The Barton Wallace History curriculum is designed to engage students in the evaluation and contemplation of the human experience. This is studied and discussed through the lenses of history, geography, sociology, political science, economics, ethics, and analysis of current events. The goal is to empower our students to think critically, carefully, and intentionally about the past, present, and future.

​

TBWS history scholars will be studying people, their beliefs, their actions, and the results of their actions. Students will make connections between past events and current issues. They will analyze, critique, and discuss primary and secondary history sources. Each student will think, write, and talk about things that have impacted our community, Texas, the United States, and the world. They will reenact and simulate significant moments in history, compare and contrast the lives of people in the past with their lives today, and contemplate how individuals and groups from the past shaped history so that they will know how to shape the future. As developing geographers, TBWS students will think about the world with a spatial perspective, learning about movement, place, location, region, and human-environment interaction. As amateur political scientists, TBWS students will learn about the foundations of American government and discuss the evolution of American government over time.

​

The History Department’s focus in Lower School begins with the introduction of basic social studies concepts, terms, and skills. Lower School students first learn about their local community, and then they learn about how their community fits into a much larger historical and geographical context. This is accomplished through learning and practicing map skills, cause and effect, sequence of events, social interaction, summarization, and cultural awareness. Middle School students build upon this foundation by finding their voice and opinions, analyzing and critiquing primary and secondary sources, and formulating written and oral arguments backed up by evidence. Upper School students dive into the depths and complexities of past and present events, politics, and economic systems. They are taught to identify bias, reconcile and qualify opposing arguments, create new and innovative ideas and solutions, and learn to balance emotion with reason.

The ultimate purpose is to guide and develop our students to be critical and rational thinkers, intentional actors, and adaptive innovators throughout their entire lives.