Social Studies

Course Selection Links (All Subjects):
2024-2025 Course Selection Information for Students Currently in Grades 9 Through 11 (Includes Course Descriptions in Program of Studies)

2024-2025 Course Selection Information for Students Currently in Grade 8  (Includes Freshman Course Descriptions)

Matthew Brenneman
Social Studies Department Head
Phone: 508-647-6614
Email Matthew Brenneman

In History and Social Sciences, students examine the diverse cultures of the world and the manner in which human beings view themselves in and over time.  History includes the study of people, places, and environments. History examines how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance.  The Social Sciences include the study of individual development and interactions among individuals, groups, and institutions. The study of History includes how people organize for production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.  As much as Social Studies examines necessary global connectedness and interdependence, it also reinforces the ideals, principles, and practices of American citizenship in a democratic republic and the history of our republic. Students of Natick High School are required to take three years of Social Studies classes, including Modern World History and United States History parts one and two. Most students elect a fourth year of Social Studies in one or more elective classes  A variety of electives are open to all grades, and a variety of class configurations exist from individual support to Advanced Placement.

Academic Expectations:

Upon graduation from Natick High School are expected to be able to:

  • Identify the rise of the nation state in Europe, the French Revolution and the economic and political roots of the modern world.

  • Identify the origins and consequences of the Industrial Revolution, political reform in Western Europe, and imperialism in Africa, Asia and South America.

  • Identify the causes and consequences of World War 1, the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, Russian and Chinese Revolutions and the rise in nationalism and political, ethnic and religious conflicts.

  • Identify the historical, intellectual and economic origins of the United States during the Revolutionary and Constitutional eras.

  • Identify the keys ideas of the U.S. Constitution, the basic framework of American democracy, and the basic concepts of American government.

  • Identify Westward expansion, origins of political parties, the growth of sectional conflict ending in the Civil War and Reconstruction.

  • Identify the causes and consequences of the American Industrial Revolution.

  • Identify America's growing role in world affairs including America's role in World Wars, the conflicts of the Cold War, and recent diplomatic initiatives.

  • Identify the accomplishments of the Progressives, the New Deal, the Civil Rights Movement and recent trends shaping modern America.


Students of Social Studies will develop historical skills such as analysis of cartoons, charts, graphs and maps, understanding cause and effect, and identification ofhistoricalpoint of view.  Students will examine history with the use of primary source documents.