Social Studies
The Hoboken Public Schools Social Studies program empowers students to become responsible learners in the global community of the 21st Century. Our learners will interpret, analyze, and evaluate documentary source information from a multitude of authors and time periods as a means of conducting authentic, historically based research. Students versed in the social studies are active, informed and empathetic individuals. Only through a deep understanding of the past can one appreciate the realities of the present and possibilities of the future. This program encourages life-long learning that reflects social and historical realities.
The Social Studies/Social Sciences curriculum at Hoboken High School contains three major areas of study. The first area of study is a World History survey. The second area of study consists of a two-year sequence of United States History and a group of alternative programs which also satisfy the United States History requirement. The third major area of study consists of a variety of full year and half-year courses in History and the Social Sciences which, taken together, make up the Elective Program.
World History, Geography and Cultures College Preparatory
Credits: 5
Course Length: Full Year
Grade Level: 9
This course surveys select countries and cultures. Students will examine the history, economics, geography, sociology, education, art and politics of these countries and cultures in order to develop an understanding of our current global society and its interdependence. Emphasis will be placed on writing skills, historical interpretation, and current events. Research projects will be required.
Advanced Placement World History
Credits: 5
Course Length: Full Year
Grade Level: 9
The AP World History course focuses on developing students’ understanding of the world history from approximately 8000 BCE to the present. This college-level course has students investigate the content of world history for significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in six historical periods, and develop and use the same thinking skills and methods (analyzing primary and secondary sources, making historical comparisons, chronological reasoning, and argumentation) employed by historians when they study the past. The course also provides five themes (interaction between humans and the environment; development and interaction of cultures; state building, expansion, and conflict; creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems; development and transformation of social structures) that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places encompassing the five major geographical regions of the globe: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.
United States History I College Preparatory
Credits: 5
Course Length: Full Year
Grade Level: 10 Prerequisite: College Preparatory World History
Students learn about the United States from the explorers to the late nineteenth century. The course includes, but is not limited to, early explorers, Columbus and the New World, the Thirteen Colonies, the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the Constitution, U.S. Government, the War of 1812, Slavery, Civil War, Reconstruction, and New Jersey history
Advanced Placement United States History I
Credits: 5
Course Length: Full Year
Grade Level: 10 Prerequisite: Advanced Placement World History
Students learn about the United States from the explorers to the late nineteenth century. The course includes, but is not limited to, early explorers, Columbus and the New World, the Thirteen Colonies, The French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, The Constitution, U.S. Government, the War of 1812, Slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and New Jersey history. The course is taught at an advanced level and includes supplemental reading materials.
United States History II College Preparatory
Credits: 5
Course Length: Full Year
Grade Level: 11
Prerequisite: College Preparatory United States History I
Students learn about the United States and the time period spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. The course includes, but is not limited to, Theodore Roosevelt and sphere of influence, The Great Depression, American involvement in the world wars, The Cold War, the Civil Rights movement, American foreign policy, American cultural and artistic movements and the role of America in a changing global society and economy. Students will also address these topics with a specific focus on the role that Hoboken and New Jersey played in modern America.
Advanced Placement United States History II
Credits: 5
Course Length: Full Year
Grade Level: 11
Prerequisite: Advanced Placement United States History I
What does it mean to be an American? Students will explore this question by approaching it from a variety of perspectives including analysis of government institutions and policies, societal change, and economics. Students will also focus on the nature of various conflicts, both foreign and domestic, in an attempt to better understand the complexities that surround the decisions made in American society while also recognizing how conflicts can be resolved. The movement of people to and within the borders of the United States will also provide a background that will allow students to recognize the diversities of the American people.
Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics
Credits: 5
Course Length: Full Year
Grade Level: 12
Prerequisite: Honors World History and Cultures, Geography and Cultures
Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics introduces students to key political ideas, institutions, policies, interactions, roles, and behaviors that characterize the political culture of the United States. The course examines politically significant concepts and themes, through which students learn to apply disciplinary reasoning, assess causes and consequences of political events, and interpret data to develop evidence-based arguments.
Studies in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Credits: 5
Course Length: Full Year
Grade Level: 12
Insights gained through the study of contemporary social issues take on a critical significance at a time when there is intensifying conflict between and among people of different races, religions, cultures and political ideologies. Questions of class, civil society, gender, public health, justice, and identity continue to be pervasive in societies around the world today, not only in America. Students will use knowledge, concepts and skills ascertained in the African American and Latino History and Culture courses and the People Who Have Shaped the World courses to use various methods of inquiry to test for connections between perspectives and facts, the traditional and the contemporary, and the individual and the group. The intent of this course is to provide an introduction to the social world, meant to serve as a foundation or starting point for further exploration of contemporary social issues, movements, protests, and petitions. The understanding of human relationships and their consequences is the center of contemporary social issues. In this course, students will examine the roots of civic engagement and the impact engagement in all forms has had on the United States socially, politically, economically and culturally.
Holocaust and Genocides and Modern Humanity Studies
Credits: 5
Course Length: Full Year
Grade Level: 11
Dual Enrollment: Kean University
The Holocaust & Genocide Studies serves as an extension to the integrated K-12 Holocaust and Genocide Curriculum woven through K-12 Social Studies, English Language Arts, Science and the Fine and Performing Arts courses. In this course, students will study the history of the European Holocaust and the wider questions of genocide in the modern world. Students will also examine the Armenian, Stalinist, and Cambodian massacres in a comparative context and discuss their impact on modern cultural, political, and intellectual discourse. Exposure to some of the greatest moral and ethical dilemmas in modern history will be framed and explored in an effort to identify causes and future prohibition. An understanding of the origins and virulence of genocide challenges societies to be more tolerant, pluralistic, and open. In this interdisciplinary course, students will draw on information from history and the humanities, the social sciences, and political science while deeply diving into periods of genocide to gain a better understanding of perpetrators, victims, bystanders and “upstanders.” The course is intended to impress upon students the fact that during each period of genocide, there were those who risked their lives in an attempt to save others. Holocaust and Genocide Studies will emphasize rigorous research and make use of primary and secondary sources in this college preparatory course.
Advanced Placement Macroeconomics
Credits: 5
Course Length: Virtual Course; Full Year
Grade Level: 11-12
The AP Macroeconomics course provides students with a thorough understanding of the principles of economics and how economists use those principles to examine aggregate economic behavior. Students learn how the measures of economic performance, such as gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, and unemployment are constructed and how to apply them to evaluate the macroeconomic conditions of an economy. The course recognizes the global nature of economics and provides ample opportunities to examine the impact of international trade and finance on national economies. Various economic schools of thought are introduced as students consider solutions to economic problems.
Advanced Placement Microeconomics
Credits: 5
Course Length: Virtual Course; Full Year
Grade Level: 11-12
The AP Microeconomics course provides students with an understanding of the principles of economics as they apply to individual decision-making units, including individual households and firms. The course examines the theory of consumer behavior, the theory of the firm, and the behavior of profit-maximizing firms under various market structures. Students evaluate the efficiency of the outcomes with respect to price, output, consumer surplus, and producer surplus. They examine the behaviors of households and businesses in factor markets, and learn how the determination of factor prices, wages, interest, and rent influence the distribution of income in a market economy. There are ample opportunities to consider instances in which private markets may fail to allocate resources efficiently and examine various public policy alternatives aimed at improving the efficiency of private markets.
Advanced Placement Psychology
Credits: 5
Course Length: Virtual Course; Full Year
Grade Level: 11-12
AP Psychology course introduces students to the systematic and scientific study of human behavior and mental processes. While considering the psychologists and studies that have shaped the field, students explore and apply psychological theories, key concepts, and phenomena associated with such topics as the biological bases of behavior, sensation and perception, learning and cognition, motivation, developmental psychology, testing and individual differences, treatment of abnormal behavior, and social psychology. Throughout the course, students employ psychological research methods, including ethical considerations, as they use the scientific method, evaluate claims and evidence, and effectively communicate ideas.
Advanced Placement African American Studies
Credits: 5
Course Length: Full Year
Grade Level: 11-12
AP African American Studies is an interdisciplinary course that examines the diversity of African American experiences through direct encounters with varied sources. Students explore key topics that extend from early African kingdoms to the ongoing challenges and achievements of the contemporary moment. Given the interdisciplinary character of African American Studies, students in the course will develop skills across multiple fields, with an emphasis on developing historical, literary, visual, and data analysis skills. This course foregrounds a study of the diversity of Black communities in the United States within the broader context of Africa and the African diaspora.