The major emphasis is on the study of significant people, events, and issues from the earliest times to the present. Traditional historical points of reference in world history, are identified as students analyze important events and issues in western civilization as well as in civilizations in other parts of the world. Students evaluate the causes and effects of political and economic imperialism and of major political revolutions since the 17th century. Students examine the impact of geographic factors on major historic events and identify the historic origins of contemporary economic systems. Students analyze the process by which democratic-republican governments evolved as well as the ideas from historic documents that influenced that process.
Students trace the historical development of important legal and political concepts.
Students examine the history and impact of major religious and philosophical traditions. Students analyze the connections between major developments in science and technology and the growth of industrial economies, and they use the process of historical inquiry to research, interpret, and use multiple sources of evidence. U.S. History - U.S. History focuses the student on the political, economic and social events and issues related to the colonial and revolutionary eras, the creation and ratification of the U.S. constitution, challenges to the early republic, westward expansion, sectionalism, The War Between the States and Reconstruction. Content also focuses on the events and issues related to industrialization and urbanization, major wars, domestic and foreign policies of the Cold War and Post-Cold War eras. Students use critical thinking skills to explain and apply different methods that historians use to interpret the past, including points of view and historical context.