AERO 
                        SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK 
                     K-12 STANDARDS AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                                                              
         
         
                                           
                                           
                                           
                                           
         
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                                                                                                              Table of Contents 
                                                                                                                                 
                       Introduction and Explanation of Framework Components          3 
                       Longstanding Ideas, Renewed Emphasis            3 
                       Inquiry and Social Studies Practices            4 
                       C3 and AERO Framework             5       
                       Table 1: AERO Practices and C3 Dimensions          6    
                       Assessing the Social Studies Practices                                                                                                                                 6                                                  
                                    
                       Table 2: AERO Social Studies Practices and Literacy Connections        7    
                          
                       AERO, International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, and Advanced Placement                                                                                            12                    
                       K-12 Framework Components                                                                                                                                              13 
                                             Standards, and Performance Indicators                                                                                                            13 
                                   K-12 Components of the Framework.        14 
                       Grades K-2 Standards and Learning Progressions         15 
                       Grades 3-5 Standards and Learning Progressions          24 
                       Grades 6-8 Standards and Learning Progressions          33 
                       Grades 9-12 Standards and Learning Progressions          41 
                       High School Elective Courses           56 
                       Appendix A: Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects     66 
                       References               80 
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
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                        Introduction and Explanation of Framework Components 
                                                    
         Project AERO views social studies as a critical school subject that allows students to gain a comprehensive body of knowledge, 
         understandings, and skills that will enable them to better understand the world as it was and currently is and provide them with the tools 
         necessary to become critical and creative thinkers that can solve complex world problems now and in the future.  
          
         The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) defines social studies as:  
             …the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence.  Within the school program, social 
              studies provides coordinated, systematic study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, 
              geography, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology, as well as appropriate content from 
              the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences.  The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people make 
              informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent 
              world. 
         The purpose of the AERO Social Studies Curriculum Framework is to provide schools with the foundational components for designing a 
         Kindergarten through Grade 12 aligned curriculum and assessment program that prepares students with the knowledge and intellectual 
         processes, practices, and dispositions to be active, informed, engaged participants in public life.  
                                  Longstanding Ideas, Renewed Emphasis 
         The authors of the original AERO Social Studies Framework (2002) designed standards which represented enduring ideas in the field and 
         were international in scope. The first version of the Framework included eight K-12 standards with learning progressions in grade bands:  K-
         2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.  The fundamental premise was that the standards remain consistent grade-to-grade, while evidence of learning  
         progresses over time. By design, specific content or course topics were not included, thus allowing schools maximum flexibility to build 
         curricula consistent with their missions and/or specific program needs.  
         During the revision process in 2012, the eight standards remained intact, but in response to requests from schools, the learning progressions 
         were identified for each grade level. This expansion resulted in tighter sequential alignment of skills and related content across the grades. 
         Schools also requested the addition of suggested course and/or content topics to be added. This was done; for example, Grade 1 focused on 
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        family as context and grades six and seven on world regions. In addition, Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions were added for 
        each standard to provide focus for student inquiry to be central to the classroom teaching and learning experiences. 
         
        The 2018-2019 revision process of the AERO Social Studies Framework has maintained the original K-12 standards and learning 
        progressions based on the strength of their substance and their continued viability as the foundation for a robust and rigorous Social Studies 
        curriculum. The Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions for each standard have also remained intact; however, the suggested 
        course study or topics were removed to once again provide schools with greater flexibility when designing curriculum.  The process has also 
        recognized the merits of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards (NCSS, 2013), specifically,  
        as it relates to the pedagogical shift to greater emphasis on inquiry in the classroom. Though the focus on inquiry is not new to AERO social 
        studies, this iteration of the framework gives it explicit emphasis. Questioning is key to learning, and by its nature, social studies promotes the 
        use of questions throughout the learning process. As noted in the Scholarly Rationale for the C3 Framework, “A growing body of research on 
        how students learn school subjects such as social studies repeatedly teaches us that students need opportunities to ask questions, pursue 
        answers to those questions under the tutelage of expert teachers who can show them how to discipline their thinking processes, and take part 
        in opportunities to communicate and act on their understandings.” (NCSS, 20). 
         
        Inquiry and Social Studies Practices 
         
        In the AERO Social Studies Curriculum Framework, questions play a key role in curriculum design.  These questions aid students in the 
        exploration of the disciplines in relation to the standards, while others transcend individual disciplinary categories and allow students to 
        develop the habits of mind required of a social scientist.  Social scientists share similar practices which refer to those habits of mind that cross 
        the disciplines of social studies.  The term practices is used instead of skills to stress that engaging in social studies inquiry requires 
        coordination of knowledge and skills (NRC, 2012).  
        During the 2018-19 review process, five AERO Social Studies practices were developed, requiring students to: 
         
               1. Develop Questions and Plan Inquiries 
               2. Evaluate the Credibility of the Sources and Relevance of the Information to the Inquiry 
               3. Construct Coherent, Reasoned Arguments and Explanations 
               4. Communicate Conclusions From an Inquiry 
               5. Take Informed Action for the Common Good 
                
         
         
         
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