Program Goals
Throughout this class, students gain an overview of world cultures, build historical, political, and social science literacies, and develop basic social science skills. Using disciplined methods of historical inquiry, students will study impacts on world civilizations, regional cultures, and major cities and apply this knowledge to the study of the great questions, thinkers, and ideas of humanity in a global context.
Disciplines:
- Civics and government
- Economics
- Geography
- History
Themes:
- Chronological and Spatial Thinking
- Historical significance
- Cause and consequence
- Historical Perspective and Interpretation
- Research, Evidence, Points of View
- Primary and Secondary sources
- Ethical dimensions
Program Overview
Odyssians explore their place in the wider world, weaving together a “deep” history billions of years in the making, a personal dimension focusing on students’ own lives and communities, and a public, social dimension, in which students investigate the key milestones that have shaped their world and worldviews today. In doing so, students gain an overview of cultures and civilizations around the world, build scholarly literacies, and apply their knowledge to the study of the great questions, thinkers, problems, and ideas of humanity in a global context. Our classroom experience is supplemented with an outdoor integrated science and social studies field time, where students engage in a place-based learning model to explore regional histories that link to the wider expeditionary mission of Odyssey.
First year students begin by grasping history as a whole to build a foundation for thinking about the past, present, and future along with the issues shaping our world, looking at cosmic and natural histories before turning to early human cultures and the major threshold moments before considering planetary futures.
In their second year, students focus on cultural geography through regional case studies, origins of world religions, and contemporary issues, before crafting their own changemaker projects as responses to a changing world.
Third year Odyssians study the ideas, issues, and events that shaped American history and consider the challenges and promises of the nation, with a special focus on the causes and consequences of the Civil War. Students consider the crucial roles of marginalized peoples, connecting geographical, technological, social, and economic conditions that shape the identity and history of the United States in an increasingly interconnected world.
