Middle School History Courses at Barnstable
Barnstable’s history courses are engaging with a focus on comprehension, analysis and interpretation, research skills, and chronological thinking. In grades 6-8, students build upon K-5 foundational content. They begin to analyze the implications of government structures and economic policies for individuals, communities, nations, and global relationships. Students study migratory patterns and belief systems that in the past led to cooperation and conflict among groups of people. This helps them realize the significance of cultural transmission in today’s global society. Students connect content knowledge to current issues through relevant activities. There is a strong focus on empowering students to become civic-minded and socially active.
8th grade social studies introduces students to our very own US history. This class takes students through our nation’s timeline beginning with Native Americans and the first explorers through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Throughout this course students will examine key historical figures such as Pocahontas, William Penn, the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, and Frederick Douglass.
The course concentrates on the development of various political, social, economic, and cultural features of the world’s ancient civilizations. Students will investigate the process of cross-cultural encounters between different cultural regions. We explore the migration of people, the creation of trade-networks, advancement in technology and the spread of civilization itself. The excitement of history will come alive through a variety of resources as students experience and interact with people and events of the past.
The course will help students explore the world’s people and places and master important concepts in physical and human geography. Students begin with an overview of physical geography and the issues it imparts. The course goes on to examine human interaction with the geography of the world and the great events shaped by it. Political boundaries, cultural ties or challenges, and the history of each continent are explored in detail.