History

Every person needs a sound education in history and the study of society, so our Social Studies courses aim to appeal to and challenge every type of learner.

We collaborate with students in an inquiry into past and present societies, and we want students to find this inquiry relevant to their own lives.

The History Department offers a purposeful sequence of core courses from the 9th through the 12th grades that focuses on the following:

• An understanding of the cultural, economic, political, and intellectual history of the West and non-West
• An understanding of US history
• An understanding of US government
• An investigation of ethics and the development of character

We supplement these core offerings with a broad array of electives taught by members of the department and by part-time instructors who teach in an area of their expertise.

Our classes are organized around seminar style discussions that teach students how to listen to and weigh a broad range of ideas, how to advocate their own positions, and how to engage collegially with students and teachers. In this format, students are not passive receptors of lectures; rather, teachers guide students in a group exploration of contending ideas. In this group exploration, we find that a mix of learners is useful, so students who are geared towards math or science or art have much to offer the group.

Honors and AP Courses

For those students who want to pursue study at the highest level in high school and college, our program provides excellent opportunities for advanced work through Honors and AP courses in both our core and elective offerings.

Courses

The history department is most concerned that students demonstrate competency in the various courses we offer. “Competency” in this context means developing a knowledge base, but at least as important is the way students critically think about the content.

Toward this end, our courses focus on teaching the following:

• Critical thinking: We teach students to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate a variety of information sources — and to recognize motive and bias.
• An appreciation of perspective: Students are challenged to analyze historical and social issues from diverse perspectives, such as those perspectives shaped by race, gender, class, and culture. Students are also expected to interrogate how their own perspective influences their understanding of the world.
• Research method: Our program builds research skills that are age appropriate, and our graduates are prepared for the research expectations of their college courses.
• An exposure to technology: Our students frequently use a range of (ever changing) learning and communication technologies.
• Public speaking: Many informal and low stakes opportunities are provided for students to practice public speaking, and such opportunities help students succeed in formal public speaking situations.
• Writing: Our courses tend to be writing intensive; we teach various types of writing (from essay to research writing), and we push students to write clearly and cogently.
• Communication and assessment: We want students to learn a variety of ways to communicate what they’ve learned, and we use a variety of methods to assess their understanding of material, including the following: in-class discussion; public speaking and various types of presentations; group projects; research writing; essay writing; various types of tests and quizzes; debate; journal writing; interviews; postings on web interfaces; and various types of audio-visual productions.

Twelve credits in Social Studies are required. Six credits must be in United States History. The remaining six credits may come from any other full-year course or combination of trimester courses. Virtually every student elects to take at least 18 credits (3 full years), and many students take more than 24 credits (4 full years).