Social Science Department Course Listing
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This standards based course is designed for students seeking a high level of academic rigor with emphasis upon research and independent learning. This course is an accelerated course designed for the student who not only wants to study basic historical events, but also broad historical concepts that are essential for advanced historical study. Accelerated means that the pace is quicker than a lower level course and the content goes well beyond the core curriculum. Student competencies should include reading and writing above grade level, facility with extensive working vocabulary, and knowledge of basic research techniques. The ability to work independently and complete long term assignments on time is also critical to success. The course covers the major historical periods from 500 to 1500 AD. As part of the course the following periods will be studied:
:• Early Civilization (Brief Review)
• Greco-Roman Period (Brief Review)
• The Byzantine Period
• Early and High Middle Ages
• Renaissance and Reformation
• The Rise of Nation-States
• The Age of Exploration
• Historical Development in Asia and Africa
• The Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment
16102 ACADEMIC WORLD HISTORY I
This standards based course is designed for students who will seek post high school education at the college or university level. The course covers the major historical periods from 500 to 1500 AD . As part of the course the following periods will be studied:
• Early Civilization (Brief Review)
• Greco-Roman Period (Brief Review)
• The Byzantine Period
• Early and High Middle Ages
• Renaissance and Reformation
• The Rise of Nation-States
• The Age of Exploration
• Historical Development in Asia and Africa
• The Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment
This yearlong standards based course is designed with an emphasis placed upon research and independent learning. This is an elective course and is designed to give students a better understanding of the rise of nations in Europe , revolutions in France , Latin America , and Russia . It will examine the. political, economic and social roots of the modern world. Students will study the origins and impact of the agricultural and industrial revolution, political reform in Western Europe and New Imperialism in Africa , Asia , and South America . Students will also study the cause and effect of great military and economic events such as World War I, the Great Depression, World War II and other events of the late 20th century. The following historical periods will be studied:
• The Age of Absolutism (1550 - 1800)
• The Enlightenment and American Revolution (1715 - 1800)
• The Industrial Revolution (1750 - 1850
• Revolutions in Europe and Latin America (1790 - 1848
• Nationalism Triumphs (1800 -1914)
• New Global Patterns (1800 -1914
• World War I and Its Aftermath (1914 - 1919)
• Revolution in Russia (1917 - 1939)
• Crisis of Democracy in the West (1919 - 1933)
• World War II and Its Aftermath (1931- 1945)
• Conflict in East Asia and Southeast Asia (1945 to the present)
• The World in the Post 9/11 Period
This standards based course is designed for students seeking a high level of academic rigor with emphasis upon research and independent learning. This course is designed for students who will seek post high school education at the college or university level. This is a course, for Grade 10 students, which must be passed for graduation and examines the History of the United States from 1750 to 1865. As part of the course the following periods will be studied:
• The French and Indian War
• The Move to Revolution
• The American Revolution
• The United States in the Critical Period
• The Development of Constitutional Government
• The Federalist Period
• The Era of Jeffersonian Democracy
• The War of 1812
• The Era of Good Feelings
• The Rise of Sectionalism
• The Jacksonian Period
• The Age of Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War
• The Slavery Crisis and the Road to Conflict
• The Civil War : A Nation Divided
This standards based course is designed for students who will seek post high school education at the college or university level. This is a course, for Grade 10 students, which must be passed for graduation and examines the History of the United States from 1750 to 1865. As part of the course the following periods will be studied:
• The French and Indian War The Move to Revolution
• The American Revolution
• The United States in the Critical Period
• The Development of Constitutional Government
• The Federalist Period
• The Era of Jeffersonian Democracy
• The War of 1812
• The Rise of Sectionalism
• The Jacksonian Period
• The Age of Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War
• The Slavery Crisis and the Road to Conflict
This standards based course provides students with a basic understanding of the United States from the Pre- Revolutionary Period to the conclusion of the Civil War-This is a course, for Grade 9 students, which must be passed for graduation and examines the History of the United States from 1750 to 1865. As part of the course the following periods will be studied:
This standards based course is designed for students seeking a high level of academic rigor with emphasis placed upon research and independent learning. This is a required course for Grade 11 students, which must be passed to meet graduation requirements. The course continues the study of United States History begun in U.S. History I. The following historic periods will be considered:
• The Period of Reconstruction
• The Settlement of the Western Plains
• The Second Industrial Revolution
• The Populist Era
• The Spanish American-War and the Rise of American Imperialism
• American Neutrality and World War I
• The Return to Normalcy
• The Great Depression
• World War II
Prerequisite: A passing grade in U.S. History I is required.
This standards based course is designed for all students who will seek post high school education at the college or university level. This is a required course for Grade 10 students, which must be passed to meet graduation requirements. The course continues the study of United States History begun in U.S. History I. The following historic periods will be considered:
• The Period of Reconstruction
• The Settlement of the Western Plains
• The Second Industrial Revolution
• The Populist Era
• The Spanish American-War and the Rise of American Imperialism
• American Neutrality and World War I
• The Return to Normalcy
• The Great Depression
• World War II
Prerequisite : A passing grade in U.S. History I is required.
This course provides students with a basic understanding of the history of the United States from the Period of Reconstruction to the present time. This is a required course, which must be passed to meet graduation requirements. The course continues the study of United States History begun in U-S. History I. The following historic periods will be considered:
• The Period of Reconstruction
• The Settlement of the Western Plains
• The Second Industrial Revolution
• The Populist Era
• The Spanish American-War and the Rise of American Imperialism
• American Neutrality and World War I
• The Return to Normalcy
• The Great Depression
• World War II
Prerequisite: A passing grade in U.S. History I is required.
This standards based course is designed for students seeking the highest level of academic rigor with emphasis upon research and independent learning. The program attempts to prepare students for college work by making demands upon them equivalent to those made by full-year introductory college courses. Students will learn to assess historical materials and determine their relevance to a given interpretive problem, their reliability and importance and to weigh the evidence and interpretation presented in historical scholarship. The student therefore, should have the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of informed judgment and be able to present reason and evidence, both in writing and orally, with clarity.
Emphasis will be placed on preparing students for the Advanced Placement Exam. The course follows the U.S. History AP guidelines established by the College Board. Students who have completed Honors U.S. History I and /or U.S. History II with a grade of "B" or better may proceed to Advanced Placement U.S. History, with a teacher recommendation, during their junior or senior year. Students enrolled in Advanced Placement U.S History are required to take the Advanced Placement examination, which is administered during the spring semester. Students may not take Honors U.S. History and Advanced Placement U.S. History during the same semester. The following historical periods will be examined.
• 1607 - 1763: Colonial Society and Institutions
• 1763 - 1783: American Revolution and Birth of a Republic
• 1783 - 1800: The Critical Period and the Writing of the Constitution
• 1800 - 1840: The Nation Takes Shape
• 1840 -1877: Civil War and Reconstruction
• 1865 - 1900: Industrialization, Urbanization, and Immigration
• 1900 - 1920: Foreign Policy and the Progressive Era
• 1920 - 1940: The Roaring 20's, the Great Depression, and the New Deal
• 1940 - 1960: World War, Cold War, and Social and Economic Upheaval
• 1960 - 2000: The New World Order and Globalization
This standards based course is designed for students seeking a high level of academic rigor with emphasis upon research and independent learning. The course is a survey of basic economic concepts with regard to personal, institutional, and social decisions. The main focus is on how decisions to buy and sell affect prices, output, and employment. The course examines various factors that influence the individual economic decisions and how those decisions influence market. Students will look specifically at the effects of price changes in relation to supply and demand, the relationships between producer and consumer. This course is intended for students taking a junior or senior year elective. The six areas of concentration are:
• Introduction to Economics,
• Scarcity,
• Resources Economic Systems,
• Microeconomics with emphasis on supply and demand,
• U.S. System - Free Enterprise,
• Business Organizations
• Macroeconomics - Performance and Challenges
• Government and the Economy
• Banking Systems,
• International Economy - Comparative Economics and Developing Countries.
The topics will include:
• Basic Introduction Microeconomics
• Free Enterprise
• Macroeconomics
• Government Economy
• International Economics
This standards based course is designed for students seeking a highest level of academic rigor with emphasis on research and independent learning. This course is intended for students taking a senior year elective. Students taking this course are expected to take the Advanced Placement Examination in Economics in the spring of their senior year. The course surveys and applies macroeconomic concepts relating to personal, institutional, and social decision-making. The focus is on how decisions to buy, sell, lend, and regulate affect output, employment, income distribution, and the balance of trade. Factors will be examined that will determine national income, employment, and prices. Students analyze patterns of consumption and savings, private investment and government policy, business functions, and the interaction between money and national income. The course also addresses international economics including exchange rates, markets, and monetary systems. The six areas of concentration are:
• Introduction to Economics,
• Focusing on Scarcity,
• Resources
• Economic Systems;
• Microeconomics with emphasis on supply and demand;
• U.S. System - Free Enterprise,
• Business Organizations
• Macroeconomics - Performance and Challenges:
• Government and the Economy - Primary Role and Banking Systems;
• International Economy - Comparative Economics and Developing Nations
• The topics are listed below:
• Basic Introduction Microeconomics
• Free Enterprise
• Macroeconomics
• Government Economy
• International Economics
16334 INTRODUCTION to ECONOMICS in TODAY'S WORLD
This standards based course will introduce students to the role which economics plays in everyday life. The topics covered will include
• Consumer Economics - Supply and Demand and the Individual Consumer
• Everyday Banking Practices
• The Basics of Investing
• Government and the Economy
• Economic Factors in Everyday Life
Expectations for Student Performance:
Students will be expected to demonstrate involvement in their education, the ability to write effectively and to read and to listen with understanding.
16404 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
This is an elective course, based upon local standards, for students in Grade 11 and 12. Sociology is the study of human relationships. The emphasis in this course is on race, minority groups, crime, world population and man's adaptation to social change. Students through the study of sociology should develop a sociological perspective of the world with an emphasis on critical thinking. The subjects addressed include the following:
• Introduction to the Study of Sociology
• Socialization
• Race Relations
• History and Social Theorists
• Adolescence
• Male and Female Roles
• Cultural Adaptations
• Social organization and groups
• Cultural Change
• Social Stratification
• Social Mobility
• Education and Religion
• Deviance
• Minorities
Prerequisite: This course may include student participation in School-to-Career Internships.
16414 INTRODUCTION to PSYCHOLOGY
This is an elective course, based upon national standards, designed for those students pursuing acceptance into college and whose abilities, goals, and interests require sound preparation at a level acceptable at all post secondary institutions. It involves the study of human development through life span, biological influences on behavior, personality formation, intelligence, perceptions and sensation, frustration and stress and mental health/illness.
The course schedule and topics covered are listed below.
• History of Psychology; Field of Psychology
• Research Methods in psychology: parapsychology
• Human development
• Heredity and Environment, maturation
• Biological Influences on Behavior, the Brain and Endocrine System
• Personality Theories, Primary and Secondary Drives
• Measuring Intellectual Ability
• Principles of Learning, Classical and Instrumental Conditioning, Biofeedback and
Cognitive Learning
• Learning, Remembering and Forgetting
• The process of thinking, creative thinking, problem solving
• Sensation and perception
• Motivation and Emotions
• Frustration and Conflict, Coping with stress
• Psychological disturbances and mental illness
• Treatment of Psychological Disturbances
• Practicing Mental Health
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This course, based upon national standards, is designed for those students pursuing acceptance into college and whose abilities, goals, and interests require sound preparation at a level acceptable at all post secondary institutions. It covers all areas of child development including psychoanalytic theories; neopsychoanalytic theories, cognitive theories, behavioral, ethological theory and ecological theory; also biological beginnings and physical development. The course topics are listed below:
• Biological Beginnings
• Prenatal Development
• Physical Development in Infancy
• Physical Development in Childhood
• Motor, Sensory, and Perceptual Development
• Cognitive Development and Information Processing
• Intelligence
• Language Development
• Emotional Development
• Gender
• Moral Development
• Families Peers
• Schools
• Culture
NOTE: This course may include student participation in School-to-Career Internships.
Prerequisite: A passing grade in Introduction to Psychology is required.
This course, based upon National Psychology standards, presents critical and technical views of theories pertaining to the intellectual and social development of adulthood. It is designed for students who will seek post high school education at the college or university level. The main topics studied will include:
• Historical View of Adolescence
• Areas of Adolescence Transition
• Contexts of Adolescent
• Gender Development and Sexuality in Adolescence
• Adolescent Problems
Prerequisite: A passing grade in Introduction to Psychology is required.
16514 THE HISTORY of WORLD GENOCIDE
This is a course based upon standards from a variety of academic disciplines and is taught at the honors level for upperclassmen. It is designed for students seeking a high level of academic rigor with emphasis upon research and independent learning. Events of genocide from the ancient period to modern times will be examined in detail. The following topics are studied and addressed:
• The Nature of Prejudice
• Genocide in the Ancient World
• The Genocide of the American Indian
• The Armenian Genocide
• The History of the Anti-Semitism
• The Holocaust and other Genocides of World War II
• The Genocide of Cambodia
• Genocide in the Balkan States during the 1990's
• Genocide in Rwanda
16521 AP AMERICAN GOVERNMENT and POLITICS
This standards based course is designed for students in Grades 11 and 12 seeking the highest level of academic rigor with emphasis upon research and independent learning. It is structured to prepare students for the Advanced Placement Examination in American Government and Politics. The course will include a study of the background and events leading up to the creation of the American Republic . It will involve detailing of political, social and economic factors that have shaped the American Federal system of government from colonial times to the present. The topics studied will include:
• The Age of the Enlightenment
• The U.S. Government and Constitution Federalism and the U.S. Congress
• The Presidency and the Executive Branch
• The Judicial Branch and the U.S. Legal System
• Government and Economic Policy
• Foreign Policy and National Security
• Fundamental Freedoms and Individual Rights
• Civil Rights and the Civil Rights Movement
• Public Opinion and Interest Groups
• Political Parties and the Electoral Process
• State Government
Prerequisite: A passing grade in AP or Honors U.S. History III is required.
This course is, designed for students seeking a high level of academic rigor. The students will study the American jurisprudence system and how high school students can use this knowledge in a practical way. The role of law within our society is examined. Emphasis in the course is placed upon independent learning and research by the student. This is a course for students in Grades 11 and 12 which examines various aspects of jurisprudence such as what is law and how does it affect our lives. It is in fact laws, both written and unwritten, that give us our freedom. Using an historical perspective the following topics are considered:
• How laws are made.
• How laws are enforced
• How laws are changed.
Using an overview of today's society the following topics are examined:
• The consequences of law infractions
• Trial procedures
• The roles of people involved in court cases
• The Role of the Media
• Defense strategies
• System collapse
• Interpretation of the Law Ethics and values Jury Service
16614 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT and CITIZENSHIP
This is a standards based, elective course for students in Grades 11 and 12. It involves studying the role of government in society, the origins of the United States government, the branches of the United States government, citizens' rights and responsibilities, the United States political system, state and local government and the United States government in today's international world. The course will include the topics listed below:
• The U.S. Government and Constitution Federalism and the U.S. Congress
• The Presidency and the Executive Branch
• The Judicial Branch and the U.S. Legal System Government and Economic Policy
• Foreign Policy and National Security
• Fundamental Freedoms and Individual Rights
• Civil Rights and the Civil Rights Movement
• Public Opinion and Interest Groups
• Political Parties and the Electoral Process
• State Government
• Local Government
• Comparing Political Systems
• Comparing Economic Systems
• U.S. Government and International Relations
• The World Economy
16634 WOMEN'S ISSUES in WORLD HISTORY
This elective course is based upon standards taken from both World and United States History and will focus on those issues, which have affected women and their place in the history of the world. The major topics studied include:
• The Condition of Women's Rights before the 19th Century
• The Women's Suffrage Movement of the 19th Century
• The Women's Movement as it has affected other races and religion
• Women and the Workplace
16654 INTRODUCTION to AMERICAN GOVERNMENT and CITIZENSHIP
This is a standards based course which involves studying the role of government in society, the origins of the United States government, the branches of the United States government, citizens rights and responsibilities, the United States political system, state and local government and the government of the United States in today's world. The course will include the topic below:
• The U.S. Government and Constitution
• The Congress of the United States
• The Presidency and the Executive Branch
• The Federal Court System
• Civil Rights and the Civil Rights Movement
• Political Parties and the Electoral Process
• State Government
• Local Government
• The United States Government and International Relations
Expectations for Student Performance:
Students will be expected to demonstrate involvement in their education, the ability to write effectively and to read and to listen with understanding.
16664 RESEARCH and INDEPENDENT STUDY in the HISTORY of FALL RIVER
This is an elective survey course, based upon National United States History Standards, as well as Levant Massachusetts state standards for United States History I and United States History II. The course is available for students in Grades 11 and 12. The scope of the course begins with the arrival of the Pilgrims, and deals with the major periods of Fall River 's unique local history. Those periods will include:
• The Age of Exploration
• The Colonial Period
• Fall River Becomes a Town and City in the 1800's
• Fall River in the 1800's and 1900's
• The Age of the Mills 1870 to 1920
• Fall River during the Depression
• Fall River Today
16694 INTRODUCTION to the HISTORY of FALL RIVER
This standards based course will survey the major periods of the History of the City of Fall River from the Age of Exploration to the 21 st century. The periods examined will include.
• The Age of Exploration
• The Colonial Period
• Fall River Becomes a Town and City in the 1800's
• Fall River in the 1800 and 1900's
• The Age of the Mills 1870 to 1920
• Fall River in the Great Depression
• Fall River Today
Expectations for Student Performance :
Students will be expected to demonstrate involvement in their education, the ability to write effectively and to read and to listen with understanding.