Social Studies Course Description

 

Social Studies:

 

Advanced Global Studies is an elective course in the Social Studies Department for grade 11 and 12 students. The course begins with an examination of the causes of World War II including the exploration of the ways in which World War I was an underlying cause of WWII. The final unit looks at long term changes and recurring patterns in modern world history.

 

Units

Unit 1: Causes and Global Consequences of WWII

Unit 2: Major Global Trends, 1900-1945

Unit 3: Post War Recovery

Unit 4: Global Power Shifts and the Cold War

Unit 5: Africa, Asia and Caribbean Independence

Unit 6: The Search for Peace and Stability

Unit 7: Liberal Democracy, Human Rights &Conflict

Unit8: Scientific, Technological & Cultural Trends

Unit 9: Major Global Trends since WWII

Long Term Changes and Recurring Patterns

AP Macro Economies

Although successful completion of this course is an important indicator of one’s ability to earn college credit through the Advanced Placement Microeconomics Examination, there are factors to consider besides mastery of the course content. Knowledge and application of test-taking strategies are an integral part of the formula for success.

Although successful completion of this course is an important indicator of one’s ability to earn college credit through the Advanced Placement Microeconomics Examination, there are factors to consider besides mastery of the course content. Knowledge and application of test-taking strategies are an integral part of the formula for success.

AP Micro Economies

AP Microeconomics is a year-long course designed to provide students with an understanding of the foundations and guiding principles of the subject. In order to master the material, students must demonstrate the ability to analyze economic decision-making and interactions, apply key concepts, theories and methodologies.

Although successful completion of this course is an important indicator of one’s ability to earn college credit through the Advanced Placement Microeconomics Examination, there are factors to consider besides mastery of the course content. Knowledge and application of test-taking strategies are an integral part of the formula for success.

Entrepreneurship

Business Studies: Entrepreneurship is offered as a Business Studies elective to students in grade 10. In this course students will learn what an entrepreneur is and what they do and to understand the types of business they might choose. Students will study the importance of a business plan and its components including capital and ownership options.

Units

• Entrepreneurship Defined
• Starting a new Venture
• The Business Plan
• Financing your venture
• Types of Ownership

Integrative Seminar

Social Studies: Integrative Seminar is offered as a Social Studies elective to grade 12 students. The course will train students in interdisciplinary study as well as in seminar-style learning. Students will be asked to consider a topic of their choice throughout the year from a variety of disciplinary perspectives drawn from both the sciences and the humanities. During the first semester, students will examine and discuss a series of common readings that reflect the history and development of the most persistent ideas and perspectives bearing on a common topic. During the second semester students will then begin an interdisciplinary study of their chosen topic. Each student will undertake an extended research project in a tutorial relationship with a faculty member, lead discussion of this research in the seminar, prepare and present a major paper, and submit himself or herself to an oral examination/defense of their research before a faculty committee.

The basic goal of the Integrative Seminar will be to provide students with an opportunity, singly and in group discussion, to consider how various fields of academic study can work together to contribute to our understanding of the world around us. Students will be asked to assemble into a meaningful whole some of the key concepts and theories of various academic disciplines and to make concrete use of them by carrying out and presenting an integrative project. The project will draw from the contributions of at least three academic disciplines regarding a specific theme, issue or problem area. It will address some of the linkages and differences among these disciplines and show how their combined use makes for a deeper understanding of the selected theme.

Objectives

After successfully completing Integrative Seminar, students will be able to:

• Coherently integrate a variety of academic disciplines, theories, concepts and research methods to address real world issues.
• Apply their knowledge of a variety of academic disciplines and research methodology to diverse situations, issues and circumstances.
• Communicate effectively, through writing and speech, the various steps they have followed in their integrative project.
• Critically analyze their own integrative project as well as that of their classmates.
• Successfully present and defend their findings to a faculty committee.

Units

• Courses Description
• Developing a Research Question/Topic
• Creating an Academic Argument
• Mediums of Expression
• Practicum Phase One: Research
• Practicum Phase Two: Application
• Practicum Phase Three: Colloquium

No text is provided for this course; rather students will use a variety of study materials and resources in the research and development of their individual projects.

Introduction to Business Studies and Economics

Introduction to Business Studies and Economics is an elective course in the Business Studies Department for grade 9 students. The course begins with discussion of the business environment and culture, explores the concepts of supply and demand, scarcity, management, and social responsibility, then finishes with a major marketing project.

Units

• The Business Environment
• Scarcity and Production Possibilities
• Supply and Demand
• The costs of production and Market Structures
• Management, Ethics and Social Responsibility
• People and Organizations
• Principles of Marketing

Introduction to Macro Economies

Economics: Introduction to Macroeconomics is an elective course in the Business Studies Department for grade 10 students. The course introduces macroeconomic theory including the business cycle, GDP, inflation and unemployment, and continues through international trade, currency valuation and finally to stock market behavior.

Units

• Business Cycle, Unemployment, Inflation and Growth
• Measuring Economic Performance
• Aggregate Demand and Supply
• Money
• Stabilization Policies
• International Trade
• Market Failure

Management

Business Studies: Management is an elective course in the Business Studies Department for grade 11 and 12 students. The course begins with study of the main schools of scientific management with a focus on how current management approaches draw on previous styles. The course then moves through planning, organizing, leading and controlling in an organization. Contemporary issues in managing operations is emphasized near the end of the course.

Units

Unit 1: Introduction to management &organizations

Unit 2: General managerial issues

Unit 3: Planning

Unit 4: Organizing

Unit 5: Leading

Unit 6: Controlling

 

Modern US History

Social Studies: Modern U.S. History is a required course in the Social Studies Department for grade 9 students. The focus of the 9th grade Social Studies program is to teach students about the Western Hemisphere through the study of political, social, economic, and cultural history of the nations of the Western Hemisphere with an emphasis placed on the history of the United States. Students learn about modern civilizations that formed and how they changed through the modern eras. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on the development of study skills, geographical and archaeological concepts, observation and recording of evidence, classification and interpretation of data, the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of information, and connecting the past with the present. Student performance is evaluated through written assignments, individual and group projects, written and oral reports, quizzes, tests, map activities and other common assessments. Effort is made to create interdisciplinary lessons that coincide with literature concurrently studied in English classes. Five overarching themes provide continuity in social studies in all courses: interaction between humans and the environment; development and interaction of cultures; state-building, expansion, and conflict; creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems; development and transformation of social structures.

Units

• The 1920's
• Depression and the New Deal
• America's Participation in World War II
• The Cold War
• Stabilization Policies
• International Trade
• Market Failure

Modern World History

Social Studies: Modern World History is a required course in the Social Studies Department for grade 10 students. The course begins by comparing the major ideas of philosophers and their effects on the democratic revolutions in England, the United States, France, and Latin America (e. g., John Locke, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Simon Bolívar, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison) and ends with discussion of the establishment and work of the United Nations and the purposes and functions of the Warsaw Pact, SEATO, NATO, and the Organization of American States.

Units

• Enlightenment and Revolution
• Industrialization and Nationalism
• The New Imperialism
• World War I: Causes and Courser
• World War I: Effects
• The Rise of Totalitarianism
• World War II: Causes and Consequences
• International Developments Post WWII