SOCIAL STUDIES COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
SOCIAL STUDIES COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Course: United States History
Credit: 1.0 credit
Grade Placement: 11th - 12th
Course Description: is a one-year course (the second year of study of U.S. History). It continues the focus from the eighth grade on the history, geography, and political and economic growth of the nation; the theme of culture as a characteristic of American society, past and present including significant individuals, issues and events after the period of Reconstruction to the present. The study of U.S. geography, in regard to location and shape, is integrated into the course.
Course: Dual United States History
Credit: 1.0 credit
Grade placement: 11th - 12th
Course Description: is an intense study of the political, military, diplomatic, social, and cultural history of the United States from the period of discovery and exploration to the present. Lectures, discussions, examinations of different points of view, and readings will dominate the course. Students will gain invaluable practice in deeper comprehension in reading, taking objective exams, answering the document-based questions, and developing an organized and readable essay. Seven extra points will be calculated into the student’s overall GPA each semester for this class.
Course: World History
Credit: 1.0 credit
Grade Placement: 9th - 12th
Course Description: includes further study of the history and development of world cultures encountered in the earlier secondary social studies courses. Content includes the development of early civilization, western civilization and other world regions from their early days to present. Students should be better able to understand world events that may arise in the present and in the future. An attempt is made to show the interrelationships in the world with stress on the way one period on history may influence a succeeding period.
Course: Pre AP World History
Credit: 1.0 credit
Grade Placement: 9th – 12th
Course Description: the purpose of this course is to develop greater understanding of the evolution of global processes and contacts, in interaction with different types of human societies. This understanding is advanced through a combination of selective factual knowledge and appropriate analytical skills. The course highlights the nature of changes in international frameworks and their causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies. The course emphasizes relevant factual knowledge deployed in conjunction with leading interpretive issues and types of historical evidence. Focused primarily on the past thousand years of the global experience, the course builds on an understanding of cultural, institutional, and technological precedents that, along with geography, set the human stage prior to AD 1000. Periodization, explicitly discussed, forms the organizing principle for dealing with change and continuity from that point to the present. Specific themes provide further organization to the course, along with the consistent attention to contacts among societies that form the core of world history as a field of study. This course should also be viewed as a gateway to more advanced work in social studies. Five extra points will be calculated into the student’s overall GPA each semester for this class.
Course: World Geography
Credit: 1.0 credit
Grade Placement: 9th - 12th
Course Description: is a one-year course that provides the opportunity to study the interaction of people and their physical environments in the major areas of the world. Students acquire an understanding of the physical setting of the earth, locate and study different land forms and regions of the world, learn how people and geography impact each other and urbanism. Content offers students the opportunity to put into practice the geographical concepts and skills accumulated through earlier social studies programs.
Course: Pre AP World Geography
Credit: 1.0 credit
Grade Placement: 9th – 12th
Course Description: a course that goes beyond the standard World Geography course in both content and scope. The course provides an opportunity to study, in depth, cultural, social, political and economic geography in a physical geographical framework throughout the world’s regions. Content offers students the opportunity to put in practice the geographical concepts and skills accumulated through earlier social studies programs. Successful completion of this class will also afford the student the skills to assist them in other advanced social studies classes such as AP World History, AP US History, and AP Government and Economics. This course will also fulfill the required World Geography credit towards graduation under the Recommended High School Program. Five extra points will be calculated into the student’s overall GPA each semester for this class.
Course: United States Government
Credit: 0.5 credit
Grade Placement: 12th
Course Description: is a one-semester course that provides an opportunity to study, in depth, the foundation of the U.S. political system; to analyze the political institutions, process and values of the system; to trace the development of the U.S. governmental system; and to analyze the structure and functions of government on local, state and federal levels.
Course: U S Government Dual
Credit: 0.5 credit
Grade Placement: 12th
Course Description: This is an intensive college level course offered concurrently through Jacksonville College. The student must meet all requirements for admission to be enrolled in college to take this course (see counselor for details). The college tuition and fees are the responsibility of the student. The course is a survey for the United States political landscape including theoretical principals of government, political systems, parties, the structure and function of federal, state and local governments, and United States political policies. Successful completion of this course will count for Government 2305 in college. Seven extra points will be calculated into the student’s overall GPA each semester for this class.
Course: Economics
Credit: 0.5 credit
Grade Placement: 12th
Course Description: is a one-semester course that provides opportunity to study basic principals concerning production, consumption, and distribution of goods and services. Content builds an understanding of the components of the free enterprise system. Students study concepts such as supply and demand, the banking system, comparative economic systems, and the national economy.