Course Paths      There is one primary or macro objective, and five approaches this course will utilize.  The primary objective is to facilitate your ability to ask questions about our society and its history and how to figure out answers for yourself.  If accomplished, this will validate history's utility for you and thus make you more-so a history fan!

Content.      To learn about selective central aspects of the historical record--this is history in its most straight-forward sense as we identify the where, when and what to acquire content material.

Craft     To learn about how to think and work like a historian.  Now the analysis moves to a different level as we work through the four differing tasks of the historian as the detective, philosopher, judge and storyteller that make up the historian's craft.

Contest     Historians do not always agree thus one clear answer usually eludes us making historiography--or the study of the observer--a necessary ingredient as we appreciate that history becomes a contest for memory.

Continuum     Identifying points of consensus as well as ongoing debate on historical issues to find that there is usually a broad spectrum or continuum (as opposed to a single answer or simple dichotomy) of opinions on many matters.

Composition    Nothing quite clarifies thinking than writing.  Thus the ability to effectively communicate in written composition is crucial.

Challenge     To learn about the "thinking trap" (thinking we already know the answer) to challenge ourselves to think or re-think our positions on issues.