Grade 8Social Studies

What your child actually learns this year

Every strand and every topic in the Grade 8 Social Studies curriculum, exactly as the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development sets it out. Written so you can read it in one sitting, without a teaching qualification.

1Social Studies and Personal ManagementShort, and about your child rather than about the world.2 topics·34 questions

  • Self-Improvement

    3 skills

    Setting a goal and working towards it, taught as a skill rather than offered as advice.

  • Self-Esteem Assessment

    4 skills

    Recognising honestly what you are good at, and what is worth working on.

2Community Service LearningOne topic, and it is a real piece of work rather than a lesson.1 topic·33 questions

  • Community Service Learning Project

    6 skills

    A project planned and carried out in the community, assessed on what was actually done.

3People and RelationshipsThe largest strand: where people came from, how they have treated each other, and how to do it better.6 topics·174 questions

  • Scientific Theory about Human Origin

    6 skills

    What the fossil evidence says about where people came from, and why Kenya sits at the centre of that story.

  • Early Civilisation

    3 skills

    The first cities, and what made them possible.

  • Trans Saharan Slave Trade

    5 skills

    The trade across the desert: how it worked, who it took, and what it left behind.

  • Population Growth in Africa

    5 skills

    Why the numbers are rising, where people are moving, and what that means for a country.

  • Diversity and Interpersonal Skills

    5 skills

    Getting on with people who are not like you. A skill, and taught as one.

  • Peaceful Conflict Resolution

    6 skills

    Settling a dispute before it escalates.

4Natural and Historic Built EnvironmentsGeography, and the places that hold the continent's history.4 topics·159 questions

  • Map Reading and Interpretation

    5 skills

    Scale, direction, symbols and height, and getting a real answer off a real map.

  • Weather and Climate

    5 skills

    The difference between the two, how weather is measured, and what the instruments actually record.

  • Vegetation in Africa

    6 skills

    Why forest grows in one place and grassland in another.

  • Historical Sites and Monuments in Africa

    5 skills

    The places that hold the continent's history, and why they are protected.

5Political Developments and GovernanceHow the country is run, and what your child's part in it is.3 topics·100 questions

  • The Constitution of Kenya

    5 skills

    What the document does, how it can be changed, and why it matters that changing it is hard.

  • Human Rights

    5 skills

    What a right is, who holds it, and what is supposed to happen when one is breached.

  • Citizenship

    5 skills

    How a person becomes a citizen, and what citizenship obliges as well as what it grants.

Why you can take this page at face value

Straight from the KICD design

The strands and topics on this page are the Grade 8 Social Studies curriculum as the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development sets it out. We have not chosen them, reordered them or left any out.

Nothing here is a sample

Every topic below is covered in our question bank, not a selection of the easy ones. The numbers beside each strand are the real counts.

Marked by a machine, written by a person

Each question carries its full working and a note on why every wrong answer is wrong, so a child who misses one is told what they were thinking, not just that they were wrong.

See what your child can already do

Twenty questions, free, across any of these topics, with the complete weekly report that tells you which are solid and which are slipping. No card, nothing renews by itself.

Start free — 20 questions 🚀

500 Grade 8 Social Studies questions in the bank, covering every topic on this page.