Syllabus AP - World History Ferrari
v Purpose
The purpose of the course is to develop a greater understanding of the evolution of global processes and contacts, in interaction with different types of 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 international frameworks and their causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies. The course emphasizes relevant factual knowledge deployed in conjunction with leading interpretive issues and types of historical evidence (analysis of sources). The course builds on an understanding of cultural, institutional, and technological precedents that, along with geography, set the human stage. Periodization forms an organizing principle for dealing with change and continuity throughout the course. Specific themes provide further organization to the course, along with the consistent attention to contacts among societies that form the core of world history as a field of study.
v Grading
Major Grades (70%)
1. Timed in-class essays (1 per grading period)
2. Tests
3. Projects
Minor Grade (20%)
1. Six Weeks Outside Reading assignments
2. Individual assignments
3. Reading Quizzes
Homework (10%)
Late work: Assignments turned in 1 day after the due date will achieve a maximum of a 70. Work turned in one day more after the due date will not be accepted and a zero will be entered for that assignment in the grade book.
v Themes
Following themes will be covered throughout this course:
1. How do people interact with the environment?
2. How do different cultures develop and how do they interact with each other?
- What do they believe in?
- What is their religion?
- What technology do they use?
- What scientific knowledge do they have?
- What does their art and architecture look like?
- How is all that influenced by other cultures or how is it influencing other cultures?
3. States, expansion of states, conflict within and among states:
- What type of government does a civilization have? Who has power? How is that power used? Who is excluded from power? How is the government organized?
- How does this civilization expand? What are the impacts of that expansion? What makes this civilization an empire?
- What makes people unhappy with the government? What effects does that have – revolutions, rebellions?
- What conflicts does a civilization have with others and how are they resolved?
4. How does the economy in certain civilization work? How does it interact with the economies of other civilizations? How do the economies of certain civilizations grow and what are its implications?
5. How does the society of a civilization develop and how does it change over time?
- What are the social classes in a certain civilization? What are they based on?
- What are the roles and rights of men and women in a society?
- What causes the society of a civilization to change? What are the impacts of that change?
v Key Concepts for AP World History
- Period One (Technological and Environmental Transformations, to 600 BCE)
Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth
The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral, and Urban Societies
- Period Two (Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies, 600 BCE to 600 CE)
The Development and Codification of Religious and Cultural Traditions
The Development of States and Empires
The Emergence of Transregional Networks of Communication and Exchange
- Period Three (Regional and Transregional Interactions 600 CE to 1450 CE)
Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange Networks
Continuity and Innovation of State Forms and their Interactions
Increased Economic Productivity and Its Consequences
- Period Four (Global Interactions 1450 to 1750)
Globalizing Networks of Communication and Exchange
New Forms of Social Organization and Modes of Production
State Consolidation and Imperial Expansion
- Period Five (Industrialization and Global Integration, 1750 to 1900)
Industrialization and Global Capitalism
Imperialism and Nation State Formation
Nationalism, Revolution, and Reform
Global Migration
- Period Six – Accelerating Global Change and Realignments, c. 1900 to Present (20%)
Science and the Environment
Global Conflicts and their Consequences
New Conceptualizations of Global Economy, Society, Culture
v The AP Exam
• Every student enrolled in AP World History is expected to take the AP exam. Everything we do in class is to prepare for the exam.
• Grades should be an indicator of how well a student will do on the AP exam.
• There are two parts to the exam, a multiple choice and a free-response section.
1. Multiple choice: 70 questions. 55 minutes
2. Free response:
Document-based question: 50 minutes
Change-over-time essay: 40 minutes
Comparative essay: 40 minutes
· Supplies needed:
Ø Binder for notes and assignments with dividers (labeled Unit 1-6)
Ø The Syllabus – (it shows what you need to study for the AP exam keep at the front of your binder)
Ø Spiral note book for writing assignments (keep in your binder behind your syllabus)
Ø Textbook
Ø Pen/Pencil
· Contact Information:
Teacher: Ferrari
Room: 1641
e-mail:
Phone: (281) 234-1202
Conference: 6th (12:47-1:48)
Website: www.MsFerrari.com
· Tutorials: Tuesday through Friday before school 6:45-7:15 (let me know the day before so that I’m in my room and not trying to make a last minute copy)