Big History

The aim of Big History is to develop a student’s understanding, in a unified way, of the history of the universe from the “big bang” to the modern day, and explore the themes and patterns that can help us better understand the world we live in.  It will also develop the student’s ability to synthesize complex information, develop key critical thinking skills and enhance their reading, writing presentation and research through investigations and projects within an interdisciplinary framework.

It will also provide an overarching context for understanding the development of today’s modern world in a way that is not covered by any other studies they will undertake at school.

Big History is a 100 or 200 hour school developed elective course .

This course will not appear on the RoSA it will be reported on the School semester one and semester two reports using the Common Grade Scale. 

Where did everything come from? How did we get to where we are now? Where do humans fit in? Where are things heading? These are questions that origin stories of different cultures have addressed for thousands of years.  Big History attempts to answer them by examining the entire past of the Universe using the best available ideas from disciplines such as astronomy, chemistry, biology and history. Throughout the course, you’ll explore different scales of time and space and view human history from new angles.  You’ll learn what we know and what we don’t, consider our place in the Universe, and develop your own ideas for what the future may hold.

·   What do we know and how do we decide what to believe?

·   Where do we come from?

·   What happened at the beginning of time?

·   Why does the solar system matter?

·   Why is life so special?

·   What makes us human?

·   Why are humans successful?

·   Why is the world interconnected?

·   How have humans changed things?

·   Where are we now? And where are we heading?

·    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.

·  Use perspectives from multiple disciplines to create, defend and evaluatethe history of the Universe and Universal change.

·     Deepen an understanding of key historical and scientific concepts and facts, the ability to use these in constructing explanations.

·   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.

·  Critically evaluate, analyse and synthesize primary and secondary historical, scientific and technical texts to form well-crafted and carefully supported written and oral arguments.

·   Communicate arguments to a variety of audiences to support claims through analysis of substantive texts and topics using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence through individual or shared writing, speaking and other formats.

·     Locate and understand how our own place, our community’s place and humanity as a whole fit into and impact the Big History narrative, using the concept of “thresholds” to frame the past, present and future.

·  Engage in historical analysis using the theories and practices from multipledisciples, towards an integrated, interdisciplinary understanding of the history of the Universe.