National Standards for History

This revised guide is intended for teachers to aid in development of history curriculum in the schools and explains what students should know and be able to do in each of the grade levels. The book addresses two types of standards: (1) historical thinking skills; and (2) historical understandings. Standards in history for grades K-4 include: (1) "Living and Working Together in Families and Communities, Now and Long Ago"; (2) "The History of Students' Own State or Region"; (3) "The History of the United States: Democratic Principles and Values and the Peoples from Many Cultures Who Contributed to Its Cultural, Economic, and Political Heritage"; and (4) "The History of Peoples of Many Cultures Around the World." U.S. history standards for grades 5-12 include the eras: (1) "Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620)"; (2) "Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)"; (3) "Revolution and the New Nation" (1754-1820s); (4) "Expansion and Reform" (1801-1861); (5) "Civil War and Reconstruction" (1850-1877); (6) "The Development of the Industrial United States" (1870-1900); (7) "The Emergence of Modern America" (1890-1930); (8) "The Great Depression and World War II" (1929-1945); (9) "Postwar United States" (1945-1970s); and (10) "Contemporary United States" (1968-present). World history standards for grades 5-12 include the topics: (1) "The Beginnings of Human Society"; (2) "Early Civilizations and the Emergence of Pastoral Peoples, 4000-1000 BCE"; (3) "Classical Traditions, Major Religions, and Giant Empires, 1000 BCE-300 CE"; (4) "Expanding Zones of Exchange and Encounter, 300-1000 CE"; (5) "Intensified Hemispheric Interactions, 1000-1500 CE"; (6) "The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770"; (7) "An Age of Revolutions, 1750-1914"; (8) "A Half-Century of Crisis and Achievement, 1900-1945"; and (9) "The 20th Century Since 1945: Promises and Paradoxes." (EH)