World History

Course Description:

This course will begin with the students analyzing the formation of different ancient civilizations in the various regions of the world.  Eventually the students will begin to focus in on studying European history chronologically, leading to colonial America.  Students will be asked to look for commonalities in the formation of multiple civilizations. In order to become familiar with the history of the world and how it affects our lives today, students will be active in class discussions, role playing activities, group work, document analysis, and map activities. 

Essential Learning Goals:

Semester 1

1. 25%- Historical Connections- Critically apply historical content from ancient civilizations for contextualization, continuity, and change over time to demonstrate the complexities of historical events.

2. 25%- Historical Impacts- Determine and evaluate cause and effect, implications, and significance of historical events in ancient civilizations to demonstrate the impact of historical phenomenon.

3. 25%- Source Analysis- Critically evaluate a variety of primary and secondary sources to interpret the historical context, intended audience, purpose, and/or author’s point of view in ancient civilizations in order to recognize the significance of perspective and context.

4. 25%- Inquiry and Research- Construct meaningful questions, evaluate and critique sources, develop claims, and communicate their conclusions about ancient civilizations to show depth of understanding.

Semester 2

5. 25%- Historical Connections- Critically apply historical content from modern history for contextualization, continuity, and change over time to demonstrate the complexities of historical events. 

6. 25%- Historical Impacts- Determine and evaluate cause and effect, implications, and significance of historical events in modern history to demonstrate the impact of historical phenomenon. 

7. 25%- Source Analysis- Critically evaluate a variety of primary and secondary sources to interpret the historical context, intended audience, purpose, and/or author’s point of view in modern history in order to recognize the significance of perspective and context.

8. 25%- Inquiry and Research- Construct meaningful questions, evaluate and critique sources, develop claims, and communicate their conclusions about modern history to show depth of understanding.

Major Assessments and Success Criteria:

• Paragraph responses

  • Students will explain their knowledge of various topics through proper paragraph structure (topic sentence, three supporting details, and conclusion).

• Creation of a civilization group project

  • Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the nine features of a civilization and of Hammurabi’s Code by working creatively as a team to design their own functioning civilization.

• Hinduism scrapbook

  • Students will demonstrate their knowledge of Hinduism and Indian culture through a scrapbook including images and explanations. 

• Chinese invention activity

  • Collaboratively students will research an invention that comes from ancient China and create an advertisement for said invention.

• Native American cultures project

  • Collaboratively students will research a Native America culture, focusing on the nine features of a civilization and present their knowledge in a physical display.

• Religions comparison

  • Students will compare and contrast the characteristics of the major monotheistic religions of the world (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam).

• Annotated timeline of events

  • Students will create timelines of major events throughout history to show understanding of cause and effect.

• People of the Renaissance and Reformation presentation

  • Students will show their knowledge of a person important to the era via a presentation to their peers.

• Choice project on the major Enlightenment thinkers

  • Students will be able to choose to present their knowledge on Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau through a  collage, a Facebook page, trading cards, etc. 

• City Planning Project

  • Students will apply their knowledge of urban growth during the Industrial Revolution and of modern-day city planning in order to design their own cities.

Key Course Learning Experiences:

• Primary source Analysis

• Vocabulary practice

• Map analysis

• Simulations

• Comparing and contrasting events

• Analyzing cause and effect

• Poster creation

• Current event analysis

• Class discussions