Core+Curriculum

__Objective 1__: Investigate how the United States became involved in imperialism and the Spanish-American War. a. Determine the economic, social, and military affects of United States imperialism. b. Examine the cause, course, and consequences of the Spanish-American War. c. Assess how America’s imperialism altered relationships with the Far East and Latin America.
 * Standard 4**: Students will understand how war affected the early 20th century.

__Objective 2:__ Examine how World War I affected the military and the home front of the United States. a. Identify major causes of World War I and the United States’ involvement and influence in the war; e.g., Wilson’s Fourteen Points, the Versailles Treaty. b. Determine the reasons the United States Senate refused to join the League of Nations. c. Examine the impact World War I had on the United States; e.g., government policy, industrial might, civil liberties.

__Objective 1__: Analyze how the United States coped with rapid economic and technological advances. a. Investigate how mass media affected American society. b. Assess how new inventions and consumerism influenced daily life. c. Explain how the automobile affected the business and landscape of America. __Objective 2:__ Examine the experiences of black Americans and women in the early 20th century. a. Account for the sudden growth of black consciousness. b. Describe the changes in women’s attitudes and roles in society.
 * Standard 5**: Students will understand how Americans reacted to rapid social changeduring the 1920s.

__Objective 1__: Investigate the impact of the Great Depression on the United States. a. Analyze the major causes of the Great Depression. b. Examine the social effects of the Great Depression. __Objective 2:__ Analyze the long-term effects of the New Deal on the United States. a. Explore the purposes and effectiveness of the New Deal; e.g., presidency, economics, politics. b. Investigate the shift of power from state to federal government.
 * Standard 6**: Students will understand how the Great Depression and the New Deal affected the United States.

__Objective 1:__ Determine how America shifted from isolationism to intervention. a. Analyze the factors that led to militarism and fascist aggression in the world. b. Determine how the attack on Pearl Harbor forced the United States out of isolationism. c. Examine how the alliance systems led the United States into World War II. d. Investigate the major campaigns of the United States in the European and Pacific theaters; e.g., Midway, D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, island hopping, and the bombing of Japan. __Objective 2__: Examine the impact World War II had on the American home front. a. Identify the impact of World War II on minority groups in America. b. Examine the role women played in the wartime workforce. c. Trace American mobilization for war. __Objective 3:__ Evaluate how the rules and weapons of war changed during World War II. a. Assess how the war expanded beyond military targets to civilian centers. b. Evaluate how technology changed the weapons used in World War II and introduced the atomic age.
 * Standard 7:** Students will understand the causes, course, and consequences of the United States’ role in World War II.

__Objective 1:__ Investigate how the postwar goals and action of the United States and the Soviet Union were manifested throughout the world. a. Analyze the organization and operation of the United Nations. b. Evaluate the effectiveness of American post-war foreign policy in Europe and the Soviet Union’s reaction. c. Examine the world’s reaction to nuclear weapons. __Objective 2:__ Analyze the Cold War ideology of the United States’ involvement in Asia. a. Explain America’s reaction to the fall of China to Communism under Mao Zedong. b. Trace American and United Nations involvement in the Korean police action. c. Examine the various factors that drew the United States into conflict with North Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh. d. Investigate how the Vietnam War changed the nature of warfare. __Objective 3__: Summarize the political, social, and economic reactions to the Cold War in the United States. a. Examine the successes and failures of the various political administrations; e.g., Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon. b. Analyze the Great Society programs aimed at ending poverty. c. Examine the impact of McCarthyism and Watergate on citizens’ attitudes toward government. d. Trace the development of space exploration. __Objective 4:__ Investigate the end of the Cold War and examine America’s role in the changing world. a. Compare differing American reactions to overseas military involvement. b. Trace the events that resulted in the breakup of the USSR. c. Examine the superpower status of the United States in the world.
 * Standard 8**: Students will understand the United States’ domestic and international position in the Cold War era.

__Objective 1:__ Analyze how the civil rights movement affected United States society. a. Identify the causes and consequences of civil rights legislation and court decisions. b. Investigate the fight for the political, economic, and social equality of women. c. Analyze how the black civil rights movement utilized both social and political actions to achieve its goals. d. Investigate the gains in civil rights made by the American Indian nations, Mexican Americans, and other ethnic groups in the last half of the twentieth century. __Objective 2:__ Analyze the impact of the counter- culture since the 1960s. a. Trace the development of the counter-culture from the anti-Vietnam movement. b. Assess the development of mass media as the voice of the counter-culture. c. Examine the impact of drugs on the counter-culture and the United States.
 * Standard 9:** The students will understand the emergence and development of the human rights and culture in the modern era.

__Objective 1:__ Analyze the economy of the contemporary United States. a. Examine the effects of economics on modern society. b. Trace the development of computers and the Internet and their impact on American business and globalization. __Objective 2__: Determine how politics was changed by the end of the Cold War. a. Examine the “Reagan Revolution,” its goals, success, and failures. b. Determine the impact of environmentalism on the United States. c. Analyze the impact of international terrorism on the United States.
 * Standard 10:** The students will understand economic and political changes in contemporary America.