Social Studies

Department Philosophy

The Social Studies Department seeks to introduce students to the origins and workings of societies, local, national, and international, for which EHS is preparing them to be intelligent citizens. The department embraces a historical core curriculum built on three foundational courses, World History I (human origins to 1500 CE) for freshmen, World History 2 (1500 to the present) or Modern European History for sophomores, and United States History for juniors. Each course is a survey of the human experience, using traditional techniques and a departmental tradition of innovation in teaching and reflection on the nature of the discipline. These courses and approaches form the foundation for senior-level classes in which students have the opportunity to pursue areas of interest and expand their perspectives in a variety of courses.

The goal of all social studies is to try to explain human behavior. At all levels, students are expected to learn to approach history by first asking, “What happened?” then to move on to analyzing “Why it happened.” 

The first step in this process is for students to acquire factual knowledge in such a way that they come to “possess” it, not just memorize it. The most important skills in determining what happened are to learn to read and listen carefully and critically, and to develop an appreciation for, and the ability to use, the special techniques of research common to all social studies, as well as those specific to the particular discipline they are studying. 

The second stage—determining why something happened—involves the higher-order thinking skills of organization, analysis, and synthesis of the information. The student is also expected to present his or her argument in writing or orally. Students may go on to evaluate the course of events for the society involved, and older students may begin to understand how values come from history and at the same time shape it.

Objectives

  1. To provide our students with instruction in and practice with critical reading so that they not only learn how to retain important information, but also begin to understand the points of view and biases of both secondary and primary sources
  2. To provide our students with instruction in and practice with critical listening and note taking
  3. To provide our students with instruction in and practice with observation of visual media
  4. To provide our students with experiential learning opportunities augmented by the regular use of resources in the Washington DC metropolitan area through tours and other outside resources
  5. To provide our students with instruction in and practice with construction of simple narratives, interpretive essays, and research papers based on primary and secondary source materials from both print and digital media
  6. To provide our students with instruction in and practice with oral arguments and presentations
  7. To provide our students with instruction in and practice with team projects as well as traditional individual assessments
  8. To offer a curriculum that is age- and skill-appropriate, reflects current theory and practice in both education and the discipline being taught, and is sequential in nature, with each succeeding level building on the information and skills of the level below it
  9. To offer teachers and students at the senior level the opportunity to pursue areas of interest and expertise
  10. To offer students who demonstrate interest and promise the opportunity to take an accelerated course of study and to stand for the Advanced Placement examination on that subject
  11. To expose our students to considerations of the nature of history and the traditions of inquiry, methodology, and discourse that underpin history and the social sciences

Requirements

The department embraces a core curriculum in history based on three fundamental courses: World History I (standard offering for freshman not in a special arts or language track), World History 2 (required of all sophomores), and United States History (required of all juniors). Certain students, with departmental approval, may take Advanced Placement Modern European History and/or Advanced Placement U.S. History instead World History 2 and U.S. History. Senior electives are taken to pursue special areas of interest and count toward general graduation credit requirements. Advanced Placement Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Human Geography are available as senior electives.

Core Courses

THEMES IN GLOBAL HISTORY 1

Themes in Global History 1 is a ninth-grade social studies course structured with a dual purpose: to introduce Episcopal High School students to the major themes, developments, and issues in the history of human communities from their origins to 1700 CE, and to prepare students to be responsible and thoughtful citizens in a global society. The course will also equip students with the essential skills required for learning in the area of social studies in future courses. 

Materials

  • World Civilizations: the Global Experience: Vol. 1, 4th edition, by Philip J. Adler and Randall L. Pouwels
  • Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (summer reading)

Content Objectives

The goal of all the social studies, including history, is to explain and predict human behavior. We do this by learning how to be a good historian. The key activity of an historian is to ask probing questions.

1. Historical themes: History is primarily the study of human cultures. Cultures develop in two ways:

  • internally by the increasing specialization of tasks in the culture. These tasks can be seen in five categories:
    • government and law
    • economic and social organization
    • technology and science
    • beliefs and religions
    • art and architecture
  • externally by contacts with other cultures which affect these same areas.

2. Historiographical skills: Studying history is a four-step process: input, retain, process, and output.

  • Learners input historical information by reading (from a computer screen or a book), by listening (i.e., lectures, music, news stories), and by “looking” at art, artifacts, architecture, performance, etc. 
    • Most frequently in this class we will be provided material (from your text, class lectures, or other resources) to use in our search for history. Also, the job of the real historian is to find and evaluate historical material, which is called historical research (whether it is in the library or on the Internet).
  • We retain historical information by:
    • taking notes,organizing them, and then reviewing those notes;
    • participating in a variety of activities such as role-playing and visual identification exercises;
    • memorizing certain information that is necessary to proceed with the next two parts of the process.
  • We process historical information or we think about it at different levels. This is the most important step, which cannot be done without the previous steps.
    • In this thinking process we make judgments about the credibility, accuracy, and reliability of information. We critically examine/question the source of the information.
    • We organize the information and then we interpret its meaning. Using this analysis we seek to learn from previous experiences.
    • Finally, we use our analysis to generalize, which means we think about these previous experiences of other cultures at different times in history to determine our own course in life and impact our own behavior and decisions, as well as forecast reactions of peoples/nations/cultures of today.
  • We must be able to display the historical information that has been processed—share our insights and thinking with others in a variety of output methods.
    • We must be able to orally present an argument in a discussion or presentation to a group
    • We must be able to effectively present that argument in a writtenessay as well.

Methodology

This will vary from teacher to teacher. There is no proven best way to teach and all the research indicates that different teachers do better with different methods and that a variety of methods will reach the most students.

1. Reading

  • Each student will be expected to complete reading each night and to complete whatever reading aids are assigned

2. Listening and taking notes

  • Students will also be expected to listen "actively," which means to participate in discussions and take notes in class. All students will be expected to have a three-ring binder to organize all notes, handouts, quizzes, and tests. Notes will be inspected by the teacher, frequently at first and less frequently if above average grades are maintained. Assignments will come from assignment sheets posted in Blackboard.

3.   Assignments

  • All Themes in Global History 1 students will follow a similar syllabus and take similar but not identical tests. Homework assignments may be different as will be daily activities, quizzes, notebook checks, supplemental readings, etc. The teachers encourage students from different classes and even with different teachers to work together unless the Social Studies Department Honor Code requirements forbid it. All teachers are willing to help any student and hope their own students will take advantage of the resources available from other teachers. 

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Quarter grades are determined through a point system, in which every assignment, test, quiz, activity, and homework assignment accumulates points. At the end of the quarter the number of points accumulated is divided by the number of possible points to determine the quarter average. 
    • Assessments will occur regularly through quizzes, tests, presentations, and discussions. Tests will usually include an objective section (matching or multiple-choice questions, people/places/event identifications, and map questions), and an essay (with a choice of essay questions).  
    • Students will be held accountable for daily homework assignments and class (engagement) participation. It is important that students are engaged in the material, with the teacher, and with their peers.
    • Students are encouraged to seek out their classroom performance on a regular basis.
    • The third quarter will include a research paper that will count two test grades, and during the fourth quarter a major PowerPoint project presentation (built on the research paper) will count as one test grade.

 2.   Use of Washington

    • Episcopal believes that the city of Washington is a resource just like a textbook from which students learn much historical material. Tours are planned to:
      • The Natural History Museum
      • The African Art Museum
      • The Sackler Gallery of Asian Art
      • The Islamic Center (Mosque)
      • The National Gallery Renaissance Art Collection 

3.   Use of Technology

    • Episcopal believes that technology will become more and more important in how we handle information and it is our goal to educate students in the latest available technology; currently we focus on laptop computers. Laptop computers will be used to find information on the World Wide Web or our own intranet; to store information in a file; to e-mail information to others, including assignments to the teacher; to word process papers; and to create PowerPoint presentations.
    • Unfortunately, technology can be misused as well. Cell phones should never be in class and are subject to heavy penalties if one rings or is used. Computers may only be open in class to take notes or do a class-related activity. Using IM, e-mail, or any similar form of communication or surfing the Internet for material unrelated to a class will result in loss of technology privileges. 

 4.   Resources

    • Episcopal High School has a writing center, staffed by teachers and upperclassmen, which is open during most study hall periods, day and evening. All students are encouraged to use the writing center for help with writing revisions and feedback on essays and speeches. 
    • Afternoon tutorial is a time for individualized attention from teachers outside of class. Students are encouraged to use the time for questions, inquiries, and further challenge, as well as extra help and support, and should get into the habit of using it at least once per week.
    • The Episcopal High School library is a wonderful resource for students. It has a growing collection of books, films, and research databases that can support any project or inquiry. Students are encouraged to explore these resources by visiting the library website or library staff. The library building has a number of places for quiet study for students when they are working during non-study hall hours. 

THEMES IN GLOBAL HISTORY 2

This course is designed to familiarize students with the major themes in Global History from the 16th through the 20th century. The themes included are globalization, colonialism, revolution, nationalism, industrialism, imperialism, communism, and decolonization.  The scope of Global History is vast so students will be presented with a manageable array of topics grouped by themes to support the important work of making connections to the 21st century.  Throughout the course there is an emphasis on the impact of human interactions through trade, government, religion, technology, economics, and geography with the aim of fostering an understanding of other cultures. Students have the opportunity to pursue certain concepts in greater depth through individualized research projects and readings.  The skills of critical reading, persuasive writing, analytical thinking, and articulate speaking will be introduced and practiced with the goal of preparing students for future scholarship.

Content Objectives

Unit I – Globalization in the Age of Exploration
  • Renaissance: Ideas, Politics, and Art
  • Exploration and Discovery: focus on trade and empire
  • Columbian Exchange
  • Mercantilism/Commodities
  • World geography
Unit II – Colonialism in the Atlantic World
  • Conquistadores
  • Spanish Empire/Viceroyalties
  • African Slave Trade/African Diaspora
  • Global Economy of the 18th century
  • Haciendas and plantations in the early Americas
Unit III – Revolution & the Age of Reason
  • The Protestant Reformation, English Reformation and the Counter-Reformation
  • From Kings to Monarchs: The State, Centralization, and Absolute v. Constitutional Monarchy
  • European Rivalries: Rise of militaries, religious wars, trade disputes, toward colonization…
  • The Scientific Revolution
  • The Enlightenment/The Philosophes
  • The French Revolution
  • Napoleon: The Rise and Fall.
  • Congress of Vienna & The Big “Four”
Unit IV – Nationalism & World Empires
  • Ideological Conflict in Europe: Liberalism vs. Conservatism
  • Unification of Italy and Germany
  • Austro-Hungarian Empire/Multiculturalism
  • British Empire/The Great Game
  • Ottoman Empire/Arab Nationalism
  • Ming/Qing China
Unit V – Industrialization, “Progress” and New Social Thought
  • Industrial Revolution
  • Steam Engine/Railroad
  • England’s Pre-requisites
  • Capitalism
  • “Progress” and Mass Leisure
  • Marxism/Socialism
Unit VI – Imperialism & World Wars
  • Scramble for Africa/Berlin Conference
  • Eastern Question
  • World War I/Paris Peace Conference
  • Interwar years: Great Depression & Rise of Fascism
  • World War II: European & Pacific Theaters
  • The Holocaust
Unit VII – Modernism & the Age of Anxiety
  • Modernism/Modernist Movement    
  • Mass Media        
Unit VIII – Communism
  • Russian Revolution of 1917
  • Lenin 1917–1920s
  • Rise of Stalin 1929 +
  • Russia = USSR/”Iron Curtain”
  • Cold War/Berlin Wall/Space Race/Arms Race
  • Revolutions of 1989
  • Russia Today: Putin, Medvedev
  • China: Rise of Communism, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, and Mao
  • China Today: Industry, human rights and government
Unit IX – Decolonization
  • Atlantic Charter
  • India/Kashmir/Gandhi/Nehru
  • Pakistan/Bangladesh
  • Pan-Africanism/Ghana/Kwame Nkrumah/Congo/Lumumba
  • South Africa/Mandela/Desmond Tutu
  • Argentina/Juan Peron/Chile/Pinochet
  • OIL!!
  • Mandate System
  • Palestine/Balfour Declaration
  • PLO/Yasir Arafat
  • Arab-Israeli conflict
  • Egypt/Suez Canal
  • Reza Pahlavi/Khomeini/Iranian Revolution
  • Iraq/Saddam Hussein/Gulf War
  • Rise of Islamism
Unit X – Globalization in the 21st century
  • Pan-American culture
  • Disparity of Wealth
  • Global Corporations
  • Age of Excess
  • Population Pressures/Environmental Degradation
  • Human Rights
  • Mass Tourism
  • Women’s Liberation
  • Dwindling oil supplies/Energy Crisis
  • Global Climate Change

Skill Objectives

  1. Discussion skills (effective communicator)
  2. Analytical/critical thinking skills (complex thinker)
  3. Research skills including footnote and bibliographic format, and including research and organizational skills (skilled information processor)
  4. Essay writing skills (effective communicator/producer)
  5. Public speaking, debate and presentation skills (may include multimedia and PowerPoint presentation skills) (effective communicator)
  6. Collaboration skills (collaborative worker)
  7. Information gathering and organizing skills (skilled information processor/consumer)
  8. Reading skills, secondary and primary sources, critical reading skills
  9. Geography skills
  10. Responsible citizen skills?? 

    Materials

    • Adler, Philip J., Pouwels, Randall L. World Civilizations: Volume II: Since 1500 Sixth Edition
    • ABC-Clio: The Modern Era (online database)   

    Methods of Evaluation

    1. Graded evaluation of classroom manner, discussion, and oral reports by quarter
    2. Tests that include essays, multiple choice, matching, short answer, geography, and identifications
    3. Semester exams that include essays, multiple choice, matching, identifications, and geography
    4. Daily reading quizzes
    5. Guiding reading questions: homework
    6. Group and individual research projects, debates, presentations, and role plays
    7. Essays and analytical papers

    HONORS GLOBAL HISTORY 2: DOCUMENTS STUDY

    This course is designed to familiarize students with the major themes in Global History from the 16th through the 20th century. The course will emphasize the use of primary source material and be guided by essential questions. The major themes covered include globalization, colonialism, revolution, nationalism, industrialism, imperialism, communism, and decolonization. The scope of this class is vast, so students will be presented with a manageable array of topics within each of these themes to support the important work of making connections to the 21st century. Throughout the course there is an emphasis on the impact of human interactions through trade, government, religion, technology, economics, and geography with the aim of fostering an understanding of other cultures and peoples by examining primary source materials created during the time period. Students will have the opportunity to pursue certain concepts in greater depth through individualized research projects and readings. The skills of critical reading, persuasive writing, analytical thinking, and articulate speaking will be introduced and practiced to prepare students for future historical scholarship.

    Content Objectives

    Unit I – Globalization in the Age of Exploration
    • Renaissance: Ideas, Politics, and Art
    • Exploration and Discovery: Focus on Trade and Empire
    • Columbian Exchange
    • Mercantilism/Commodities
    • World Geography
    Unit II – Colonialism in the Atlantic World
    • Conquistadores
    • Spanish Empire/Viceroyalties
    • African Slave Trade/African Diaspora
    • Global Economy of the 18th Century
    • Haciendas and Plantations in the Early Americas
    Unit III – Revolution and the Age of Reason
    • The Protestant Reformation, English Reformation, and the Counter-Reformation
    • From Kings to Monarchs: The State, Centralization, and Absolute versus Constitutional Monarchy
    • European Rivalries: Rise of Militaries, Religious Wars, Trade Disputes, Toward Colonization…
    • The Scientific Revolution
    • The Enlightenment
    • The French Revolution
    • Napoleon: The Rise and Fall
    • Congress of Vienna and the Big “Four”
    Unit IV – Nationalism and World Empires
    • Ideological Conflict in Europe: Liberalism versus Conservatism
    • Unification of Italy and Germany
    • Austro-Hungarian Empire/Multiculturalism
    • British Empire/The Great Game
    • Ottoman Empire/Arab Nationalism
    • Ming/Qing China
    Unit V – Industrialization, “Progress,” and New Social Thought
    • Industrial Revolution
    • Steam Engine/Railroad
    • England’s Pre-requisites
    • Capitalism
    • “Progress” and Mass Leisure
    • Marxism/Socialism
    Unit VI – Imperialism and World Wars
    • Scramble for Africa/Berlin Conference
    • Eastern Question
    • World War I/Paris Peace Conference
    • Interwar years: Great Depression and Rise of Fascism
    • World War II: European and Pacific Theaters
    • The Holocaust
    Unit VII – Modernism and the Age of Anxiety
    • Modernism/Modernist Movement    
    • Mass Media        
    Unit VIII – Communism
    • Russian Revolution of 1917
    • Lenin 1917–1920s
    • Rise of Stalin 1929 +
    • Russia = USSR/”Iron Curtain”
    • Cold War/Berlin Wall/Space Race/Arms Race
    • Revolutions of 1989
    • Russia Today: Putin, Medvedev
    • China: Rise of Communism, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, and Mao
    • China Today: Industry, Human Rights, and Government
    Unit IX – Decolonization
    • Atlantic Charter
    • India/Kashmir/Gandhi/Nehru
    • Pakistan/Bangladesh
    • Pan-Africanism/Ghana/Kwame Nkrumah/Congo/Lumumba
    • South Africa/Mandela/Desmond Tutu
    • Argentina/Juan Peron/Chile/Pinochet
    • OIL!!
    • Mandate System
    • Palestine/Balfour Declaration
    • PLO/Yasir Arafat
    • Arab-Israeli conflict
    • Egypt/Suez Canal
    • Reza Pahlavi/Khamenei/Iranian Revolution
    • Iraq/Saddam Hussein/Gulf War
    • Rise of Islamism
    Unit X – Globalization in the 21st century
    • Pan-American Culture
    • Disparity of Wealth
    • Global Corporations
    • Age of Excess
    • Population Pressures/Environmental Degradation
    • Human Rights
    • Mass Tourism
    • Women’s Liberation
    • Dwindling Oil Supplies/Energy Crisis
    • Global Climate Change


    Skill Objectives

    1. Reading skills with EMPHASIS on primary source material
    2. Discussion skills (effective communicator)
    3. Analytical/critical thinking skills (complex thinker)
    4. Research skills including footnote and bibliographic format, and including research and organizational skills (skilled information processor)
    5. Essay writing skills (effective communicator/producer)
    6. Public speaking, debate, and presentation skills (may include multimedia and PowerPoint presentation skills) (effective communicator)
    7. Collaboration skills (collaborative worker)
    8. Information gathering and organizing skills (skilled information processor/consumer)
    9. Geography skills
    10. Responsible citizen skills

    Materials

    • Adler, Philip J., Pouwels, Randall L. World Civilizations, Volume II: Since 1500, sixth edition
    • Pomeranz and Topik, The World Trade Created

    Methods of Evaluation

    1. Graded evaluation of classroom manner, discussion, and oral reports by quarter
    2. Tests that include essays, multiple choice, matching, short answer, geography, and identifications
    3. Semester exams that include essays, multiple choice, matching, identifications, and geography
    4. Daily reading quizzes
    5. Guiding reading questions: homework
    6. Group and individual research projects, debates, presentations, and role plays
    7. Essays and analytical papers

     

    U.S. HISTORY: A HISTORY OF COLONIAL AMERICA & THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC

    The goal of this two-semester, required course in the Social Studies Department is for the students to learn the major themes found in the development of the United States over a period of approximately four hundred years while enhancing their individual skills of reading, writing,researching, articulating, presenting, debating, and thinking critically.

    Content Objectives

    • To understand the colonization of the New World by emphasizing the settlement on British North America and the development of separate societies along the Atlantic seaboard
    • To understand the mutually beneficial relationship between the American colonies and Britain and how that relationship devolved into dissolution
    • To understand the contract theory of government and notion of popular sovereignty, and their collective influence on the framing of the Constitution and subsequent development of constitutional law in the U.S.
    • To understand the establishment of the American Republic after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War and during the creation of the First Political Party System
    • To understand that independence from Great Britain was actually achieved with the conclusion of the War of 1812
    • To understand that the social, political, and economic rise of the “common man” and his impact on the development of the  Second Political Party System
    • To understand the westward expansion of the young nation and how this activity heightened the long-standing rivalry between the geographic sections that led to the Third Political Party System, Civil War, and Reconstruction
    • To understand how secession occurred and a civil war broke out after the election of 1860 and to learn how the Federal Union prevailed in the military conflict
    • To understand the impact of technology, industrialization, and other innovation on the U.S. economy and society, and the resulting changes caused by the growth of big business on the people within the United States and overseas
    • To understand the American reform tradition, and the reasons that Populists, Progressives, and other groups sought a “better” America
    • To understand that at the outset of the 20th century the U.S. was emerging as a world power and would be fully recognized as such by the end of World War I
    • To understand political, social, and economic reaction to the Great War, the excess of the 1920s, and the causes of the Great Depression
    • To understand the rise of the regulatory welfare state and both parties’ attempts to move between it and the laissez-faire liberal state
    • To understand America ’s continued reluctance to join a war outside of the Western Hemisphere, its ultimate reasons for involvement in World War II, and how it emerged from the conflict economically vibrant and the “leader of the free world”
    • To understand the fighting of more wars abroad (the cold war) and at home (the Civil Rights Movement and the counter culture) amidst economic prosperity
    • To understand the challenges to American governance raised by the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and a presidential resignation
    • To understand the political restructuring of the U.S. in the wake of stagflation of the 1970s, Reaganomics, the dot-com boom, and 9/11

    Skill Objectives

    The students will be expected to master the following skills:

    • Reading, retaining, and interpreting material from textbook, primary/secondary sources, and class discussions
    • Researching and evaluating material from a variety of other sources, most prominently electronic, Internet, video, maps, and charts
    • Taking objective and essay tests
    • Compiling and synthesizing information for presentation in analytical essays, research papers, oral presentations, and debates
    • Interacting with museum and human resources in the Washington DC area;
    • Working in groups with other students to plan how to represent a country or countries in an oral based “model” assembly and then to carry out that representation as a team member
    • Considering the interplay between social, political, and economic phenomena and assessing and articulating their impact on historical patterns and trends
    • Thinking about the U.S. from the twin perspectives of the people who lived in it during a given period and to evaluate it from the viewpoint of today

    Materials

    • The American Pageant by Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006)
    • Primary documents
    • American History. ABC-CLIO Schools subscription websites.
    • United Streaming. Streaming video database.

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Daily assessment in the form of prescribed journal or reading quiz
    • Objective packets which complement reading assignments
    • Unit tests that are a combination of objective questions, essay writing, and short answer identifications
    • Two research projects, one each semester
    • Class participation
    • Periodic analytical essays
    • Oral debate

    AP UNITED STATES HISTORY

    This is an introduction and overview to familiarize students with the basic skills, concepts, and content goals for Advanced Placement United States History. This course is designed to build an understanding of the various significant aspects of American social and cultural development, political institutions, diplomacy, and economics from the pre-Columbian era through to the present. Working within that conceptual framework, we will focus upon teaching and reinforcing critical and analytical reading, writing, communicating, and thinking skills. These skills are vital for the students’ intellectual development from mere concrete-operational thinking to more advanced critical and analytical modes of thought and expression. A significant focus of this course will be the preparation for the Advanced Placement examination in U.S. history.

    Content Objectives

    A- Foundations of colonization
    B- Colonial society
    C- American Revolution

    A- Federalism
    B- Jeffersonian era
    C- Birth of American nationalism

    A- Jacksonian America
    B- Antebellum reform
    C- Manifest Destiny expansion

    A- Crises of the 1850s
    B- Civil War
    C- Reconstruction

    A- The Old West
    B- Industrialization
    C- Gilded Age of politics

    A- Urban culture and reform
    B- Progressivism
    C- Imperialism and foreign policy 1890–1917

    A- The Great War
    B- The Roaring ’20s
    C- Crash and the Great Depression

    A- New Deal
    B- Interwar diplomacy
    C- World War II

    A- Truman’s cold war
    B- 1950s confidence and conformity
    C- JFK’S New Frontier

    A- LBJ’S Great Society
    B- Nixon and Vietnam
    C- U.S. since 1976

    The course content is divided into ten units and presented to the students in a format known as the “Big Picture.” Each unit has three main topics lettered A, B, and C that follow some semblance of chronological flow. Below the main topics are between four to seven subtopics, or “folders,” that reflect the various significant aspects of American social and cultural development, political institutions, diplomacy, and economics. These folders function in a sense much like the nested folders on an Internet “favorites” folder system where focusing on one folder opens up a series of pre-conscious choices to consider within that folder. The third level of the “Big Picture” consists of the various historical facts that are to be learned in the context of the folder in which they belong. They can also be compared to the other facts within that same folder. The folders within a topic are then to be compared and interrelated with respect to how they contributed to the main topic and then the three main topics are interrelated to create a flow and sense of the “Big Picture” for each unit. The goal of this approach is to learn each new fact not in a vacuum, but as part of an interrelated continuum where a context for analysis has been established before each fact is learned. It then becomes easier for each of the major themes (gender, immigration, religion, etc.) within a unit to emerge and then to trace the various themes across different units.

    Skill Objectives

    In AP U.S. History, the content studied in the ten units will serve as a vehicle for practicing and reinforcing the crucial skills of critical thinking, reading, debating, and particularly writing. 

    The onus is placed upon students to become familiar not only with the facts and historiography involved, but also with an arsenal of test-specific skills. The three-hour-and-five-minute examination consists of two sections: a 55-minute multiple choice section (80 questions), and a 130-minute free-response essay section. The free-response section begins with a mandatory 15-minute reading period. Students are advised to spend most of the 15 minutes analyzing the documents and planning their answer to the document-based essay question (DBQ) in Part A. Suggested writing time for the DBQ is 45 minutes after that. Parts B and C each include two standard essay questions that cover the period from the first European explorations of the Americas to approximately 1980. Students are required to answer one essay question in each part (B and C) in a total of 70 minutes. Suggested time to be spent on each of the essay questions you choose to answer in parts B and C is five minutes of planning and 30 minutes of writing.   

    Materials

    • Textbook: Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey. 12th ed. ( Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007).
    • Additional readings
    • Ellis, Joseph. Founding Brothers ( New York: Vintage Books, 2000).
    • Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition (New York: Vintage Books, 1989).
    • Greene, Jack P. Pursuits of Happiness (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1988). Summer reading assignment essay response questions to submit.
    • Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me (New York: Touchstone, 1995).
    • Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States ( New York: Harper Perennial, 2003).

    We will be using the textbook American History: a Survey for content and historical perspective as well as a number of document readers and other primary and secondary sources. The course will also be supplemented by a number of scholarly resources that I have compiled, particularly primary source documents. This course is designed to simulate a college-level survey course, so the depth and analysis will be gauged at an extremely challenging level. Our goal is to have not just the enormous factual content at our recall, but also to develop the expressive skills required to evaluate, critically analyze, and synthesize various topics of United States history.

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Unit tests, document-based essays, free-response essays, multiple choice
    • Reading quizzes; multiple choice or written free-response
    • Summer reading essays
    • Collaborative projects, PowerPoints, creative presentations, poems, skits
    • “Hot seat” debates
    • Primary source document work, creating and interpreting questions from primary sources
    • Geography, map work
    • Paper on American historiography
    • Creating political cartoons
    • Multiple choice review packets
    • Semester examination, DBQ, free-response, 80 multiple choice
    • Practice AP examination

    AP and Honors Elective Courses

    AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

    The purpose of AP Human Geography is to introduce students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface. Students employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to analyze human social organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools geographers' use in their science and practice.

    AP Human Geography focuses on human experience on earth: not only where things developed, but why they developed where they did. What were/are the environmental, cultural, religious, and economic forces acting on humans in that place?

    Content Objectives

    Modules cover topics in the following geographic disciplines: culture, language, religion, population, agriculture, urbanization, industrialization, economic development, and political organization of space.

    Skill Objectives

    On successful completion of the course, the student should be able to:

    • use and think about maps and spatial data sets
    • understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena in places
    • recognize and interpret at different scales the relationships among patterns and processes
    • define regions and evaluate the regionalization process
    • characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places

    Materials

    • Human Geography: Culture, Society, and Space Harm J. de Blij, Alexander B Murphy & Erin H. Fouberg 8th edition ©2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc ISBN 0-471-67951-8
    • Human Geography in Action Michael Kuby, John Harner, & Patricia Gober 4th edition ©2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-70121-1
    • Goode's World Atlas Howard Veregin Editor 21st edition ©2005 by Rand McNally & Company ISBN 0-528-85339-2
    • Numerous class handouts from current periodicals for reading assignments and class discussions

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Unit tests—at least three per grading period
    • With each module, students will have research papers on specific countries.
    • Students will create and maintain a web page with a partner. These web pages will highlight the work done in class and enlighten fellow students as to major issues in assigned countries.
    • Participation in class discussion
    • Weekly map quizzes
    • Weekly reading quizzes
    • Final examination counts 25% of the semester

    HONORS GOVERNMENT

    Utilizing a case study approach and making extensive use of Washington, D.C., resources, the Honors U.S. Government course examines selected key issues related to the American political system, foreign and domestic policymaking, and American society and culture. The course does not have a set syllabus; rather, it generally reacts to events in real time that provide a jumping off point for examinations of governmental processes and outcomes. Working individually and in teams, students research, analyze, and report on key topics within the case study, in many cases assisting in the preparation of class reports that are disseminated on the World Wide Web via “Views from the Hill,” the class’ online publication. Once completed, the reports are often shared with people in Washington directly or indirectly involved in the policymaking process.

    Content Objectives

    Depending on circumstances nationally and internationally, the course will not necessarily cover the same topics every year; following, however, is a list of general topics from which the individual case studies are drawn:

    • The U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights—origin, interpretation, modern relevance; in-depth examination of key civil rights and civil liberties issues
    • Power sharing within the U.S. Government (USG)—the policymaking roles and internal dynamics of the presidency, Congress, and the federal courts
    • The roles of extra-governmental “players”—political parties, interest groups, the media—in the policymaking process
    • The role of public opinion in a democracy
    • The political system: ideology and political socialization, voter participation, the role of political parties (including Third Parties), the presidential election process from the early stages through Election Day, the impact of elections
    • Foreign policymaking: internal mechanics, historical and external influences and outcomes
    • Domestic policymaking: the legislative process, competing governmental and non-governmental “actors,” the politics of policymaking and the legislative outcomes

    Skill Objectives

    • Reading and analyzing government-related analyses and primary sources related to key topics
    • Discussing the above in class, and working with others to reach consensus opinions on key topics
    • Writing: analytical research papers, test essays, and editorial commentaries on current events
    • Presenting material to and questioning Washington-area experts
    • Presenting findings (research/analytical/editorial) in class
    • Objective test taking

    Materials

    • The Agenda, Bob Woodward, Simon & Schuster, 1995.
    • Contemporary Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy , Ralph G. Carter, ed., CQ Press, 2005.
    • Numerous class handouts and online sites

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Midterm exams—at least two per grading period
    • Research papers—at least two per grading period
    • Editorial essays—at least one per grading period
    • Contributions to group research projects
    • Homework completion and participation in class discussions
    • Final examination (objective and predominantly essay)

    AP MACROECONOMICS

    The purpose of this course is to provide students with a college-level, one-semester course introducing principles of macroeconomics. Students should be aware that this is not a course in business or accounting, but a course built on abstract models of how the national economy, business firms, and consumers function in a theoretical and idealized world. The course will prepare the students to take the Advanced Placement examination in macroeconomics.

    Content Objectives

    1. Introductory concepts

    • Scarcity and the definition of economics
    • Types of economic systems
    • Basic questions of economics
    • The science of economics
    • Choices, opportunity costs and production possibility curves
    • Margins and incentives
    • Market failure
    • Growth, unemployment, and inflation
    • Functions, equations, and graphs
    • Gains from trade
    • Comparative advantage

    2. Supply and demand

    • Definitions, schedules, and graphs of supply and demand
    • Why an equilibrium price emerges
    • Shifting supply and demand curves: reasons, graphs, and results
    • Gross domestic product—GDP
    • Measuring GDP, economic growth, and inflation
    • Measuring employment and unemployment
    • Aggregate supply and demand

    3. Aggregate supply and economic growth

    • The economy at full employment
    • Capital, investment, and savings
    • Economic growth
    • Aggregate demand and inflation
    • Expenditure multipliers
    • Money
    • Monetary policy
    • Inflation
    • Stabilization problems and policies
    • The business cycle
    • Macro economic policy challenges
    • International economics
    • Gains from trade
    • International exchange

    Skill Objectives

    • Reinforcing good reading and note-taking skills
    • Understanding economic choices and incentives in terms of costs and benefits
    • Understanding the uncertainties in economics based on the difficulty of meeting the ceteris paribus conditions of a good laboratory experiment
    • Practicing how to read charts and graphs and learning how to use charts and graphs to present economics concepts
    • Understanding the difference between economics data used to present a factual position and that used to argue for a specific policy
    • Practicing the skills needed to take the AP exam in macroeconomics: answering multiple choice and free-response questions

    Materials

    • Michael Parkin, Macroeconomics, seventh edition, ( New York: Addison, Wesley, Longman, 2005). The book includes a workbook on CDROM and access to a website with current information on it.
    • A summer reading book is required.

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Tests are based on the format of the AP exams and include multiple choice questions and a free-response question.
    • The semester exam will be a full two-hour practice AP if the course is offered first semester.
    • Quizzes will be used to ensure the student keeps up and these will be almost exclusively multiple choice questions.
    • Summer reading will be evaluated by a journal directed toward questions posted by the teacher.

    AP MICROECONOMICS

    The purpose of this course is to provide students with a college-level, one-semester course introducing principles of macroeconomics. Students should be aware that this is not a course in business or accounting, but a course built on abstract models of how the national economy, business firms, and consumers function in a theoretical and idealized world. The course will prepare the students to take the Advanced Placement examination in microeconomics.

    Content Objectives

    1. Introductory concepts

    • Scarcity and the definition of economics
    • Types of economic systems
    • Basic questions of economics
    • The science of economics
    • Choices, opportunity costs, and production possibility curves
    • Margins and incentives
    • Market failure
    • Growth, unemployment, and inflation
    • Functions, equations, and graphs
    • Gains from trade
    • Comparative advantage

    2. Supply and demand

    • Definitions, schedules, and graphs of supply and demand
    • Why an equilibrium price emerges
    • Shifting supply and demand curves: reasons, graphs, and results

    3. Markets in action

    • Demand elasticity
    • Revenue and elasticity
    • Supply elasticity
    • Market efficiency
    • Marginal cost
    • Marginal benefit
    • Consumer surplus
    • Producer surplus
    • Price ceilings
    • Price floors
    • Taxes: incidence and elasticity
    • Special problems of the farmer

    4. Consumer choices

    • Marginal utility theory
    • Preferences and indifference curves
    • Work-leisure decisions

    5. Theory of the firm

    • Economic profit and accounting profit
    • Opportunity costs
    • Efficiency
    • Product curves
    • Total, marginal, and average costs
    • Perfect competition
    • Monopoly
    • Monopolistic competition
    • Oligopoly and game theory

    6. Market failure and government intervention

    • Public goods
    • Antitrust
    • Externalities
    • Uncertainties and information problems

    7. Factor and resource markets

    • Labor markets
    • Capital markets
    • Natural resources
    • Inequality and redistribution

    8. The global economy

    • Comparative advantage
    • Gains from trade
    • Trade restrictions
    • Protection or free trade?

    Skill Objectives

    • Reinforcing good reading and note-taking skills
    • Understanding economic choices and incentives in terms of costs and benefits
    • Understanding the uncertainties in economics based on the difficulty of meeting the ceteris paribus conditions of a good laboratory experiment
    • Practicing how to read charts and graphs and learning how to use charts and graphs to present economics concepts
    • Understanding the difference between economics data used to present a factual position and that used to argue for a specific policy
    • Practicing the skills needed to take the AP exam in microeconomics: answering multiple choice and free-response questions

    Materials

    • Michael Parkin, Microeconomics, seventh edition, ( New York: Addison, Wesley, Longman, 2005). The book includes a workbook on CDROM and access to a website with current information on it.
    • A summer reading book is required.

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Tests are based on the format of the AP exams and include multiple choice questions and a free-response question.
    • The semester exam will be a full two-hour practice AP if the course is offered first semester.
    • Quizzes will be used to ensure the student keeps up and these will be almost exclusively multiple choice questions
    • Summer reading will be evaluated by a journal directed toward questions posted by the teacher.

    AP ART HISTORY

    AP Art History is designed to give students an introduction to art (painting, engraving, photography,manuscripts, sculpture, architecture, etc.) in world history from the prehistoric to the present. In concordance with the requirements of the College Board, the class will focus on art in the European and non-European traditions (including Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Near East, and Oceania) covering a variety of media and cultures. This course is taught as an introductory survey course in art history at the college level with the hope that students will receive college credit by scoring a 3 or higher on the Advanced Placement Art History Exam given in the spring. As an advanced class, students will be expected to prepare at a level higher than a traditional high school course, but will also benefit from learning the knowledge and skills found at the university level.

    Content Objectives

    • To give students a working knowledge of developments and concurrent themes of art in history.
    • To teach students the “language of art” allowing them to use elements and principles of design in their writing and discussions.
    • To give students a foundation in art history that includes specific artists, schools, movements, iconography, styles, techniques, etc.
    • To help students contextualize art in specific cultural traditions, time periods, historical events, geographic areas, and artistic styles.
    • To give students the tools to learn about other cultures and find connections in art in different cultural traditions.
    • To inculcate an appreciation for art across geographic and chronological boundaries.
    • To give students a comprehensive understanding of the growth and creativity of specific artists, movements, geographic locations, etc.
    • To help students understand the connection between art and important cultural and historical developments such as political upheavals, technological advancements, religious transformations, demographic changes, etc.
    • To help students develop the framework to understand themes in art history. Such themes include (but are not limited to) beauty, religion, relationship to patron and artist, environment, etc.
    • To give students the ability to appreciate and understand art in our world today.

    Skill Objectives

    • Students will learn to use art as a tool to critically analyze history.
    • Students will learn to use art as a tool to understand the societies, individuals, and traditions that produced it.
    • Students will learn the vocabulary (“language of art”) necessary to discuss art in its many forms. This vocabulary includes the various media and materials used to create art.
    • Students will learn the methods used by artists to create art in its many forms.
    • Students will learn to be visually literate and use examples of visual art as historical documents.
    • Students will learn to organize an immense body of knowledge into appropriate themes, chronological periods, media, and historical contexts. 
    • Students will learn to discuss topics in art history with their peers and in formal presentations.
    • Students will learn to create provocative theses and support the corresponding arguments with concrete evidence based on the tools of art history.
    • Students will learn to write critical essays on art first-hand from local architecture and exhibits in area galleries (including the Angie Newman Johnson Gallery at Episcopal High School).
    • Students will learn to use a variety of written sources (including primary sources) to supplement their textbook and the visual art presented in class.

    Materials

    • Marilyn Stokstad, Art History 3rd edition (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2008)
    • Supplemental readings
    • Electronic resources

    Methods of Evaluation

    The primary methods of evaluation are designed to prepare students for the Advanced Placement Art History Exam. As such, assessments will be modeled after the exam, which uses 115 multiple-choice questions (to be completed in one hour), seven short essays, and two long essays. This course will use:

    • weekly multiple-choice quizzes (both announced and unannounced)
    • timed unit tests including multiple-choice questions and a combination of AP-style short and/or long essay questions
    • weekly written assignments modeled after AP-style short or long essay questions
        • These weekly assignments may come from tours to Washington DC’s art museums, special exhibits, art profiles (opportunities to profile one of the important works or artists given at the beginning of each unit), or unit themes.
    • The winter exam will be a full 3-hour practice AP exam.


    In addition to preparing for the AP Art History exam, it is also important that students are assessed based on their ability to analyze art in their everyday lives. As such, additional assignments will be formulated to augment the tools of visual analysis that may not be directly assessed on the AP Art History Exam. To do so, this course will use:

    • research presentations
      • Each student will present twice (once per semester) on a key artist or art piece from the list of important works or artists given at the beginning of each unit.
      • Students are encouraged to be creative and are not limited to lecture-style presentations. Presentations may be done in groups.
    • Harkness discussions
      • Students will prepare for and participate in regular Harkness discussions on topics relating to important themes, key artists, or art pieces from the list of important works or artists given at the beginning of each unit.
    • assessing “live” art
      • Our class will frequent many of the art museums in Washington DC during our
        scheduled Wednesday tour periods. For each tour, students must write an assessment based on a topic (historical, thematic, aesthetic, etc.) in the unit being covered in class.
      • These assessments should be well developed art historical essays based on one of the main themes; they will often be comparative analyses of some sort.
      • Essays are due by Thursday’s class following the day of the tour

    Semester Elective Courses

    (These are the courses offered in 2011–12, but they vary from year to year with student interest, teacher interest, and teacher workloads). 

    INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS

    The Introduction to Economics elective course presents the major concepts, institutions, and issues of the modern market system, with primary focus on the United States’ economy. The initial section of the course examines basic microeconomic concepts, focusing on demand, supply, and price theory as the foundation of all economic decision making. The course progresses to cover more complex issues of macroeconomics, concluding with an examination of the world economy. The goal of the course is for students to develop a conceptual understanding of economics and familiarity with contemporary economic issues so that they will be prepared for further study of economics and ultimately to take command over their own economic lives.

    Content Objectives

    • To understand scarcity as the basis of economic decision making
    • To understand the importance of making economic trade-offs through exploring the concepts of opportunity costs and the production possibilities frontier
    • To understand and see the dynamic connections between the laws of demand, supply, price, and equilibrium
    • To see the connection of comparative advantage, specialization, and interdependence as foundation concepts
    • To study the psychology of the consumer, through such concepts as elasticity of demand, consumer sovereignty, and maximizing utility
    • To study the psychology of the producer, focusing on the different forms of business organization, the concept of profit, and different market structures including pure competition, differentiated competition, oligopoly, and monopoly
    • To assess industry performance and explore how to improve performance through investment in technology, human capital, and research and development
    • To examine the role of government in the U.S. economy
    • To determine the basis on which wages are determined
    • To analyze the distribution of income in the Unites States, understanding the causes of its inequality and assessing programs for reducing poverty
    • To understand the economic function of money, the role of the Federal Reserve and the banking system, and the policy dimensions of money supply and interest rates
    • To discuss the major causes of the macroeconomic issues of unemployment and inflation, their relationship, and their consequences for individuals and our economy
    • To define GDP and discuss it from both Keynesian and supply-side perspectives
    • To understand the issues of public finance, including taxation and the federal government debt
    • To learn the government’s role in stabilization policy through fiscal and monetary policy
    • To learn the case for international trade based on comparative advantage, specialization, and trade
    • To understand the stock market and the basic principles of investing
    • To understand the position of the United States in the global economy

    Skill Objectives

    • To have students read carefully and prepare for class discussions
    • To have students understand the use of facts, theories, charts, and models to explain economic concepts
    • To enhance the analytical skills and economic reasoning ability of students
    • To encourage students to read the newspaper and current periodicals to extend their exposure to economic issues
    • To involve students in class discussions based on specific assignments and issues of general interest
    • To teach students to apply economic concepts to the "real world"
    • To have individual students and small groups periodically present issues to the class
    • To increasingly make connections among the many interrelated economic phenomena which swirl around us daily

    Materials

    • The Study of Economics: Principles, Concepts, and Applications, 6th Edition, Dr. Turley Mings, Dushkin/McGraw-Hill, 2000.
    • Wall Street Journal: Guide to Understanding Money and Investing, Morris and Siegel, Lightbulb Press, Inc, 1999.
    • The Wal-Mart Effect, Charles Fishman, Penguin Group, 2006.
    • Numerous class handouts from current periodicals for reading assignments and class discussions

    Methods of Evaluation

    Students are evaluated in the following manner:

    • Unit tests—at least three per grading period
    • Short papers and presentations for class—typically two per grading period
    • Major papers—typically one per grading period
    • Participation in class discussion
    • Final examination counts 25% of the semester: the final exam presents the student with a complex economic scenario and asks the student to demonstrate understanding of the concepts and their interrelatedness. The exam grade is based on demonstration of factual understanding, analysis, and synthesis.

    INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

    Sociology is the study of how our membership in certain groups influences our development. Social Problems in a Changing World offers students a global perspective on how race, class, gender, etc., influence their lives. It provides an in-depth understanding of the experience of being different and the impact of social events on individual development. It also explores the causes of social problems and multiple theories on effecting social change.

    LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

    This course will use a thematic and chronological approach to provide students with knowledge of the history of Latin America, a diverse part of our world that has increasingly deep ties with the United States. Class discussions will be guided in such a way that the history of the region will shed light on the present and therefore enable students to better understand current events and analyze potential problems that might arise in the future. Students will think critically and analytically about challenging issues in Latin American history, many of which also preoccupy us today. These issues include but are not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, class, poverty, inequality, cultural identity and power.

    Content Objectives

    Geography

    • To understand the basic geography of Latin America and to be able to locate each Latin American country on a map.
    • To examine the ethnic profile of the region in the context of its geography.
    • To understand the diversity of cultures in Latin America.
    • To determine what defines Latin America as a region and to define smaller regions within Latin America.

    Historical Time Periods

    • To explore the “Precontact” period, differentiating between sedentary, non-sedentary, and semi-sedentary indigenous societies and examining Iberian society in the “Precontact” period.
    • To examine the effects of the encounter between the “Old World” and the “New World.”
    • To develop an understanding of the colonial period and to understand the concepts of mercantilism and encomiendas.
    • To explore the Independence and Early National Period (1800–1870) by assessing what role hierarchies played in independence movements and what impact the length of independence wars might have on a country.
    • To study Liberalism and the Neocolonial Era (1870–1930), examining the factors that made liberalism the official ideology of Latin America by the end of the 19th century and how this impacted the stability of the region.
    • To explore periods of Revolution and Dictatorship (1930–1980), determining the consequences of revolution and how the armed forces came to rule much of Latin America in the 20th century.  
    • To examine the neoliberal movement (1980–2005) and to analyze what caused the shift back to liberalism as the 20th century came to a close.

    Key Points of Analytical Focus

    • To understand the historical trajectory of US-Latin American Relations as a complex, evolving process
    • To understand the Center-Periphery historical model focusing on the role that outside “forces” have played in the development of the region.
    • To understand the role that people at all levels of society played in the process of state formation and political development.
    • To understand the role of poverty and inequality in Latin America’s past and present
    • To understanding the profound impact that ideas of “race” have had and continue to have in all parts of the region.
    • To understand how ideas about gender impacted the lives of both women and men in the development of the region.
    • To understand how the music and art of the region is a reflection of the people and their culture.

    Skill Objectives

    • To develop and improve the students’ analytical thinking skills.
    • To learn to critically synthesize information.
    • To develop reading comprehension.
    • To develop an historical understanding of another part of the world.
    • To understand new cultures and learn to appreciate and respect cultural differences.
    • To have students learn how to interpret and analyze primary sources
    • To learn to analyze patterns of cause and effect
    • To develop skills researching both primary and secondary sources and to discern bias, especially in contemporary news coverage
    • To develop writing and communication skills in both formal projects and presentations and as a participant in group discussions.
    • To develop the ability to read and understanding current events in Latin America and process the potential impact on student’s lives
    • To develop leadership skills by leading class discussion

    Materials

    • Chasteen, John Charles, Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2nd ed, 2006.
    • Selected outside readings

    Methods of Evaluation

    Students are evaluated in the following manner:

    • Participation: Class discussion is required and will be graded.
    • Unannounced quizzes: Reading quizzes will be given approximately once a week.
    • Analytical papers: At the end of each unit students will write an analytical paper based on key themes of their choosing from the unit readings.
    • Current events research project:  As a final project students will write a short research paper and present their findings to their classmates.

    UNDERSTANDING MODERN CHINA

    Understanding Modern China is a one-semester course introducing the student to modern China and Chinese culture. This course begins with the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and deals with the cultural, social, and political changes that have shaped China into what it is today. Students will learn about the crucial events that have helped form modern China, and about the people who were instrumental in these changes. This is a seminar-style course, so students are expected to be actively involved in all aspects of study.

    Content Objectives

    "… East is east and west is west, and the twain have only recently met" (Peter Hessler, Oracle Bones). Our course objective is to understand China and the people who live there, and gain an appreciation for its culture and civilization. Our goal is “…seeing with new eyes” (Marcel Proust) and to "…entertain a thought without accepting it" (Aristotle).
    “…To understand China is not necessarily to love it …. Given its size and its potential, and the degree to which the rest of the world has become linked with it both economically and politically, there is no avoiding the necessity of dealing with China in the years ahead.” (John Bryan Starr in Understanding China)

    Skill Objectives

    • College-level reading skills
    • Reading and information organization skills
    • Teamwork and group project preparation skills
    • Public speaking, debate, and presentation skills
    • Analytical thinking skills
    • Analytical essay writing skills

    Materials

    1. Textbook: Understanding China – 了解中国 by John Bryan Starr
    2. Various supplementary materials
    • EHS library online database
    • Major Chinese and American news websites
    • Documentaries and movies
    • China Road by Rob Gifford
    • Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China’s Past and Present by Peter Hessler
    • Mr. China by Tim Clissold

    We will use the book Understanding China – 了解中国, by John Bryan Starr, as our main source and focal point for our class discussions, and use supplementary materials to expand and enhance what we have learned from the textbook or to cover additional ideas or events that are missing from the textbook.

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Weekly journal on the chapter readings from Understanding China (due every Monday)
    • A write-up after reading academic, current articles on China  (due every Thursday)
    • Leading class discussions on the chapters from Understanding China
    • Leading class discussions on academic, current articles on China
    • Two tests
    • One quarterly project: in-depth written and oral PowerPoint presentation on one of the following topics:
      • China, as portrayed in the movie To Live
      • one of the important persons in modern China
      • one of the crucial events in modern China
      • “Chinese-ness of Chinese Civilization”

    ADVANCED TOPICS IN SOCIAL STUDIES: ENERGY

    • Where does our electricity come from?
    • What does driving an SUV have to do with global climate change?
    • How will we lessen our dependence on foreign oil?
    • Can we protect our forests and lakes from acid rain?
    • Why is it challenging for elected officials to make progress on solving energy issues?
    • What if we consumed only “clean” fuels and built only “green” buildings?

    These are some of the questions that arise from the issues that surround America’s consumption of energy. We consume energy by powering our houses and businesses and through modes of transport. These actions in turn impact the nation and globe economically and environmentally. This course will present an opportunity to examine the technological, economic, environmental, and political issues that arise from our use of energy. Students will learn about these issues in depth, examine alternatives, determine solutions, and reflect on the complexities of the system that provides us with the means to continue to live in a post-modern world.

    Content Objectives

    • To examine the technological, economic, environmental, political, and geographical issues that surround the generation and consumption of energy
    • To understand the complexities of the US’ energy systems (grids, transmission, etc) in terms of geographic region and history
    • To interpret current energy policy, environmental legislative acts, and political platforms
    • To distinguish the positive and negative environmental impacts of the seven major sources of energy generation
    • To differentiate the various “costs” of energy: generating, start-up, health, labor, etc.
    • To recognize the cultural impacts of changing energy consumption habits
    • To identify the organizations, institutions, and offices involved in determining energy policy
    • To design a future regional energy plan
    • To illustrate the role of the individual in solving the energy issue
    • To make sense of the issues surrounding automobile fuel standards and the alternatives (ethanol)

    Skill Objectives

    • Students will have exposure to Washington-based outside experts with the opportunity for discourse and questions.
    • Students will improve their reading and analytical skills using professional journals and related books.
    • Students will improve their media literacy skills.
    • Students will present their research and analysis in a professional presentation, practicing communication skills.
    • Students will improve map/geography skills.
    • Students will further develop their research, analytical, and synthesis skills to help them recognize this labyrinthine, real-world issue.

    Materials

    • Heinberg, Richard. The Party’s Over: Oil War and the fate of Industrial Societies. Gabriola Island, Canada: New Society Publishers, 2005
    • Shah, Sonia. Crude: The Story of Oil. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2004
      Supplemental
    • Freeman, S. David. Winning Our Energy Independence. First. Layton, UT: Gibbs-Smith, 2007.
    • Kolbert, Elizabeth. Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2000
    • Lovelock, James. The Revenge of Gaia. New York: Basic Books, 2006
    • Klare, Michael T. Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict. New York: Owl Books, 2002
    • Miller, Norman. Environmental Politics: Stakeholders, Interests, and Policymaking. New York: Routledge, 2009
    • Roberts, Paul. The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005
    • Schneider, Stephen H., and Armin Rosencranz. Climate Change Policy: A Survey. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2002
    • Vaitheeswaran, Vijay V.. Power to the People: How the Coming Energy Revolution Will Transform an Industry, Change Our Lives, and Maybe Even Save the Planet. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003
    • Yergin, Daniel. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Money, Oil and Power. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1991

    Methods of Evaluation

    Students will be assessed using objective tests, essay writing, formal discussions, formal research projects and presentations, along with smaller skill-based assignments.

    REGIONAL HISTORY: THE SOUTH

    This one-semester senior elective course explores topics that introduce students to the concept of American regions and to the southeastern portion of the United States. This region is examined through the various lenses of its geography, culture, society, politics, and economy. It is the intention of the course to try to “define” the region and, in the process, to discover how rich it is in land, people, language, history, and spirit. The course begins with the study of regions and how this approach enhances national understanding. With this conceptual foundation in place, a broad view of the South is taken through the eyes of different writers and observers who provide their separate explanations of what people mean when they make reference to “the South.” This introduction is followed by a study of four distinct eras of Southern history in chronological fashion utilizing the historical record, popular writing, film, and local tours to know and better understand the issues and themes of the Southern experience. The course ends with the “Second Reconstruction” and its impact on both the region and the nation. A seminar format is utilized on a daily basis with an open exchange by all of the participants.

    Course Objectives

    • To increase and improve awareness (and knowledge) of “regionalism” in the history of the U.S. and in the current affairs and daily events of the nation
    • To gain a better understanding of how the South has always been a part of the larger nation and to evaluate its place in the past and its role in the future
    • To further develop the basic academic skills of reading, writing, critical thinking, and conversing and presenting in the classroom
    • To counter long-held misinterpretations with a closer look at the evidence accompanied by current interpretations by leading scholars in the field
    • To enjoy the richness of the experience itself, learning about a fascinating region of America in different intellectual ways within an environment of students that share an interest and curiosity about the subject

    Skill Objectives

    • College-level reading skills
    • Discussion skills
    • Analytical essay writing
    • Evaluation of source materials
    • Basic American geography skills
    • Film analysis
    • Digital history utilization

    Materials

    • Applebome, Peter. Dixie Rising; How the South Is Shaping American Values, Politics, and Culture. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1996.
    • Ayers, Edward L. What Caused the Civil War? Reflections on the South and Southern History. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2005.
    • Ayers, Edward L. and Bradley C. Mittendorf. The Oxford Book of the American South: Testimony, Memory and Fiction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
    • Woodward, C. Vann. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.
    • Supplemental Reading Booklet compiled by the instructor and produced by University Readers, 2007.

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Analytical papers and essays
    • Daily quizzes
    • Unit tests
    • Semester examination

    MODERN MIDDLE EAST

    Modern Middle East is a one-semester course that will explore how the wide variety of cultural traditions in the Middle East region have interacted with modern nationalism to create challenging situations — from the Balkans to Afghanistan

    Content Objectives

    The goal of the course is to instill an appreciation of the various cultures and history of a very diverse region of the globe. The main objective of this course is to provide students with an opportunity to determine their own perspective on the current issues in the Middle East. Time will be spent learning about the history of the region, looking specifically at past and current ruling factions. Students will be exposed to the complex political/religious/economic/cultural/ethnic factors that play a part in Middle East issues, and the variety of perspectives that exist in various countries. Time will be spent looking specifically at the establishment of Israel, and the Arab-Israeli conflict, as well as looking in particular at Arab nations in order to gain an understanding of the history leading up to the Arab Spring and other revolutions in the region.

    Materials

    • textbook: The Modern Middle East: A History by James L. Gelvin
    • summer reading: Mother Comes of Age by Driss Chraibi 
    • The Middle East: Fourteen Islamic Centuries by Glenn E. Perry
    • Goode’s World Atlas
    • The Arabs: A Short History by Philip K. Hitti
    • The Modern Middle East: A Political History Since the First World War by Mehran Kamrava
    • What Went Wrong? The Clash between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East by Bernard Lewis
    • A History of the Middle East by Peter Mansfield
    • The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future by Vali Nasr
    • Hezbollah by Augustus Richard Norton
    • A History of Modern Palestine by Ilan Pappe
    • Cairo by Max Rodenbeck
    Methods of Evaluation

    Students will be assessed on their critical reading ability, analytical writing assignments, project work (both individual and group), as well as participation in classroom discussions.