Instructor: Jon Aguado
West House - Room 2015
Course Description
S
tudents in grade ten study major turning points that shaped the modern world, from the late eighteenth century through the present, including the cause and course of the two world wars. They 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.
Students will extrapolate from the American experience that democratic ideals are often achieved at a high price, remain vulnerable and are not practiced everywhere in the world. They will develop an understanding of current world issues and relate them to their historical, geographic, political, economic, and cultural contexts. Students will consider multiple accounts of events in order to understand international relations from a variety of perspectives.
Projects will be tied into each core class, including World History. First semester, students will work in teams on the Global Competion project. Each team will represent a country throughout the world and conduct in depth research about current conditions and challenges the country faces. The semester will end with an Olympics-style opening ceremony and grade-wide sports competition, along with an academic Super Quiz.
Second semester, students will work on the With Great Power... project. In this project, students will engage in a multicultural and interdisciplinary project that will examine the motivations behind major historical events and their causes. The ‘With Great Power…’ project culminates with a debate examining six key 20th century historical events.
