Grade 05: Social science

In this unit, 'Growth of knowledge and communication', you learn to trace how people shared knowledge from speech to the internet. Lessons are short and playful, with objects, pictures and talk. You see it, say it, then do it alone.

• Place it: find where and when 'Growth of knowledge and communication' happens, on a map, a timeline or in a local example.
• Gather: read or listen to two short sources and note who is speaking and why.
• Use it: trace how people shared knowledge from speech to the internet. Give a reason and one piece of evidence for every point.
• Weigh it: say what another person might think, and why, before you decide.

Step by step.

1. Step 1, Start with speech. Early people shared knowledge by talking, songs and stories, which was fast but could be forgotten. Then people painted on cave walls and carved symbols. Writing arrived about 3200 BCE in Mesopotamia, with wedge marks pressed into clay tablets.
2. Step 2, Move to paper and print. Paper was developed in China, traditionally credited to about 105 CE. Woodblock printing produced a printed book, the Diamond Sutra, in 868 CE. Around 1450 movable metal type, used by Gutenberg in Germany, allowed many copies cheaply.
3. Step 3, Compare speed. Before the telegraph, a letter from one city to another could take days by horse. In 1844 the first long-distance telegraph message was sent from Washington to Baltimore in moments. From printing in 1450 to the telegraph in 1844 is 394 years.
4. Step 4, Build a timeline for modern tools: telephone 1876, radio from about 1900 to 1920, television in the 1920s, first computer network link 1969, and the World Wide Web in 1989 to 1991. Each tool let more people receive news faster.
5. Step 5, Write a model answer: 'The printing press mattered because books became cheaper, so more people learned to read. The internet goes further, because knowledge can be shared instantly across countries, though we must check what is true.'
6. Step 6, Your turn: say how a message travelled before and after the telephone. Model answer: 'Before, a letter went by horse or ship and took days. After 1876, people could speak at once from far away.'

Activity. About 20 to 30 minutes of class work, then one short practice task for home. Keep evidence: one page in your learning book.

Standard to meet. Trace how people shared knowledge from speech to the internet: at least 4 of 5 attempts correct, said or written, with one real example from home or school.

In this unit, 'Government and services', you learn to describe local and federal government roles and public services. Lessons are short and playful, with objects, pictures and talk. You see it, say it, then do it alone.

• Place it: find where and when 'Government and services' happens, on a map, a timeline or in a local example.
• Gather: read or listen to two short sources and note who is speaking and why.
• Use it: describe local and federal government roles and public services. Give a reason and one piece of evidence for every point.
• Weigh it: say what another person might think, and why, before you decide.

Step by step.

1. Step 1, Describe the federal government. It looks after the whole country. The Federal Supreme Council has the seven Rulers. There is a President, a Vice President, and a Council of Ministers. The Federal National Council has 40 members, half chosen by voters in an electoral college (check the current figure), and gives advice on laws. Federal courts apply the law.
2. Step 2, List federal jobs. Foreign affairs, defence, national security, citizenship, currency and the federal courts are decided for the whole country. All seven emirates use the same dirham. When the UAE signs an agreement with another country, it is a federal job.
3. Step 3, Describe local government. Each emirate has its own government and departments. A local municipality looks after roads, parks, waste collection, building permits and street lights. Local police and civil defence work in each emirate. Each emirate also manages its own land and natural resources.
4. Step 4, Describe public services. Services include clean water, electricity, hospitals and clinics, schools, police and fire help. The government pays for them from public money, such as income from oil. Emergency numbers are 999 for police, 998 for an ambulance and 997 for fire.
5. Step 5, Sort real cases. A broken street light: report to the local municipality. A rubbish bin not emptied: local. A passport or national defence matter: federal. A new school curriculum idea for all schools: federal education policy with local schools. Make a two-column table of local and federal.
6. Step 6, Your turn: say whether each is local or federal: (a) the army, (b) rubbish collection, (c) agreements with other countries. Answer: (a) federal, (b) local, (c) federal.

Activity. About 20 to 30 minutes of class work, then one short practice task for home. Keep evidence: one page in your learning book.

Standard to meet. Describe local and federal government roles and public services: at least 4 of 5 attempts correct, said or written, with one real example from home or school.

In this unit, 'Trade, money and the economy', you learn to explain barter, money, trade and the UAE's trade links. Lessons are short and playful, with objects, pictures and talk. You see it, say it, then do it alone.

• Place it: find where and when 'Trade, money and the economy' happens, on a map, a timeline or in a local example.
• Gather: read or listen to two short sources and note who is speaking and why.
• Use it: explain barter, money, trade and the UAE's trade links. Give a reason and one piece of evidence for every point.
• Weigh it: say what another person might think, and why, before you decide.

Step by step.

1. Step 1, Explain barter. Before money, people swapped goods directly. A fisher might give 3 fish for 1 bag of rice. The trouble is the double coincidence of wants: the rice seller must also want fish. If not, the swap fails. Act out a barter market with cards in class.
2. Step 2, Explain money. Money is accepted as payment, so it solves the barter problem. It works as a way to buy and sell, a way to keep value for later, and a measure of value. The UAE currency is the dirham (AED), and 1 dirham equals 100 fils. Coins and notes both carry value.
3. Step 3, Do price sums. 3 bags of rice at 12 AED each cost 3 x 12 = 36 AED. Paying with a 50 AED note, the change is 50 - 36 = 14 AED. Prices let us compare: a 6 AED loaf is half the price of a 12 AED bag, so we can decide how to spend.
4. Step 4, Explain trade. Countries trade because no country has everything. Exports are goods sold to other countries, and imports are goods bought. The UAE exports oil and gas, and re-exports goods through ports and airports, while it imports food and machines. Long ago, dhows carried pearls and dates to India and East Africa.
5. Step 5, Explain the trade links today. Big ports such as Jebel Ali and busy airports connect the UAE with Asia, Africa and Europe. Free zones help companies trade. The dirham has long been pegged at about 3.67 AED to 1 US dollar (check the current figure), so 100 US dollars equals about 367 AED. Stable money helps trade.
6. Step 6, Your turn: Buy 4 notebooks at 7 AED each and pay with 50 AED. Find the cost and change, then say if the notebooks are an import or an export when bought from another country. Answer: 28 AED cost, 22 AED change; an import.

Activity. About 20 to 30 minutes of class work, then one short practice task for home. Keep evidence: one page in your learning book.

Standard to meet. Explain barter, money, trade and the UAE's trade links: at least 4 of 5 attempts correct, said or written, with one real example from home or school.

In this unit, 'Global links and sustainability', you learn to describe how countries depend on each other and protect resources. Lessons are short and playful, with objects, pictures and talk. You see it, say it, then do it alone.

• Place it: find where and when 'Global links and sustainability' happens, on a map, a timeline or in a local example.
• Gather: read or listen to two short sources and note who is speaking and why.
• Use it: describe how countries depend on each other and protect resources. Give a reason and one piece of evidence for every point.
• Weigh it: say what another person might think, and why, before you decide.

Step by step.

1. Step 1, Countries depend on each other. The UAE has little farmland, so it imports wheat and rice, and India exports rice. India imports crude oil from Gulf countries. A phone may use parts from several countries. This is called interdependence.
2. Step 2, Trace one product. Dates grown in the UAE are sold to India, and Indian tea and spices come back. Trade helps both because each country sells what it makes well and buys what it lacks. Write one such pair as a sentence.
3. Step 3, Show why resources need care. Suppose a dripping tap wastes 1 litre an hour. In a day that is 24 litres, and in a week 24 x 7 = 168 litres. Many Gulf countries make drinking water from sea water, which uses a lot of energy.
4. Step 4, Give sustainable actions. Reduce, reuse, recycle; switch off lights; plant trees; use solar energy. Dubai hosted the United Nations climate conference, COP28, from 30 November to 13 December 2023. Countries agreed that cutting emissions matters.
5. Step 5, Write a model answer: 'A family can protect resources by taking shorter showers and recycling paper. This saves water and trees, so there is enough for children in the future.'
6. Step 6, Your turn: give one way countries depend on each other and one way to save energy at school. Model answer: 'Gulf countries sell oil to India, and India sells rice. At school we can switch off fans when the room is empty.'

Activity. About 20 to 30 minutes of class work, then one short practice task for home. Keep evidence: one page in your learning book.

Standard to meet. Describe how countries depend on each other and protect resources: at least 4 of 5 attempts correct, said or written, with one real example from home or school.

On the slide: L1 Basic · Community helpers

Notes: Name three community helpers and say what each does. Notes: use pictures of a nurse, a bus driver and a shopkeeper; learners match each helper to a tool and say one way they help the neighbourhood.

On the slide: L2 Awareness · Needs, wants and rules

Notes: Tell needs from wants and say why rules help a group. Notes: sort ten picture cards into needs and wants, then vote on one class rule and count the hands: 14 for and 6 against, so 20 voters took part.

This course: Grade 05 Social science is at this level. Its units include Growth of knowledge and communication; Government and services; Trade, money and the economy; Global links and sustainability.

On the slide: L3 Foundation · Government and markets

Notes: Describe local, regional and national government and how a simple market works. Notes: follow one pencil from maker to shop; if it costs 4 to make and sells for 6, the margin is 2, which is 50 per cent of cost. Learners name one service each level provides.

On the slide: L4 Practitioner · Rights, duties and prices

Notes: Explain how supply and demand affect price and why rights come with duties. Notes: if a bad season cuts mangoes from 100 to 60 crates while buyers stay the same, price tends to rise; learners draw the two lines and predict direction before stating a duty tied to a right.

On the slide: L5 Specialist · Reading social data

Notes: Interpret a table of census or survey data and compare how two institutions work. Notes: a population rising from 2.4 to 2.7 million in ten years grew by 12.5 per cent; learners give two possible reasons and one limit of the data.

On the slide: L6 Advanced · Theory and research methods

Notes: Apply core social science theories and methods to a social problem. Notes: compare a survey with interviews for one question. Practice: an economy of 600 billion with 50 million people is 12,000 per person, and learners explain what an average hides, such as unequal shares.

On the slide: L7 Super expert · Causal research design

Notes: Design and critique a causal study with ethics, consent and clear limits. Notes: in a before-and-after comparison, the treated group rises 8 points and the comparison group 3, so the estimated effect is 5 points if trends would have run parallel. Learners test that assumption.