World History to the Renaissance

World History to the Renaissance Honors traces the development of civilizations around the world from prehistory to the Renaissance.

The course covers major themes in world history, including the development and influence of human-geographic relationships, political and social structures, economic systems, major religions and belief systems, science and technology, and the arts.

Topics covered in this course include the birth of civilizations; the classical civilizations of India, China, Greece, and Rome; the rise of new empires such as the Byzantine; and an examination of civilizations in Africa and North and South America. From there, students journey to the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance.

Honors students perfect their ability to use logic and evidence to create persuasive written arguments and to make connections to evidence from the past through the study of primary source documents. Writing skills are also honed through a spiraled sequence of short analytic pieces.

This course is built to state standards and further informed by standards from the National Council for History Education, the National Center for History in the Schools, and the National Council for Social Studies.