Cross Case Features: Context

Wadsworth Middle School: State Context

The state standards require that by the seventh grade students are able to “compare and contrast elements of culture (e.g., society, government, economy, technology, arts, ideas, and beliefs)” within the contexts of ancient history and world history. The study of China falls within the ancient history domain, and Japan within the medieval history category. The state leaves it to each district to design the curriculum to meet the requirements.

The Wadsworth School District has chosen to devote a semester to Asia at the seventh-grade level and allows each school to design its own seventh-grade curriculum. Within the Social Studies/Language Arts semester-long block, Asia is taught over the full course of the semester. Teachers are required to incorporate writing and language exercises into the social studies materials. This cross-disciplinary block of topics is commonly called “Humanities” within the school.