Honors World History

In World History Honors, students learn to see the world today as the product of a process that began thousands of years ago, when humans became a speaking, traveling, and trading species. Through historical analysis grounded in primary sources, case studies, and research, students investigate the continuity and change of human culture, governments, economic systems, and social structures. Students build and practice historical thinking skills, learning to connect specific people, places, events, and ideas to the larger trends of world history. In critical reading activities, feedback-rich instruction, and application-oriented assignments, students develop their capacity to reason chronologically, interpret and synthesize sources, identify connections between ideas, and develop well-supported historical arguments. Students write throughout the course, responding to primary sources and historical narratives through journal entries, essays, and visual presentations of social studies content. In discussion activities, students respond to the positions of others while staking and defending their own claims. Honors students also complete two independent research projects focused on historical periods of their choosing.