The purpose of this Advanced Placement program is to provide an overview of government, politics, and political behavior at the local, state, and national levels. Topics include an examination of the structure, functions, and inter-relationships of various levels of government; political socialization; elections and the party system; and the role of the individual in American government. Students will be exposed to specific information about government and how government affects their daily lives. The objectives for this course follow the College Board syllabus, preparing students for the optional Advanced Placement exam.

*1 Semester - 1 Carnegie Unit

The Advanced Placement program in Human Geography is a college-level course designed to introduce students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of the Earth’s surface. Students employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to interpret human social organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their science and practice. The objectives for this course follow the College Board syllabus, preparing students for the optional Advanced Placement exam to earn college credit.

*Elective - 2 Semester - 1 Carnegie Unit

Advanced Placement Macroeconomics gives students a thorough understanding of the principles of economics that apply to an economic system as a whole. The course places particular emphasis on the study of national income and price determination, and also develops students’ familiarity with economic performance measures, economic growth, and international economics. The objectives for this course follow the College Board syllabus, preparing students for the optional Advanced Placement exam.

*1 Semester - 1/2 Carnegie Unit

Advanced Placement Psychology provides students with the opportunity to examine the scientific nature of psychology and to determine the relevance of the behavioral sciences in our lives today. Students will examine the issues leading to the development of psychology as a science as well as the issue currently being addressed in the field of human behavior. The objectives for this course follow the College Board syllabus, preparing students for the optional Advanced Placement exam.

*Elective - 2 Semesters - 1 Carnegie Unit

This course focuses on significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in nine historical periods from approximately 1491 to the present. Students develop and use the same skills and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making hisorical connections; and using reasoning about comparison, causation, and continuity and change. Students explore eight themes throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places—American and national identity; work, exchange, and technology; geography and the environment; migration and settlement; politics and power; America in the world; American and regional culture; and social structures. The objectives for this course follow the College Board syllabus, preparing students for the optional Advanced Placement exam.

*2 Semesters - 1 Carnegie Unit

This course focuses on significant events, individuals, developments, and processes from 1200 to the present. Students develop and use the same skills, practices, and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making hisorical connections; and using reasoning about comparison, causation, and continuity and change over time. Students explore six themes throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places—humans and the environment, cultural developments and interactions, governance, economic systems, social interactions and organization, and technology and innovation. The objectives for this course follow the College Board syllabus, preparing students for the optional Advanced Placement exam.

*2 Semesters - 1 Carnegie Unit

This class introduces students to basic psychological concepts and principles as well as the rules, laws, and theories of psychology. Topics of study include: determiners of personality (heredity and environment), theories of the development of intelligence, and testing characteristics of basic needs. A study of self-concept (theories of development) also is included. With this knowledge of themselves and others, students should be able to make informed decisions which are affected by changing environments and situations.

*Elective - 1 Semester - 1/2 Carnegie Unit

This course helps students understand and appreciate people as independent agents in cooperative activities with others. Topics to be covered are the organized way people fulfill basic needs (institutions); the setting of social rules and their enforcement (social control); and the possessions people have, the way they think, and their actions as members of society (culture). Students will use the social scientific method as a mode of research.

*Elective - 1 Semester - 1/2 Carnegie Unit