Noble and Greenough School Course Catalog
The History and Social Science Department teaches students about the past and invites them to create contemporary history via the tasks of the historian and social scientist: the framing of questions, formulation of theses, research, analysis, writing and presentation. The department offers a sequence of courses that explores the diversity of human experience and draws upon a wide range of resources, perspectives, disciplines, and teaching methods. This progression stresses the development of skills and values designed to help students appreciate the complexity of history and the social sciences and become independent thinkers, empathic individuals, and well-informed global citizens.
U.S. History: Themes in Modern America
All Class II students are required to take U.S. History. This course integrates five major topical themes in American History: sectional conflict and the Civil War; social mobility and the Gilded Age; the growth of federal power and the New Deal; race relations and the Civil Rights Movement; the world wars and the rise of American globalism. The first semester stresses the essential skills of critical reading, note taking and analytical writing. Students write frequent short primary and secondary source-based essays. The second semester emphasizes independent inquiry and the skills of research, information literacy and oral presentation. Students complete research essays on topics of their own design, and conclude the year with group research and debate projects examining the historical roots of contemporary American economic, social, political and diplomatic affairs.
- Credits: Full Credit
- Open To: II
- School Level: Upper School
- Term Offered: Full Year