World History Courses
WORLD HISTORY year 10-12 UC/CSU
World History covers the major turning points that have shaped the modern world. Students relate the principles that led to the development of Western moral, ethical, and political thought; compare and contrast the Glorious Revolution, American Revolution, and the French Revolution and their enduring effects worldwide; analyze the effects of the Industrial Revolution; analyze the patterns of global change in the era of New Imperialism; analyze the cause, course, and effects of the First World War; study the rise of totalitarian governments after WWI; analyze the causes, course, and consequences of World War II; analyze the International developments during the Cold War; and examine nation building in the contemporary world.
HONORS WORLD HISTORY year 10 UC/CSU-H
The purpose of this course is to develop greater understanding of the global interaction with 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 global changes, causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies. The course emphasizes relevant factual knowledge deployed in conjunction with leading interpretive issues and types of historical evidence. The course builds on an understanding of cultural, institutional, and technological precedents that, along with geography, set the human stage. Periodization, explicitly discussed, forms an organizing principle for dealing with change and continuity throughout the course. Specific themes provide further organization to the course, along with the consistent attention to contacts among societies that form the core of world history as a field of study. Covers 8000 BCE to the present.
U.S. History Courses
U.S. HISTORY year 11-12 UC/CSU
This course will cover the interactions of people who have lived in the United States along with our dealings with other countries. This is a year-long course, and we will span the time period of Colonization, Re-colonization, Empire, and Modern America. This course is designed to prepare students for courses at a college or university; therefore it is a college prep class. Among other criteria we will meet the California State Standards for Social Science and Common Core Standards. Students will study the political, social/cultural, and economic foundations of our nation. Also they will study the rise and compromise of democracy and representative government in the United States. Through this experience we will interpret, analyze, and compare issues that have shaped our nation and continue to shape our nation. Americans have and continue to pay the ultimate sacrifice for their nation around the globe. The objective of U.S. History is to come to a broader understanding of our national politics, culture and our country.
HONORS U.S. HISTORY year 11 UC/CSU-H
The Honors program is a writing-intensive history course that is academically rigorous and challenging. Students will learn the analytical skills necessary to become critical thinkers in the areas of policies, ideologies, and culture of the United States of America. This program is designed to study and survey the course of American events from the first colonization to the 20th century. This course is designed to prepare students for the college-level history courses with an emphasis on writing and interpretation of historical events. Students should thus develop the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of an informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in an essay format.
COLLEGE AMERICAN HISTORY year 11 College
College American History is a two-semester course sequence consisting of HIS 130 (American History I) in the Fall and HIS 140 (American History II) in the Spring.
HIS 130 is survey of the leading issues in American life from colonial times through Reconstruction. The course focuses on politics, cultural development, social conflict, economic life, foreign policy, influential ideas and significant individuals in US History.
HIS 140 is a survey of the leading issues in American life from reconstruction through the present. The course focuses on politics, cultural development, social conflict, economic life, foreign policy, influential ideas and significant individuals in US History.
In addition to meeting Palo Verde High School requirements for graduation each course awards 3.0 semester units of college credit, which can be transferred to UCs or CSUs for a total of 6.0 semester units of Social Science credit.
Senior Classes
CIVICS (AMERICAN GOV.) semester 12 UC/CSU
This is a one semester course which asks students to apply knowledge gained in previous social studies courses to pursue a deeper understanding of American government. Major topics of study will be the historical roots of our government, the Constitution of the United States and our state and local governments. This course meets the social science requirement for both high school graduation and entrance to the University of California.
ECONOMICS semester 12 UC/CSU
This is a one semester course where students will deepen their understanding of the American economic system and the problems which this system faces in the world today. The course will study topics such as the law of supply and demand, flow of money through the economy and the distribution of goods and services from family-level economics to national and international economic theory. This course meets high school graduation requirements for social science.
About the Social Science Department
The social science classes are all about how society works. Social scientists examine institutions like the government, the economy, and family; they also study how individuals and groups interact with one another and what drives human behavior. In our classes we question the world we are given: How do we live? How do we organize? What do we believe? What is just and right? And who gets to decide? And we ask ourselves, “How might we make the world better, kinder, and more just?”