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Priority Academic Student Skills
Oklahoma State Department of Education 39 Grade 4
SOCIAL STUDIES
Overview


Social studies is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote
civic competence. Social studies draws 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 develop the ability to make
informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse,
democratic society in an interdependent world.
Oklahoma schools teach social studies in Kindergarten through Grade 12. As a subject
area, social studies may be difficult to define, because it is at once multidisciplinary and
interdisciplinary. Social studies may be taught as a blend of history, geography, civics,
economics, and government in one class, perhaps called �social studies,� or it may be taught as a
series of separate discipline-based classes, such as �United States History� and �World
Geography,� within a social studies department. However it is presented, social studies as a field
of study incorporates many disciplines in an integrated fashion, and is designed to promote civic
competence. Civic competence is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required of students to be
able to assume �the office of citizen,� as Thomas Jefferson called it.
A social studies education encourages and enables each student to acquire a core of basic
knowledge, an arsenal of useful skills, and a way of thinking drawn from many academic
disciplines. Thus equipped, students are prepared to become informed, contributing, and
participating citizens in this democratic republic, the United States of America.
Core Content Areas
A foundational curriculum concentrates on the following social studies core content/subjects:
history, geography, civics, economics, and government.
History focuses on the written record of human experience, revealing how individuals and
societies resolved their problems and disclosing the consequences of their choices. By studying
the choices and decisions of the past, students can confront today�s problems and choices with a
deeper awareness of their alternatives and the likely consequences. This content area typically
appears in courses and units focusing on Oklahoma history, United States history, regional
histories, world history, and social studies.
Geography has more to do with asking questions and solving problems than with rote
memorization of isolated facts. It is the study of the earth�s surface and the processes that shape
it, the relationships between people and environments, and the connections between people and
places. As a discipline, geography provides the skills to help students answer questions about
where things are, how they got there, and how they interact with other things -- in the past, now,
and in the future. This content area typically appears in courses and units dealing with
geography, world geography, history, and social studies.
Civics, Economics, and Government give students a basic understanding of civic life, politics,
and government. They help students understand the workings of their political system and that
of others, as well as the relationship of American politics and government to world affairs. The
goal of civics and government is to develop informed, competent, and responsible citizens who
are politically aware and active and committed to the fundamental values and principles of
American constitutional democracy. Economics provides students with an understanding of how
individuals, communities, states, and nations allocate their sometimes scarce resources. A clear
Priority Academic Student Skills
Oklahoma State Department of Education 40 Grade 4
understanding of economics enables students to comprehend the economic forces that affect
them everyday and helps them to identify and evaluate the consequences of personal decisions
and public policies. Students then will understand how a democratic market economy functions,
which better prepares them to be producers, consumers, and citizens. This content area
typically appears in courses and units dealing with civics, political science, American
government, law, economics, problems of democracy, and social studies.
Oklahoma schools must provide strong course offerings in these core content areas. Students
need a solid basis in history, geography, economics, and government to live and work in their
communities today and tomorrow. The key goal of social studies is �promoting civic
competence.� Together the core content areas:
4. Build an understanding of human history.
5. Build an understanding of a citizen�s role.
6. Develop a sense of the social studies disciplines and the connections across them.
K-12 Social Studies Themes
Oklahoma�s social studies framework centers on a series of instructional themes.
These themes, identified by the National Council for the Social Studies
http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/exec.html, provide the platform for this framework.
When teachers and curriculum leaders explore the Oklahoma K-12 Social Studies Framework
themes, they discover a strong connection with the core content areas and the supporting subject
areas encompassed within the social studies classroom. The themes help coordinate the social
studies curriculum, encouraging connections between social studies and the subject areas.
The social studies themes strengthen curriculum and student learning by:
b. Building connections with course content to help students develop an
understanding of human history and their civic role, now and in the future.
c. Demonstrating how each of the disciplines in social studies affects students�
lives.
d. Providing a flow and understanding of the human story.
Note: Some social studies terms used here appear with appropriate definitions and
examples at the end of this section of PASS.
Asterisks (*) have been used to identify standards and objectives that must be assessed by the
local school district. All other skills may be assessed by the Oklahoma School Testing Program
(OSTP).
Book icons ( ) identify Information Literacy skills. Students are best served when these are
taught in collaboration and cooperation between the classroom teacher and the library media
specialist.

Priority Academic Student Skills
Oklahoma State Department of Education 41 Grade 4
SOCIAL STUDIES
Grade 4


The primary focus for the fourth grade is to explore regional United States geography,
including the physical and human characteristics of the state of Oklahoma. Fourth graders use
geographic tools to analyze the influence of the environment on the growth and development of
all major regions of the United States. Economic and civics concepts are also presented within
the context of United States geography.
Standard 1: The student will develop and practice the process skills of social studies.
1. Demonstrate the ability to utilize research materials, such as encyclopedias, almanacs,
atlases, newspapers, photographs, visual images, and computer-based technologies.
2. Construct timelines of events in the development of the regions of the United States.
3. Identify and give examples of different perspectives and points of view (e.g., in the
media, political commercials, advertisements, and literature).
Standard 2: The student will analyze the regions of the United States from a spatial
perspective.
1. Interpret geographic information using primary and secondary sources, atlases, charts,
graphs, and visual images.
2. Identify, use, and interpret basic political, physical, and thematic maps and globes.
3. Construct and use maps of the regions of the United States, the continents, and the
world to demonstrate understanding of relative location, direction, latitude, longitude,
scale, size, and shape, using appropriate geographic vocabulary, tools, and
technologies.
4. Locate on a map and identify the states, their capitals, and major metropolitan centers
of the United States by region (e.g., New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, and
Miami).
Standard 3: The student will examine the unique and common features of the physical
systems of the regions of the United States.
1. Identify the major landforms and bodies of water of the United States.
2. Compare and contrast the vegetation, climate, and spatial distribution of natural
resources of the regions.
3. Analyze how the major physical features (e.g., landforms and bodies of water) were
formed and continue to change.
NOTE: Asterisks (*) have been used to identify standards and objectives that must be assessed by the local school district. All
other skills may be assessed by the Oklahoma School Testing Program (OSTP).
Book icons ( ) identify Information Literacy skills. Students are best served when these are taught in collaboration
and cooperation between the classroom teacher and the library media specialist.
Priority Academic Student Skills
Oklahoma State Department of Education 42 Grade 4
Standard 4: The student will describe the human systems (e.g., migrations, settlements,
cultural mosaics, and economic interdependence) identified with the major
regions of the United States, including human interaction with the
environment.
1. Compare and contrast the human characteristics of early and contemporary human
settlements in the regions of the United States.
2. Explain how people are influenced by, adapt to, and alter their environment,
including agricultural efforts, housing, occupations, industries, transportation, and
communication.
3. Describe how people attempt to resolve geographic challenges (e.g., bridges, dams,
tunnels, irrigation systems, and landfills).
4. Describe the development of economic specialization in each region of the United
States, including examples of interdependence among regions and connections to
global trade.
5. Describe the causes of movement of large groups of people into the United States
from other countries and within the United States now and long ago.
Standard 5: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the unique features which
contributed to the settlement of the state of Oklahoma.
1. Identify major historical individuals, entrepreneurs, and groups, and describe their
major contributions (e.g., Sequoyah, the Boomers and the Sooners, and Frank
Phillips).
2. Describe major events of Oklahoma's past, such as settlements by Native Americans,
cattle drives, land runs, statehood, and the discovery of oil.
3. Analyze the use of Oklahoma's natural resources (e.g., salt, bison, oil, coal, timber
and sod) by early visitors and settlers.
4. Identify state and local governing bodies (e.g., the state legislature and city councils)
and officials (e.g., governor and mayors) that make laws and carry out laws, with an
emphasis on civic participation (e.g., the importance of studying the issues and
voting).
5. Develop an understanding of and an appreciation for the cultural diversity of his or
her community by examining the historical and contemporary racial, ethnic, and
cultural groups of the area.
Priority Academic Student Skills
Oklahoma State Department of Education 43 Grade 4
GLOSSARY
absolute location - the location of a point on earth�s surface which can be expressed by a grid
reference (i.e., latitude and longitude).
B.C.E. - before the Common Era; the culturally neutral equivalent of B.C. (before Christ) used
extensively by world historians and social scientists.
Bill of Rights - first ten amendments to the Constitution which limit governmental power and
outline basic rights and liberties of individuals.
biomes - very large ecosystems made up of specific plant and animal communities interacting
with the physical environment (climate and soil). They are usually identified with the climate
and climax vegetation of large areas of the earth�s surface (e.g., the Equatorial and Tropical Rain
Forest Biome).
boundary - the limit or extent within which a system exists or functions, including a social
group, a state, a country, or physical feature.
C.E. - the Common Era; the culturally neutral equivalent of A.D. (Anno Domini: in the year of
our Lord) used extensively by world historians and social scientists.
checks and balances - constitutional mechanisms that authorize each branch of government to
share powers with the other branches and thereby check their activities.
citizen - member of a political society who owes allegiance to and is entitled to participation in
and protection by and from the government.
contour map - a representation of some part of the earth�s surface using lines along which all
points are of equal elevation above or below a fixed point, usually sea level.
culture - learned behavior of a people, which includes their belief systems and languages, their
social relationships, their institutions and organizations, and their material goods (i.e., food,
clothing, buildings, tools, and machines).
democracy - form of government in which political control is exercised by all the people, either
directly or through their elected representatives.
demography - the study of population statistics, changes, and trends based on various measures
of fertility (adding to a population), mortality (subtracting from a population), and migration
(redistribution of a population).
desertification - the spread of a desert condition in arid and semiarid regions resulting from a
combination of climatic changes and increasing human pressures, such as overgrazing, removal
of vegetation, and cultivation of marginal land.
developing country - an area of the world that is changing from uneven growth to more constant
economic conditions, and that is generally characterized by low rates of urbanization, relatively
high rates of infant mortality and illiteracy, and relatively low rates of life expectancy and energy
use.
federalism - form of political organization in which governmental power is divided between a
central government and territorial subdivisions (e.g., among the national, state, and local
governments).
Priority Academic Student Skills
Oklahoma State Department of Education 44 Grade 4
geographic information system (GIS) - a geographic database that contains information about
the distribution of physical and human characteristics of places or areas. In order to test
hypotheses, maps of one characterization or a combination can be produced from the database to
analyze the date relationships. The GIS collects data about places on earth, stores it, and
manipulates the information on command to answer questions and solve problems.
judicial review - doctrine that permits federal courts to declare unconstitutional acts of
Congress, the executive, and the states.
places - locations having distinctive characteristics which give them meaning and character, and
distinguish them from other locations.
plate tectonics - the theory that the earth�s surface is composed of rigid slabs or plates. The
divergence, convergence, and slipping side-by-side of the different plates is theoretically
responsible for present-day configurations of continents, ocean basins, and major mountain
ranges and valley systems.
political party - any group that seeks to elect government officials under its label.
region - an area with one or more common characteristics or features, which give it a measure of
homogeneity and make it different from surrounding areas.
remote sensing - information gathering about the earth�s surface from a distance (usually
referring to the use of aerial photography or satellite images).
resource - an aspect of the physical environment that people value and use to meet a need for
fuel, food, industrial product, or something else of value.
rule of law - principle that every member of a society, even a ruler, must obey the law.
scale - on maps the relationship or ratio between a linear measurement on a map and the
corresponding distance on the earth�s surface. For example, the scale 1:1,000,000 means one
unit (mile or kilometer) on the map and represents 1,000,000 similar units on the earth�s surface.
Also refers to the size of places or regions being studied. For example, is one looking at
something at a local scale, regional scale, national scale, or globally?
separation of powers - division of governmental power among several institutions that must
cooperate in decision making.
site - the specific place where something is located, including its physical setting (e.g., on a flood
plain).
situation - the general location of something in relation to other places or features of a larger
region (e.g., in the center of a group of cities).
sovereignty - ultimate, supreme power in a state which, in the United States, rests with the
people.
thematic map - a map representing a specific spatial distribution, theme, or topic (e.g.,
population density, cattle production, or climates of the world).