Social Studies

Lakeside Social Studies Department Chair: Dawn James

 

At Lakeside Middle School, the Social Studies Department helps students understand the world—past, present, near, and far. In 6th grade, students begin a two-year World Area Studies journey by exploring Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada, Europe, and Australia, examining each region through its history, geography, government, and economics. In 7th grade, students continue their world tour by studying Africa, Southwest Asia (the Middle East), and Southern and Eastern Asia, again focusing on how geography, history, governments, cultures, and economies shape these regions and the lives of their people. Finally, in 8th grade, students bring their studies home with Georgia Studies, investigating our state’s geography, history, government, and economics from Georgia’s earliest inhabitants and European settlement through the major events and developments that shaped the Georgia we know today. Along the way, students also examine Georgia’s role in the larger story of the United States. Together, our Social Studies courses aim to create informed, curious citizens who can analyze evidence, understand different perspectives, make connections between past and present—and perhaps finally explain why their Social Studies teachers get so excited about maps, primary sources, and a really good historical controversy.