Department Overview Statement

Social studies is the integrated study of history and the social sciences to promote civic competence. 

Our social studies program is dedicated to providing a course of study that encourages our students to become informed and active citizens.  We are committed to providing meaningful and challenging learning experiences for our students that are connected to important social studies content and themes.  In addition, we are committed to making meaningful connections with the magnet theme of science and engineering.  Our aim is to provide students with opportunities to think and communicate in ways that will enable them to develop a working knowledge of social studies content, and to identify, understand and work to solve problems in their lives and their world.  Our goal is to prepare our students to be college ready as well as to be active citizens in a culturally diverse, rapidly changing, and interdependent world.  

Department Goals

• Students will gain knowledge of United States history, world history, civics and government, and geography. 
• Students will apply geographic knowledge, skill and concepts to understanding human behavior in relations to the physical and cultural environment.  
• Students will acquire an understanding of how ideals, principles and practices of citizenship have emerged over time and across cultures.
• Students will develop skills in chronological organization of events, the ability to read and interpret primary and secondary historical documents, and to compare and contrast trends across time and place. 
• Students will analyze the historical roots of current world problems including the complexity of relations and conflicts among nations in our increasingly interdependent world.
• Students will employ the concepts learned in social studies to better understand the development and advancement of scientific and technological discoveries and innovations.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of how laws are made and how they regulate the relationship between individual rights and societal needs. 

Teachers

Jon Bevans

Carol Gale

Heidi Scanlon

Course Descriptions

Civics - Grade 10 - 1 semester - .5 credit

Civics provides the foundation for students’ active and informed participation in our society, and for an understanding of the interaction between ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship.  This course examines political systems, political process, and civic rights and responsibilities.  

Geography - Grade 10 - 1 semester - .5 credit

This course will study the five themes of geography and apply them to all regions of the earth.  The regions studied include Canada and the United States, Latin America, Africa, Europe and Russia, Monsoon Asia, Central and Southwest Asia, and Oceania and Antarctica.  Students will be challenged to make connections between physical and human characteristics of geography, regions and cultures, and to develop critical thinking skills (i.e. compare, contrast, analyze, and synthesize). In addition, students will explore current issues which may affect the world as a whole. 

United States History - Grade 11 - 2 semesters - .5 credit each

American History investigates the forces that shaped the political, social and economic institutions of modern America.  An in-depth exploration of the United States from the late 19^th Century to today, including contemporary issues and the place of the United States in the global world, will provide the framework for study.  Like historians, students will engage in critical readings of a variety of sources, learn to consider multiple perspectives, decide which facts matter and why, and ask thoughtful questions to spark further historical investigation.  

International Studies - Grade 12 - 2 semesters - .5 credit each

International Studies emphasizes an in-depth examination of growth of global interconnections.  Students study the traditional cultures and societies of peoples of a range of world areas including Africa, the Middle East, and South and East Asia; the impact of European colonialism on changing the social, economic and belief structures of traditional societies; and the development of modern nationalism.