Social Studies in the High School at SIS brings to a conclusion a co-coordinated K-12 curriculum in the subject. The SIS curriculum is modeled on those commonly found in the United States but with a marked degree of reference to the school's international nature. In the High School, Social Studies focuses on providing students with advanced critical thinking skills and a strong ability to express themselves in different mediums. Students need a minimum of three credits in Social Studies to graduate. Two of those come from the compulsory courses in World History and United States History undertaken in Grades 9 and 10. Grade 11 and 12 students are offered a range of elective programs: United States History, European History and Psychology are offered at the Advanced Placement level; the other offerings are East Asian Studies, Government and Economics, Global Issues and Psychology.

World History	U.S. History	A.P. U.S. Hisotory
A.P. World History	Contemporary Asian Studies	A.P. Psychology
Global Issues	Govenment and Economy

This course provides an overview study of the history of the world beginning in the first semester with the development of man in prehistoric times. We survey the development of early civilizations including Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The second semester continues with a look at more advanced societies including Ancient China, an overview of the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance period.

Textbook:

World History: Patterns of Interaction/McDougall Littell 1999

This course is an overview history of the United States from the end of the Civil War continuing through the present day. The first semester begins with a very brief overview and review of American history from the pre-colonial period to the Civil War. Emphasis is then placed on the Reconstruction period and U.S. emergence as a world power during the late 19th century. The second semester focuses on the 20th century including progressivism, the place of America in the international community, World War I, the depression, World War II, isolationism, foreign policy development and civil rights.

Textbook:

The Americans – Reconstruction Through the 20th Century

AP U.S. History is an intensive college-level study of the development of the United States covering the 400 years from the pre-colonial period to the late 20th Century. This course is designed to prepare students to take the Advanced Placement Examination in American History. The course places emphasis on developing the student's abilities to assess historical materials, weigh evidence, interpret material, arrive at conclusions, present evidence clearly, and analyze material in written presentations.

Textbook:

The American Pageant, 11 th edition/McDougal Littell

The American Spirit, Vol. 1, 9 th edition/McDougal Littell

The American Spirit, Vol. 2, 9 th edition/McDougal Littell

The purpose of the AP World History course is to develop a greater understanding of the evolution of global processes and contacts in 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 global frameworks and their causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies.  It emphasizes relevant factual knowledge, leading interpretive issues, and skills in analyzing types of historical evidence.  Periodization, explicitly discussed, forms an organizing principle to address change and continuity throughout the course.  Specific themes provide further organization to the course, along with consistent attention to contacts among societies that for the core of world history as a field of study.

 

Textbook:

Coming soon!

Contemporary Asian Studies is a course that focuses on modern Asian societies in the complex and global world in which we live.  The objective of the course is two-fold: 1. To better understand the regions of the Asian continent by examining their geographic patterns, economic and political systems, their culture, and their links to the rest of the world.  2.  To prepare students for the rigor of college-level social sciences classes by providing the opportunity to think critically of original texts through discussions and writings in a variety of genres.  Students in the course will be engaged in a study of the Asian continent incorporating many themes of the social sciences department: geography, history, economics, government, and culture. 

 

Textbook:

N/A

This course is an intensive college-level course designed to prepare students to take the Advanced Placement Examination in Psychology. This course focuses on the study of individual behavior, and the psychological methods and concepts that will be applied to everyday life. The course places emphasis on the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings in a range of contexts and areas of study. Students are exposed to the psychological facts, principles and phenomena associated with each of the major sub fields within psychology. They will be required to apply their understanding of theoretical approaches and ethics to current research. The underlying objective is for students to begin to identify the impact of different approaches and how they are used in 'real-life? Students will study the major realms of current psychology, ncluding motivation, emotions, life-span psychology, abnormal psychology, therapy and social psychology.

Textbook:

Psychology, 7 th edition & 8 th edition/Prentice Hall

In Global Issues, students will examine the global factors that shape life in the 21st Century. Issues such as globalization, human rights, the environmental challenges, poverty, and global economics will be studied in order to gain a deeper understanding of the forces that are shaping our world. The study of current events will also play an important part in this course. Students taking this course should be willing to participate actively in class discussion, as this plays an important role in the class.

Textbook:

Annual Editions Global Issues

Annual Editions World Politics

This course is divided into 3 stages. The first part of the course introduces government and economics – what they are and why they exist. The focus will be on different types of governments and economies, how governments and economies interrelate with each other, how they affect us individually and collectively (society) and how we, in turn, ultimately dictate the fate of our own governments and economies. Throughout this study, students will be expected to develop their own political and economic “positions” that will be put to test throughout the course of the year. The second part of the course is mainly a study of Government, primarily of the system as it exists in the United States of America, but with considerable reference to systems that exist currently and historically. The third phase will shift to Economics, again primarily of the capitalist, free-enterprise system of the U.S. As with the studies of Government, though, the focus will not just be on the United States; economic systems in other parts of the world will be referred to. By the end of this course, students can expect to have developed their own political-economic philosophy and use it to understand and think critically about history and current events.

Textbook:

American Government/Prentice Hall/1996

Holt Economics

World Geography: A Global Perspective/Prentice Hall