Social Studies Department

Course Descriptions

  • World History P

    World History, Culture, and Geography: The Modern World. The more than two hundred and fifty year period covered by the tenth-grade social studies course highlights the intensification of a truly global history as people, products, diseases, knowledge, and ideas spread around the world as never before. The course begins with a turning point: the important transition in European systems of governance from divine monarch to a modern definition of a nation-state organized around principles of the Enlightenment. The course ends with the present, providing ample opportunities for students to make connections to the globalized world in which they live. As students move through the years 1750 through the present they consider how a modern system of communication and exchange drew peoples of the world into an increasingly complex network of relationships in which Europe and the United States exerted great military and economic power. They explore how people, goods, ideas, and capital traveled throughout and between Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe. They analyze the results of these exchanges.

    SEI World History

    World History, Culture, and Geography: The Modern World. This college preparatory course offers a hand-on, interactive instructional approach designed specifically for students of limited English proficiency. Concepts covered in World History P courses are supplemented with visual and language support when needed.

    AP World History

    AP World History focuses on developing students’ abilities to think conceptually about world history from approximately 8000 BCE to the present and apply historical thinking skills as they learn about the past. Five themes of equal importance — focusing on the environment, cultures, state-building, economic systems, and social structures — provide areas of historical inquiry for investigation throughout the course. AP World History encompasses the history of the five major geographical regions of the globe: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, with special focus on historical developments and processes that cross multiple regions.

    United States History P

    United States History and Geography: Making a New Nation. In this course 11th grade students examine major developments and turning points in American history from the late nineteenth century to the present. During the year the following themes are emphasized: the expanding role of the federal government; the emergence of a modern corporate economy and the role of organized labor; the role of the federal government and Federal Reserve System in regulating the economy; the impact of technology on American society and culture; changes in racial, ethnic, and gender dynamics in American society; the movements toward equal rights for racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities and women; and the rise of the United States as a major world power. As students survey nearly 150 years of US history, they learn how geography shaped many of these developments, especially in terms of the country’s position on the globe, its climate, and abundant natural resources. In each unit students examine American culture, including religion, literature, art, music, drama, architecture, education, and the mass media.

    SEI United States History P

    United States History and Geography: Making a New Nation. This college preparatory course offers a hand-on, interactive instructional approach designed specifically for students of limited English proficiency. Concepts covered in United States History P courses are supplemented with visual and language support when needed.

    AP United States History

    The AP U.S. History course focuses on developing students’ understanding of American history from approximately 1491 to the present. The course has students investigate the content of U.S. history for significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in nine historical periods, and develop and use the same thinking skills and methods (analyzing primary and secondary sources, making historical comparisons, chronological reasoning, and argumentation) employed by historians when they study the past. The course also provides seven themes (American and national identity; migration and settlement; politics and power; work, exchange, and technology; America in the world; geography and the environment; and culture and society) that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places.

    American Government P

    Principles of American Democracy. Students will learn how our government works and how it is different from other systems of governance. Their study will be grounded in the understanding that all citizens have certain inalienable rights such as due process, what to believe, and where and how to live. They’ll learn about the benefits to democracy of an electorate willing to compromise, practice genuine tolerance and respect of others, and actively engage in an ethical and civil society. They’ll discover that all citizens have the power to elect and change their representatives —a power protected by free speech, thought, and assembly guarantees. Students will examine both the constitutional basis for and current examples of the fact that members of the government are themselves subject to the law and they’ll learn about the vital importance of an independent judiciary.

    SEI American Government P

    Principles of American Democracy. This college preparatory course offers a hand-on, interactive instructional approach designed specifically for students of limited English proficiency. Concepts covered in American Government P courses are supplemented with visual and language support when needed.

    AP United States Government and Politics & Economics

    AP United States Government and Politics introduces students to key political ideas, institutions, policies, interactions, roles, and behaviors that characterize the political culture of the United States. The course examines politically significant concepts and themes, through which students learn to apply disciplinary reasoning assess causes and consequences of political events, and interpret data to develop evidence-based arguments. This course satisfies both the American Government and Economics requirements for graduation.

    Economics P

    Principles of Economics. The study of twelfth-grade economics provides students with a unique opportunity to consider the impact of choice upon individuals, groups, and institutions. It offers a lens to understand and analyze human behavior and it builds a student’s ability to make informed decisions based upon relevant economic information such as: an analysis of costs and benefits; the trade-offs between consumption, investment, and savings; the availability and allocation of natural resources; the distribution of resources among investors, managers, workers, and innovation; the role of the government in supporting, taxing, and investing in industries; and human and physical capital. The discipline also provides an important frame from which to consider the impact of governmental action (or inaction) on the lives of its citizens. Understanding how the economy functions and how economic reasoning can inform decision making will provide students with the tools they need to become financially literate and independent. Economics is the study of how people choose to use resources.

    SEI Economics P

    Principles of Economics. This college preparatory course offers a hand-on, interactive instructional approach designed specifically for students of limited English proficiency. Concepts covered in Economics P courses are supplemented with visual and language support when needed.

    AP Macroeconomics & American Government

    AP Macroeconomics is an introductory college-level course that focuses on the principles that apply to an economic system as a whole. The course places particular emphasis on the study of national income and price-level determination; it also develops students’ familiarity with economic performance measures, the financial sector, stabilization policies, economic growth, and international economics. Students learn to use graphs, charts, and data to analyze, describe, and explain economic concepts. This course satisfies both the Economics and American Government graduation requirement.

    Social Science Electives

    Psychology

    This course introduces students to the scientific study of human behavior including human thought, emotion, and actions. Psychology is an empirical science that studies biological and social bases of behavior. A framing question for the course is: “What principles govern and affect an individual’s perception, ability to learn, motivation, intelligence, and personality?” A wide range of topics or issues such as perception, memory, emotional influences, personality, social interaction, development, and abnormal behavior will be covered.

    Electives

    Law Related Education

    This course is designed to equip students with a foundational understanding of the legal and criminal justice systems, and to develop their ability to analyze the tensions inherent in any system of government as it seeks to secure justice. There will be a focus on preparing students for postsecondary education and careers by helping them think critically about key concepts (such as democracy, justice, and rights) and legal processes, and enabling them to master essential skills (such as literacy and research). Students will study the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights while being given the tools to engage in civic action and explore careers that allow them to contribute to and improve the U.S. legal system. 

    Academic Decathlon

    This course is for students wishing to represent Eisenhower High School at the annual San Bernardino County Academic Decathlon competition.

    The Academic Decathlon is a ten-event scholastic competition for teams of high school students. The ten competition events that team members compete in are: Art, Economics, Essay, Interview, Language and Literature, Math, Music, Science, Social Studies, Speech, with a final Super Quiz event. Each high school enters a team of nine students: 3 "A" or Honor students (3.750 - 4.00 GPA), 3 "B" or Scholastic students (3.00 - 3.749 GPA), and 3 "C or below" Varsity students (0.00 - 2.999 GPA).

Teachers

    • Sebastian Calderon
    • Luis Cortez
    • Carlos Hernandez
    • Sean Hopkins
    • Karen Macias-Loera
    • Michael Martinelli
    • Griselda Montoya
    • Mark Perantoni
    • Fernando Prado
    • Bonnie Quintero
    • Kellen Quinto
    • Christopher Ramirez
    • Sean Slaughter

Resources