Social Studies
Ancient World History
This is a required full year course. Ancient World History provides an analysis of the social, political, economic and cultural history of the world from pre-history through the Renaissance. Students learn how history is sculpted over time by people, resources, conflicts, wars, governments, religions, migration, immigration, science and technology. Topics include: River Valley Civilizations, Greece and Rome, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Medieval Europe, the Renaissance, and the Age of Enlightenment.
Text: Ancient World History: Patterns of Interaction (McDougal Littell)
Credits: 1
Grade: 9
Prerequisite: None
Modern World History
Modern World History is a year-long 10th grade course that provides an analysis of the social, political, economic, and cultural history of the world from the Age of Enlightenment to the present day. Students learn how people, recourses, conflicts, wars, governments, religions, migration, immigration, science, and technology have sculpted history over time. Major themes in this course include: Enlightenment/Absolutism, Revolutions, Industrialization, Nation States, Imperialism, World War I, Between the Wars, World War II, Decolonization, and the Cold War. Study skills and critical thinking will be incorporated throughout the program.
Text: Modern World History: Patterns of Interaction (McDougal Littell)
Credits: 1
Grade: 10
Prerequisite: None
Modern World History Honors
The Modern World History Honors course is a rigorous class structured after the AP model. Thus, students will be exposed to Document Based Questions and taught how to analyze, and respond to primary and secondary historical documents as found in many AP history courses. This is a year-long 10th grade course that provides an analysis of the social, political, economic, and cultural history of the world from the Age of Enlightenment to the present day. Students learn how people, recourses, conflicts, wars, governments, religions, migration, immigration, science, and technology have sculpted history over time. Major themes in this course include: Enlightenment/Absolutism, Revolutions, Industrialization, Nation States, Imperialism, World War I, Between the Wars, World War II, Decolonization, and the Cold War.
Text: Modern World History: Patterns of Interaction (McDougal Littell)
Credits: 1
Grade: 10
Prerequisite: See AP/Honors Addendum
US History
This is a required full-year course. U.S. History provides a broad analysis of the social, political, economic, and cultural evolution of the United States from the [post-Civil War] Reconstruction Era to the present. Special emphasis is placed on the 20th century. Students learn how American history is sculpted by people, resources, conflicts, wars, governments, religions, migration, immigration, science, and technology. Topics include: America’s geographic development, the shift from isolationism to internationalism, the role and scope of government, economic Boom Bust and Recovery, totalitarianism and World Wars I & II, communism and the Cold War, as well as the modern ideological confrontation between American style liberalism and conservativism.
Text: The American Anthem (Holt)
Credit: 1
Grade: 11
Prerequisite: None
Advanced Placement US History
This is a full-year introductory college level course on United States history on the period from the first European explorations of the Americas to the present. Material covered includes: political institutions and behavior, public policy, social and economic change, diplomacy and international relations, and cultural and intellectual developments. This course will prepare students to take the College Board AP US History examination.
Text: The American Pageant (Houghton Mifflin)
Credit: 1
Grade: 11 – 12
Prerequisite: See AP/Honors Addendum
American Government
This semester class in American Government teaches seniors how the U.S. governmental and political systems operate—particularly in comparison with other forms of democratic political economy. Students examine fundamental questions such as: What is government? Is government necessary? What makes a government a good government? The course includes an examination of the U.S. Constitution, the underlying principles of democracy and the development of political institutions in the United States. Since democratic government is the arena where social, economic and political conflicts are resolved via ballots rather than bullets, the competing combatants—political parties and personalities, interest groups and other stakeholders—receive scrutiny as well.
Students intending to attend college in the USA are strongly recommended to take American Government.
Text: Magruder’s American Government, 2001 (Prentice Hall)
Credits: .5
Grade: 12
Prerequisite: 12th grade status
Economics
This semester class in economics is designed to give students a basic understanding of how people resolve the fundamental economic problems of unlimited wants and limited resources. Following a brief unit introducing economic thinking, students explore microeconomic concepts related to the actions of individual household, business firms and government. Students then move to the study of macroeconomic behavior including comparative economic stability, output, the role and creation of money, and international trade and finances. Comparative economic systems are also studied throughout the course.
Text: Economics: Principles in Actions (O’Sullivan/Sheffrfin)
Credit: .5
Grade: 10-12
Prerequisite: None
Advanced Placement Economics
This is a full year introductory college level course in both Micro and Macro Economics. Students will be engaged in evaluating and processing Micro economics concepts related to the action of individual households, business firms and government. Students then move to a study of Macro economics behavior including economic stability, output the role and creation of money in international trade and finances. This course will prepare students to take the College Board Micro & Macro Economics exam.
Text: Micro Economics/Macro Economics Principles and Policies
Credit: 1
Grade level: 11 – 12
Prerequisite: See AP/Honors Addendum
Advanced Placement World History
Although the dispersal of early humans to every livable environment resulted in a myriad of different economic, social, political, and cultural systems, all societies displayed analogous patterns of meeting their needs and exploiting their environments. This year long college level course designed for 11th and 12th grade students, considers these patterns through the themes of “technology and environment” and “diversity and dominance”. All technological development has come about through interaction with environments, both physical and human, and has, in turn, affected those environments. Yet technology and the environment do not explain or underlie all-important episodes of human experience. The theme of “diversity and dominance” will frame our conversations concerning politics, culture and society. Through these two lenses we will explore the whole of recorded human history and seek out the previously mentioned analogous patterns by concerning ourselves with the studies of imperial institutions as well as the pastoral nomads that reside on the outskirts of imperial boundaries.
Text: World Civilizations (Pearson Longman)
Credits: 1
Grades: 11 – 12
Prerequisite: See AP/Honors Addendum
Global Issues
Since this one semester elective is both defined and driven by crucial events of the day—many of which are almost impossible to predict—it demands a genuine interest in current affairs and world politics. It also requires an eager and timely analysis of controversial international news stories. Included in this intensively audio-visual and discussion oriented course are an examination of “globalization” as a unifying theme, an analysis of competing systems of political economy, international security concerns, as well as current economic, social and political issues related to global trends.
Text: International Politics on the World Stage, (Dushkin/McGraw-Hill, 1999)
Credit: .5
Grades: 11 – 12
Prerequisites: None
Philosophy
This semester long course will cover both ancient and modern schools of philosophical thought, with particular attention to how philosophy has influenced politics, art and society throughout history. Working within a seminar format, students will be expected to participate in discussions and devote considerable time to reading and interpreting difficult texts. The focus of study will be the central questions of existence, which man has pondered through the ages.
Text: Questions that Matter (McGraw Hill)
Credits: .5
Grades: 11 - 12
Prerequisite: None
Introduction to Psychology
This is a semester long course which provides a survey overview of major psychological theories and thinkers who have shaped modern thought about the workings of the mind and human behavior. Students will also examine current trends in psychology and neuro-psychology as well as different theories of cognitive, emotional, moral, and social development. Students can expect challenging reading assignments and at least one major presentation during the course of the semester.
Text: Psychology: Principles in Practice (Holt, Rhinehart and Winston)
Credits: .5
Grades: 11 - 12
Prerequisite: None
Advanced Placement Psychology
This is a one-year course offered to qualified students and equivalent to an introductory college course in psychology. This course is designed to introduce students to the systematic and scientific study of the behavioral and mental processes of human beings and other animals. Through it, students are exposed to the psychological facts, principles, and phenomena associated with each of the major sub fields within psychology. Students can expect challenging reading assignments, the writing of well thought-out essays and research papers, and at least two major presentations during the course of the year.
Text: Open
Credit: 1
Grade: 12
Prerequisite: See AP/Honors Addendum
Regional Geography
This semester course is an overview of the five themes of geography (location, place, human-environmental interactions, regions and movement) as related to countries around the world. Geographers use these five themes, or ideas, to organize and guide their studies. The class will examine the geography of human groups in diverse settings. The focus of each unit will include the following areas: human population patterns and cultural diffusion, human and environmental forces shaping regional patterns, agricultural, political, and economic geography. The course is designed to give the student a working geographical background.
Textbook: World Geography Today (Holt 2008)
Credits: .5
Grades: 11 - 12
Prerequisite: None
