History 8 is designed to prepare gifted students to take the most challenging high school social studies courses, such as Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB). There will be a heavy emphasis on writing and historical interpretation skills as well as extensive current events coverage. During the course of the year, students will write weekly summaries of news articles and complete two major research papers.

COURSE CONTENT:

Unit I Utopia

· Atomic Bomb Research Paper

A. Historical Utopias

B. Communism in the Soviet Union

C. The Fall of Communism

D. Russia Today

Unit II Liberty

A. The United States Constitution

· Current Issues Research Paper

B. The Supreme Court and the Bill of Rights

Unit III Conflict

A. The Civil Rights Movement

B. America in Vietnam

MAJOR COURSE GOALS:

· To provide students with the foundation knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in upper level high school social studies courses (AP).

· To enhance the ability to utilize historical evidence, evaluate it, and use it to formulate an opinion.

· To further develop the ability to synthesize a wide variety of information and to draw logical conclusions from that information.

· To equip students with the skills necessary to write an historical research paper with integrated evidence.

· To develop an awareness of major national and international issues.

· To acquaint students with the structure of the United States government, its origins, and current applications.

· To analyze the development of utopian thought in the world and analyze its effect on the formation of governing structures.