World History: 1500 to Present Honors

In World History: 1500 to Present, students learn to see the world today as a product of a process that began thousands of years ago when humans became a speaking, travelling, and trading species.  Through historical analysis grounded in primary sources, case studies, and research, students investigate the continuity and change of human culture, governments, economic systems, and social structures.  

Students build and practice historical thinking skills, learning to connect specific people, places, events and ideas to the larger trends of world history. In critical reading activities, feedback-rich instruction, and application-oriented assignments, students develop their capacity to reason chronologically, interpret and synthesize sources, identify connections between ideas, and develop well-supported historical arguments.  Students write throughout the course, responding to primary sources and historical narratives through journal entries, essays and visual presentations of social studies content.  In discussion activities, students respond to the position of others while staking and defending their own claim.  The course's rigorous instruction is supported with relevant materials and active learning opportunities to ensure students at all levels can master the key historical thinking skills.

This course is built to state standards.