should big history be used in a world history course? why or why not?

Why should we study Big History?

How is Big History different from other history courses?

What can you learn from Big History?

What are the two criticisms of Big History?

What is Big History all about?

What is the concept of Big History?

How do you teach Big History?

Who created Big History?

Is Big History Project secular?

Is Big History more on science or history?

What is the world history project?

What is history from below?

Essay

Big History, like world history and many other historical sub-disciplines, explores pasts that are often excluded from history as it is taught in most schools and universities.

Primary Sources

Before about 1800, most people in the Christian world assumed that the earth was just a few thousand years old. But growing interest in fossils and strange geological formations made some people think the earth must actually be much older.

Credits

David Christian (D.Phil. Oxford, 1974) is by training a historian of Russia and the Soviet Union, but since the 1980s he has become interested in world history and in history at very large scales and across many disciplines.

How to understand the Big History?

(CO1) 2. Understand that Big History is a modern, science-based origin story that draws on many different types of knowledge. (CO2, CO8) 3. Understand how you fit into the Big History narrative, using the concept of “thresholds” to frame your past, present, and future, as well as the history of the Universe. (CO1, CO7) 4. Understand what disciplines are and consider how the viewpoints of many different scholars can be

What is the Big History course?

The Big History course focuses on three essential skills and three key concepts that we want students to master. The essential skills are: thinking across scales, integrating multiple disciplines, and making and testing claims. The core concepts are: thresholds, collective learning, and origin stories.

What are the two things that an investigation asks students to do?

Each investigation asks students to: 1. Frame a historical or other social science problem. 2. Read, analyze, corroborate, and synthesize sources from a selected library of texts and experiences. 3. Develop an explanation or build an argument to resolve their research question. 4. Evaluate their own and others’ claims.

What is BHP in teaching?

BHP provides a flexible structure for teachers to present the content to their students. The course is divided into units that roughly align with the eight thresholds. Each unit is divided into a set of suggested lessons. Teachers may use this structure, including a set of lessons written by experienced BHP classroom teachers, or incorporate the material into their own lesson plans. Each unit includes the following lesson resources:

What are the resources in the Big History Project?

These resources include the following: • Videos: A series of talks by historian David Christian, Crash Course, Jacqueline Howard, and other noted scholars presenting challenging topics to students, including visualizations of more complex ideas. • Texts: A series of articles and essays by eminent scholars and BHP staff, including first source material. All texts in the course have been leveled, and each article has three or four versions to accommodate students of all reading levels. • Activities: Lessons include both standard activity types (vocabulary activities, for example) as well as customized activities to maximize student engagement and learning. • Infographics: Data-rich illustrations created to illuminate complex topics such as the life of stars and the chemical make-up of the oceans. • Image galleries: Each lesson includes a set of historical and informational illustrations to highlight key ideas and concepts.

What is the Big History Science Extension?

The Big History science extension aims to increase the depth of STEM and general science content in the course. Either a beaker icon or the notation (Sci) denotes these activities, videos, and articles.

How to write a historical narrative?

1. Explain how thresholds of increasing complexity, differing scales of time and space, claim testing, and collective learning help us understand historical, current, and future events as part of a larger narrative. 2. Integrate perspectives from multiple disciplines to create, defend, and evaluate the history of the Universe and Universal change. 3. Deepen an understanding of key historical and scientific concepts and facts; use these in constructing explanations. 4. Engage in meaningful scientific inquiry and historical investigations by being able to hypothesize, form researchable questions, conduct research, revise one’s thinking, and present findings that are well- supported by scientific and historical evidence. 5. Critically evaluate, analyze, and synthesize primary and secondary historical, scientific, and technical texts to form well crafted and carefully supported written and oral arguments. 6. Communicate arguments to a variety of audiences to support claims through analysis of substantive texts and topics; use valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence through individual or shared writing, speaking, and other formats.

Why is history important?

History is an attempt to understand both our insignificance and our significance. To study history is to better understand the world and your place in it. You, and the other humans with whom you share this world, are the culmination of the human story.

Why is it impossible for a big history to include everything?

Because the scale of Big History is so vast (remember, it covers the history of the Universe), it would be impossible for this story to include everything. All historians have to make choices about what to include and what to leave out in the stories they tell.

How did the universe change after the Big Bang?

After the Big Bang, the Universe expanded and cooled. It took some time (about 380,000 years), but eventually it was cool enough for the simplest atoms, hydrogen and helium, to form. The early Universe consisted almost entirely of hydrogen and helium for a very long time. After a few hundred million years, clouds of hydrogen and helium began to collapse, and the increasing heat and pressure generated by collapse led to the creation of the first stars. Stars represent the second threshold of increasing complexity in Big History. Not only are stars more complex than simple atoms, they’re also able to create tremendous energy. Over time, gravity grouped stars into galaxies, which created further complexity in the Universe.

What caused the creation of the first star?

After a few hundred million years, clouds of hydrogen and helium began to collapse, and the increasing heat and pressure generated by collapse led to the creation of the first stars. Stars represent the second threshold of increasing complexity in Big History.

How long ago was the universe created?

Modern science suggests that the Universe was created in a “big bang” about 13.8 billion years ago.

Why do we study history?

History is an attempt to understand both our insignificance and our significance. To study history is to better understand the world and your place in it. You are very small. You are one of several billion living members of your species, a species that lives on the fifth largest planet orbiting a star we call the Sun.

What were the first living organisms?

The earliest living organisms consisted of single cells, as most living organisms do even today. Like all living organisms, those early single-celled creatures were subject to the laws of evolution. Generation by generation, the average features of species gradually changed, eventually forming entirely new species.

How long has the Big Bang been around?

These problems do not neatly fall into disciplines. They are complicated, complex, and connected. Join us on this epic journey of 13.8 billion years starting at the Big Bang and travelling through time all the way to the future. Discover the connections in our world, the power of collective learning, how our universe and our world has evolved from incredible simplicity to ever-increasing complexity. Experience our modern scientific origin story through Big History and discover the important links between past, current, and future events. You will find two different types of lectures. ‘Zooming In’ lectures from multiple specialists enable you to understand key concepts through the lens of different disciplines, whilst David Christian's ‘Big History Framework’ lectures provide the connective overview for a journey through eight thresholds of Big History.

When did the evolution of humans begin?

Travel through the evolutionary epic from the origin of life c.3.8 billion years ago, the evolution of complex forms after c.550 million years ago , to the evolution of some very odd primates - humans. Zoom in and explore evolutionary biology, geology, palaeontology, and anthropology.

When did the human species evolve?

In this module, we will explore the long trend of human development from the origin of our species c.200,000 years ago to the eve of the Industrial Revolution. You will explore archaeology, paleography, and ancient, medieval, and early modern history.

How long did the agrarian era last?

This module will explore how the agrarian era that had lasted for 10,000 years transitioned to the modern era with its explosion of production and complexity. We will explore modern history, political science, and economics.

What do you need to know about history?

In the study of history you will need to conduct research. This gives you the opportunity to look at two kinds of sources — primary (written at the time) and secondary sources (wr itten about a time period, after the fact). This practice can teach you how to decipher between reliable and unreliable sources.

Why is history important?

History is important to study because it is essential for all of us in understanding ourselves and the world around us. There is a history of every field and topic, from medicine, to music, to art. To know and understand history is absolutely necessary, even though the results of historical study are not as visible, and less immediate.

How does history help us to understand present-day issues?

History helps us to understand present-day issues by asking deeper questions as to why things are the way they are. Why did wars in Europe in the 20th century matter to countries around the world? How did Hitler gain and maintain power for as long as he had? How has this had an effect on shaping our world and our global political system today?

How to understand why something happened?

If we want to truly understand why something happened — in any area or field, such as one political party winning the last election vs the other, or a major change in the number of smokers — you need to look for factors that took place earlier. Only through the study of history can people really see and grasp the reasons behind these changes, and only through history can we understand what elements of an institution or a society continue regardless of continual change.

What can we learn from past atrocities?

We learn from past atrocities against groups of people; genocides, wars, and attacks. Through this collective suffering, we have learned to pay attention to the warning signs leading up to such atrocities. Society has been able to take these warning signs and fight against them when they see them in the present day. Knowing what events led up to these various wars helps us better influence our future.

Why is citizenship history taught?

People that push for citizenship history (relationship between a citizen and the state) just want to promote a strong national identity and even national loyalty through the teaching of lessons of individual and collective success. 4.

How does understanding past events affect the world today?

Understanding past events and how they impact the world today can bring about empathy and understanding for groups of people whose history may be different from the mainstream. You will also understand the suffering, joy, and chaos that were necessary for the present day to happen and appreciate all that you are able to benefit from past efforts today.