Social Studies: concepts across the years
- Thinking Like a Historian & Geographer
The tools of the trade — maps, primary vs secondary sources, chronology, and cause & effect.
- Early Humans & River Civilizations
From hunter-gatherers to the first cities — the Neolithic Revolution and the river valleys where civilization began.
- Classical Civilizations & Belief Systems
Greece, Rome, India and China — the classical empires and the world religions and philosophies born alongside them.
- The Postclassical & Medieval World
After the classical empires — Islam, Byzantium, feudal Europe, and the great kingdoms of Africa and Asia.
- Trade Networks & Interconnection
The routes that tied the world together — Silk Roads, Indian Ocean trade, the Mongols, and the Black Death they carried.
- Renaissance, Reformation & Exploration
Europe's rebirth and rupture — new learning and art, a split church, and voyages that remade the globe.
- The Enlightenment & Age of Revolutions
Reason, rights and the social contract — and the wave of revolutions (American, French, Haitian, Latin American) they set off.
- The Industrial Revolution
The machine age — industrialization, the clash of capitalism and socialism, and the reforms it forced.
- Imperialism & World War I
Empires reaching outward, the resistance they met, and the global war and revolution that followed.
- World War II & the Cold War (Global)
Totalitarianism, a second world war and the Holocaust, then a divided world and the end of empire.
- The Modern Interconnected World
One connected economy — globalization, human rights, technology, the environment and today's challenges.
- Colonial America
Before the nation — Indigenous nations, European exploration, the three colonial regions, and the roots of slavery.
- The American Revolution
Breaking from Britain — the causes, the Declaration, the war, and the radical ideas of liberty and equality.
- Expansion & Reform
A growing nation — westward expansion, the market revolution, and the reform movements that pushed back.
- Civil War & Reconstruction
The nation split and stitched back — sectionalism, war, emancipation, and the unfinished work of Reconstruction.
- Industrialization & the Gilded Age
America industrializes — big business, waves of immigration, booming cities, and the labor movement's fight back.
- Progressive Era & Imperialism
Reform and reach — Progressives cleaning up at home while America becomes a world power, into the Roaring Twenties.
- The Great Depression & New Deal
Boom to bust — the crash, the deepest economic crisis in US history, and the New Deal's answer.
- The US in the World Wars
America at war — the World Wars, the home fronts they demanded, and the superpower that emerged.
- The Cold War (US)
The long standoff — containment, McCarthyism at home, and hot wars in Korea and Vietnam.
- Civil Rights & Social Movements
The struggle to make the promise real — the Civil Rights Movement and the social movements it inspired.
- Modern America
The nation today — the late 20th century, globalization and technology, and contemporary citizenship.
- The Constitution & Federalism
The framework of American government — from the Articles to the Constitution, federalism, the branches, and the Bill of Rights.
- Foundations of Government & Democracy
What government is for — its purposes and types, the political theory behind democracy, and how systems compare.
- Civic Participation
Democracy in action — elections, parties, public opinion and media, and the rights and duties of citizens.
- Microeconomics: Markets & Choice
The logic of choice under scarcity — supply and demand, markets and competition, and how economies organize.
- Macroeconomics & the US Economy
The economy as a whole — GDP, money and the Fed, fiscal and monetary policy, and the business cycle.
- Personal Finance & the Global Economy
Money in your life and across borders — budgeting, credit, investing, and global trade and interdependence.