Download AP World History : Syllabus

Dave Roberts - AP World History
425.385.6164 [email protected]
Course Overview
Welcome to the most significant class you will ever take! The study of world history is about more than memorizing lists of
facts. It involves developing an understanding of the world around us -- how it impacts us and how we impact it.
World History is a college-level survey course. The course provides an opportunity for students to pursue and receive credit
for their high school World History requirement following a college level format and course outline. It is a reasonable
expectation of the course content that controversial issues will be encountered and discussed. Therefore, students are
expected to approach all topics as historical scholars – with open questioning minds.
The World History curriculum provides students with the analytical skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically
with issues and events in world history, developing a greater understanding of global processes and the interactions among
different types of human societies. We will explore world history using five themes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Interaction between humans and the environment
Development and interaction of cultures
State-building, expansion and conflict
Creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems
Development and transformation of social structures
During the first quarter we will look at ancient civilizations which established the foundations for how we live today. We will
discover the origins of human culture, agriculture, cities, and empires. Second quarter will focus on the increasing
connections between Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas through trade and the spread of ideas and belief systems.
Second semester will bring us gradually into modern times, beginning with trying to understand the foundations of the 20th
century in the political, social, and scientific revolutions of the preceding three hundred years. Finally, we will spend our
time during fourth quarter reviewing what we have learned, making connections between current and past events. We will
end the year by focusing on research skills.
An important skill you will acquire in the class is the ability to examine change over time, including the causation of events
as well as the major effects of historical developments, the interconnectedness of events over time, and the spatial
interactions that occur over time that have geographic, political, cultural, and social significance. It is important for each
student to develop the ability to connect the local to the global, and vice versa. You also will learn how to compare
developments in different regions and in different time periods as well as contextualize important changes and continuities
throughout world history.
Our study of the expanse of world history will begin with something more familiar, the recent past. We will attempt to
answer the historical question of “What is the state of the world today?” before we explore how the world came to this state.
Textbook
Bulliet, Crossley, Headrick, Hirsch, Johnson, Northrup. 2001. The Earth And Its Peoples, second edition. Houghton Mifflin
Company.
Why We Study History
Critical readings in historiography will be examined for identifying the purpose of the historians’ writing: “Why Study
History” by Peter Stearns http://www.historians.org/pubs/free/WhyStudyHistory.htm
“Why Study History” by William H. Mcneill. http://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/whmcneillwhystudyhistory.htm
We will debate the definition of the term “modern” by comparing excerpts from four articles on Chinese economic
developments before 1800 found on the Columbia University website:
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/chinawh/web/help/readings.html
1. Shaffer, L. 1986. China, Technology and Change. World History Bulletin Fall/Winter.
2. Elvin, M. 1999. “The X Factor”. Far Eastern Economic Review:162/23.
3. Chanda, N. 1999. “Sailing into Oblivion”. Far Eastern Economic Review: 162/36.
4. Chanda, N. 1999. “Early Warning”. Far Eastern Economic Review:162/23.
Period 1: Technological and Environmental Transformations, c. 8000 BCE to c. 600
BCE
Key Concept 1.1: Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth
Key Concept 1.2: The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
Key Concept 1.3: The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and Urban Societies
We will view a variety of primary source maps of the world and discuss point of view, migration of peoples to resources and
climate change. We will also look at historical maps from the river valley civilizations, archaeological data on early Neolithic
site and anthropological examples (primate skulls, pictures of cave paintings, statues and writing styles) to illustrate some of
the skills and sources needed to make history. Students will use these samples to analyze what archaeology can tell us about
the shift to agricultural systems and later into early urban societies. Students will begin developing their own historical
context maps. In addition, students will have small Socratic seminar and/or Philosophical Chair activities on “The Worst
Mistake” and Boulding and Lerner’s essays on Women and Patriarchy. We will also examine early legal structures and
compare and contrast them to later structures using Hammurabi’s Code. Students will examine both the core and
foundational civilizations around the world. Students will also work on comparing and contrasting early river valley societies
as an introduction to the C&C essay. They will read and assess example C&C essays using the AP approved rubrics. These
lessons address Themes 1, 4, and 5.
Text: Bulliet, Chapter 1 – 4, 7
 Selected Primary Textual Sources: Epic of Gilgamesh, Hammurabi’s Code
 Selected Primary Visual Sources: Anthropological primate collection, cave paintings and Venus statues, pictures
of the Indus River Valley and Mesopotamian Archeological digs, Egyptian and Mesopotamian statues, replicas of
Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics
 Selected Data Sources: historical maps for river valley civilizations, archaeological data on early Neolithic sites
 Selected Secondary Textual Sources: Jared Diamond – “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race”,
Elise Boulding - Women in Agricultural Revolution, Gerda Lerner - Origins of Patriarchy
Period 2: Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies, c. 600 BCE to c. 600
CE
Key Concept 2.1: The Development and Codification of Religious and Cultural Traditions
Key Concept 2.2: The Development of States and Empires
Key Concept 2.3: Emergence of Transregional Networks of Communication and Exchange
Students will examine the development of states and empires and use the Conrad-Demerest model to explain both the rise
and fall of empires in this time period and later periods. They will also look at the administrative institutions and techniques
used to maintain power. They will do a series of Greek and Roman “Problem Solving” exercises (using political, social and
economic issue) or do an Urban Planning project in which students study urban planning design through the 600 bce – 600 ce
(using O’Reilly’s “City and State: Indo-European Tradition)” and design their own city-state based on the themes of World
History. By using pictures, students will study the architectural achievement and monument building of Greek, Roman,
Persian, and South Asian societies and the ways they have endured in design through today. We will compare and contrast
and use change over time to examine the emergence of the major belief system and the effects of the spread of those belief
systems had on social structures and gender roles. Sample passages for analysis and comparison will be used from the Torah,
Tao Te Ching, The New Testament, Rig Vida, Ramayana. Sample assignments include: Societal Comparisons (China, India,
Mediterranean), Leader Analyses (Ashoka, Pericles, Alexander the Great), Change and Continuity Analyses (development of
new types of irrigation systems and the spread of crops, expansion of pastoral nomadic groups in Central Asia and Latin
America), and conduct map exercises on ancient conceptions of the world. Students will also examine Eastern Confucianism
by looking at Ban Zhao’s “Lessons for Women”. Students will also look at the organization of transregional networks of
communication and exchange including trade routes. The DBQ will be introduced and students will do a DBQ comparing
Han and Roman societies. These lessons address Themes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Text: Bulliet, Chapters 5 - 8
 Selected Primary Textual Sources: Hammurabi’s Code, Book of the Dead, Instructions in Letter Writing by an
Egyptian Scribe, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, excerpts from Bhagavad Gita, The Analects of Confucius, Ban Zhao –
Lessons for Women, The Tao Te Ching, The Torah, The New Testament, The Republic

Selected Primary Visual Sources: Lion pillars of Ashoka, ancient maps, Hindu gods,
Period 3: Regional and Transregional Interactions, c. 600 CE to c. 1450 CE
Key Concept 3.1: Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange Networks
Key Concept 3.2: Continuity and Innovation in State Forms and Their Interactions
Key Concept 3.3: Increased Economic Productive Capacity and Its Consequences
We will examine transportation technology, commercial practices, and trade networksby comparing and contrasting AfroEurasion trade routes (e.g. Silk Road, Mediterranean, Trans Saharan, Indian Ocean) with emerging trade networks in
Mesoamerica and the Andes. Students will use primary and secondary sources to understand Islamic beliefs, then participate
in a Socratic Seminar on the concept of jihad. Change and continuity analyses of the impact of the spread of Islam and the
Islamic caliphates, the Mongol conquests, the Crusades, and the bubonic plague. Map exercises will trace the diffusion of
religion, art, and technology through trade networks and the Bantu and Polynesian migrations. Studenets will examine how
point of view effects historical interpretations by examining primary and secondary sources about the Mongols, followed by a
“trial” of Genghis Khan. In small groups students will analyze a Chinese scroll painting using the website:
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/ to learn about urbanization, social class, and commercial activity in Song China. These
lessons address Themes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Text: Bulliet, Chapters 9 – 15



Selected Primary Textual Sources: excerpts from the Koran, Hadith, Shari’a, Magna Carta, The Haj of Mansa
Musa, Anna Commena, The Alexiad, The Examination System during the T’ang Dynasty, Marco Polo, Pope Urban
II – Call for the First Crusade, Mongols DBQ
Selected Primary Visual Sources: Byzantine art (Justinian mosaic in the Church of San Vitale) and architecture
(Hagia Sophia), Examples of Mosque and Cathedrals, Song scroll
Selected Data Sources: tables showing data on conversion to Islam through the 11 th century [available through
googlebooks via Islam: The View from the Edge by Richard W. Bulliet or on p. 337 of The Earth and Its Peoples,
fifth AP edition]
Period 4: Global Interactions, c. 1450 CE to c. 1750 CE
Key Concept 4.1: Globalizing Networks of Communication and Exchange
Key Concept 4.2: New Forms of Social Organization and Modes of Production
Key Concept 4.3: State Consolidation and Imperial Expansion
We will compare and contrast the motivations, technology, and impact of Polynesian, Ming Chinese, Spanish and
Portuguese maritime exploration. To look at the impact of the Columbian Exchange, students will work in small groups to
analyze the exchange of silver, crops and livestock, and disease. Sample assignments include comparison of Renaissance and
Byzantine art, primary source readings on the Chinese examination system, comparison of land versus sea based empires,
change and continuity analysis of labor systems (e.g. mita, encomienda, chattel slavery, serfdom), map exercises on European
maritime expansion and Polynesian migrations, and change and continuity analysis of European involvement in Asian trade
networks. These lessons address Themes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Text: Bulliet, Chapters 16 - 22
 Selected Primary Textual Sources: Letter from the First Voyage of Christopher Columbus, The True History of
the Conquest of Spain, Machiavelli – The Prince, 95 Theses, Bartolome de las Casas, Rene Descartes – Discourse
on Method
 Selected Primary Visual Sources: Comparison of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Comparison of Junk vs. Caravel
– NOVA, The Taj Mahal, Comparison of architecture
 Selected Data Sources: Columbian Exchange data on silver trade, spread of disease, and population, Analyzing
statistical information about the slave trade, Indian Ocean Trade
Period 5: Industrialization and Global Integration, c. 1750 CE to c. 1900 CE
Key Concept 5.1: Industrialization and Global Capitalism
Key Concept 5.2: Imperialism and Nation-State Formation
Key Concept 5.3: Nationalism, Revolution, and Reform
Key Concept 5.4: Global Migration
We will examine the difference between Enlightened and Absolute Monarchs. We will explore the reasons for revolution
through a “natural rights” role play. Students will compare and contrast the philosophical writings through analyzing “The
Declaration of the Rights of Man” and “The Communist Manifesto. We will analyze the causes and effects of the Industrial
Revolution through population growth, city planning, pollution, and labor issues. We will also look at the causes and effects
of Imperialism from the perspectives of the oppressors and oppressed. The focus will be on comparing Chinese, Japanese,
and African response to attempts at Western Imperialism. Students will read and discuss the Chinese Emperor’s letter to King
George III and a letter from Lin Zexu to Parliament. We will play “Colonial Diplomacy,” a game simulating the European
countries competing for power in Asia. These lessons address Themes 1, 4, and 5.
Text: Bulliet, Chapters 23 - 29
 Selected Primary Textual Sources: The Declaration of the Rights of Man, The Communist Manifesto, writings of
Adam Smith, The Chinese Emperor rebukes King George III, letter from Lin Zexu to Parliament, The Tokugawa
Edict to close Japan,
 Selected Primary Visual Sources: various images of factories, cities, and coal mines in England and North
America, Compare and contrast Tokugawa and Meiji society, Africa before and after the “Scramble”
 Selected Data Sources: tables on the spread of industrialization found at http://www.fordham.edu/
halsall/mod/indrevtabs1.html
Period 6: Accelerating Global Change and Realignments, c. 1900 CE to c. Present
Key Concept 6.1: Science and the Environment
Key Concept 6.2: Global Conflicts and Their Consequences
Key Concept 6.3: New Conceptualizations of Global Economy, Society, and Culture
We will examine the causes and consequences of WWI and do a simulation the Treaty of Versailles. We will look at the
connections between WWI, WWII, and the Cold War and their repercussions in today’s world. We will compare and contrast
economic systems including Market, Command, and Traditional economies. Conflict analysis will include Indian
Independence, the decolonization of Africa, and the Chinese Communist Revolution. Students will choose a topic related to
human rights issues or environmental issues and create a World Improvement Plan. The objective is to create awareness and
call to action. Students will do this through researching multiple causes, points of view, and potential solutions. Students will
critically evaluate periodization constructed by historians through the following activity. Students will divide their
own life into time periods and justify their decisions. Students will look at two different models of how historians
categories time periods. They will select their preferred model or create one of their own and justify their decisions.
These lessons address Themes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Text: Bulliet, Chapters 30 through 35
 Selected Primary Textual Sources: Various Alliance documents from pre-WWI, memoirs of WWI soldiers, The
Treaty of Versailles, speeches by leaders of African independence movements, Alexander Solzhenitsyn – Applause
for Comrade Stalin,
 Selected Primary Visual Sources: photographs of student and worker, protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989,
photographs of satellites and space ships; Population Video DVD, Totalitarian DBQ, Survivors of the Holocaust
video,
 Selected Data Sources: population growth statistics linked with other factors including access to health care and
literacy available through http://www.gapminder.org/, Population Video DVD
Resource List
Primary text (each student will receive a copy to keep at home)
The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History by Richard Bulliet, et. al.
CD-ROM to accompany The Earth and Its Peoples
Supplemental materials (copies of individual readings will be provided)
Textbooks
World Civilizations by Peter Stearns, et. al.
Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past by Jerry Bentley
and Herbert Ziegler
Primary Source Materials
World History Unfolding published by Mindsparks
Historical Atlas of the World published by Rand McNally
Overfield, Andrea 2001. The Human Record, Volume I and II, Fourth edition. Boston, Houghton-Mifflin.
Hanscom, J. Hellerman, L. and Posner, R. 1967. Voices of the Past, Volume I and II
Expected behaviors:
In the first week of school you will receive a very clear picture of what is expected in our class as well as what consequences
result from positive and negative behaviors. The following seven statements cover all classroom behaviors that I expect.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Make learning the “most important thing” while in class
Be here and be on time.
Have all appropriate materials with you in class.
Use appropriate language.
Avoid purposely embarrassing yourself and others.
Take responsibility for your behaviors.
Adhere to Cascade High School’s Responsibilities and Rights handbook.
Attendance:
Attendance and punctuality do not happen by chance. They are choices we want students to make. We have created expected
attendance behaviors and consequences that we believe will help that occur. Additionally, I am committed to creating an
environment at Cascade High School that students want to be a part of.
In our class attendance will affect ones grade, but will not be graded. Classroom experiences cannot be replicated. If absent,
the student will be given the opportunity to make up work that is missed.
Tests missed because of an absence must be made up during PAWS the day you return to school.
School policies will be followed with regards to attendance, punctuality, and truancy.
Grading:
-Your grade will be determined by earning scores for chapter and unit assessments. This includes, but is not limited to,
presentations, projects, tests, and written work.
-You and your parents can check grades at any time. Grades are posted on-line and updated regularly. I highly encourage
students to check their grades often and notify their teachers of irregularities.
- An assignment that is required means that it must be turned in to pass the course.
Letter grades are calculated based on the following criteria:
Score entered
4.0
=
3.4
=
3.0
=
2.6
=
2.36
=
M
=
Letter Grade and/or description
A – Proficient
B – At Standard
C – Progressing to Standard
D – Below Standard
F – Insufficient Evidence
Missing and required
Corresponding percentage
=
100%
=
85%
=
75%
=
65%
=
More evidence required
=
Evidence required
Earn college credit:
3 or higher on the A.P. Exam
Everett Community College – College in the High School credit available: www.everettcc.edu/ccec/collegeinhs/