference between forced and unforced migration, how towns and cities grew, how disease and new crops changed populations, and the effect of growing communities on land and resources.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Emerging
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Developing
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Proficient
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Extending
- 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 BC report card guide.
Common questions
How can I help my Grade 8 child with social studies?
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.
What does my child learn in Grade 8 social studies in BC?
The BC Curriculum Grade 8 social studies units include medieval europe, the islamic world, trade & empires, renaissance & reformation, exploration & exchange, people on the move.
Free printable Grade 8 social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.