History 9 - Global History

Global History is a year-long thematic course that introduces students to this vibrant field of study through the 9th-grade lens of identity. This course provides a sweeping introduction to human history. Students investigate the organization of societies, trade & migration, revolution and the rise of empires around the world, intellectual & cultural achievements, and the impacts of imperialism & colonialism. This course encourages students to think critically and explore how the past offers us essential insight into our contemporary and future world. As students build research skills, analyze primary and secondary sources, consider multiple perspectives, and wrestle with the inquiry process, they will develop an ability to craft arguments and consider different perspectives and voices through collaborative work. Projects in this course are intended to build key written and oral communication skills and will challenge students to think about how philosophical, cultural, and political dynamics have evolved over time to shape the 21st century.

Prerequisite: None Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Full Year REQUIRED Grade 9 Course

Honors History 9 - Global History

The goal of the history Honors program is that students who pursue the Honors option will develop individual written work and projects that extend beyond the core material for the course. Honors students will be expected to explore content in greater depth and with an insatiable desire for learning. Honors students will consider more complex and open-ended questions and problems, consult multiple primary and secondary sources for their research, and present nuanced arguments. Emphasis will be placed on original thinking and creative, persuasive presentation. As this is a project-based course, Honors students will take on additional roles in group work, both in “Honors teams” and in blended teams with students who are not pursuing the Honors option for history. Expectations for Honors students will be made clear in the introduction of each project and assignment.

Prerequisite: None Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Full Year

*In consultation with their advisor and the course faculty, students can also elect to take Global History at the Honors Level. Students have until the Fall Semester Add/Drop deadline to change their Honors status in a course.

Honors History 10 - American Studies (History)

In addition to the curriculum as described in the History 10 course description, Honors students should anticipate higher expectations in terms of their assessments. This might mean, for example, taking on leadership roles in class discussions, preparing additional documents such as annotated bibliographies, and more challenging standards of sophistication in written work.

Prerequisite: History 9 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Full Year

*In consultation with their advisor and the course faculty, students can also elect to take American Studies - History at the Honors Level. Students have until the Fall Semester Add/Drop deadline to change their Honors status in a course.

In their 11th and 12th grade years, students can enroll in semester and year-long electives in the Social Sciences. These courses represent challenging opportunities for our students to explore more specialized areas of research and analysis and to take greater agency in their engagement with advanced disciplinary skills and content, interdisciplinary thinking, and project design. These courses represent a high level of rigor and are designed to prepare students to take advantage of the most ambitious academic options in college and university study.

*Starting in Grade 10, students may double up on Social Sciences courses, taking a second full Social Sciences course in place of an elective (for example, a 10th grade student could register for both American Studies - History and an 11/12 Social Sciences elective course). Using this form, students must secure the permission of their advisor and the Academic Dean.

Interdisciplinary Research

While the 11th and 12th grade program is designed to support students' exploration of specific fields and high levels of research, the faculty also work closely to ensure consistent skill development across classes. In addition, the 11th and 12th grade faculty will develop projects, events, and opportunities for dialogue that link all of the elective courses and prioritize interdisciplinary learning and analysis. The Junior Thesis and Senior Internship programs also serve as core experiences within the upper-level curriculum. These programs guide students to apply their full range of learning to a specific problem or research question.

Honors: History and Social Sciences (Grades 11 and 12)

Students who wish to demonstrate specialization within specific fields can elect Honors in 11th and 12th grade courses. Students who elect Honors in 11th and 12th grade courses are making a commitment to:

• Exploring additional resources, challenges, and texts

• Engaging with and producing more nuanced research and additional forms of analysis

• Taking on leadership roles in project and course design, and heightening their focus on the development of a collaborative skill set

• Managing significant independent work and research

• Participating in additional honors seminar meetings

• Participating in a feedback process, including iterative self reflection, that includes higher standards of assessment (to be defined by their instructor)

Process & Policy:

1. Students should elect Honors during the registration process, consulting both with their advisor and with the course instructor or Academic Dean.

2. Students should complete a 1-page Honors Statement while registering for the Honors option.

3. During the Add/Drop period, the instructor will work with the student to provide feedback that indicates whether remaining in Honors is in the student’s best interest.

4. Students have until the Add/Drop deadline to shift out of the Honors designation. Students who wish to opt into Honors during this time will need to secure the permission of their instructor.

Add/Drop Semester I: Sept 30, 2021

Add/Drop Semester II: February 23, 2022

Constitutional Law & The Supreme Court

This course explores the role that the Supreme Court plays in American society through an analysis of selected topics in constitutional law. The course begins with an overview of the history and functioning of the court, then moves on to examine topics such as freedom of speech and religion, due process, equal protection, and search and seizure. The course utilizes the case method to develop students’ analytical thinking and writing. Current events, cases on the Court’s docket, and present-day political realities figure prominently. Assignments include case briefs, essays on trends in the law, oral presentations, collaborative arguments, and leadership of class discussions. Class participation is essential. Two major assignments, which take the place of exams, are moot court exercises, during which students research, write briefs, argue, and write judicial opinions on real and hypothetical cases. Students are encouraged to read The New York Times and several legal news sites on a daily basis. Honors students write a mini law review article on a key question presented in the course. For students interested in both qualitative and quantitative study, it is recommended that students take this course with the electives Math of Sustainability and/or Math of Social Policy. In consultation with the instructor and diploma program coordinator, this course can support students who are pursuing a diploma program.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Full Year

International Relations

In this course, we will explore how the world is governed and how to recognize the drivers and effects of markets, politics, and policies. Distilling a personal approach to thinking across languages, cultures, and systems, this course will invite students to navigate the mechanisms and strategy behind state negotiation. In simulations of multilateral summits and individual state strategy making, students will apply different theories of diplomacy and strategy. Plunging into the complexity of the global political landscape, students will weigh global crises and aid models, interventionist military strategies, and human rights cases, investigating cooperative organizations, including the UN, NATO, the IMF, ASEAN, the WTO, and the World Court. In simulating these forums and in producing the real-world tools of briefs, articles, and advisory documents, students will also analyze the non-state actors that define our globalized world. We will map the networks of multinational corporations, tracing the ways in which companies have defined global markets and systems of diplomacy as much as state governments. We’ll also learn to trace the economies left in the wake of war and humanitarian crisis, as well as the webs of cartels and terrorist organizations, assessing the influence of these “shadow networks” upon more “formalized” negotiations. Through all of these themes, we’ll explore the powerful effect of technology, social networking, and communication, not only within national political strategies, but within the rise of increasingly global insurgent, revolutionary, and reform movements. For students interested in both qualitative and quantitative study, it is recommended that students take this course with the electives Math of Sustainability and/or Math of Social Policy. In consultation with the instructor and diploma program coordinator, this course can support students who are pursuing a diploma program.

Prerequisite: History 10; Completion of Level III of a World Language (A- or above) or Instructor Permission Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Full Year

Economics: Scarcity, Competition, and Drivers of Wealth

In this full-year project-based economics course, students will analyze the tools necessary for decision making in light of scarcity. Acquiring the core models of Micro and Macroeconomics, and leveraging a wide variety of interdisciplinary methods and fundamentals of economic theory, students will apply economic concepts to practice. We will simulate corporate supply and demand decisions, government regulatory debates around inflation and unemployment, and individual investment decisions. Through these projects and simulations, students will discover the fundamentals of the supply chain, the drivers of demand, the influence of the government on institutional and individual spending, the need for competition, the results of a competitive vacuum, and the incentives that determine market prices and resource allocation. Students will analyze and critique both the effects that can be seen and the results that can be predicted through the lenses of current events and historical case studies that accompany the course. Students will also learn to analyze the parallels between the growth of individual wealth, corporate wealth, and national wealth. In consultation with the instructor and diploma program coordinator, this course can support students who are pursuing a diploma program.

Prerequisite: Algebra II; History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Full Year

Diploma Credit: Sustainability; Consult Instructor & Diploma Coordinator

History & Theory of the Postcolonial

How have Western perspectives and representations of the “other,” the “native,” and the "uncivilized" led to imperial and colonial endeavors? Oftentimes, colonialism is intricately linked to modernity which historically has been considered an inevitable yet beneficial event. What are the “darker sides” to modernity and how are they exemplified in literature and art? This course is an introduction to the field of postcolonial study through a comparative critical analysis of Spanish, British, and French colonialism as witnessed and experienced in the United States and the Global South which includes the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East. Through theoretical readings, we will understand and build upon the definitions of imperialism, (post)colonialism, settler colonialism, anti- and decolonialism. We will then apply these developments and theories to an examination of cultural and literary representations created as a response of the colonized to the colonizer. In comparing the histories, presents, and futures of these regions, students will then collaboratively organize a winter symposium in which each student will present their initial research. Throughout the spring semester, students will build upon their findings to write an academic article with the goal of submitting their work for review in discipline-specific journals.

For students interested in both qualitative and quantitative study, it is recommended that students take this course with the electives Math of Sustainability and/or Math of Social Policy. In consultation with the instructor and diploma program coordinator, this course can support students who are pursuing a diploma program.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Full Year

Diploma Credit: Consult Instructor & Diploma Coordinator

Criminal Justice: Theory and Practice of Reform

Why is America the world’s largest “jailer nation”? How are safe communities created? How is justice secured in a complex modern society? Scholars in Criminal Justice will attempt to make sense of current events and controversies in the criminal justice system by placing debates over crime trends, police tactics, and judicial systems in their historical contexts. Particular attention will be paid to the rising and falling fortunes of urban centers, the development of organized crime and street gangs, and the causes and consequences of the War on Drugs, and contemporary campaigns for reform. Students will draw upon and reinforce their understanding of key aspects of American civics when they study due process rights, the legislature's role in structuring the judicial system, and executive influence over the enforcement of laws. Students will become literate in criminal justice terms and procedures, key theories in the field of criminology, and basic methods of statistical analysis. For the final project, students will research and propose reforms to a current problem in the field of criminal justice. Criminal Justice students should be interested in conducting open-ended research into intractable problems and excited about improving their writing skills so that they can effectively advocate for their positions. For students interested in both qualitative and quantitative study, it is recommended that students take this course with the electives Math of Sustainability and/or Math of Social Policy. In consultation with the instructor and diploma program coordinator, this course can support students who are pursuing a diploma program.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Full Year

Diploma Credit: Consult Instructor & Diploma Coordinator

Psychology

This is an introductory course to the field of Psychology that focuses on the mind and behavior. Students will examine different areas that range from the history of psychology, cognition, intelligence, different areas and functions of the brain, developmental stages, sensation and perception, learning and memory processes, behaviorism, psychological disorders, and different personalities. Using a case study approach, students will identify an individual, real or imagined, to research and conceptualize psychologically. In addition to diagnosing this person, the students will also determine treatment options. Finally, working in groups, students will pick a specific disorder to research and then develop supports and interventions for implementation. These supports will be presented to the GCDS team of counselors, administrators, and specialists.

Prerequisite: Biology, Chemistry, History 10 Credit: SCI or HIST/SOC Semester: Full Year

Modern Europe in Global Context

What is modern Europe? The period from 1919 to 2021 witnessed the rise (and perhaps the culmination) of the modern nation-state, the growth of extremism, the failure of modernity before WWII, the bifurcation of Europe and the global cold war, and the process of decolonization that radically transformed both Europe and its former colonies in the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, and across South and East Asia. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Europe transformed again into a region governed by international, collective politics and economics through the European Union, only to see challenges again posed by the rise of the right, the influx of former colonial refugees, and the perceived threat from Islamist movements. We will study major trends in European identity and politics through collaborative projects, and secondary and primary research.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Fall, Spring (1 semester course, offered both semesters)

The Modern Middle East: Crisis & Continuity

Israel, 1947. Suez, 1956. Lebanese Civil War, 1975. The Iranian Revolution, 1979. The Gulf War, 1993. 9/11. Arab Spring, 2011. Afghanistan, 2001. Iraq, 2003. The Islamic State, 2014. We tend to think of the Middle East as a region where crises explode one after another. Those events are important and deserve study. But there is as much continuity in the Middle East as there is crisis: postcolonialism, population increase, transformation of elites, the oil market, the vagaries of the global economy. In this course, we will study both crisis and continuity to find the roots and consequences of conflict and to get a glimpse of life in the region over the long term. The course will be structured around six projects, each one corresponding to a crisis. In between projects, we will explore the causes and consequences of those events. We will read from a variety of primary and secondary sources, including secondary books, journalistic accounts, and electronic sources from the region.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Fall, Spring (1 semester course, offered both semesters)

Empire as a Way of Life

George Washington famously called the United States “an Empire for Liberty.” That sounds strange to modern ears; we think of empires as things that take away liberty – oppressive states, typically run by dictators, that immiserate their own people and those they conquer or dominate. There is of course considerable truth to this perception. But like them or not, empires have been a characteristic form of political organization for most of human history. The strong centralized power they exert have been sources of stability as well as upheaval; they have guaranteed the rights of beleaguered minorities as well as taken them away; they have promoted artistic expression as well as suppressed it. Empires have been governed as dictatorships, but they have also been republics and even democracies. In this course – a course of comparative history – we will explore a series of imperial case studies, snapshots of moments when empires were at their height. The five examples are: Periclean Athens in the fifth century BCE; the Roman republic/empire in the first century CE; the Mongol empire of the thirteenth century; the Ottoman empire of the sixteenth century, and the British empire of the nineteenth century. In each case, we will assess a series of parallel themes: the political and military factors that allowed these empires to grow; processes and problems of dynastic succession; the parameters and exclusions of citizenship; the status of women; and reasons for imperial decline. A point of reference for all these comparisons will be that of the United States, whose experience in these contexts will be the focus of a final unit.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Fall Diploma Credit: Classics

Borders and Walls: A Literary and Social Analysis

How has the expansion of commerce, media, and migration paradoxically resulted in the increase of borders and walls around the globe? What enables or limits one’s mobility in a globalized world? Where do autonomous zones fit into the discourse of borders? We will consider how borders are invisible yet enforceable structures with real, lived impacts on cultures, people, and environments and how walls are actual, physical structures with just as much impact. By reading texts from geography, anthropology, ethnic studies, and political theory, we will gain a nuanced understanding of the varied approaches and responses to borders and walls. Students will build upon their written, creative, and data analysis skills to complete both individual and group projects including a podcast and a museum exhibition. Regions of study may include: US-Mexico border and wall; the Berlin Wall; the Kashmir border dispute/conflict; colonial, postcolonial, and post-partition South Asia; Kurdistan; the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle; and Guantanamo Bay.

For students interested in both qualitative and quantitative study of this topic, it is recommended that students take this course with Math of Sustainability and/or Math of Social Policy. In consultation with the instructor and diploma program coordinator, this course can support students who are pursuing a diploma program.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: ENG or HIST/SOC Semester: Fall

Diploma Credit: Consult Instructor & Diploma Coordinator

Contextualizing Global Pop Culture Movements

Where did K-Pop come from? What are people saying with all that graffiti in Chile? Why is London known for its Indian food? How come Afrobeats is everywhere now? And how come you can’t get any McDonalds in Barbados? This class will treat these questions as the serious cultural, economic, and historical inquiries that they are. When newspapers cover the rest of the world, popular culture movements are rarely the subject, but when we drive to the grocery store, the things that catch our eye are the product of our constantly colliding popular cultures. They carry immense personal meaning, not to mention power. While the topics of the course will be primarily chosen by students, we will study the historical antecedents that contributed to our current globalized era, and by the end of the course students will be equipped with an understanding of analytical tools from the fields of sociology, economics, and foreign policy that will allow them to appreciate the context of future pop culture passions. Students will be provided with the flexibility and tools to understand the popular culture movements of their choosing, and will work with other students interested in a similar region to understand and present its history to the class. This course is a great opportunity to further investigate subjects from 9th grade World History, World Language, and interdisciplinary research.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Fall

Oh God! Faith and Doubt in American Life

While many Americans do not consider themselves religious, chances are most Americans have considered any number of questions—What happens when we die? What makes something right or wrong? How do we relate to those who think differently than we do about such matters?—that have strong religious implications. In this course, we will consider the ways different Americans over the past 400 years have answered such questions, and the relationship between sacred and secular in everyday life. Because different varieties of Christianity have been the predominant faith in U.S. history (despite being somewhat misleadingly lumped together), it will be the primary focus of the course. But the spirit of the class will reflect the nation’s avowedly pluralist origins and diverse religious realities. Rather than focus on sacred texts, we will explore the way touchstone cultural documents—from the poetry of Anne Bradstreet to the music of Frank Ocean—have ideas about faith threading through them. Along the way, we’ll consider how belief, religious and otherwise, shapes our behavior in ways that (at first glance, anyway) may seem to have little to do with underlying notions of an ethical or divine order. In the process, we’ll achieve a more informed sense of where we stand in relation to each other and make more conscious choices about what we think matters and why.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Fall

American Film History: Theory and Practice

This team-taught interdisciplinary course will explore the world of film from multiple perspectives. Each week we will view a classic of cinema as homework, and devote 1-2 days engaged in close readings of individual scenes, related readings, and discussion, about which students will produce short essays. We will also devote 1-2 days a week to longer-term student projects, which will involve learning techniques of production necessary to produce short videos that react in some way to the assigned films. Directors whose work will be explored include Charlie Chaplin, John Ford, Martin Scorsese and Greta Gerwig. Students will practice a wide array of skills applicable across the arts and humanities.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: ART or HIST/SOC Semester: Fall Diploma Credit: Visual & Performing Arts

Roman History in Cinema

How has Hollywood deformed Roman history? This course seeks to recognize both the reality and misinterpretation that cinema has overlayed onto Roman events, beginning with the founding of Rome through the reign of Constantine. Students will engage in meaningful discussion and analysis aimed at identifying how movies have manipulated how we think about Roman culture and what we believe the Romans to have thought.

Prerequisite: None Credit: WL or HIST/SOC Semester: Fall Diploma Credit: Classics, Visual and Performing Arts

Roman Art and Architecture

This course explores the importance of Roman art and architecture both throughout history as well as in modern society. Students will identify common artistic themes from around the ancient world as well as discuss the propagandic value of Republican and Imperial portraiture. Students will have the opportunity to make comparisons to modern culture and diagnose what role architectural representation might make in our own society.

Prerequisite: None Credit: WL or HIST/SOC Semester: Fall Diploma Credit: Classics, Visual and Performing Arts

Archeology I: Introduction and Methods

This course serves as an introduction to the field of archeology. The course reviews the sub-disciplines of archeology and discusses both traditional and modern methods of excavation. It is broad in both time and space. We study sites from homo sapiens origins (200,000 BCE) to colonial period shipwrecks (1700CE) and from Indiana to Indonesia. Students learn about human prehistory and history through material culture and see how humans have evolved biologically and socially through time. An emphasis on questioning theories and explanations of the past is always at the core of new discoveries and something students are encouraged to do as they learn the basics of archeology.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: SCI or HIST/SOC Semester: Fall

Social Order and The City: Political Theory, Sociology, and Urban Humanities

What are the factors that lead to the development/underdevelopment of cities and inequality therein? What is the impact of gentrification on a societal and ecological level? How does the prison system function as a multivalent site of justice, dehumanization, and resistance? How does the acknowledgment of a person’s humanity or lack thereof affect governmental policies, depictions in the media, one’s ability to survive, and conceptions of freedom and (in)justice? We will investigate these topics as they relate to the development and/or deterioration of cities and their residents in conjunction with social order (defined as a system of social structures in a given society and the (in)ability of its citizens to follow said structures). In addition, we will consider how cities respond to a social problem in similar or different ways based on factors such as geography, politics, and funding. We will examine institutions such as the criminal justice system, the education system, social security and welfare, and housing to gain a nuanced understanding of urban and human evolution in the past century. Students will build upon their written, creative, and data analysis skills to complete both individual and group projects including a podcast and weekly photo responses. Course materials will come from a range of academic disciplines, including but not limited to: Urban Planning, Sociology, Political Theory, Literature, and Geography.

For students interested in both qualitative and quantitative study of this topic, it is recommended that students take this course with Math of Sustainability and/or Math of Social Policy. In consultation with the instructor and diploma program coordinator, this course can support students who are pursuing a diploma program.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Spring

Diploma Credit: Consult Instructor & Diploma Coordinator

Spin Cycles: Postwar Popular Music in American Life

Since World War II, popular music has been the quintessential expression of everyday American life. As such, it reflects the divisions as well as the unities of U.S. society at large. In this course, we will explore some of the most important genres in pop—notably country music, rock & roll, and hip-hop—and their impact on the generations of Americans who have come of age in the past 75 years. The spirit of the course is comparative: to look at a series of themes in our national life (among them race and ethnic relations, gender expression, class politics, religion and regionalism, among others) as well as the means of musical expression in terms of the ways songs are constructed and performed. Students will be asked to read, write, and think about how music works, and to consider music they haven’t always listened to—or liked—and grapple with new ideas. The goal will be to achieve a greater appreciation of American popular music, as well as aspects of/perspectives on American life that may not be familiar to those whose frame of reference is the second decade of the 21st century.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: ART or HIST/SOC Semester: Spring Diploma Credit: Visual & Performing Arts

Food Systems: Are We What We Eat?

The desires of societies throughout human history have been reflected in the food that they grow and eat. Much more than growing food or a key economic sector, agriculture is a way of life, a source of open space, a tremendous manipulation of natural resources, and a forum where we interact with each other. Using the many influential classics of popular food writing and documentary filmmaking, Food Systems will highlight the development of humanity’s relationship with our food system. In particular, we will examine the more recent developments of fast food, corporate agriculture, and the local food movement. To do so, we will “make stops” along the way at the bank, the farm, the ranch, and the kitchen. Students will use a variety of readings and documentaries to understand the ways our food system works, its benefits, and its pitfalls. In particular, students will become proficient in describing the effects of weather, technology, and government policy on crop prices; the social effects of changes to our food systems; and proposals for reform. Students will demonstrate these skills by planning and conducting research and interviews to solve an authentic problem facing the Connecticut food system and present their findings to the community--and of course, growing and cooking food!

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Spring Diploma Credit: Sustainability

West Africa: History and Politics

This course will follow the journey of four countries' decline in power, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, British colonization, and post-independence development and artistic liberation. The literature discussed will pair storytelling with tradition in order to understand the richness of culture, revolution, and democracy. Additionally, there will be a strong emphasis on historical knowledge and understanding of each country's development and the forces which led to some of their civil demise. The course will supplement resistance music, art, and expression in order to explore: unparalleled eco-diversity and climate change; motivational political figures and artists; and religious and cultural diversity that begin to define each country's unique identity. The course will specifically discuss the histories and present identities of Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. This interdisciplinary course will hone research skills, analytical writing, oral presentation skills, global citizenship, and exercise student choice in projects.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Spring

The Art of Democracy: A History of Mass Media

Popular culture—defined here as the art of and by ordinary people in industrial societies—has been around for a long time. It is also a form of expression distinctly expressive of representative democracies such as the United States. In this course, we will look at a series of media in American histories (newspapers, the stage, movies, radio, television, popular music and the Internet) and how they developed. We will also explore how a series of issues (race, class, gender, the role of capitalism in artistic production) thread through these media. By reading, writing, and thinking about popular culture, students will strengthen skills they can apply widely across disciplines and tasks.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: HIST/SOC Semester: Spring Diploma Credit: Visual & Performing Arts

Art, Politics and Thought: The Intersection of Context, Philosophy and Art

This course will examine art through the lenses of historical context and theory, positioning artistic practice as a conduit for critical thought. We will ask questions that will examine art as an effective medium for social change through the work of Alfredo Jaar, Martha Rosler, Christian Boltanski, Krzysztof Wodiczko, and others. The course will develop skills in visual literacy and critical analysis culminating in students choosing an issue and responding to it visually. There will be a balance of looking at and analyzing artworks, while also researching and creating our own responses. Design thinking will be applied as we seek innovative solutions to pressing questions.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: ART or HIST/SOC Semester: Spring Diploma Credit: Visual & Performing Arts

Roman Society and History: 100bce-1100ce

For over 1,000 years the Romans had a stranglehold on power in the Mediterranean world: language, economics, religion, law, and culture were all controlled from a small nucleus on the Italian peninsula. This course will investigate the pivotal years of that domination and the challenges that the once flourishing oligarchy faced, allowing students the chance to explore how a republic can devolve into autocracy.

Prerequisite: None Credit: WL or HIST/SOC Semester: Spring Diploma Credit: Classics

Gods, Heroes, and Monsters

This course offers a comprehensive survey of classical mythology. It investigates the legends, myths, and stories which the Greeks and Romans used in explaining their own cultures and historical/religious beliefs. The class will analyze both the art and literature of the ancients, asking students to draw parallels to modern culture/society in the hopes of better understanding the influence that this mythology has had on our own times.

Prerequisite: None Credit: WL or HIST/SOC or ENG Semester: Spring Diploma Credit: Classics

Archeology II: Research and Practice

This class will vary from year to year. It will focus on specific time periods and the changes cultures make through time. Reviewing material culture, typology over time, historical data, and more students will understand how archeologists recreate what life may have been like in certain time periods and cultures. This course is designed to culminate in some sort of field study, whether an actual archeological dig or a study of artifacts from a specific collection or lab work from a specific site. Students will leave this course having actually experienced archeological work.

Prerequisite: History 10 Credit: SCI or HIST/SOC Semester: Spring