10th Grade World History
Course Description
In this year-long course, you and your peers will examine major turning points in the shaping of the modern world, from the late 16th ct to the present. You will trace the rise of democratic ideas and develop an understanding of the historical roots of current world issues, especially as they pertain to international relations. You will relate current world issues to their historical, geographic, political, economic, and cultural contexts. In order to do these things, you will consider multiple accounts of events in order to understand events in world history and international relations from a variety of perspectives. You will also hone your research skills through two short argumentative essays and one semester-long term paper. This class will teach you how to critically interpret historical, cultural, and political issues that will provide you with the necessary skills to be active, involved citizens.
History becomes meaningful when we make a connection between past and present, when we consider how historical events have influenced our lives and when we discover some of the fascinating, reoccurring patterns, of history across the centuries. To practice this, we will be consistently examining present-day events and examining their historical roots, and discussing how historical events may still be impacting our world today.
Course Units and Essential Questions
History is not about learning facts - it's about asking questions. Essential questions guide the study of history and frame how we look at historical information. Based on the main topics within modern world history, our year-long essential question is:
How has capitalism and colonialism impacted modern world history and our current climate crisis?
Each of our units pose a smaller question that provide a lens through which to approach this year-long question, and gives us additional information to try to answer it.