History Comes Alive

History Comes Alive

7th Grade Social Studies

Proposal: Access to Ancestry.com website, so students can research their own family trees to see where their ancestors were during each of the time periods studied during the school year. 7th grade begins with the American Civil War through modern America including both World Wars and the effects of immigration on the nation and its people. This information will include primary and secondary resources and allow history to be directly connected to the student through their own family histories.
Ancestry Library Edition
Discounted price: $895
Licenses include unlimited on-site access for one year
Remote/Home Access available at no additional charge

State Standards:

Strand 1: American History
Concept 1 Research Skills for History
Concept 6 Civil War and Reconstruction
Concept 7 Emergence of the Modern United States
Concept 8 Depression and World War II

Strand 2: World History
Concept 1 Research Skills for History
Concept 6 Age of Revolution
Concept 7 Age of Imperialism

Strand 3: Civics/Government
Concept 4 Rights, Responsibilities and Roles of Citizenship

Strand 4: Geography
Concept 1 The World in Spatial Terms
Concept 2 Places and Regions
Concept 4 Human Systems
Concept 5 Environment and Society

Rationale:

The opportunity to research one's own family history incorporates a vast majority of the standards for the grade level and provides for an authentic and real-life experience. Concept 1 for Strands 1 and 2 highlight research skills for history and this online research will help students determine the difference between primary and secondary resources. Personal connections to the research will raise the interest level of the students significantly. Once the basic information is collected, the student will then relate his or her own family history to the political happenings and geographical areas studied throughout the year. This information can also be applied to world situations including immigration to the U.S. and its causes.

Unit outcome:

Throughout the year the student will be able to relate the happenings of history directly to a real person that may have lived during a specific time and/or area and have been exposed to the factors that helped form our nation and our place in the world.

Higher Level Thinking:

Knowledge utilization: through investigation of ancestry and historical perspective, TSW write their own and their family histories relative to the era and the geographical locations as well as the political happenings of the time.
Analysis: TSW distinguish between fact and opinion, primary and secondary resources, and logically sequence and construct history with an eye on the relationship of that history to his or her family.
Comprehension: TSW identify meaning of historical happenings using graphs, maps, charts, etc.
Knowledge Retrieval: TSW will recall historical facts, locations, and events that affected the world, country and his or her own family.

Unit Assessment Criteria:

TSW construct a family pedigree tree beginning with a four-generation chart and going back, hopefully, to the American Civil War and beyond.