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Pennsylvania History
Course Length: 1 Semester
Has Textbook: Yes
Pennsylvania History will broaden the student's view of the state of Pennsylvania. The course will uncover the different regions, water forms, resources, and inhabitants of Pennsylvania. It will also discuss how Pennsylvanians have many different cultures and religions. This course will take the student back to the days of the early settlers of Pennsylvania and will move through time to discuss contemporary Pennsylvanians, including their economics, values, religions, and government.

Course Objectives

Unit 1: Essential Content and Skills

  • Identify Pennsylvania’s eight regions to see how demographics and geographical characteristics vary in each location.
  • Identify the impact and influences that Native Americans had on the course of historical events in Pennsylvania.
  • Examine the effect of newly arriving European settlers to the Pennsylvania region and look at how their role changed over time.
  • Explore the religious patterns and reasons behind the foundation of the Pennsylvania colony.
  • Differentiate settlement patterns of different ethnic groups coming to Pennsylvania.
  • Determine Pennsylvania’s role in the wars fought in and around North America during the eighteenth century.

Unit 2: Essential Content and Skills

  • Examine the role Pennsylvania played in the French and Indian War while tracing the events occurring within the colony.
  • Identify Pennsylvania’s, and its people’s, role and contributions in declaring independence from Great Britain, fighting the American Revolution, and establishing a new government for the United States.
  • Explore Pennsylvania’s role in the creation of the U.S. financial system.
  • Compare specific Pennsylvanians’ roles in social, racial, and ethnic struggles of their era.
  • Compare and contrast the canal system and the steam locomotive in transporting goods in and around Pennsylvania.

Unit 3: Essential Content and Skills

  • Examine how Pennsylvania played a part in the abolitionist movement of the nineteenth century.
  • Explain the various influences Pennsylvania and its people had on the Civil War.
  • Determine the impact the Industrial Revolution had on the lives of Pennsylvanians.
  • Explore the resources and industries that boomed in Pennsylvania moving into the twentieth century.
  • Examine the role bridge building played in the industries and cities of Pennsylvania.
  • Identify the role various groups of Pennsylvanians played in the labor struggles of the twentieth century.

Unit 4: Essential Content and Skills

  • Examine the various trends and developments in the culture of Pennsylvania throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century.
  • Explore the impact the Great Depression had on the lives of Pennsylvanians.
  • Determine the advances and influential people of the tourism industry in Pennsylvania.
  • Examine the changes in daily life for Pennsylvanians during World War II and its aftermath.
  • Trace the evolution of industry and the economy in Pennsylvania through the events and shifts of the twentieth century.
  • Describe the threats and effects of environmental issues facing Pennsylvania.
  • Explore the various levels, branches, processes, and functions of Pennsylvanian governments.

Course Materials

*Available as an iText course only

**NCAA approved