History is a series of decisions. Students get to make them.
In U.S. History, 8th graders trace the story of the United States from the first European explorers to America's rise as a world power. Students don't just read about history; they analyze primary sources, build maps, write document-based arguments, debate in discussion boards, and live through key events in games and simulations. The goal is understanding why things happened, what choices people faced, and how those choices shaped the nation we live in today.
What students learn
Unit 1: Colonies and Revolution. Early exploration and settlement, the English colonies, and the American Revolution.
Unit 2: Building a Government. Forming a government, the Constitution and citizenship, and launching the new nation.
Unit 3: A Growing Nation. The new republic, a new national identity, the Age of Jackson, and westward expansion.
Unit 4: A Nation Divided. Life in the North and the South, reform movements, and the rising conflict over slavery.
Unit 5: Civil War and Reconstruction. The war that tested the Union, and the struggle to rebuild it.
Unit 6: Modern America Emerges. Settling the West, the rise of industry, the reform era, and America's new role in the world.
How students learn it
Primary sources and DBQs. Students read the words of the people who lived it, including letters, speeches, cartoons, and firsthand accounts, and use that evidence to build their own arguments.
Maps. Students create and analyze maps to see how geography shaped exploration, settlement, trade, and conflict.
Discussion. In class and on discussion boards, students debate the big questions and learn to back up their thinking with evidence.
Games and simulations. Students step into history and make the decisions people faced, then see the consequences play out.
Featured simulations:Â
Settlers of America
Student groups found and run their own colony from 1623 to 1776. Each turn, they decide what to build and which laws to pass, and they respond to real historical challenges, from hurricanes to shifting relations with their neighbors. Every decision affects their population. If it drops to zero, the colony falls, just as real colonies did. The game ends with a reflection connecting students' choices to what actually happened in colonial America.
Play Version 1 of Settlers of America
Bill of Rights and Alien Invasions!
Taxes
Oregon Trail
Mormon Trail
Trail of Tears
The Plague
[Other projects or simulations pending]
Current students