World History
This course is a survey study of world history from the first civilizations to the present. Patterns of political, economic, and religious development will be a main focus. Although our textbook will be the principal source of information, primary documents, internet knowledge bases, and other sources will provide additional insight into the different periods of history. The goal of the course is to give students an overview of world history, with an in-depth look at important people, issues and events that shaped the world of today while developing writing, speaking, and analytical skills.
US History
This course will examine themes and topics in United States history from the colonial era through the Cold War. The course will examine topics and themes including, but not limited to, the development of the U.S. Constitution, the Early Republic period, Jacksonian democracy, westward expansion, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction era, industrialization and immigration, imperialism, World War One, the "Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, World War Two, and the numerous aspects of Cold War America.
Civics/Economics
The goal of this course is to broaden student understanding of economics as it impacts the world. As the students learn more about the functions of business, society, and government; supply and demand; and international economic policy, they will become better informed about economic growth in the United States and the world. The student will be more knowledgeable about how various economic ideas affect the individual, community, state, country, and world we live in. A unit on personal finance and investing is also part of the course. The Civics section focuses on enabling citizens well prepared to assume all the responsibilities of those living in the United States and North Carolina. Students will develop a line-by-line understanding of our founding documents, and will put their understanding into practice as they assume the roles of Supreme Court Justices, Petitioners, and Respondents in several mock cases.
AP Human Geography
The AP Human Geography course is equivalent to an introductory college-level course in human geography. The course introduces students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth's surface. Students employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to examine socioeconomic organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their research and applications. The curriculum reflects the goals of the National Geography Standards (2012).
AP World History
The purpose of the AP World History Course is to develop greater understanding of the evolution of global processes and contacts in different types of human societies. This understanding is advanced through a combination of selective factual knowledge and appropriate analytical skills. The course highlights the nature of changes in global frameworks and their causes and consequences, as well as, comparisons among major societies. It emphasizes relevant factual knowledge, leading interpretive issues, and skills in analyzing types of historical evidence. Periodization, explicitly discussed, forms an organizing principal to address change continuity throughout the course. Specific themes provide further organizations to the course along with consistent attention to contacts among societies that form the core of world history as a field of study.
AP US History
AP US History is a college-level course that demands the keen development of all the higher order thinking skills. APUSH students must be adept at disciplined individual study while also being able to participate actively in classroom discussion and historical debate. The course is writing intensive, placing a premium on analysis, structure, and the ability to incorporate outside historical data appropriately in essays which effectively synthesize historical themes in United States history from the colonial era to today. Students are required to take the Advanced Placement examination and to pay the AP exam fee.