Topic outline
- General
General
BIG HISTORY PROJECT- PILOT YEAR 3 PACING GUIDE. PARENTHESIS CORRESPOND WITH BIG HISTORY SITE.
"Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world: A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightening in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream" -THE DIAMOND SUTRA
- Topic 1
Topic 1
Unit 1: "What is Big History?" (9 Days)
Investigation Question: How do different scales affect our perspective on history?
DAY 1: Introduction/Logistics
DAY 2: Welcome to Big History (1.0)
DAYS 3 & 4: WHAT BIG HISTORY IS/COMPLEXITY AND THRESHOLDS (1.1) AND (1.2)
DAY 5: SCALE (1.3)
Includes Powers of Ten video and Interactive Scale applet from quarks to galaxies
This was the technique mastered by Georges Seurat.
DAY 6: ORIGIN STORIES (1.4)
DAYS 7&8: HOW WE COME TO BELIEVE WHAT WE BELIEVE (EPISTEMOLOGY) (1.5)
DAY 9: UNIT 1 ASSESSMENT (TRADITIONAL TEST) AND STUDENT FEEDBACK SURVEYS
- Topic 2
Topic 2
Unit 2: "The Big Bang" (8 Days)
Investigation Question: How has our view of the Universe changed over time?
"In 50 years- or 20 years, or 200 years- our current epistemic horizon, the Big Bang roughly, may look as parochial as the horizon Newton had to settle in his day, but no doubt there will be good questions whose answers elude us" - Daniel Dennett
This is how scientists debate instead of argue when they disagree. EVIDENCE. Very complicated science, so focus on how they make their case, instead of trying to get the exact details.
Just a tiny fraction of the research. Check out the diagrams.
DAY 10: "THE BIG BANG" (2.0)
DAYS 11 & 12: "HOW DID OUR VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE CHANGE?" (2.1)
If this doesn't work, try another browser, adjust your screen size, or update Java. Allows you to look at paths of planets from different views.
DAYS 13 & 14: "WHAT EMERGED FROM THE BIG BANG?" (2.2)
DAY 15: "HOW DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE BIG BANG?" (2.3)
The equations are complicated; focus more on the diagrams and explanations.
DAYS 18 & 19: ASSESSMENT (INVESTIGATION) AND STUDENT FEEDBACK SURVEY
- Topic 3
Topic 3
Unit 3: "Stars and Elements" (9 Days)
Investigation Question: How were the elements created and discovered?
Great Detail, challenging high-school level physics. Washington University.
This is by no means a full course in chemistry! It is just a brief summary of some important points.
DAY 18: "STARS AND BIG HISTORY" (3.0)
DAY 19: "HOW WERE STARS FORMED?" (3.1)
DAYS 20-22: "WHAT DID STARS GIVE US?" (3.2)
DAYS 23 & 24: "WAYS OF KNOWING....STARS AND ELEMENTS" (3.3)
DAY 25: UNIT 3 ASSESSMENT (TRADITIONAL TEST) AND STUDENT FEEDBACK SURVEY
DAY 26: INTRODUCTION OF THE LITTLE BIG HISTORY PROJECT
- Topic 4
Topic 4
Unit 4: "Our Solar System and Earth" (10 Days)
Investigation Question: How does a new scientific theory take hold?
DAYS 27 & 28: "EARTH AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM" (4.0)
DAY 29: "HOW OUR SOLAR SYSTEM FORMED" (4.1)
DAYS 30 & 31: "WHAT WAS THE YOUNG EARTH LIKE?" (4.2)
DAYS 32 & 33: "PLATE TECTONICS" (4.3)
DAY 34: "OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AND EARTH" (4.4)
DAYS 35 & 36: UNIT 4 ASSESSMENT (INVESTIGATION) AND STUDENT FEEDBACK SURVEY
- Topic 5
Topic 5
Unit 5: "Life" (10 Days)
Investigation Question: How has the concept of evolution impacted societies?
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on".- Robert Frost
DAY 37: "LIFE AND BIG HISTORY" (5.0)
DAY 38: "WHAT IS LIFE?" (5.1)
DAYS 39 & 40: "HOW DID LIFE BEGIN AND CHANGE?" (5.2)
DAYS 41 & 42: "HOW DO EARTH AND LIFE INTERACT?" (5.3)
DAYS 43-45: "WAYS OF KNOWING: LIFE" (5.4)
DAY 46: UNIT 5 ASSESSMENT (TRADITIONAL TEST) AND STUDENT FEEDBACK SURVEY
- Topic 6
Topic 6
Student Research/BH "A" Final Exam Preparation (7 days)
DAYS 47-51: "HOW TO RESEARCH ACADEMIC PAPERS, SUCH AS THE LITTLE BIG HISTORY PROJECT"
DAYS 52-53: FINAL EXAM/STUDENT FEEDBACK SURVEY
- Topic 7This topic
Topic 7
Unit 6: "Early Humans" (10 Days) BEGINNING OF BH "B"
Investigation Question: How has language transformed humanity?
"What is ape to man? A laughing stock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the Ubermensch: a laughing stock or painful embarrassment"- Friedrich Nietzsche
BHP DAY 1: "What was life like in the State of Nature?"
BHP DAY 1: Assignment from Class:
Create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the philosophies of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. On the back side write your opinion on what life was like for our Hominid ancestors. What do you base your rationale upon?
BHP "B" DAY 10: Unit 6 Examination
- Topic 8
Topic 8
Unit 7: "Agriculture and Civilization" (9 Days)
Investigation Question: Why did some agrarian civilizations prosper and others fail?
"Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities"- Mark Twain
BHP "B" DAY 11: Opening Question: "What are the top 3 criterion for having a quality life?"
BHP "B" DAY 11: Debate/Discussion and Creation of the first part of your invesitgation, the "Explore" section. This should be done by the end of the day.
BHP "B" DAY 12: You will fill out your graphic organizer of all the readings. Remember to question whether they support, extend, or challenge your initial conjectures.
BHP "B" DAYS 13 and 14: Creation of Poster- Use template in link below to see what your poster should contain.
BHP "B" DAY 19: First part of class will be devoted to studying for quiz and the second half of class we will go to the computer lab to take it off the BHP web site.
You can submit your assignments here, work on them at home, edit, and resubmit.
- Topic 9
Topic 9
Unit 8: "Expansion and Interconnection" (10 Days)
Investigation Question: What were the most significant consequences of oceanic travel?
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time" -T.S. Eliot
BHB DAY 28: UNIT 8 ASSESSMENT STUDENT FEEDBACK SURVEY AND UNIT 8 EXAMINATION REVIEW
BHB DAY 29: UNIT VIII EXAMINATION (TRADITIONAL)
- Topic 10
Topic 10
Unit 9: Acceleration (10 Days)
Investigation Question: Does the Anthropocene qualify as a new era?
"History as well as life itself is complicated- neither life nor history is an enterprise for those who seek simplicity and consistency"- Jared Diamond
DAYS 29 & 30: "ACCELERATION" (9.0)
DAYS 31 & 32: "WHAT DID CHANGE ACCELERATE?" (9.1)
DAYS 33-36: "HOW WAS THE MODERN WORLD CREATED?" (9.2)
DAY 37: "WAYS OF KNOWING: MODERN REVOLUTION"
DAY 38: UNIT 9 ASSESSMENT (TRADITIONAL TEST) AND STUDENT FEEDBACK SURVEY
- Topic 11
Topic 11
Unit 10: The Future (5 Days)
Investigation Question: What is the next major threshold?
"The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion"- Albert Einstein
DAY 39: "WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?"
DAY 40: "BIG HISTORY'S MOST IMPORTANT UNANSWERED QUESTION"
DAYS 41-43: UNIT 10 ASSESSMENT (INVESTIGATION)/ STUDENT FEEDBACK SURVEY
DAYS 44 & 45: BH "B" FINAL EXAMINATION PREPARATION/ TAKING THE TEST
- Topic 12
Topic 12
Little Big History Projects
.....Little Big History ProjectDAYS 46-54: LITTLE BIG HISTORY PREPARATION/ PRESENTATION TO THE CLASS