DEPARTMENT LEVEL ENDURING UNDERSTANDING

Standard I: Analyze how individuals, groups, and institutions create and change structures of power, authority, and governance

People organize around common needs and interests
The human need for order leads to the evolution of authority and government.         
There is a relationship between rights and responsibilities

Standard II Explore and apply geographic knowledge and skills

Places have both human and physical characteristics
Resources have limitations.
There is a direct relationship between people and their environments

Standard III Recognize how time, continuity, and change affect perspectives and relationships

Change is inevitable.
Decisions have consequences in the present and to the future
Our world is connected in a delicate balance (equilibrium and entropy).

Standard IV Applies economic concepts

People have infinite wants but finite resources. 
Unequally available resources lead to exchange.

Standard V Examines cultural practices and human interactions

People exist simultaneously as an individual and as a member of a group
People are different.
All people have value
Our identity is shaped by external and internal factors