New York Social Studies


The following performance indicators from the New York State Standards for Social Studies (1999) are addressed in Odyssey Online:

Grade 6
Grades 9-10

Standard 2: World History
Grade 6


#1 The study of world history requires an understanding of world cultures and civilizations, including an analysis of important ideas, social and cultural values, beliefs and traditions. This study also examines the human condition and the connections and interactions of people across time and space and the ways different people view the same event or issue from a variety of perspectives.

• Students will know the social and economic characteristics, such as customs, traditions, child-rearing practices, ways of making a living, education and socialization practices, gender roles, foods, religious and spiritual beliefs that distinguish different cultures and civilizations.
• Students will know some important historical events and developments of past civilizations.
• Students will interpret and analyze documents and artifacts related to significant developments and events in world history.

• Students will develop timelines by placing important events and developments in world history in their correct chronological order.
• Students will study about major turning points in world history by investigating the causes and other factors that brought about change and the results of these changes.

• Students will investigate the roles and contributions of individuals and groups in relation to key social, political, cultural and religious practices throughout world history.
• Students will interpret and analyze documents and artifacts related to significant developments and events in world history.
• Students will classify historic information according to the type of activity or practice: social/cultural, political, economic, geographic, scientific, technological, and historic.

• Students will view history through the eyes of those who witnessed key events and developments in world history by analyzing their literature, diary accounts, letters, artifacts, art, music, architectural drawings and other documents.
• Students will investigate important and developments in world history by posing analytical questions, selecting relevant data, distinguishing fact from opinion, hypothesizing cause-and-effect relationships, testing those hypotheses and forming conclusions

• Students will define culture and civilization, explaining how they developed and changed over time.
• Students will investigate the various components of cultures and civilizations including social customs, norms, values and traditions; political systems; economic systems; religions and spiritual beliefs; and socialization or educational practices.
• Students will understand the development and connectedness of Western civilization and other civilizations and cultures in many areas of the world and over time.
• Students will analyze historic events from around the world by examining accounts written from different perspectives.

• Students will distinguish between the past, present and future by creating multiple-tier timelines that display important events and developments from world history across time and place.
• Students will analyze evidence critically and demonstrate an understanding of how circumstance of time and place influence perspective.
• Students will investigate key events and developments and major turning points in world history to identify the factors that brought about change and the long-term effects of these changes.

• Students will analyze the roles and contributions of individuals and groups to social, political, economic, cultural and religious practices and activities.
• Students will explain the dynamics of cultural change and how interactions between and among cultures has affected various cultural groups throughout the world.
• Students will examine the social/cultural, political, economic and religious norms and values of Western and other world cultures.

• Students will interpret and analyze documents and artifacts related to significant developments and events in world history.
• Students will plan and organize historical research projects related to regional or global interdependence.
• Students will analyze different interpretations of important events, issues or developments in world history by studying the social, political and economic context in which they were developed.