Published Date

October 5, 2014

Resource Type

For Departments, For the Classroom, Program of Study

Thematic

Teaching Methods

AHA Topics

Teaching & Learning, The History Major, Undergraduate Education

Geographic

United States

This resource was developed as part of the AHA’s Tuning project.

Course Title: Recent American History

Department #: HIS 222W

Credits: 3

Lect/Lab: 45-0

Course Description: Prerequisites: READING LEVEL 3 or WRITING LEVEL 3. Surveys modern America from 1850. Examines topics such as: transportation, activism, politics, labor, industrialism, growth of government and regulation, war, economics, social diversity, civil rights, legalism, constitutionalism, Cold War ideology. (45-0)


Outcomes and Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

Outcome 1: Compose an effective narrative that describes and analyzes the history of the United States in response to an analytical question.

Objectives

    1. Choose among rhetorical strategies appropriate to historical analysis: describe, contextualize, analyze.
    2. Select from a range of media best suited to communicating a particular argument, narrative, or set of ideas.

Outcome 2: Describe and analyze various types of historical sources appropriate to the study of the United States.

Objectives

    1. Describe the differences between primary and secondary sources.
    2. Analyze the perspective and context in which the historical source was created.
    3. Describe the ways in which a given historical source may inform a historical narrative.

Outcome 3: Describe, analyze, and evaluate conflicting historical interpretations within the context of the United States.

Objectives

    1. Identify and describe conflicting historical interpretations.
    2. Analyze the evidence supporting conflicting historical interpretations.
    3. Evaluate the rhetorical effectiveness of conflicting historical interpretations.

Outcome 4: Analyze and evaluate the ways in which the history of the United States informs the current political, cultural, and social issues of the United States and its relationship to global culture.

Objectives

    1. Compare, contrast, and contextualize the political, cultural, and social history of the United States and the present.
    2. Evaluate the ways in which the historical development of political structures and beliefs, social structures and beliefs, and cultural structures and beliefs may impact and inform current political, social, and cultural issues.

Outcome 5: Analyze global paradigms relevant to the traditional narrative of later American history.

Objectives

    1. Describe paradigms of knowledge, realities, values in western and nonwestern traditions.
    2. Compare and contrast global paradigms of knowledge, realities, and values.
    3. Analyze the impact of historical context on the formation of paradigms of knowledge, realities, and values.

Outcome 6: Use writing tasks to promote learning.

Objectives

    1. Analyze course content in written form.
    2. Demonstrate knowledge of subject matter.
    3. Document attainment of skills learned.
    4. Explain the subject matter in a coherent writing style.
Laura Dull

Delta College