Overview

Core Question - Should society be governed from the top-down or the bottom-up?

Homework Assignment # 1 - Overview - Start of Modern World

Printable Copy of Homework Questions - click here

Overview Reading - Click Here

Source # 1 - TED video on How to Understand Power - click here

Class Discussion - Core Concepts

How does the "rule of law" matter to government? Why would that be?

Class Discussion - Timeline

How is history driven by ideas and event? What is more important: ideas or events?

Class Discussion - Skills Development

How much of a reading can you understand by just looking at the topic sentences?

Class Assignment # 1 - Identifying Reasoning

Unit Skill - Using Reasoning to Choose and Organize Evidence - Reasoning is the core part of any argument - it is the connection between the thesis of the argument and the evidence that support the argument. There are basically three types of reasoning: cause and effect, comparison and generalization. An important part of developing the critical thinking skills used in developing arguments is being able to identify these different types of reasoning. The chart below explains each type of reasoning, how to identify the reasoning with key words and questions to use in evaluating the reasoning. In this activity, you will be practicing the process of identifying the different types of reasoning.

Link to Assignment Sheet - click here

Class Assignment # 2 - Conflicting Ideas

There are many causes of conflict, but one of the most important conflicts in history is based in the ideas of how a society should be organized. During this period of history the the conflicting ideas of absolutism and the liberal values of the Enlightenment were developed. The conflict of these ideas led to the French Revolution.

In this activity, you will fill out a comparison diagram showing the how the ideas of absolute monarchy conflicted with the ideas of the Enlightenment. A Comparison Diagram is a way to organize an analysis of two things. In a comparison diagram, historical evidence from different events presented linked to a specific issues of comparison. The picture to the right shows a sample of a comparison diagram.

In this activity, you will use the five ideas from the liberal values fill out a comparison diagram of evidence from absolute monarchy in France and the Enlightenment thinkers.

This is the diagram you should fill out - click here

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