Social Studies

Rank Points – 4
Credits – 1-4

Requirement
ARD Approval

Rank Points – 6
Credits – .5

Prerequisite
U.S. History

Description
The focus is on the basic principles concerning production, consumption, and distribution of goods and services in the United States and a comparison with those in other countries around the world.  Students analyze the interaction of supply, demand, and price and study the role of financial institutions in a free enterprise system.  Types of business ownership and market structures are discussed, as are basic concepts of consumer economics.  The impact of a variety of factors including geography, the federal government, economic ideas from important philosophers and historic documents, societal values, and scientific discoveries and technological innovations on the national economy and economic policy is an integral part of this course.  Students apply critical thinking skills to create economic models and to evaluate economic-activity patterns.  The course components meet the requirements for personal finance addressed in state law.

Rank Points – n/a
Credits – .5

Description
This interactive and researched-based course requires students to apply critical-thinking and problem-solving skills to analyze decisions involving earning and spending, saving and investing, credit and borrowing, insuring and protecting and college and post-secondary education and training.  This course also includes instruction in methods of paying for college and other post-secondary education.

Rank Points – 6
Credits – .5

Description
Personal Financial Literacy and Economics provides a foundation in both microeconomics and macroeconomics. Students will survey the impact of demand, supply, various industry structures, and government policies on the market for goods, services, and wages for workers. Macroeconomic study involves economic systems with an emphasis on free enterprise market systems, goals of full employment, price stability, and growth while examining problems such as unemployment and inflation and the policies enacted to address them. It is an integrative course that applies the same economic way of thinking developed to making choices about how to allocate scarce resources in an economy to how to make them at the personal level. The course requires that students demonstrate critical thinking by exploring how to invest in themselves with education and skill development, earn income, and budget for spending, saving, investing, and protecting. Students will examine their individual responsibility for managing their personal finances and understand the impact on standard of living and long-term financial well-being. Further, students will connect how their financial decision making impacts the greater economy.

Rank Points – 6
Credits – .5

Description
Students consider the development of mental processes and behavior.  The class is based on a historical framework and relies on empirical evidence.  Areas of study include: the brain, development, learning, motivation, personality, emotion, consciousness, treatment, and sensation / perception.

Rank Points – 6
Credits – .5

Description
This course is an overview of the discipline of sociology.  Students study dynamics and models of individual and group relationships, focusing on human behavior in the group.  Students study topics such as the history and systems of sociology, cultural and social norms and deviance, social institutions, mass communication, social stratification, majority/minority relations, human development, collective behavior and social psychology.    This is a course in which reading and writing for students is expected.

Rank Points – 6
Credits – .5

Prerequisite
Prerequisite: U.S. History

Description
The focus of the course is on the U.S. Constitution, its underlying principles and ideas, and the form of government it created.  Students analyze major concepts of republicanism, federalism, checks and balances, separation of powers, popular sovereignty and individual rights and compare the U.S. system of government with other political systems.  This course will challenge students to appreciate patriotic values and how they interrelate with a free enterprise system and a democratic society.  Emphasis will be placed on applying these concepts through journal writing, simulations, debates, group projects, and problem solving.  This course fulfills the U.S. Government graduation requirement.

Rank Points – 6
Credits – 1

Prerequisite
World Geography or World History

Description
This course provides the second half of U.S. history that began in 8th grade.  Students study the history of the U.S. since Reconstruction (1877) to the present.  Students also analyze the impact of geography, constitutional issues, the arts, and technological innovations on the history of the time period.  Students use critical-thinking skills to explain and apply different methods that historians use to interpret the past, including points of view and historical context.  Emphasis is placed on developing higher-level reading, writing and analysis skills. STAAR EOC required for graduation.

Rank Points – 6
Credits – 1

Description
Students examine people, places, and environments at local, regional, national, and international scales from the spatial and ecological perspectives of geography. This course is designed to increase the students’ understanding of geography by providing opportunities to identify, describe and compare the Earth’s physical regions and analyze the relationship between the physical geography and cultural and settlement patterns, economic systems, and political divisions. The course will focus on developing skills in map making, analyzing patterns, discussing global issues, problem-solving, and decision-making to answer geographic questions through a combination of direct learning with individual and group projects. Students will develop note-taking, drawing conclusions, research and class discussion, asking and answering questions, and writing identifications of important terms and people.

Rank Points – 7
Credits – 1

Description
The World Geography Honors course will challenge and enrich students, expanding their experience beyond the typical program. Success requires the student’s commitment to the expectations of the Honors course.This course will prepare students for future Advanced Placement, Dual Credit, or OnRamps Dual Enrollment programs.  Students examine people, places, and environments at local, regional, national, and international scales from the spatial and ecological perspectives of geography.  This course is designed to extend skills beyond the mastery level and incorporate critical thinking and analytical skills.  Students will be provided opportunities to interpret primary and secondary source materials while using their knowledge of spatial relationships, systematic physical and human processes and the interaction between people and their environment. Students will focus on developing skills in map making, analyzing patterns, discussing global issues, problem-solving, and decision-making to answer geographic questions through a combination of direct learning with individual and group projects.

Rank Points – 6
Credits – 1

Description
World History is an overview of the history of humankind from the beginnings of civilization to the contemporary world.  In this course, students will analyze important events and issues in western civilizations as well as civilizations in other parts of the world.  Students will evaluate the causes and effects of important movements such as imperialism and political revolutions.  Students will study the impact of geography on historical events, identify historical origins of modern economic systems, trace and analyze the development of important legal/political concepts, including the growth of democratic-republican governments, and analyze the connections between culture and major developments in science and technology. This course will also require the students to examine the history and impact of major religious and philosophical traditions.

Please note: Course Catalogs will be updated as needed to reflect new information from the Texas Education Agency and the State Board of Education