How is Shipley strengthening students’ ability to engage and lead in an increasingly complex and interconnected world?

Goals Addressed: 1.1, 1.2, 1.4

“You have to know the past to understand the present.” ~Carl Sagan

In history and social studies, we work to understand the impact of past events and people in the world today. There is a continuous looking back, looking forward, and questioning as students and teachers make meaning of history. In recent years, major curriculum changes have aimed at diversifying the perspectives from which we study the events of the past, developing students’ ability to think globally and work more effectively in partnership with others. A reinvigorated focus on experiential learning is also driving programmatic shifts, with the goal of making learning more meaningful and generating solutions for the real world.

Social studies in the Lower School has evolved to explore history from a more diverse set of viewpoints. Books like Jefferson’s Sons, told from the perspective of Thomas Jefferson’s two enslaved sons, or Sophia’s War, told from a young girl’s point of view during the American Revolutionary War, expose students to voices and narratives traditionally left out of history books.

Shifts in Upper School history requirements will give juniors and seniors more choice in their studies. New explorational electives like World Religions, China after 1500, and Migration Studies demonstrate the department’s commitment to developing students’ ability to understand and appreciate a diverse array of people and societies and their contributions to contemporary realities.

Whether visiting a station of the Underground Railroad or reenacting a court case in a federal courthouse, field trips bring history to life and off the pages of books. Here are just some of the trips Shipley fourth graders took in 2022-2023.