Degrees Offered:
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Science
Social Studies Major
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.
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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.
Social Studies Internships
All social studies majors have practica and student teaching in area high schools.
Social Studies 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.
School of Education
The Barton College Teacher Education program is approved by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The Teacher Education faculty members are highly qualified professionals who have experience teaching in public schools. Students are placed into the field early and have strong support from the community of public school partners, college faculty, and learners in the Teacher Education Program.