Curriculum and Content Area Standards
Social Studies Standards

I. Culture
Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity, so that the learner can:

EARLY GRADES

1. explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures address similar human needs and concerns;
2. give examples of how experiences may be interpreted differently by people from diverse cultural perspectives and frames of reference;
3. describe ways in which language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a particular culture;
4. compare ways in which people from different cultures think about and deal with their physical environment and social conditions;
5. give examples and describe the importance of cultural unity and diversity within and across groups.

MIDDLE GRADES

1. compare similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures meet human needs and concerns;
2. explain how information and experiences may be interpreted by people from diverse cultural perspectives and frames of reference;
3. explain and give examples of how language, literature, the arts, architecture, other artifacts, traditions, beliefs, values, and behaviors contribute to the development and transmission of culture;
4. explain why individuals and groups respond differently to their physical and social environments and/or changes to them on the basis of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs;
5. articulate the implications of cultural diversity, as well as cohesion, within and across groups.

HIGH SCHOOL

1. analyze and explain the ways groups, societies, and cultures address human needs and concerns;
2. predict how data and experiences may be interpreted by people from diverse cultural perspectives and frames of reference;
3. apply an understanding of culture as an integrated whole that explains the functions and interactions of language, literature, the arts, traditions, beliefs and values, and behavior patterns;
4. compare and analyze societal patterns for preserving and transmitting culture while adapting to environmental or social change;
5. demonstrate the value of cultural diversity, as well as cohesion, within and across groups;
6. interpret patterns of behavior reflecting values and attitudes that contribute or pose obstacles to cross-cultural understanding;
7. construct reasoned judgments about specific cultural responses to persistent human issues;
8. explain and apply ideas, theories, and modes of inquiry drawn from anthropology and sociology in the examination of persistent issues and social problems.