Grade 6

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Explain ways geographers study the Earth, its land, features, and inhabitants to understand the relationship between humans and planet earth, and identify the tools that they useSS6.1.1.a

Explain ways archeologists study the physical evidence left behind by humans to understand human culture, and identify the tools that they useSS6.1.1.b

Explain ways anthropologists work with people today to learn about their cultures and historiesSS6.1.1.c

Explain the approaches historians use to analyze and interpret the past using primary and secondary sources, and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of those approachesSS6.1.1.d

Analyze similarities and differences in the ways that geographers, archeologists, anthropologists, and historians work to identify primary sources and artifacts, analyze evidence, and construct interpretations of the pastSS6.1.1.e

Identify types of primary sources, and analyze ways that scholars use them to study the pastSS6.1.2.a

Identify types of secondary sources, and analyze ways that scholars use them to study the pastSS6.1.2.b

Analyze the importance of using oral traditions when studying historySS6.1.2.c

Analyze the challenges in using primary and secondary sources (e.g., contextualization, corroboration, bias)SS6.1.2.d

Identify ways to express the scale of time (e.g., decade, age, era, century, millennium, BCE, CE) and explain why times periods are named differently in different contextsSS6.1.3.a

Identify terms for historical periods (e.g., Paleolithic Era, Neolithic Era, Before Common Era, Common Era) and the time we are living in nowSS6.1.3.b

Identify linear and comparative timelines, and explain how to read and use themSS6.1.3.c

Identify major geographical features around the world (e.g., climate zones, bodies of water, mountains, deserts)SS6.2.1.a

Explain environmental changes that shaped the earth, and analyze how they allowed for the growth and development of human lifeSS6.2.1.b

Identify significant archeological sites and their locations, the techniques used to obtain those findings, and analyze the types of evidence found of human ancestors and their evolutionSS6.2.1.c

Analyze the reasons human groups moved around the globe and identify the locations of those movementsSS6.2.1.d

Explain the differences between Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and Homo sapiensSS6.2.1.e

Explain reasons that human ancestor lines transformed and replaced other hominid linesSS6.2.1.f

Identify the characteristics of early Homo sapiens (e.g., art, language, religion), and explain how these characteristics lead to our understanding of how they lived and how culture developedSS6.2.1.g

Explain lifeways of early societies (e.g., Hunter-Gatherer, Nomadic, permanent civilization), and identify their locations around the worldSS6.2.2.a

Analyze cultural characteristics of early societies around the world (e.g., language, art, technology, social structure)SS6.2.2.b

Explain the migration of people from Asia to the AmericasSS6.2.2.c

Identify the location of early hunter gatherer societies in the Americas, and analyze the roles of geography and environment on their settlement and developmentSS6.2.2.d

Identify the characteristics of a complex society (e.g., economy that produces food surplus and ability to store food surplus, specialized jobs, systems for government, religion, art, technology) and analyze how those characteristics influenced social lifeSS6.2.3.a

Analyze the impacts of the development of agriculture and herding on populationsSS6.2.3.b

Analyze the interaction between and spread of complex societies (e.g., migration, trade, agriculture, exchange of culture and/or language, religious conversion, colonization)SS6.2.3.c

Explain the significance of the Fertile Crescent, identify its location, and analyze the role of natural resources in its developmentSS6.2.3.d

Analyze the influence of geography on the development of the social, economic, and political structure of Indigenous civilizations in the AmericasSS6.2.3.e

Analyze the environmental developments that accompanied the rise of urban river basin societies (e.g., reliable water source, irrigation, warmer weather with expanded growing seasons, richer soil for agriculture)SS6.3.1.a

Identify early river cities on a map (e.g., Mesopotamia, Old Kingdom Egypt, Indus Valley, Yellow and Yangzi River basin), and analyze their government structures, leaders, laws, economic systems, religion and belief systems, social hierarchies, technological and social innovations, and relationship to the environmentSS6.3.1.b

Explain the role of trade and contact between early river valley civilizationsSS6.3.1.c

Analyze the reasons for the decline of the river valley civilizationsSS6.3.1.d

Analyze the role of nomads in the restructuring of the political landscape (e.g., establishment of regional trade networks, technological and social innovations such as horses and chariots)SS6.3.2.a

Identify the locations of territorial states (e.g., Middle Kingdom Egypt, Mesopotamia Kingship, Vedic peoples, Shang State), and analyze their ethnic identity, government, and techniques of coexistence with other territorial states, response to environmental changes, trade networks, labor systems, and religionSS6.3.2.b

Identify the location of small-scale political entities (e.g., microsocieties such as Austronesians, Mycenaeans, Minoans), analyze their cultural beliefs and social hierarchies, and argue how their role in trade impacted economies and technological advancesSS6.3.2.c

Explain the characteristics of empires and analyze the ways empires differed from the river valley civilizations or territorial statesSS6.4.1.a

Argue the impacts of climate change, migrations, new technologies, and administrative innovations in the rise of new empiresSS6.4.1.b

Analyze the similarities and differences in the methods of ruling an empire and the lived experiences of individuals in the Neo-Assyrian (911-612 BCE) and Persian (560-331 BCE) empires in West Asia (Middle East), Vedics (1500-600 BCE) in South Asia, and early Zhou Empire (1045-771 BCE) in East AsiaSS6.4.1.c

Identify methods of government developed in the early empires, analyze how and why they developed, and argue who benefitedSS6.4.1.d

Analyze the interaction of the early empires with peoples on the margins such as the Greeks and the Phoenicians in the Mediterranean, and argue the impacts of those interactionsSS6.4.1.e

Analyze the similarities and differences of the complex urban-based societies in sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas, the lived experiences of the people of Nubia, the Nok in West Africa, the Chavín of the Andes, and the Olmecs of MesoamericaSS6.4.1.f

Analyze cultural and environmental changes across Africa, Europe, and Asia (e.g., Vedic system of hierarchy in Northern India, Northern China's agriculture revolution, city growth on the Ganges plain), and argue the impacts of those changesSS6.4.2.a

Analyze the political and economic changes across Africa, Europe, and Asia (e.g., Shang Yang reforms in the Qin dynasty and new methods of military campaigns, development of polis in Greece or civitas in Rome, development of a system of money), and argue the impacts of those changesSS6.4.2.b

Analyze the intellectual changes across Africa, Europe, and Asia (e.g., Master Kong Fuzi or Confucius, Daoism, Siddhartha Gautama or the Buddha, Zoroastrianism, Greek philosophers and thinkers), and argue the impacts of those changesSS6.4.2.c

Analyze the definition of and conditions of a "globalizing empire"SS6.5.1.a

Identify the locations of the empires of the Han Dynasty in China, the Roman Empire, and the Mauryan Empire on a map, and analyze the ways their geographic locations and the environment affected their expansion and influenceSS6.5.1.b

Analyze the formation and course of these globalizing empires including administration and government, labor systems, economic systems, social systems and hierarchies, and relationship to the environment, and argue the impacts of these developments and who benefited in these societiesSS6.5.1.c

Analyze the use of roads and highways for communication, trade, and control within empires (e.g., roads in the Persian Empire, Roman Empire, and Qin and Han China), and argue their impactsSS6.5.2.a

Analyze the development and use of the Silk Road and the role of caravan cities, and argue the impacts of the economic, cultural, and religious changes it broughtSS6.5.2.b

Identify the routes of Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade, analyze the role of the environment on the success or failure of trade, and argue the economic and cultural influences and importance of navigational technology to the tradeSS6.5.2.c

Analyze the definition and characteristics of universalizing religionSS6.6.1.a

Analyze the beliefs and religious practices of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, their development, and how they changed over time (e.g., central teachings, influence of the environment on teachings, social stratification within the religion, religious texts, religious observations)SS6.6.1.b

Analyze the history of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, how they spread, the role of empires on their development,SS6.6.1.c

Argue the impacts of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam on the development of societies and culturesSS6.6.1.d

Argue the ways Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam continue to influence society and culture todaySS6.6.1.e

Explain the beliefs and religious practices of Bantus of Sub-Saharan Africa, Teotihuacanos of Mesoamerica, and Mayans in the Yucatan and their development, and analyze how they changed over time (e.g., central teachings, influence of the environment on teachings, social stratification within the religion, religious texts, religious observations)SS6.6.2.a

Analyze the history and growth of the Bantus of Sub-Saharan Africa, Teotihuacan of Mesoamerica, and Mayans in the Yucatan, and argue the role of political unity on their developmentSS6.6.2.b

Argue the impacts of Bantus of Sub-Saharan Africa, Teotihuacan of Mesoamerica, and Mayans in the Yucatan on society and cultureSS6.6.2.c

Analyze agricultural changes across Africa, Europe, and Asia from 300-600 CE, and argue the impacts on people and population numbersSS6.7.1.a

Analyze the reasons for the growth of commercial cities such as Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt, Quilon in India, Melaka in Malaysia, and Quanzhou in China (e.g., new maritime technologies and empire expansion), and argue the impact of their growthSS6.7.1.b

Analyze the influence of trade on the development of early sub-Saharan African states and societies including the Kingdom of Axum, Swahili coastal societies, and Timbuktu in West AfricaSS6.7.1.c

Analyze the cause and course of the Tang Dynasty's expansion into Korea and Japan, and argue its impact on those culturesSS6.7.1.d

Explain the Black Death, and argue how its impacts were felt across Africa, Europe, and AsiaSS6.7.1.e

Analyze the decentralization and spread of Islam in places such as Cordoba in Spain, Ghana in West Africa, and Baghdad in Central Asia, and argue the impacts of its growing influence and divisionSS6.7.2.a

Analyze the spread of Christianity across Africa, Europe, and Asia including the role of the Vikings, Charlemagne, the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, and the Crusades, and argue its political and cultural impacts on societiesSS6.7.2.b

Explain the philosophy of Confucianism, analyze its spread across Asia, and argue its impactSS6.7.2.c