SOCIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT

The Social Studies Department at Franklin Road Academy encourages students to understand the complex world around them through the historical and contemporary study of humanity. We want to inspire curiosity and push students to ascertain truth (who, what, when, why/how), hold competing ideas in tension, and articulate their own ideas through active study of the various disciplines within social studies. In addition to content, students will focus on research, reading, writing, critical thinking, and collaboration skills in all courses across the curriculum. The end goal is for our students to grow as global citizens, prepared to enter, participate, and succeed in the world beyond Franklin Road Academy.

Social Studies Survey Courses

These courses are designed to give students an overview of historical events and themes in both world and American history, as well as to establish foundational skills for advanced coursework in social studies in the junior and senior years. AP Human Geography, available for 9th grade students, fulfills the world history requirement.

World History I

World History I (H)

U.S. History

Social Studies Ap Courses

Advanced Placement courses in social studies are offered in grades 9-12. The goal of AP courses in the social studies department is to provide a rigorous course of study for students seeking to engage in college-level coursework, with many entry points along the way to allow maximum student access to Advanced Placement courses.

AP Human Geography

AP World History: Modern

AP U.S. History

AP European History

AP Art History

AP U.S. Government & Politics*

AP Psychology*

Advanced Social Studies Electives

Students need to fulfill at least one full credit of advanced social studies electives between their junior and senior years. Advanced social studies electives are academically rigorous courses that allow students to go deeper into specific topics than a standard survey course allows. Students will employ critical thinking, writing, and research skills to delve into advanced topics in American history, world history, and other social sciences.

American Government*

Sociology: Survey of American Social Issues*

African American History*

Ancient Mediterranean History, Literature, and Art* (Not offered in 2022-23)

The Holocaust: Meanings & Implications*

Economics*

Psychology*

World History I

1 Credit historical sources and learning to make connections and craft historical arguments as they explore concepts like humans and the environment, cultural developments and interactions, governance, economic systems, social interactions and organization, and technology and innovation. At the end of this course all students take the AP World History: Modern exam. At the end of this course all students take the AP World History: Modern exam. There is an expectation of attendance at weekly tutorial sessions.

This course is an introductory ancient world history course. Students cultivate their understanding of world history from c. 10,000 BCE to 1200 CE through analyzing historical sources and learning to make connections and craft historical arguments as they explore concepts like humans and the environment, cultural developments and interactions, governance, economic systems, social interactions and organization, and technology and innovation.

U.S. HISTORY

1 Credit

WORLD HISTORY I (H)

1 Credit

This course is an advanced introductory ancient world history course. Students cultivate their understanding of world history from c. 10,000 BCE to 1200 CE through analyzing historical sources and learning to make connections and craft historical arguments as they explore concepts like humans and the environment, cultural developments and interactions, governance, economic systems, social interactions and organization, and technology and innovation. This additional rigor in this honors course is intended to prepare students for AP World History: Modern in the sophomore year.

AP WORLD HISTORY: MODERN

1 Credit

This course is an Advanced Placement history course intended for students who are interested in pursuing historical study at a collegiate level. Students cultivate their understanding of world history from c. 1200 CE to the present through analyzing

U.S. History is a year-long survey that covers major themes, figures, and events from the Colonial America to 2001, following the threads of U.S. History through each era to see how they impact citizens and the world. Students will study primary and secondary source documents, assessing perspective and bias, and will seek information on politics, social and cultural trends, economics, and technologies of each era. Those eras are: Colonial America, Revolutionary (with Civics); A Nation Expanding; A Nation Divided; Birth of the American City; The Progressive Era; Great Depression and World War II; The Cold War; Superpower.

AP U.S. HISTORY

1 Credit

This yearlong survey class includes the major ideological, political, economic, and social events, as well as key players. There are nine historical periods, beginning with the colonization efforts of the New World and continuing through the early 21st Century. Reading and analyzing primary and secondary sources are an integral part of the class. There is an emphasis on historical skills: contextualization, causation, comparison, continuity and change over time. Students will spend the year learning, thinking, and writing critically about issues, successes and conflicts essential to an historical understanding of the United States. Additionally, each student will take the AP U.S. History Exam. Additionally, each student will take the AP U.S. History Exam. There is an expectation of attendance at weekly tutorial sessions.

Ap Human Geography

1 Credit

AP Human Geography is an introduction to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface. Students will study the methods and tools geographers use in their science, apply spatial concepts and engage in landscape analysis examining human social organization and its environmental consequences. Students will apply their background in World History, Introductory Geography, non-fiction reading, writing skills and critical thinking to the interesting and rigorous course content. Summer work is required in preparation for success in this AP course. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to interpret maps and analyze geospatial data, define regions and evaluate the regionalization process, and characterize and analyze changing interconnections among locations. Additionally, each student will take the AP U.S. History Exam. There is an expectation of attendance at weekly tutorial sessions.

Ap European History

1 Credit

In the yearlong AP European History course, students survey the history of Europe from the Renaissance to the present, with an emphasis on the thematic developments of Western Civilization.

The class examines social, political, economic, religious, and cultural movements that dramatically impacted history. Major areas of study include the Renaissance and Reformation, the topics of the Enlightenment, the revolutionary movements of the 19th Century, the Industrial Revolution, 20th-Century conflict, and social reform. Emphasis will be placed on primary and scholarly sources equivalent to those gained in a college- level introductory course. Students are expected to use outside sources and the class to increase learning comprehension. Additionally, each student will take the AP European History Exam. There is an expectation of attendance at weekly tutorial sessions.

Ap Art History

1 Credit

Advanced Placement Art History is a college level course that enables students to apply decision-making, analytical and problemsolving skills that will facilitate rational, effective lifelong learning. Students will learn to discuss and write about global art using skills that define critical thinking, including analysis, inference, interpretation, compare and contrast and evaluation. We will focus on 250 specific pieces of art. Students who successfully complete the course requirements can request credit from the college or university they will attend. Credit will be awarded upon passing the AP Art History exam by the AP College Board.

AP U.S. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

½

Credit // Grades 11-12

Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics is a collegelevel, nonpartisan course that introduces students to key political concepts and the roles and behaviors that characterize the constitutional framework and political culture of the United States. Students will analyze and interpret the Constitution, important political documents, U.S. Supreme Court cases and data to better understand the American government and the political actors who interact with it. Students who successfully complete the course requirements may request college credit upon passing the AP U.S. Government and Politics exam given by the AP College Board.

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ½ Credit

This semester-long course is designed to provide students with a practical knowledge and understanding of American government and its direct connection to its citizens. The U.S. Constitution will serve as the central document to inform class discussions. Students will learn to apply knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and demonstrate their understanding of how the American system of government functions on the local, state, and national levels as well as the impact on individual citizens, who have both rights and responsibilities.

ECONOMICS ½ Credit

This semester-long course will focus on fundamental economic principles students will need to know as they advance to college-level economics classes. The class will focus on both micro and macroeconomics and will include ongoing instruction in personal finance. Students will be introduced to the Foundations of Financial Peace program created by

Dave Ramsey and will learn the importance of avoiding debt and managing money. Each area of study is designed to assist the student in understanding basic mathematic principles of economics and the larger impact that money and the economy has on society overall. The main goal is to help the student understand and recognize trends in economics and be able to analyze data to better understand the new complicated global economy.

PSYCHOLOGY ½ Credit

Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and the mental processes. The scope of psychology is broad, ranging from the scientific activity of neurons and hormones, to the maze-running abilities of lab rats, to the effects of emotions on how we think and act towards others, to the influence of social contexts and cultures on our own behavior. This course will provide students with a broad introduction to the vast and exciting field. It will cover psychology’s basic subject matter across a variety of topics (i.e. development, learning, memory, abnormal behavior, and social influence), history of different psychologists’ approaches to collecting and evaluating evidence about behavior, as well as how psychological knowledge can be applied to understanding – and improving – everyday life.

Ap Psychology

½ Credit // Grades 11-12

The AP Psychology 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 practice, as well as discoveries made by famous psychologists over the past century. Students will get the chance to assess some of the differing approaches adopted by psychologists, including biological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, and sociocultural perspectives, and students will also learn the basic skills of psychology research. This course aims to provide students with a learning experience equivalent to that of most college introductory psychology courses.

THE HOLOCAUST: MEANINGS & IMPLICATIONS

½ Credit

This course examines the systematic destruction of European Jewry and other groups during World War II, its background, and its aftermath. It addresses the attempts by victims, bystanders, perpetrators, and their descendants – and we are all their descendants – to create meaningful narratives about an event that appears to lack discernible meaning. To that end, it focuses on historical accounts, case studies, memoirs, fiction, and theology and such issues as history, memory, witness, conscience, language, evil, and others that they raise.

SOCIOLOGY: SURVEY OF AMERICAN SOCIAL ISSUES

½ Credit

This course introduces the fundamental elements of sociology and applies them through an examination of modern social issues (i.e. healthcare, poverty, education, gun control, race relations, immigration, the environment, and civil rights). Students will learn the theoretical paradigms that define types and stages of social movements and will explore how social problems are addressed by means of research, media, journalism, leadership, violence/non-violent means, social norms, and personal biases/ world view.

African American History

½ Credit

ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND ART

(Not offered in 2022-23)

½ Credit

A survey of visual art and text that reflect religious beliefs and practices from the first century CE through the early Medieval Era, including monuments form Greco-Roman cults, early Christianity, and Rabbinical Judaism. Students will examine visual art and material artifacts in light of textual evidence for religious movements during these transitional and formational centuries.

African American History is a semester-long course examining the rich contributions of African Americans in the history of the United States of America. This course is designed to expand on the traditional US History course by giving a comprehensive look at the historical account of Americans who have championed the cause of liberty and equality for all. For this reason, students must be currently enrolled in or have taken U.S. History or AP U.S. History as a prerequisite. The focus of the class will be on understanding the racialization of America, the significant contributions of African Americans in U.S. History, and how both race and the struggle for equality has significantly impacted the course of American history. It will be a class with a strong emphasis on the work that has been done in the past for equality, the leadership that exists today, and the hope of a racially reconciled America of the future. At the end of the class, students will have an understanding of how the complexities of race have shaped and impacted American culture.