SOCIAL STUDIES
Civics 9 Intended audience: Grade 9 Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit Major outcomes:
• Provide students with a practical knowledge and understanding of American government
• Connect with the democratic process as citizens of the United States
• Apply knowledge of early founding documents including the US Constitution
• Demonstrate an understanding of how the American system of government functions
• Demonstrate an understanding that US citizens have both rights and responsibilities in order for government to maintain order in society.
• Understand the election process in the United States
• Differentiate views on the political spectrum
Honors Civics Prerequisite / Selection process: Middle school social studies grades may be considered Intended audience: Grade 9 Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit Major outcomes:
• Purpose and principles of government
• Creation of U. S. government institutions and processes
• Rights and responsibilities of citizens
• Principles of the U. S. Constitution Instructional focus: This honors course requires students to apply higher-order thinking and communication skills, study primary source documents and complete independent and / or group research projects
Geography 9 Intended audience: Grade 9 Credit: One Trimester = 0.5 credits Major outcomes:
• Review locations of physical features, climatic regions, and cultural icons
• Practice reading maps and charts
• Types of maps, when to use and how to analyze
• Effects of migration and population countries and cultures
• Types of boundaries and governments
• Global climate changes
• Human effects on the environment Projects, activities, etc.: Creating maps, developing the where the next should be located [ e. g. determine where the next supermarket should be located in your city ] Instructional focus: Use of maps, charts, Geographic Information Systems, population pyramids
AP Human Geography [ AP exam is in May each year ] Prerequisite / Selection process: Previous social studies grades may be considered or recommendation of counselor or teacher Intended audience: Grade 9 Credit: Two trimesters = 1.0 credit Major outcomes:
• Introduce students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’ s surface
• Employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to examine human socioeconomic organization and its environmental consequences
• Learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their research and applications
• Interpret maps and analyze geospatial data
• Understand and explain the implications of associations and networks among phenomena in places
• Recognize and interpret the relationships among patterns and processes at different scales of analysis
• Define regions and evaluate the regionalization process
• Characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places
• Approach the AP exam with confidence Instructional focus: College-level concepts through small and large group lecture and activities; college text is used College credit may be earned based on AP test score and institution
US History 10 Prerequisite / Selection process: Civics or Honors Civics and Human Geography or AP Human Geography Intended audience: Grade 10 Credit: Two Trimesters = 1.0 credit Major outcomes:
• Use historical skills and methods of inquiry which includes students asking questions about context, identifying diverse points of view
• Investigating evidence from multiple historical sources
• Using historical methods of inquiry, students will explore the history of the United States from early indigenous history through today
Projects, activities, etc.: Historical inquiry Instructional focus: Students will engage diverse perspectives through primary and secondary sources, identify absent voices and create and support reasoned historical arguments. Teachers will support students in developing their historical skills with the end goal of creating an actionable plan.
AP US History [ AP exam is in May each year ] Prerequisite / Selection process: Civics or Honors Civics and Geography Intended audience: Grades 10, 11, and 12 Credit: Two trimesters = 1.0 credit Prerequisite / Selection process: Previous social studies grades may be considered or recommendation of counselor or teacher Major outcomes:
• Students investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in nine historical periods from approximately 1491 to the present
• Students develop and use the same skills, practices, and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; making historical comparisons; utilizing reasoning about contextualization, causation, and continuity and change over time; and developing historical arguments
• The course also provides seven themes that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places: American and national identity; migration and settlement; politics and power; work, exchange, and technology; America in the world; geography and the environment; and culture and society
• Approach the AP exam with confidence. Instructional focus: College-level concepts through small and large group lecture and activities; college text is used College credit may be earned based on AP test score and institution.
US History Seminar Prerequisite / Selection process: AP US History Intended audience: Grades 10, 11, and 12 Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit Major outcomes:
• The study of major events in U. S. history
• Knowledge necessary to analyze problems, concepts and primary documents in U. S. History
Instructional focus: Preparation to take National Advanced Placement exam
World History 11 Prerequisite / Selection process: US History or AP US History Intended audience: Grade 11 Credit: Two trimesters = 1.0 credit Major outcomes:
• World History 11 is an investigation of global history from the beginning of humanity to the present and includes significant events, people, and traditions from various regions of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas
• This course equips students with a broad
88 High School Registration Guide