Social Studies

Degrees Offered:
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

Overview

Barton’s Social Studies program is designed for students who intend to teach high school social studies. We emphasize both breadth and depth, so you’ll take courses that will give you a foundation in all the subjects you may have to teach—history, geography, political science, economics, and sociology. In upper-division courses, you’ll be able to specialize in your favorite field while taking education courses to develop your teaching abilities.

Special Features

Courses are taught by all the members of the History and Social Sciences Department as well as by faculty in economics and sociology.

The program gives you substantial experience in high school classrooms. You’ll take four practica in area schools before your student-teaching semester.

Upper-division classes are specially designed to get you engaged. Methods, Revisions and Lies in American History features weekly student panel discussions. The 1960s (American Decade) draws on films and music from the 1960s with discussions concentrating on the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and the counter-culture.

Because few of the required courses are sequenced, the major offers tremendous flexibility, which makes it easy to combine it with another major.

Course Information

You’ll take introductory courses in American and World history, geography, political science, economics and sociology. To ensure you get breadth while still specializing, we require social science courses, American or European history courses, and global courses, which may be in history or social science.

In addition, you’ll take several general education courses, including Instructional Technology, to prepare you for teaching. A Social Studies methods course covers techniques for teaching social studies in high school.

Scholarships and Financial Aid

The Department of History and Social Sciences awards two scholarships to rising juniors or seniors. These are awards are open to any major in the department and are based on academic excellence.

Internships

All social studies majors have practica and student teaching in area high schools.

Career Opportunities

The major primarily prepares you to teach in high schools. And with the growing demand for teachers, many opportunities are available. However, because the major covers a range of other disciplines, you’ll also be able to pursue career options besides education or you may apply to graduate school.

Successful Graduates
Most of our graduates are successful high school teachers. Many have earned graduate degrees in education as well as other fields.