CSET Social Science - independent foundations key terms

Dividing historical time into analytical periods for a stated purpose while recognizing regional differences and continuities across imposed boundaries.

The movement and adaptation of practices, goods or ideas across communities through processes including exchange, migration and conquest.

The expansion of mechanized production and associated changes in labor, energy use, settlement and social organization over time.

Processes through which colonial rule ended or transformed, with different regional struggles, institutions and post-independence constraints.

Transfers of organisms, people and goods between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after contact, involving unequal and often devastating consequences.

The post-Civil-War struggle over restoring political order, defining citizenship and enforcing rights, involving federal action and organized resistance.

The constitutional amendments addressing slavery, citizenship and equal protection, and voting discrimination after the Civil War, requiring separate enforcement analysis.

Political and economic conflict organized around regional interests, especially conflicts over slavery and its expansion in nineteenth-century United States history.

The allocation of governmental powers between national and state governments under a constitutional arrangement, distinct from separating branches at one level.

Constitutional arrangements allowing institutions to constrain one another while exercising their own distinct powers and participating in shared procedures.

The examination of governmental action against constitutional requirements by courts within their jurisdiction, distinct from making ordinary legislative policy.

The application of most federal Bill of Rights protections to state action through Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence, rather than an unchanged original arrangement.

The redistribution of representative seats among areas according to the applicable population-based rules, distinct from drawing district boundaries within an area.

The value of the next-best alternative forgone when choosing an action, not the sum of every rejected possibility.

An area defined by a shared characteristic, such as a specified crop pattern or climate, rather than necessarily by functional flows.

A transformation from a curved surface to a flat representation that necessarily changes some combinations of area, shape, distance or direction.

A population divided by a defined area, requiring consistent boundaries and units before comparing different places or periods.

An area organized by flows or interactions around a node, such as commuting to a central workplace district.

Comparing evidence from independently situated sources to evaluate agreement, contradictions and limits rather than simply collecting repeated versions of one claim.

Identifying a document’s creator, context, audience and purpose to assess what it can support and where corroboration is necessary.

A serious alternative claim or objection addressed through evidence and reasoning, rather than dismissed without examining its strongest relevant form.

Evidence gathered during learning to identify misconceptions and guide next instructional steps, rather than solely ranking final performance.

Temporary instructional support adjusted to learner needs and reduced as competence develops, preserving the substantive learning goal rather than replacing it.

Using the evidentiary practices of a field, such as contextualizing historical documents or interpreting spatial patterns, rather than applying generic recall alone.

The transfer of institutions or property from church control to civil arrangements, whose local beneficiaries and effects must be investigated historically.