55 units

The social science major primarily prepares students to teach history, political science, geography, economics, sociology, and psychology at the high school or junior high school level. This major provides future teachers with an integrated study of these social sciences, which helps develop analytical skills, comparative perspectives, critical judgement, and a knowledge base about the world around them. Additionally, the major introduces students to teaching methodologies. The social science major is a subject-matter program in social science approved by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, allowing students to bypass the CSET exams that would otherwise be required by the state of California.

Career Opportunities

The primary career choice for social science majors is teaching at the secondary level. Other options include careers in history, education, government service, journalism, publishing, advertising, library science, law, and politics. Opportunities for research, consulting, and graduate study are also available to social science majors.

Requirements

The Department of History and Political Science maintains the following requirements for each of the majors it offers:

1. Students must complete all prerequisites for any HIST or POLI course with a C- or better before taking the course (except as noted in the course description).
2. Students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 in all political science and history courses required for the major.
3. Students must complete each HIST or POLI course with a C- or higher for the course to meet a degree requirement in the Department of History and Political Science.

Course List

Code	Title	Units
ECON 200	Survey of Economics 1	3
EDLS 405	Diversity in the Classroom 2	3
HIST 120	World Civilizations to 1648 3	3
HIST 121	World Civilizations Since 1648 3	3
HIST 151	United States History to 1877 3	3
HIST 152	United States History Since 1877 3	3
HIST 200	The Varieties of History	3
HIST 210	World Geography	3
HIST 338	History of California	3
POLI 150	American Government 4	3
RELG 200	World Religions 2	3
HIST 300	Writing 3: Historical Research and Writing 5	3
HIST 496	Senior Seminar in Faith and History 6	3
One Upper-division History Course (HIST 3XX or 4XX)		3
One Upper-division Political Science Course (POLI 3XX or 4XX)		3
Select one of the following:		3
PSYC 110	General Psychology 1
SOC 120	Introduction to Sociology 1
Select one of the following:		4
EDLS 200	Introduction to Teaching as a Profession K-12 4
EDLS 202	Introduction to Teaching as a Profession (7-12) 4
Select one of the following:		3
HIST 320	Modern Africa
HIST 360	History of the Middle East I: Early and Medieval Islam
HIST 393	Ritual and Re-enactment in Modern Latin America
Total Units		55

¹

Meets the General Education Social Sciences requirement. 

²

Meets the General Education Intercultural Competence requirement.

³

Meets the General Education Humanities: History requirement.

⁴

Meets the General Education Civic Knowledge and Engagement requirement. 

⁵

Meets the General Education Writing 3 requirement. 

⁶

Meets the General Education Integrative and Applied Learning requirement.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete this program shall be able to:

1. Demonstrate a knowledge of the major events, ideas and trends in American history.
2. Describe and analyze the major events, ideas, and developments of world history.
3. Explain the principles, purposes, and main features of American government.
4. Articulate how a Christian worldview informs the study of history.