Mr. St. Thomas

World Cultures

Eric S. Smith Middle School - 8th Grade - Team 8-3

Course Overview

The World Cultures course offers a curriculum that enables students to explore how geographic features, human relationships, political and social structures, economics, science and technology, and the arts have developed and influenced life in countries around the world. Along the way, students are given rigorous instruction on how to read and create maps, charts, and graphs, as well as to critically analyze articles and multimedia. The course also emphasizes the perspectives of various cultures, while allowing students from all backgrounds to better understand and appreciate how race, culture, ethnicity, and identity contribute to peoples' experiences. Some major topics in World Cultures this year will be: identity, immigration, assimilation and distinctiveness, power and oppression, struggles for rights, regionalism, current events, culture and the media, and globalization.