Redwood High School
Social Science: Politics, History, and Economics
Email: jaross@seq.org
Phone Ext. 77369
Room: 5
Email: rnassor@seq.org
Phone Ext. 77319
Room: 10
Course Descriptions: World History, US History, Political Science, and Economics
![Course_Descriptions:_World_History,_US_History,_Political_Science,_and_Economics icon]()
Course Descriptions: World History, US History, Political Science, and Economics title
Fall Semester - World History
Course Description: This course covers a period of more than 250 years and highlights the intensification of global history as people, products, diseases, knowledge, and ideas spread around the world. Topics-Foundations of Democracy, Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, Marching towards WWI, WWII and the Holocaust. How native people responded to colonization will also be examined.
Spring Semester - Ethnic Studies
Course Description: Ethnic Studies questions many of the traditional ways history has been presented. In this course, we will examine the events through the lens of BIPOC communities (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). Units including Identity, Migration, Movement, and Diaspora, Systems of Power, Power Movements, Transformation, and Change as well as Case Studies will be included. BLM protests of 2020 motivated and prompted students and community members to advocate for the adoption of this course.
Principles of American Democracy
Students in grade twelve pursue a deeper understanding of the institutions of American government. They compare systems of government in the world today and analyze the history and changing interpretations of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the current state of the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches of government. An emphasis is placed on analyzing the relationship among federal, state, and local governments, with particular attention paid to important historical documents such as the Federalist Papers. These standards represent the culmination of civic literacy as students prepare to vote, participate in community activities, and assume the responsibilities of citizenship.
Economics
Why Economics? We will study a set of reasoning and decision-making skills for surviving in a global economy and how the concepts of scarcity influence our government and personal lives. We will confront the issues of increasing personal bankruptcies, credit card debt and the value of saving and how to be a smart consumer, how to choose a top-earning college degree in a market that is stable or growing. Finally we will look at international trade and how it impacts us here in the US.
Topics:
Intro, Trade-offs, Economic Systems, American Economy, Goals of a Nation, Income Gap, Consumption, Buying Principles, Consumerism, Credit, Loans, Government Regulation, Student Loans, Food, Clothing, Rent vs. Buy, Purchasing Vehicles, Starting a Business, Trade with other Nations, and Obstacles to Growth.
WORK will consist of Vocabulary, Research on selected topics, Reading chunks of the text for understanding, Small group presentations and discussions, Reflection writing on issues and concepts, Watching short Video Clips and Analyzing Charts and Graphs.