The California State Board of Education has identified the following as the standard content for this project:
- Describe the social, political, cultural, and economic life and interactions among people of California from the pre-Columbian societies to the Spanish mission and Mexican Rancho periods.
- Discuss the major nations of California Indians , including their geographic distribution, economic activities, legends, and religious beliefs; and describe how they depended on, adapted to, and modified the physical environment by cultivation of land and use of sea resources.
- Identify the early land and sea routes to, and European settlements in, California with a focus on the exploration of the North Pacific (e.g., by James Cook , Vitus Bering , Juan Cabrillo ), noting especially the importance of mountains, deserts, ocean currents, and wind patterns.
- Describe the Spanish exploration and colonization of California, including the relationships among soldiers, missionaries, and Indians (e.g., Juan Crespi , Junipero Serra , Gaspar De Portola ).
- Describe the mapping of, geographic basis of, and economic factors in the placement and function of the Spanish missions; and understand how the mission system expanded the influence of Spain and Catholicism throughout New Spain and Latin America .
- Describe the daily lives of the people, native and nonnative, who occupied the Presidio s, missions, ranchos, and Pueblo s.
- Discuss the role of the Franciscans in changing the economy of California from a Hunter-gatherer economy to an agricultural economy.
- Describe the effects of the Mexican War For Independence on Alta California , including its effects on the territorial boundaries of North America .
- Discuss the period of Mexican rule in California and its attributes, including land grants, secularization of the missions, and the rise of the rancho economy.
This topic is controversial in that it is often taught in a way that shows the missions as great cultural centers for the California Indians without mentioning that they were used to convert local Indians to Catholicism , sometimes coercively. Discussion of revolts where Indians attacked missions are generally missing from the Fourth-grade curriculum.
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