Unit 2 Targets

Click on the coloured tabs to view the learning goals for each chapter.

At the end of Chapter 7, you should be able to answer the following questions:

  1. How do a group’s collective beliefs and experiences contribute to the shaping of a unique identity?
  2. How could a society’s worldview influence its ability to adapt to its geography?
  3. How did religious beliefs affect the worldview of the Aztecs?
  4. How did Spanish and Aztecs view the religions of others?
  5. How did the Aztec worldview influence the way the people interacted with other cultures?

You will also practices this skill: identifying and using primary and secondary sources.


Lesson 1 is about the physical landscape of the Aztec society, and how the people's religious beliefs affected the way they responded to it. 

  Below are the questions addressed in Lesson 1.

  • In what two landscapes did the Aztec people believe?
  • What power did the Aztecs believe mountains had?
  • How did the Aztecs adapt their geography to meet their needs?
In Lesson 2 you will learn about using sources.

Below are the questions addressed in Lesson 2.

  • What is the difference between primary and secondary sources?
  • What are artifacts?
  • How do we make use of primary and secondary sources and artifacts to learn about the past?
  • How can we evaluate primary sources?
In Lesson 3, you will learn about Aztec gods, codices, calendars, sacrifice, and their beliefs about the world and their place in it.

Below are the questions addressed in Lesson 3.

  • What did the Aztecs believe about their gods?
  • What is a codex?
  • What kinds of calendars did the Aztecs have?
  • Why did the Aztecs perform sacrifices?
  • How are the Aztecs' religious beliefs reflected in the design of their city, Tenochtitlan?
Lesson 4 deals with how the religious views of the Aztecs and Spanish contributed to the culture clash that occurred when they met. 

Questions addressed in L4esson are the following:

  • How did each group feel about the other's religious beliefs?
  • Did either group try to impose its religion on the other?
In Lesson 5, you will learn about how the Aztecs expanded their empire through trade and war.

Questions addressed in Lesson 5 are the following:

  • Why did the Aztecs trade? For what and with whom did they trade?
  • Why did the Aztecs want to conquer their neighbours?

At the end of Chapter 8, you should be able to answer the following questions:

  1. How does a society’s way of looking at the world influence its customs, choices, and decisions?
  2. How did the structure of the Aztec society tell us what was important to the Aztec people?
  3. How are a society’s social structure and its educational system related?
  4. How can a society promote good citizenship?

In Lesson 1, you will learn about the head of state, family clans, merchants, farmers and artisans – all members of the Aztec social structure.

Below are the questions addressed Lesson 1.

  • What was the hierarchy of the Aztec society?
  • How were family clans organized?
  • What were the roles of merchants, farmers, and artisans?
Lesson 2 addresses the skills outcomes 8.S.1 (develop skills of critical thinking and creative thinking) and 8.S.4 (demonstrate skills of decision-making and problem solving). 

When you are done the lesson, you will have practised critical thinking and decision-making.
In Lesson 3, you will learn about the two different kinds of schools and what was learned in each.

Questions addressed in Lesson 3 are the following:

  • Why were there two different types of schools?
  • What was learned in each one?
  • How was education different for girls than boys?
In Lesson 4, you will learn how the Aztec worldview affected how they defined citizenship, responsibilities, and lawmaking.

Questions addressed in Lesson 4 are the following:

  • How were Aztecs taught about good citizenship?
  • What was the ideal Aztec citizen?
  • How did the system of laws work in Aztec society?

At the end of Chapter 9, you should be able to answer the following questions:

  1. What elements of a society’s worldview might lead to a desire to create an empire?
  2. How might the location of a country influence its religious experience?
  3. In what ways did King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella impose their religious worldview on Spanish society?
  4. In what ways did the desire for gold and glory shape Spanish actions during the 1400s and 1500s?

In Lesson 1, you will learn about how the physical closeness of Spain to the Islamic Caliphate affected what religion the people practiced.
In Lesson 2, you will learn about how the king and queen imposed their religious worldview on the people of Spain.

Questions addressed in Lesson 2 are the following:

  • How did the royal couple impose their beliefs on the people of Spain?
  • What happened to people who disagreed?
  • What was the Spanish Inquisition?
In Lesson 3, you will learn about why Spain wanted more gold and silver, and what it did to increase its quantity of these metals.

At the end of Chapter 10, you should be able to answer the following questions:

  1. How might differences in worldview contribute to the dominance of one culture over another?
  2. How does a leader’s worldview affect his or her choices and decisions?
  3. In what ways did technology and disease contribute to the Spanish dominance over the Aztecs?
  4. How did the worldviews of the Spanish and Aztecs influence the strategies they used against one another?

In Lesson 1, you will learn about Cortes and the worldview he held that drew him to conquering the Aztec people.

Questions addressed in Lesson 1 are the following:

  • Who was Cortes, and why is he famous?
  • What was the conquistadors’ formula?
  • What trouble did Cortes have with the governor of Cuba?
In Lesson 2, you will learn some reasons the Spanish were able to conquer everyone in their paths in the "New World". 

Below are the questions addressed in Lesson 2.

  • How did different weaponry affect the battles?
  • How did disease affect the Indigenous peoples?
  • How did the use of horses affect the Indigenous peoples?
Lesson 3 is about Cortes’ strategies, but it is also about how the worldviews of the Spanish and the Aztecs contributed to the strategies they chose to use.

Questions addressed in Lesson 3 are the following:

  • How did the relatively small Spanish force defeat so many people?
  • How did the Spanish and Aztec worldviews affect their decisions?

At the end of Chapter 11, you should be able to answer the following questions:

  1. How does cultural contact between two societies affect their identity and worldview?
  2. How can losing a war affect a conquered people’s worldview?
  3. How can intercultural contact produce a new society that combines aspects of both original societies?

In Lesson 1, you will learn about the conversion of the Aztec people to Christianity and their place in the new economic system that developed as Spanish people settled the Aztec world.

Questions addressed in Lesson 1 are the following:

  • How did the Spanish convert the Aztec people to Christianity?
  • How was the new economic system organized?
In Lesson 2, you will learn about what Cortes and others did to build a flourishing Spanish colony and how their worldviews changed.

Questions addressed in Lesson 2 include the following:

  • What did Cortes do to encourage men to stay in the new colony?
  • What did the Spanish king do to Cortes that made him angry?
  • What independence movement began in the colony, and who was involved in it?
  • What is Mexico like today?