Social studies standards include analyzing current and historical events using historical knowledge to draw conclusions and predict where specific current events will lead; analyzing the historical and philosophical basis of the United States Constitution and government; state constitution; evaluating American culture, political beliefs, and individual behavior; evaluating political parties, mass media, and interest groups; evaluating the organization, power, and interrelationships of institutions of national government; defending issues involving civil rights; interpreting a full range of geographic representations; analyzing the world's physical geography; interpreting basic patterns of agricultural and rural land use; interpreting basic patterns of economic development, political geography, population geography, and urban geography; and demonstrating understandings of microeconomic and macroeconomic principles. Reading and writing standards are incorporated into social studies courses.
