Course Overview
AP World is a year long course that will explore the expansion of history throughout time. Many time periods will be covered and you will analyze many revealing facts. You will be taught critical thinking skills and be able to interpret and analyze historical documents. As you journey throughout history you will research the causes of major historical events, learn to examine change over time, and thus interpret major developments in history. In AP world students will be able to connect the events of the past to their own lives and find relevance. You will also learn how to compare different time periods and regions to find continuities and important changes in World History. There are five themes that will be covered in the class. These five themes will help you navigate through the chorological history of the world’s history. The five themes that are covered in AP World are as follows:
Theme 1: Interaction between Humans and the Environment
Theme 2: Development and Interaction of Cultures
Theme 3: State-Building, Expansion, and Conflict
Theme 4: Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems
Theme 5: Development and Transformation of Social Structures
Course Design
AP World requires the development of higher level thinking skills, commitment to analyzing documents of the past to compare historical events and create a historical narrative. Using the college level texts, primary sources and informational texts students will be able to become proficient in the following:
1. Interpret evidence to use to creating probing historical arguments
2. Analyze point of view of author and audience of the reader
3. Incorporate global awareness and diversity in World History (into daily lives)
4. Characterize change and continuity over time
Using the Essential Skills of History:
Students must learn to understand, and make use of on their own, authentic skills which professional historians use in their work.
1. Historical argumentation: This is perhaps the most difficult skill that students must learn to recognize and discuss. The term which most accurately describes this process is historiography, meaning, the “study of the study of history.” In more understandable terms, historiography is the study of what sources and methods or processes, historians use in order to conjure up the works--books, essays, and articles for example--that they produce.
2. Use of historical evidence: This relates directly to historiography. All students of history, on both amateur and professional levels, must use reputable sources on which to base their arguments or understandings of history. Thus, when you, my students, write essays, you must explain in your writing where you get the information you are using to come up with your understanding.
3. Causation: Most simply put, one plus one equals two. Students must understand the “pushes” and “pulls” of history.
4. Continuity and Change over time: All civilizations have characteristics which have both remained the same and undergone revision, or change, over the period of their existence. All students of history must be able to identify and explain these trends in order to understand that the past and present are connected.
5. Periodization: The discipline of historiography has established this term. Periodization refers to the fact that certain periods of history are organized and separated by significant marks in history which are usually drawn by phenomenons such as technological innovation or disaster.
6. Comparison: Along the vein of continuity and change, students of history must be able to compare civilizations, both against themselves and others. The term, comparison, in the case of studying history as opposed to English, encompasses the drawing of both similarities and differences.
7. Contextualization: Thinking as a historian requires that individuals be able to understand the environment, which the civilizations that will be studied, lived in. For example, certain things which have occurred in history can be partially explained by the acceptable norms which existed during the time and place of certain events. For example, slavery was deemed as an acceptable reality and way of business during the eighteenth century. Today of course, slavery is not acceptable and no longer exists because the world’s social, religious, cultural, and economic environments have evolved.
8. Interpretation: Students of history must simply be able to use the methods listed above in order to shape their thinking processes and produce, via writing and speaking, an understanding.
Student Notebooks:
Students are required to keep a 3-ring notebook that should include notes, handouts, maps, and other materials given to the student throughout the semester. This notebook and its contents are the responsibility of the student and cannot be stored in the classroom. It is recommended that the students purchase at least a 2” 3-ring binder.
Organization of student notebooks:
Section 1: Notes and Class lecture materials
Section 2: Outlines
Section 3: Essays and Assessments
Assignment Descriptions:
1. Reading: There will be very few days in which you will not have a reading assignment for homework. Most nightly reading assignments are between 10 and 20 pages from the textbook and/or primary sources. Those students who have been successful in the past were regular readers of the textbook. Complete all reading assignments when assigned.
2. Quizzes: Expect quizzes on a regular basis as they are meant to focus students on preparing for class and to clarify any misconceptions of basic information. They may be announced or un-announced. Prepare for these by reading the texts, completing homework, paying attention to class lecture and discussion, and reviewing all notes that you take.
3. Writing Assignments/Charts/Reading Questions: Other tasks will be assigned throughout the year to aid in learning the material and organizing the overwhelming amount of information that is presented in the textbooks. Grade values for these assignments vary.
4. Tests: Each unit or sub-unit that we complete will conclude with a test that spans two days. The first day of the test will involve writing an essay. There are three types of essays that will be used to demonstrate students’ comprehension of material: compare and contrast, continuities and change over time, and document based question essays. The proper construction of these essays will be taught during the course of the year. The second day of testing involves a rigorous selection of multiple choice questions (70 to 100 questions). The questions asked are drawn from the assigned readings, in-class lectures, and discussions. Failure to prepare for tests will certainly reflect in students’ grades. Tests are valued at a total of 200 points (Essay = 100 points + Multiple Choice = 100 points).
A=93%-100% B=85-92% C=84%-77% D=76-70% F=69%-0%
Textbook
Stearns. 2007. World Civilizations: Global Experience, fifth edition. Pearson. (Provided by NIHS)
*The companion site for the textbook is found at http://wps.ablongman.com/long_stearns_wcap_3/0,8222,1005788-,00.html. It includes chapter summaries, multiple choice and true/false reviews, short answer and vocabulary prompts, and urther aids to help you get the most out of the reading.
*The course includes instruction in a number of primary sources, maps, works of art, and graphs. Specific primary sources will be introduced throughout each unit of study.
Materials
List of Resources that are utilized throughout the course:
-Adas, Michael, Marc J. Gilbert, Peter Stearns, and Stuart B. Schwartz. World Civilizations:
The Global Experience. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
-Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. The World: A History, Combined Volume. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007
-Bentley, Jerry and Herbert Ziegler. Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective
on the Past. New York: McGraw-Hill.
-Bulliet, Richard, Daniel R. Headrick, David Northrup, Lyman L. Johnson, and Pamela Kyle
-Crossley. The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. I use
several editions published from 1997 to the present.
-Spodek, Howard. World’s History. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. I use several
editions published from 1998 to the present.
- Lockard, Craig A. Societies, Networks, and Transitions: A Global History. Boston:
-Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008.
-World History in Documents: A Comparative Reader edited by Peter N. Stearns, New
York: New York University Press; 1998.
-The World that Trade Created by Kenneth Pomeranz, M.E. Sharpe; 2000.
-The Human Record edited by Alfred Andrea and James Overfield, Boston: Houghton
Mifflin; 5th Ed., 2004.
-Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in World Civilizations, Volumes I
and II, edited by Helen and Joseph Mitchell, New York: McGraw Hill; 5th ed., 2007.
-Shaffer, L. 1986. China, Technology and Change. World History Bulletin Fall/Winter.
Additional readings and online resources
-Jared M. Diamond. Guns, Germs, and Steel.
We will also read various selections of essays which the teacher completed as a graduate student at Appalachian State University.
-http://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/ Bridging World History. This website provides a free of cost, available to everyone, full-length college online course in World History. This is a very helpful resource which we will use often in the course.
-http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world.html World Maps for the purposes of familiarizing ourselves with basic World Geography.
Unit Activities
Each unit will have the following:
Writing Assignments
1. Document Based Question (DBQ): evaluates students’ skills in analysis and synthesis by requiring that students read and analyze each document in order to plan and develop an essay that uses the documents to build a unified and coherent argument to answer the question. Students analyze evidence from a variety of sources. Students will apply many historical thinking skills as they examine a particular historical problem or question.
2.Comparative Essay: Students will compare historical developments across or within societies
in various chronological and geographical contexts. Students will also appraise
information by connecting ideas from one historical context to another, including the
present.
3.Change and Continuity Over Time :Students will sequence and classify patterns of
continuity and change over time and across geographic regions. They will also justify these historical developments to specific circumstances of time and place, that are: regional, national, or global processes.
In the units students will be required to do the following
a. Societal Comparisons-students will analyze primary and secondary sources, analyze art and architecture, and write essays on the similarities and differences between societies during the same time period.
b. Conflicts-students will analyze the causes and effects of conflicts throughout each area of study.
c. Periods in History-Students will analyze and discuss the many ways that history is presented by historians. They will be able to assess the different views of the time periods and looking at alternative examples. Each student will analyze different sources (textbooks and primary sources) and make an argument on the beginning and ending dates of each time period based on their research.
d. Changes and Continuities-Students will be writing essays throughout the year to identify and change over time and across different regions of the world.
e. Analyzing Maps-Students will study the effects of interactions of people, cultures, and empires that cause the creation of new agricultural societies, political systems, migrations, and religious centers.
Steps to analyzing POV:
1. Look at the source of the document
2. Read the source-can it be used as POV
3. Ask yourself if you can fully believe the information in the source-exaggeration
4. Ask yourself why the document’s information may or may not be reliable-background of the author
Examples of Documents
Source: Procopius; Byzantine Emperor Justinian’s official court historian
Source: Pope Urban II issues a crusade against the Muslims (1095)
Source: The Spirit of Islam by Syed Ameer Ali, a Muslim writer
Source: Barack Obama, excerpt from an American presidential campaign speech (2008)
This course is aligned with the AP College Board course description for AP World History and the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for world history. Please see the College Board's AP website for further course information (http://www.collegeboard.com)
Historical Periodization-The AP World History Course contains six chronological periods
Period 1: Technology and Environmental Transformations (to-c. 600 BCE)-3 weeks
· Theme 1: Demography and disease, migration, settlement, and technology
· Theme 2: Religions
· Theme 4: Trade and commerce
GOAL 1: Historical Themes, Tools, and Practices – The learner will identify, evaluate and use the methods and tools valued by historians, compare the views of historians, and trace the themes of global history. (From Chapter 1 from Stearns and Primary Reading: Guns, Germs and Steel)
Course Objectives: Students will become familiar with the six AP World History Themes
1.01 Define history and the concepts of cause and effect, time, change and continuity, and perspective across the global historical periods covered in this course.
1.02 Analyze and interpret primary and secondary sources to compare views, trace themes, and to detect point of view. (Students will be analyzing point of view documents and historical context of different cultures)-Class debate
1.03 Trace the patterns and the impacts of interaction among major societies: trade, war, diplomacy, and international organizations.
1.04 Assess the impact of technology and demography on people and the environment including, but not limited to, population growth and decline, disease, manufacturing, migrations, agriculture, and/or weaponry.
1.05 Compare major features of social and gender structure within and among societies assessing change in those systems.
1.06 Identify cultural and intellectual developments and interactions among and within societies. -Whole class interpretation on articles of different cultures
Key Concepts
· 1.1 Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth
o Methods of learning: Students must identify and label on a world map, patterns of migration across the globe with emphasis on the outlying areas such as Australia and Oceania. Assessments will be based on map quizzes.
· 1.2 The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
o Patterns of migration directly related to the Agricultural Revolution
o Comparative studies between early farming civilizations (as seen in Guns, Germs, and Steel) which seek to explain why Oceania developed differently from the Fertile Crescent over time. Assessments will be based on comparative essays.
· 1.3 The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and Urban Societies
Historical Interpretation: Students will analyze and make an argument on the evolution of technology introduced by Jared Diamond of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Norton, 1999)
How does the word “civilized” apply to the different people introduced in the introduction and early chapters of Diamond’s book, Guns, Germs, and Steel?
Primary Source Document Reading
· BUILDING A TOWN from SHIH CHING about 500 B.C.
Assessments:
Location of Continents, oceans, seas, and major rivers. Location of key political units prior to 1000 CE. Defining civilization, the basic economic systems and technological patterns.