ADVANCED PLACEMENT WORLD HISTORY: SYLLABUS
It is highly recommended by past students to purchase an AP World History Review Book from local bookstores or online. The Kaplan or Princeton Review books are used the most.
Course Overview:This is a one year course about the creation of the world inwhich you live. The purpose of this course is to develop a greater understanding of the evolution of global processes and contacts in different human societies. This understanding is advanced through a combination of selective factual knowledge and appropriate analytical skills. The course highlights the nature of changes in global frameworks and their causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies. It emphasizes relevant factual knowledge, leading interpretive issues, and skills in analyzing types of historical evidence. Periodiazation and specific themes provide organization to the course, along with consistent attention to contacts among societies that form the core of world history as a field of study. The course offers balanced global coverage, with Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania all represented.
Students will explore the world through the theme of the development over time of complex societies. They will investigate the world'sdiverse cultural mores, while recognizing thecommon bonds and universal concepts that underlie all civilizations. Students will strive to discoverthe opportunities that will help them find theirplace in an increasingly interconnected world.
Students will learn to use resources around them to acquire a deeper understanding of the course objectives while developing a strong sense of inquiry. Through an exploration of philosophical ideas that have developed and diffused over time, students will learn to apply these ideas to become more independent thinkers, and will be given experience presenting their thoughts in order to become more effective communicators.
The material and rigor of AP World History is similar to a college-level course. For each time period, knowledge of major developments that illustrate or link the five thematic areas, and of major civilizations is expected. Knowledge of year-to-year political events is not required. Furthermore, you will be required to analyze historical texts, make comparisons throughout world history, use primary and secondary sources, and discuss different interpretations of history. 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 (
The Five Themes of AP World History:
These are five themes outlined in the AP World History course description that we will be using throughout the year to help organize our learning:
1. Interaction between humans and the environment
2. Development and interaction of cultures
3. State-building, expansion, and conflict
4. Creation, expansion, and interaction of economic system
5. Development and transformation of social structures
Mr. Cleland’s Class Mission Statement:
We will achieve content mastery from the foundations of history through to the present stage of History through holistic learning, deep inquiry, developing primary document skills, and writing on themes such as time, continuity, and change. We will measure our progress throughfrequent document based questions, comparing and contrasting questions, and time continuity and change questions. This preparation is intended to enable each of us to score proficienton the AP world History Exam and obtain college credit for the course.
Classroom Rules:
1. Be in your seat when the bell rings
2. Come prepared to learn and participate
3. Follow directions the first time they are given
4. Do not sleep in class
5. No food, drinks, electronic devices, or other classes’ work. These items will be confiscated.
6. Do not cheat. (Cheating, including plagiarism, at any time on any assignment will result in zero credit for the assignment)
7. Do the work!No late work will be accepted. Do not give me any excuses that you did not do an assignment.
8. Respect everyone
Periodization in AP World History:
8000 BCE - 600 CE
600 CE - 1450 CE
1450 CE - 1750 CE
1750 CE - 1914 CE
1914 CE – Present
Primary Textbook:
Stearns, Peter N. World Civilizations: The Global Experience, 5th Edition, Longman Publishing Group.
*The companion site for the textbook is found at 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. Please check my website for secondary sources that will be placed online throughout the year.
Secondary Textbook:
Strayer, Robert W. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History, 1st Edition, Bedford/St. Martins
Grading System:
Grading will be completed by determining the student’s actual score over the total maximum points possible for the assignment. For example, if the total points possible to be gained from a test is 200 and the student earns 176 of those points, their true score will be an 88 (176/200 = 88). The student’s final quarter grades will be determined by taking the final average of all grades given during those applicable weeks.
Grading Scale:
A = 100-93 B = 92-85 C = 84-77 D = 76-70 F = 69-0
*There is no EOC test for world history.
*The College Board exam for AP World History, administered in May, will not be figured into the student’s grade for AP World. Students’ grades from the May exam will be mailedhome during late summer.
Assignment Descriptions:
Expect to receive some form of grade every day. The following are the basic types of tasks you will be required to complete:
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 20 and 40 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!
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 thetextbooks. Grade values for these assignments vary.
4.Tests: Each unit that we complete will conclude with a unit assessment, made up of an essay portion and a multiple choice portion. 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 multiple choice section involves a rigorous selection of multiple-choice questions. The questions asked are drawn from both the assigned readings, in-class lectures, and discussions. Failure to prepare for tests will certainly reflect in students’ grades.
Extra Credit:
Do not ask for extra credit if you have not completed all tasks as assigned.Extra credit assignments are rarely given. Do not expect them.
Leaving Class:
Use the bathroom before coming to class! In order to leave my classroom for any reason, you must have your daily planner – no exceptions. Do not interrupt a lesson to ask to leave the classroom unless it is an absolute emergency! Class time is valuable!
Materials Needed:
1. a 2-inch 3-ring binder with loose-leaf paper
2. pencils and black/blue pens (do not ask me for these!)
3. textbook, assigned readings, and homework
Teaching Strategies
Lectures
In our 85-minute classes, I will normally not lecture more than half the time. I usually talk for only 30 to 40 minutes. Almost all of my lectures are accompaniedby a PowerPoint presentation, but I will also implement videos and primary sources into the lecture.
Discussions
About two in each unit, we will conduct whole-class seminars where you will be required to discuss a key issue and primary sources that supplement the book. We will also do debates and simulations, like skits and outdoor activities, which require you to address questions about human similarities and differences and the historical context of culturally diverse ideas and values.
Group Work
Due to the amount of information in this course, I often put students in groups to process primary-source documents or large amounts of content from the book. The goal of putting students into groups is to divide and conquer the material by generating outlines and presentationsfrom each unit. When analyzing documents, students seem to generate a greater understanding of the material by coming up with different arguments when analyzing the material.
COURSE TIMELINE: WORLD CIVILIZATIONS: GLOBAL EXPERIENCE:FifthEDITION
UNIT 1. Foundations, c. 8000 BCE to 600 CE (5 weeks – Ch. 1-5)
Focus questions: What is “civilization”? Who is “civilized”? Does change occur bydiffusion or independent invention? How did we go from hunters and gatherers to indoor plumbing in such a short time? (IB Unit Question)
Unit Number / Unit Topic / Unit Title / Chapters in Starnes / Additional resourcesUnit 1Part 1 - 2 weeks / Historical foundations, prehistory and emerging civilizations in Africa and the Middle East / “In The Beginning…” / One:From Human Prehistory to the Early Civilizations / Excepts from Guns Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond
The Enuma Elish
Genesis Chapter One, NRSV
Aboriginal Dreamtime stories
Cave Paintings From Lascaux, France
Unit 1 Part 2 - 3 weeks / The classical Period Of China, India, and Greece: 1000 B.C.E. to 600 C.E. / “The Golden Age of Civilization” / Two: Classical Civilization: China
Three:Classical Civilization: India
Four:Classical Civilization
in the Mediterranean:
Greece and Rome
Five:The Classical Period:
Directions, Diversities,
and Declines by 500 C.E. / Excepts from Analects, by Confucius
Excepts from The Art of War, by Sun Tzu
Suetonius’ Account of Caesar Crossing the Rubicon
Map Study: Southernization
Topic 1. Locating world history in the environment and time
Topic 2. Developing agriculture and technology
Topic 3. Basic features of early civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, Shang;Mesoamerican and Andean
Topic 4. Major Belief Systems: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity,Confucianism, and Daoism; polytheism and shamanism
Topic 5. Classical civilizations: Greece, Rome, China, and India including migrations of the Huns, Germanic tribes
Topic 6. Interregional networks by 600 CE and spread of belief systems
Comparisons: early civilizations, major belief systems, systems of social inequality, cities, political systems, trading systems, migrations, role of nomadic peoples.
Major Activities and Assessments:Essay on Compare and Contrast the political and social structures of two early civilizations, using any of the two of the following: Tigris-Euphrates, Egyptian, and Chinese civilizations;Location of Continents, Oceans, seas, and major rivers on a World Map; Location of key political units prior to 1000 C.E.; Defining the basic economic systems and technological patterns; Become familiar with the 5 major themes in World History; DVD: Excerpts from the National Geographic production of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel; Group PowerPoints on one of the Early Civilizations; Read excerpts from the Bible, Torah, and Koran. Analyze Hammurabi’s Code with the current law system in the U.S.
UNIT II. 600–1450 (7 weeks - Ch. 6-15)
Focus questions: Should we study cultural areas or states? Did changes in this period occur from the effects of nomadic migrations or urban growth? Was there a world economic network during this period? Why do YOU call ME an Infidel? (IB Question)
Unit Number / Unit Topic / Unit Title / Chapters in StarnesUnit 2 Part 1 - 2 weeks / The Post-classical period: 500 C.E. to 1450 C.E. Part One-Middle eastern, North African and Asian Development of Empires and Political systems. / “Progress in the Islamic World: It wasn’t Dark Everywhere.” / Six: The First Global
Civilization: The Rise
and Spread of Islam
Seven:Abbasid Decline
and the Spread of Islamic Civilization
to South and Southeast Asia
Eight:African Civilizations
and the Spread of Islam / Excepts from The Sunnah
Excepts from A thousand and One Arabian Nights
Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354
Unit 2 Part 2 - 2 weeks / The post-classical period: 500 C.E. to 1450 C.E. Part Two-The European Development and diffusion of Empires and political systems. / “From one into Many the evolution of European National Identities.” / Nine:Civilization
in Eastern Europe: Byzantium
and Orthodox Europe
Ten: A New Civilization
Emerges in Western Europe
Fifteen: The West
and the Changing World Balance / Film: A lion in Winter
Primary source: Murder of Thomas Becket
Unit 2 Part 3 -3 weeks / The post-classical period: 500 C.E. to 1450 C.E. Part Three: Asia and the Americas / China and Mesoamerica: Civilizations on the periphery / Eleven:The Americas
on the Eve of Invasion
Twelve: Reunification
and Renaissance in Chinese Civilization:
The Era of the Tang
and Song Dynasties
Thirteen: The Spread
of Chinese Civilization: Japan, Korea,
and Vietnam
Fourteen: The Last Great
Nomadic Challenges:
From Chinggis Khan to Timur / Marco Polo: On the Tartars
The Buddha:
Sermons and Teachings
Pictorial examples of Shinto Art and Architecture
Topic 1. The Islamic World, the Crusades, and Schism in Christianity
Topic 2. Silk Road trade networks, Chinese model and urbanization
Topic 3. Compare European and Japanese feudalism, Vikings
Topic 4. Mongols across Eurasia and urban destruction in Southwest Asia, Black Death
Topic 5. Compare Bantu and Polynesian migrations, Great Zimbabwe and Mayan empires and urbanization; Aztec and Incan empires and urbanization
Topic 6. Ming Treasure Ships and Indian Ocean trade networks (Swahili coast)
Comparisons: Japanese versus European feudalism, European monarchy versus African empires, role of major cities, Aztec versus Incan empires.
Major Activities and Assessments:Change and Continuities group poster project in the spread of Islam from 600 CE – 1450 CE in one of the following regions: Arabian World, Southeast Asia, and Africa civilizations; Review summer reading assignment Candide by Voltaire – students will analyze the change and continuity of perceptions of the government and Catholic church during the Enlightenment; Read article from New York Times on Art in the Yuan Dynasty ( Video clips from Mongol by Sergei Bordov; Analyzing maps on Viking conquest with a primary source of Viking encounters. Read a section from the Magna Carta; DBQ on internal and external cases of the Byzantine Empire’s decline between 1200 and 1453 CE; Students will read an excerpt on a “Noble’s Life” from The Middle Ages by Morris Bishop (pgs. 115-119).
UNIT III. 1450–1750 (5 weeks – Ch. 16-22)
Focus questions: To what extent did Europe become predominant in the world economy during this period? What was that? You have no concept of land ownership? Awesome! (IB Question)
Unit 3 Part 1 - 3 weeks / The Early Modern Period: 1450-1750 Part One-Exploration, trade, and global interaction Between Africa, the Americas, and Asia. / “Exploration 101: Or how Europe conquered the world with a cunning use of flags.” / Nineteen:Twenty:Africa and the Africans
in the Age of the Atlantic
Slave Trade
Twenty One:The Muslim Empires
Twenty Two:Asian Transitions
in an Age of Global Change / An Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico
Excerpts from Slave Narratives by Venture Smith
St. Francis Xavier: Letter from Japan, to the Society of Jesus at Goa, 1551
Unit 3 Part 2 - 2 weeks / The Early Modern Period: 1450-1750 Part two: Cultural and intellectual change in Russia and Europe. / “After the Black death, any change had to seem like good change!” / Sixteen:The World Economy
Seventeen: The Transformation
of the West, 1450–1750
Eighteen: The Rise of Russia / Candide by Voltaire
Topic 1. “Southernization” in Western Europe and the Scientific Revolution and Renaissance; Change—Reformation and Counter Reformation
Topic 2. Encounters and Exchange: Reconquista, Portuguese in Morocco, West Africa, Spanish in the Americas
Topic 3. Encounters and Exchange: Portuguese in Indian Ocean trade networks, Manila galleons and the Ming Silver Trade
Topic 4. Labor Systems in the Atlantic World—The Africanization of the Americas (slave trade, plantation economies, resistance to slavery); Labor systems in the Russian Empire and resistance to serfdom
Topic 5. Expansion of Global Economy and Absolutism: Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, Bourbons, Tokugawa, and Romanov
Topic 6. Effects of the Atlantic Slave Trade on demography in West Africa, resistance to the Atlantic slave trade, and expansion of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa
Comparisons: Imperial systems in Europe versus Asia; coercive labor systems, empire building in Asia, Africa, and Europe; interactions with the West (Russia versus others).
Major Activities and Assessments: Change and Continuity essay on the impact of the Columbian Exchange by describing two of the following civilizations before and after 1492: The Americas, Africa, Europe, or Asia; Primary sources on identifying animals in the New World; DBQ on the social and economic effects of the global flow of silver from mid-16th-18th century (2006 Exam). Examined lithographs by DeBry that showed the mistreatment of Native Americans in the New World; Historical Excerpt from Martin Luther’s 95 Theses and Trivia game ( Video on Discover Learning about Peter the Great;
UNIT IV. 1750–1914 (5 weeks – Ch. 23-27)
Focus questions: Through what processes did the influence of industrialization spread throughout the world? How did the rights of individuals and groups change in this period? To what degree did new types of social conflict emerge during the nineteenth century? How and with whom did the idea of “The West” as a coherent and leading force in history gain currency? Hey, that’s not fair! Why do they get guns and we don’t? (IB Question)