2025-26 Course Descriptions - Catalog - Page 32
HISTORY
HISTORY 6: SOCIETIES AND GOVERNMENTS
What is the role of government in relation to society?
How are governments structured? How have
different kinds of governments emerged from their
social, geographic, and cultural contexts? Grounding
the course in place, Washington, DC, enables the
students to focus on the different societies and
governments of the three major groups of people
who would come to make our current democracy:
Indigenous Americans, Africans, and Europeans.
This course lays the foundation for the conceptual,
reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills
students continue to develop as they move through
Field’s History courses. Our focus on annotation
develops reading comprehension and helps
students practice identifying relevant evidence to
craft convincing analytical paragraphs. History 6
concludes with students developing websites that
answer some of the course essential questions
using sources they have studied and corroborating
them with reliable sources they 昀椀nd on their own.
Grounding this course in the history of Washington,
DC enables students to venture into the city to see
the sites studied, as well as the many museum
resources in the city, and to have access to local
experts.
HISTORY 7: ORIGINS OF WORLD RELIGIONS
Throughout this academic journey, 7th-grade
historians cultivate an understanding of religious
traditions that have shaped societies throughout
history by exploring the historical and cultural
contexts of Ancient Religions, Christianity, Judaism,
Islam, and African Religions. Additionally, the course
explores the interconnectedness of religion and
social movements. Speci昀椀c focus areas include
the role of the black church during the Civil Rights
Movement and the in昀氀uence of religion during
women’s suffrage movements and beyond.
Students engage with two textbooks, World Religions:
The Great Faiths Explored and Explained and The
Religions Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained. These
Curriculum Guide | 32
resources serve as essential tools, providing indepth insights into the core beliefs and cultures of
major world religions and major historical turning
points over time. Throughout this course, students
are encouraged to critically examine the ongoing
in昀氀uence of religion and social movements, both
within the United States and internationally by
centering the question: How has the in昀氀uence of
religion shaped social movements , and what role
does it play in society? Through analysis, discussion,
and re昀氀ection, students will develop a deeper
understanding of the relationship between religion
and society throughout history.
