Project-Based Learning

Our African-American History class explored nine essential questions pre-Civil War questions:  

1. What do I know about the circumstances upon which the first Africans arrived to America? 

2. What year and location did the first Africans arrive?

3. What do I know about the Middle Passage?

4. What do I know about Black participation in the Revolutionary War?

5. What do I know about the intricacies of the "peculiar institution" known as enslavement?

6. What do I know about the abolitionist movement, including the rise of the Black press?

7. What do I know about the Dred Scott decision?

8. What do I know about the Emancipation Proclamation, including Black participation in the Civil War?

9. What do I know about Juneteenth?  

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The following project is based on student research into antebellum rise of the cotton economy.  

Additionally in World History I, we identified major trends in Eurasia and Africa from 4000 to 1000 BCE.  We explored historical definitions of “patriarchal society” and analyzed ways in which the legal and customary position of aristocratic, urban, or peasant women may have changed in early civilizations.   

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The following project is based on student research regarding the changes that Egypt experienced under the rule of a female pharaoh.    

Additionally, High School US History learned about United States territorial expansion between 1801 and 1861, and how it affected relations with external powers and Native Americans.  We had great classroom discussions about the ideology of Manifest Destiny, the nation’s expansion to the Northwest, and the Mexican-American War.  

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The following project is based on student research regarding the significance of the battle of the Alamo to the war effort.  

This semester, World History IV has been learning how European society experienced political, economic, and cultural transformations in an age of global intercommunication, 1450-1750.  This era not only brought about the historical time periods known as the Renaissance, Reformation, and Catholic Reformation.  We spent time evaluating major achievements in literature, music, painting, sculpture, and architecture in 16th-century Europe.

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The following project is based on student research regarding the life and work of a female artist in the midst of a male-dominated profession

This semester, our High School U.S. History class learned about how the beginnings of the American industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions.  This student chose a project based on his understanding of the rapid growth of “the peculiar institution” after 1800 and the varied experiences of African Americans under slavery.

 

The following project is based on student research explaining how the cotton gin and the opening of new lands in the South and West led to the increased demand for slaves.

World History I is a course that compares the foundations of civilization in various parts of the world.  One area of comparison that we discussed this year is common themes in the origin stories and mythologies of different cultures.  

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The following project is based on student research regarding the similarities and differences of flood stories around the world.  

Our Middle School U.S. History class focused on the foundations of American society this fall.  We examined the causes of the American Revolution, the ideas and interests involved in forging the revolutionary movement, and the reasons for the American victory.  We spent some time comparing the arguments advanced by defenders and opponents of the new imperial policy on the traditional rights of English people and the legitimacy of asking the colonies to pay a share of the costs of empire.

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The following project is based on student research analyzing some of the political, ideological, religious, and economic origins of the Revolution.