1. Five Strands of Social Studies

2. What is Social Studies?
The study of how people over time have interacted with each other and their environment.
In social studies, we have “five strands” of social studies. A strand is an area of study.

3. What is Social Studies?
Answers the burning question of “WHY?”. Why do people live there? Why do they speak that way?
It combines the study of cultures, geography, history, economics, and government and their impact on our lives today … and tomorrow.

4. Five Strands (or pieces) to the Social Studies Puzzle
They are…
Economics
Geography
Government
Culture
History
Each strand is COMBINED to create the identity of a region, a nation, and a person.

5. The study of people, places and the environment
Physical features: Continents, oceans, and landforms
Longitude & Latitude
Geography
Climate: weather over a period of time
Political features: countries & cities
The study of people, places and the environment

6. Art & Recreation
Religion & Traditions
Culture
Food, Dress, & Greetings
Language
The beliefs, customs, laws, art, and ways of living of a group of people.

7. History A record of the past We learn history from 2 sources:
Events that changed the way people live today
We learn history from 2 sources:
Primary source: document, person, or object from the actual time
Secondary source: document, person, or object that interprets or analyzes primary sources
History
People who changed society
A record of the past

8. Personal freedom
Citizen participation
Government
Structure of the government
Type of government
The people and groups within a society that have the authority to make laws, to make sure they carried out, and to settle disagreements about them.

9. Economics Natural, Capital, and Human resources
Economic systems: traditional, market, command, and mixed
Economics
Trade barriers, money, exchange rates
Entrepreneurs
The study of how people manage their scarce (limited) resources by producing, exchanging, and using goods and services.

10. Geography How does where you live affect how you live?
How does the physical geography and climate affect how people live, work, and travel?
What are the physical and political features of a region?
How have humans changed the environment?

11. Culture
How does cultural diffusion change the region in which you live?
What is the belief system of the people and how does it affect the region?
How does language affect the region?
How does local culture affect the traditions of the region?

12. History How does the past shape the present?
How have people and events changed society?
How have influences of other, more powerful countries, affected countries today?
What factors caused European countries to colonize the world?

13. Government How does citizen satisfaction impact the government?
How much can a citizen participate in their government?
Who has the power to make laws and policies for a nation?
How many levels does the government have? (national, regional, and local)

14. Economics What factors influence a country’s standard of living?
Who decides what, how, and for whom things are made? (gov’t, people, traditions)
What is the role of entrepreneurs in the economy?
How does free and restricted trade affect countries?