Five Strands of Social Studies

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.

Five Strands (or pieces) to the Social Studies Puzzle• They are…

• Geography

• Culture

• History

• Economics

• Government

Geography

• The study of people, places and the environment

Political features: countries &

cities

Climate: weather over a period of

time

Longitude & Latitude

Physical features: Continents, oceans, and landforms

Culture

Religion & Traditions

• The beliefs, customs, laws, art, and ways of living of a group of people.

Art & Recreation

Language

Food, Dress, & Greetings

HistoryPeople who

changed society

Events that changed the way people live today

• A record of the past

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

Government

Citizen participation

• 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.

Type of government Structure of the

government

Personal freedom

Economics

• The study of how people manage their scarce (limited) resources by producing, exchanging, and using goods and services.

Trade barriers, money,

exchange rates

Natural, Capital, and

Human resources

Economic systems: traditional, market,

command, and mixed

Entrepreneurs

• Five Strands of Social Studies Matrix

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?

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?

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?

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)

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?