Social Studies Department Standards
1. Time, Change and Continuity: The student will be able to demonstrate basic
notions about historical changes, occurring in family, community (their country
2. People, Places and Environment: The student will be able to analyze the
interaction among people, places and the environment, and develop an ability to
apply a geographic perspective to daily life situations.
3. Culture, Social-Science, Technology and Society: The student will be able to interpret social
realities utilizing their integrated knowledge derived from social studies,
humanities, and technology.
4. Cultural Identity: The student will be able to recognize the
elements that form part of the Puerto Rican culture, patrimony, and the
historical places that give us our cultural identity.
5. Individual Development and Identity: The student will demonstrate a sense
of self-identity, integrated personality, and an adequate concept of
himself/herself.
6. Civic Ideals and Practices: The student will be able to value and
practice the principles of a democratic system.
7. Global Communities and Consciousness: The student will demonstrate through
behavior, awareness of belonging to a global community in time and space.
8. Production, Consumption, and Distribution: The student will be able to study how
societies organize production, distribution, and consumption of goods and
services, and how to develop the ability to make effective economical decisions
in a personal and collective scenario.
Standard #1
Time, Change and
Continuity: The student will be able to demonstrate basic
notions of historical changes, occurring in family, community (e.g. their
country
Benchmarks
Level Pre - Kindergarten
1. Demonstrates knowledge of developmental
changes among family members (e.g. life cycles of family members).
2. Distinguishes similarities and differences
between past, present, and future.
3. Recognizes the sequence of events (e.g.
beginning, middle, and end) in a story.
4. Views the development of history through
changes in character traits (e.g. Taínos from Puerto
Ricans today).
Level I Kindergarten
- Second Grade
1.
Compares
and contrasts the changes of events, places, people and situations through
time, identifying how they contribute to our understanding of the past.
2.
Utilizes
adequate notions when referring to the past, present and future to explain the
changes that occurred in people, families, and communities.
3.
Identifies
and uses various sources for reconstructing the past such as: documents,
letters, maps, textbooks, etc.
4.
Recognizes
attitudes and values which have contributed to the development of good
citizens.
5.
Identifies
relevant events in their life, family, community, and country (e.g. PR and US).
6.
Reads
and constructs simple timelines.
7.
Utilizes
appropriate technological resources to discover changes that occurred through
time in individuals, families, communities, and countries (e.g. PR and US).
Level II Third - Fifth
Grade
1.
Comprehends
economic, social, and political aspects of historical changes.
2.
Identifies,
constructs, and describes historical periods and comprehends the chronological
order of events (e.g. Timeline).
3.
Interprets
and reconstructs the past in order to look for origin of historical phenomenons.
4.
Identifies
attitudes, values, and diverse forms to proceed depending on different
historical contexts and cultures.
5.
Comprehends
the difference between relevant and non-relevant causes of historical events.
6.
Utilizes
technology to study historical events.
Level III Sixth - Eighth Grade
1.
Explains
historical changes regarding politics, society and economics.
2.
Identifies
and utilizes concepts related to: current events.
3.
Investigates
in order to interpret and validate findings from the past.
4.
Develops
sensitivity by identifying oneself with the values, attitudes, and behavior of
others in different historical periods.
5.
Utilizes
the concepts of cause and effect to explain historical processes.
6.
Interprets
and constructs conceptual maps to organize historical events.
7.
Utilizes
technological resources when conducting an investigation about different
periods and historical events.
Level IV Ninth
- Twelfth Grade
1.
Applies
the concept of historical processes when analyzing events and historical
periods.
2.
Evaluates
historical events as part of a reconstruction process and interprets of the
past in order to understand the present and project the future.
3.
Applies
the historical method of inquiry when studying specific problems and social
situations in different cultural contexts.
4.
Demonstrates
appreciation towards historical legacies of humanity and the struggle for
freedom, human rights, social justice, and equality.
5.
Applies
the concepts of chronology, origin, change, and conflict to analyze changes in
patterns and community.
6.
Constructs
and applies graphic organization to present historical events or processes.
7.
Applies
technology to investigate, interpret, and analyze multiple points of view (e.g.
historical events confronted with empathy and critical judgment).
Standard # 2
People, Places and
Environment: The student will be able
to analyze the interaction among people, places and the environment, and
develop an ability to apply a geographic perspective to daily life situations.
Benchmarks
Level Pre - Kindergarten
1.
Understands
that maps can represent his or her surroundings.
2.
Knows
geographic information about oneself (e.g. town, addresses, phone
numbers).
3.
Uses
simple geographic thinking and knows natural features of the environment (e.g.
trees, plants, beaches).
4.
Knows
common features (e.g. streets, signs, routes, buildings).
5.
Knows
how people affect the environment in negative (e.g. pollution) and positive
ways (e.g. recycle, picking up litter).
Level
I Kindergarten - Second Grade
1.
Constructs
and interprets simple mental maps to determine distance and relative location.
2.
Uses
cardinal directions to indicate the relative location of an object in relation
to the classroom, school, and community.
3.
Identifies
ways to divide space at different scales and estimate distance.
4.
Identifies
essential elements of nature (e.g. mountains, plateaus, islands, oceans).
5.
Describes
the ways in which human beings interact with their physical environment, the
changes that are produced, and the importance of conservation.
6.
Identifies
how ways of life differ among people of different places and mentions how the
environment affects their ways of life and culture.
7.
Describes
changes that occurred in the school or community’s environment through time,
and based on those changes, make predictions of changes that may occur in the
future.
8.
Interprets,
uses, and distinguishes various representations of the Earth (e.g. maps,
globes, photographs).
9.
Utilizes
appropriate technology to explore and observe the world.
10.
Identifies
geographic reasons by which families move from one place to another.
Level II Third
- Fifth Grade
1.
Determines
the absolute location, using parallel and meridian lines to determine latitudes
and longitude.
2.
Constructs
and uses maps, tables, and graphs to show or distinguish spatial distribution
patterns to generate geographic information.
3.
Locates
and describes varying landforms and geographic features (e.g. mountains,
plateaus, islands, rain forests, deserts, oceans), and explains their
relationships within the ecosystem.
4.
Observes
and gives possible reasons to explain patterns of spatial distribution,
development of cities, distribution of population, and the utilization of the
Earth and migration.
5.
Explains
the human environment relationship and gives examples of it in different
geographic contexts.
6.
Describes
how physical processes, shape the Earth’s surface, relief and how the Earth sun
relationship affect the condition of living on our planet.
7.
Uses
technology to identify world regions comparing and contrasting their
characteristics.
8.
Understands
the importance of the transportation and communication systems in the economic
and social processes at different levels.
Level III Sixth - Eighth Grade
1.
Locates
and describes in various ways the geographic space in different parts of the
world and identifies the location of different places, physical features, and
important events on maps and globes.
2.
Creates
and interprets maps, charts, and graphs to represent and explain spatial
distribution patterns and utilizes mental maps to identify the relative
location of places.
3.
Analyzes
divisions of the earth surface at different levels, and proposes possible
reasons to explain the location of the limits within the divisions.
4.
Identifies
regions at different spatial scales and defines the characteristics related to
each region.
5.
Compares
and proposes alternatives for the uses of Earth and the resources in different
parts of the world.
6.
Distinguishes
the characteristics of different ecosystems.
7.
Describes
diverse ways in which natural processes and human activities alter the physical
characteristics of a particular place.
8.
Interprets,
analyzes statistics, and prepares graphs with information about migratory
movements in diverse countries throughout different historic periods.
9.
Applies
technology to study and interpret aspects of physical and human geography (e.g.
10.
Describes
patterns of migration, language diffusion, traditions, religion, illnesses,
physical elements, and other cultural aspects.
11.
Analyzes
the interaction of human and physical systems to anticipate the conditions of
the Earth in the present, and to speculate about future conditions.
12.
Presents
various reasons that lead to collaboration or to a conflict among communities,
and explains the importance of the spatial considerations for such interaction.
13.
Describes
structures related to population making use of demographic terms.
14.
Constructs
and interprets population pyramids and analyzes problems about the population
distribution and human resources distribution.
Level IV Ninth - Twelfth Grade
1.
Analyzes
the geographic environment of diverse places around the world; comparing and
contrasting peculiar aspects related to location and geographic region.
2.
Creates,
interprets uses, and synthesizes information from various representations of
the earth such as maps, globes, and photographs.
3.
Analyzes
actual environmental issues to propose and assess alternatives toward a
solution.
4.
Analyzes
the dynamic processes that occur in the atmosphere and the different layers and
surfaces of the Earth.
5.
Evaluates,
differentiates, and explains the relationships among various regional and
global patterns of geographic phenomena (e.g. landforms, soils, climate,
vegetation, natural resources, population).
6.
Analyzes
how historical events and human activity have influenced human and physical
geography (e.g.
7.
Analyzes
and evaluates social and economic effects of the impact of natural disasters.
8.
Applies
technology through investigation, analysis, and evaluation of the geographic
environment.
9.
Evaluates
the impact of the collaboration among individuals and places to solve conflicts
between the development of regions and the protection of the geographic space.
10.
Compares
and evaluates policies that are established regarding the use of the Earth and
other resources, and proposes alternatives for communities, states, and the
world.
11.
Analyzes
migratory movement in
12.
Predicts
tendencies of population distribution in the world and analyzes the economical,
political, and social consequences due to the changes of its distribution.
Standard # 3
Culture, Social-Science,
Technology and Society: The student will be able
to interpret social realities utilizing their integrated knowledge derived from
social studies, humanities, and technology.
Benchmarks
Level Pre - Kindergarten
1.
Recognizes
the importance of basic social groups such as family, and can identify his/her
role as a member of the family.
2.
Identifies
the relationship between self and basic institutions within the society (e.g.
family, home, school).
3.
Identifies
and describes artistic creations and expressions of our culture (e.g. language,
stories, music).
4.
Uses
appropriate technology to explore and observe his/her immediate environment and
the world in which he/she lives.
Level I Kindergarten - Second Grade
1.
Recognizes
the importance of basic social groups such as family, as an element of unity
and social solidarity, and can identify his/her role as member of a family.
2.
Identifies
basic institutions created by society and the relationship of people within
that society (e.g. family, home, school).
3.
Identifies
and describes the norms or laws that are needed to create a family, a
community, and a country.
4.
Describes
ways in which language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creation serve
as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a
particular country.
5.
Identifies
and describes examples in which science and technology have changed the life of
people (e.g. homemaking, childcare, work, transportation, communication).
6.
Uses
appropriate technology to explore and observe his/her immediate environment,
and the world in which he/she lives.
Level II Third - Fifth Grade
1.
Describes
instances in which changes in values, beliefs, and attitudes have resulted from
new scientific knowledge such as conservation of resources, and awareness of
chemicals harmful to life and the environment.
2.
Explores
and describes similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and
cultures address similar human needs and concerns articulating the implication of
cultural diversity.
3.
Recognizes
the importance of social institutions as elements of social unity, solidarity,
and diversity; identifying examples of how social institutions transmit
culture.
4.
Indicates
the importance of political institutions to regulate collective life in society
and identifies key elements of the democratic system.
5.
Describes
how language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations serve as
expressions of culture and influence the behavior of people living in a
particular part of the world.
6.
Explains
how science and technology have changed people’s lifestyle giving examples of
those changes in Puerto Rico, the
7.
Identifies
and describes examples in which science and technology have led to changes in
the physical environment (e.g. the building of dams and levees, offshore
drilling, medicine from the rain forests, loss of rain forests due to
extraction of resources or alternative use).
Level III Sixth - Eighth Grade
1.
Compares
and contrasts social structures and institutions in different countries and the
ways he/she transmit his/her culture.
2.
Demonstrates
an understanding of the concepts of social structure, basic institutions,
social class, groups, and collective life among others.
3.
Examines
and compares political institutions in different parts of the world that regulate
society.
4.
Explains
and gives examples of how language, literature, the arts, architecture,
artifacts, traditions, beliefs, values, and behaviors contribute to the
development and transmission of culture.
5.
Describes
situations in which technology creates conflicts and changes in people’s
values, beliefs, and attitudes.
6.
Demonstrates
through specific examples how science and technology have changed people’s
perceptions of the social and natural world, such as in their relationship to
the land, animal life, family life, economic needs, wants, and security.
Level IV Ninth - Twelfth Grade
1.
Analyzes
the processes and mechanisms through which society is organized in order to
establish a system of public order that regulates society.
2.
Applies
the concepts of power, authority, justice, law, rights, and duties, among
others, in his/her examination of persistent issues and social problems.
3.
Analyzes
the importance of countries that create political institutions and establish
laws and principles that regulate societies.
4.
Applies
an understanding of culture as an integrated whole that explains the functions
and interactions of language, literature, the arts, traditions, beliefs,
values, and behavior patterns of any given country.
5.
Seeks
reasonable and ethical solutions to problems that arise when scientific
advancement and social norms or values come into conflict.
6.
Analyzes
how science and technology influence the core values, beliefs, and attitudes of
society, and how they shape scientific and technological change.
Standard # 4
Cultural Identity: The student will be able to recognize the
elements that form part of the Puerto Rican culture, patrimony, and the
historical places that give us our cultural identity.
Benchmarks
Level Pre - Kindergarten
1.
Identifies
and explains the importance of patriotic symbols and holidays.
2.
Identifies
artistic creations as Puerto Rican cultural expressions (e.g. music,
traditions, customs).
3.
Distinguishes
basic elements of history and cultures (e.g. PR, etc.).
4.
Knows
similarities and differences among people (e.g. culture, language, gender,
abilities).
Level I Kindergarten - Second Grade
1.
Identifies
significant dates and events as part of our cultural patrimony.
2.
Knows
and respects patriotic symbols.
3.
Recognizes
the various ways in which Puerto Rican men and woman have honored and
contributed to the prestige of the country.
4.
Identifies
artistic creations as Puerto Rican cultural expressions (e.g. music,
traditions, customs).
5.
Identifies,
with examples, how technology has influenced the Puerto Rican culture (e.g.
communication, transportation, language, etc).
Level II Third - Fifth Grade
1.
Indicates
characteristics that distinguish different periods of our historic and cultural
development.
2.
Distinguishes
elements that form the cultural patrimony, left as legacies by our ancestors,
and recognizes other elements and factors that have influenced the Puerto Rican
culture.
3.
Demonstrates
pride and respect for Puerto Rican culture and recognizes the value in other
cultures.
4.
Recognizes
the historic and cultural relations of
5.
Describes
basic characteristics of the social, political, and economic development of
6.
Identifies
examples of cultural diversity in
7.
Describes
how technology has contributed to changes in our culture.
Level III Sixth - Eighth Grade