Alabama Social Studies SS24.S.5a
The Standard
- SS24.S.5
- Compare and contrast the phases of development in the human life cycle, including birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, parenthood, middle age, and late adulthood.*
Explain the value of utilizing birth cohorts as a research device.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies · Self and Socialization
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students group people by birth years and compare their experiences or survey results. They explain how comparing these groups helps researchers spot patterns linked to the times people grew up in.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given surveys of 10th graders from two different years, a student identifies the birth cohorts and describes a difference in the results. They name another possible explanation, such as a policy change.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think a birth cohort means everyone who is the same age today. They may assume everyone in a cohort had the same childhood, or that a difference between cohorts proves what caused it.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Two surveys ask 10th graders about smoking in 2013 and 2023. Why compare these groups, and why would a difference not prove what caused it?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give students eight fictional profile cards with birth years and school experiences; have them sort the cards by birth cohort and mark shared events.
Ask students to write: Why might 10th graders surveyed in 2013 and 2023 report different screen habits? Name one explanation besides birth cohort.
Play cohort match: give teams cards listing survey year and age, then award points for matching each to its birth-year group.
Compare 10th-grade smoking rates in 2013 and 2023 from Monitoring the Future charts; identify the cohorts and one other possible cause of change.
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Related Standards
- SS24.HS.8
Utilize various historical methods to acquire information on the selected subject and relate findings to the research question created.
- SS24.HG.3
Research spatial patterns of world populations to discern population distribution and explain reasons for these patterns.
- SS24.HS.6
Compare historical methods utilized for research and evaluate how these methods yield information regarding the selected historical subject.
- SS24.1.13
Utilize primary sources to compare and contrast conditions in their community and state over time.
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