Social Studies

Level: College Prep

Credit: 1

Prerequisite: None

 

This course will examine chronological eras of historical world events through the lens of human geography. Starting in the Middle Ages and ending with the onset of dawn of the Industrial Age, students will explore historical continuity and change, and link past events to modern-day issues and current events. Students will develop the skills to compare and contrast events, analyze primary and secondary sources, interpret historical documents, and gain a deeper understanding of the complex/diverse world around them. Throughout the course, students will apply themes of geography to historical time periods. The different areas of focus include human interaction with the world, how things like disease and information spread throughout the world, different regions of the world, and geographic factors that help cities and towns become successful.

Level: College Prep

Credit: 1

Prerequisite: None

 

This course begins at the reconstruction of the Civil War. It explores the political, social, and economic development of our country as it builds to a world power in the late 1800s, crashes in a Great Depression of the 1930s, rises to a world police post-World War II, struggles internally within a Civil Rights movement, and fights the Cold War of communism. Students will utilize different methods that historians use to interpret the past, including varying points of view and historical context.

Level: College Prep

Credit: 1

Prerequisite: None

 

The Civics curriculum focuses on the history and foundation of the American government; the American Constitution; the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of government; the political system; state and local government; and citizenship. The course traces colonial history as cause and effect to the Founders’ choices in creation of government. Units of study analyze the Constitution in application and as an evolving document of citizenship rights over time, whether by President, Congress, the legal process, and/or political action groups. Civics makes modern-day connections, applies the spectrum of liberal and conservative political views, and provides macro- and microeconomics

foundations as applied to policy. The economics curriculum provides an understanding of the principles of economics that apply to an economic system as a whole. Emphasis is placed on the study of the business cycles, taxes as federal and state revenue, the Federal Reserve System, and an understanding of monetary and fiscal policy in America.

Level: Advanced Placement

Credit: 1 (Weighted)

Prerequisite: None

 

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 examine human social organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their science and practice. The particular topics studied in an AP Human Geography course should be judged in light of the following five college-level goals that build on the National Geography

Standards developed in 1994 and revised in 2012. On successful completion of the course, the student should be able to: interpret maps and analyze geospatial data, understand and explain the implications of associations and networks among phenomena in places, recognize and interpret the relationships among patterns and processes at different scales of analysis, define regions and evaluate the regionalization process, and characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places.

Level: Advanced Placement

Credits: 1 or 2 (Weighted)

Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C in U.S. Government & Economics or qualifying score. Completion of the summer

assignment

 

The AP U.S. History course is designed to provide students with the analytical skills and enduring understandings necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in United States history. The program

prepares students for intermediate and advanced college courses by making demands upon them equivalent to those made by full-year introductory college courses. Students will learn to assess historical materials — their relevance to a given interpretive problem, their reliability, and their importance — and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. This course will develop the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of an informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in an essay format.

Level: Advanced Placement

Credit: 1 (Weighted)

Prerequisite: Completion of the summer assignment

 

This course provides an analytical perspective on government and politics in the United States. This course involves both the study of general concepts used to interpret U.S. politics and the analysis of specific case studies. It also requires familiarity with the various institutions, groups, beliefs, and ideas that constitute U.S. political reality. While there is no single approach that an AP U.S. Government & Politics course must follow, certain topics are generally covered in college courses.

Level: Advanced Placement

Credit: 1 (Weighted)

Prerequisite: Completion of the summer assignment

 

This course is designed to introduce students to the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings and other animals. Students are exposed to the psychological facts, principles, and phenomena associated with each of the major subfields within psychology. They also learn about the ethics and methods psychologists use in their science and practice.

Level: Advanced Placement

Credit: 1 (Weighted)

Prerequisite: None

 

The study of European history since 1450 introduces students to cultural, economic, political, and social developments

that played a fundamental role in shaping the world in which they live. Without this knowledge, we would lack the context for understanding the development of contemporary institutions, the role of continuity and change in present-day society and politics, and the evolution of current forms of artistic expression and intellectual discourse. In addition to providing a

basic narrative of events and movements, the goals of AP European History are to develop an understanding of some of the principal themes in modern European History, an ability to analyze historical evidence and historical interpretation, and an ability to express historical understanding in writing.

Level: Dual Enrollment Credit: 1 MHS & 3 DTCC

Prerequisite: SAT 480 ERW, Accuplacer Reading 78, Writing

84, or 75% in Technical Reading & Writing

This course provides an analysis of American social

organization and culture through a cross-cultural

perspective. Sociology investigates, describes, and

analyzes patterns of human behavior in all areas of

human experience for the purpose of understanding

the human condition.

Level: College Prep

Credit: 1

Prerequisite: None

 

This course is designed to introduce students to the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings and other animals. Students are exposed to the psychological facts, principles, and phenomena associated with each of the major subfields within psychology. They also learn about the ethics and methods psychologists use in their science and practice.

Level: Dual Enrollment (Wilm U)

Credit: 1 MHS & 3 Wilm U

 

This course is a survey of agencies and processes involved in the administration of criminal justice. The survey reviews the functions of the legislature, police, prosecutor, courts, and the correctional system. Problems of law enforcement in a democratic society are discussed. This course ties together all components of criminal justice and includes issues of both the juvenile and adult offender. Register on blackboard in advance.