Download Advanced Placement World History Course Syllabus Advanced

Advanced Placement World History Course Syllabus
Advanced Placement World History is a challenging two semester course that is structured around
the investigation of selected themes woven into key concepts covering distinct chronological
periods. AP World History is equivalent to an introductory college survey course. The course has a
three-fold purpose: first, to prepare students for successful placement into higher-level college and
university history courses, second, to develop skills of analysis and thinking and finally to make the
learning of world history an enjoyable experience. Students are required to show their mastery of
the course goals by taking part in the College Board AP World History Exam in May 2015.
Textbook
Strayer, Robert W. Ways of the World: A Global History. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009.
Supplemental Reading
1. Armstrong, Monty, David Daniel, Abby Kanarek, Alexandra Freer, Cracking the AP World History
Exam 2012 Edition; The Princeton Review, Inc., 2011.
2. Jarrett, Ph.D., Mark, Stuart Zimmer, James Killoran, Mastering the TEKS in World History; Jarrett
Publishing Company, 2011.
3. Stearns, Peter N., Stephen S. Gosch, Erwin P. Grieshaber, Documents in World History, Volumes I
and II; Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 3rd ed., 2003.
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Unit One: Technological and Environmental Transformations
Periodization: Ancient 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
Length of Class time (LOC): 6.5 days
Major Assignments:
1. Text Reading Assignment: Strayer Chapters 1-3, handwritten outline
2. Writing Assignment: Students will begin preliminary work on how to write a comparative essay.
Hand out Essay Writing Packet and assign essay regarding foraging and early agricultural societies.
3. Text Timeline Review: At the end of each unit students will place items from identified sources
onto the timeline associated with their textbook. Students will them be asked to write their
responses to the prompts outlined.
4. Learning Log: write a reflective commentary considering the role of human migration during this
era and its connection to the larger story of world history.
5. Short Primary Source Analysis: Teacher will model by having students analyze textual, visual and
data sources: creation stories in the Rig Veda, Popul Vuh, and Bible; Epic of Gilgamesh, the Egyptian
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Book of the Dead. The source analysis will include identifying point of view (POV), intended
purpose, audience and historical context.
6. Point/Counterpoint: Socratic seminar allowing students to identify and evaluate diverse
historical controversies in world civilizations. Students will be required to take a side and defend
their perspective.
Unit One Test: 50 multiple choice questions, in-class compare/contrast essay
Unit Two: Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies
Periodization: Classical 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 Concepts 2.3 Emergence of Trans regional Networks of Communication and Exchange
LOC: 18.5 days
Major Assignments:
1. Text Reading: Strayer Chapters 4-7, handwritten outlines
2. Writing Assignment: Students will continue work on how to write a comparative essay. Students
will also be introduced to the Change and Continuity Over Time (CCOT) essay and rubric.
3. Text Timeline Review: see previous explanation regarding this activity.
4. Learning Log: Write a reflective commentary considering trans-regional networks of
communication and exchange and the consequence of long-distance trade during this era and its
connection to the larger story of world history.
5. Short Primary Source Analysis: The source analysis will include identifying POV, intended
purpose, audience, and historical context of each source. Sources include descriptions of travel or
trade; Roman, Han or Gupta coins; Leviticus, Twelve Tables, or The Analects.
6. Point/Counterpoint: Students will use skills introduced in Unit 1.
Unit Two Test: 50 multiple choice questions, in-class CCOT essay.
Unit Three: Regional and Transregional Interactions
Periodization: Post Classical c. 600 CE to c. 1450
 Key Concepts 3.1: Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange Networks
 Key Concepts 3.2: Continuity and Innovation in State Forms and Their Interactions
 Key Concepts 3.3: Increased Economic Productive Capacity and Its Consequences
LOC: 24 days
Major Assignments:
1. Text Reading: Strayer Chapters 8-13, handwritten outlines
2. Writing Assignments: Students will continue work on how to write essays that compare historical
developments and assess the effects of changes over time. Students will also learn how to
incorporate analysis of primary sources into their written arguments. Practice using the Document
Based Question (DBQ) on the spread of Buddhism to China.
3. Text Timeline Review: See explanation regarding this activity in Unit one.
4. Learning Log: Write a reflective commentary considering the continued diffusion of flora, fauna
and pathogens throughout the Eastern Hemispheres during this era and its connection to the larger
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story of world history using statistics on mortality rates from the fourteenth century bubonic plague
pandemics.
5. Short Primary Source Analysis: The source analysis will include identifying POV, intended
purpose, audience, and historical context of each source. Sources include excerpts from the travel
books of Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta and the Secret History of the Mongols.
6. Point/Counterpoint: Students will employ Socratic Seminar strategy.
Unit Three Test: 50 multiple choice questions, in-class DBQ essay
Unit Four: Global Interactions
Periodization: Early Modern c. 1450 – c. 1750
 Key Concepts 4.1: Globalizing Networks of Communication and Exchange
 Key Concepts 4.2: New Forms of Social Organization and Modes of Production
 Key Concepts 4.3: State Consolidation and Imperial Expansion
LOC: 24 days
Major Assignments:
1. Text Reading: Strayer Chapters 14 - 16, handwritten outlines
2. Writing Assignments: Students will continue work on how to write essays. Possible prompts
include questions from previously released AP exams: Compare coercive labor systems: slavery and
other coercive labor systems in the Americas; economic and social effects of the Columbian
Exchange; DBQ on the Global Flow of silver; Analyze imperial systems: European monarchy
compared with a land-based Asian empire (China or Japan); Compare Russia’s interaction with the
West with the interaction of the West and one of the following: Ottoman Empire, China, Tokugawa
Japan, Mughal India.
3. Text Timeline Review: See explanation regarding this activity in Unit one.
4. Learning Log: Write a reflective commentary considering the impact of the Columbian Exchange
during this era and its connection to the larger story of world history.
5. Short Primary Source Analysis: The source analysis will include identifying POV, intended
purpose, audience, and historical context of each source. Sources include Ma Huan, De Las Casas,
Codex Mendosa, and Letters from the King of Kongo.
6. Point/Counterpoint: Students will employ Socratic Seminar strategy.
Unit Four Test: 50 multiple choice questions, in-class essay drawn from either the past
Compare/Contrast, CCOT or DBQ formats.
Unit Five: Industrialization and Global Integration
Periodization: Modern c. 1750 – c. 1900
 Key Concepts 5.1: Industrialization and Global Capitalism
 Key Concepts 5.2: Imperialism and Nation-State Formation
 Key Concepts 5.3: Nationalism, Revolution, and Reform
 Key Concepts 5.4: Global Migrations
LOC: 24 days
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Major Assignments:
1. Text Reading: Strayer Chapters 17 - 20, handwritten outlines
2. Writing Assignments: Students will continue work on how to write an essay. Possible prompts
include questions from previously released AP exams: DBQ – Indentured servitude; Development of
Global trade patterns, 1750 – 1914; Compare the French and Haitian Revolutions; Compare reaction
to foreign domination in the Ottoman Empire, China, India and Japan; Compare nationalism, e.g.,
China and Japan, Cuba and the Philippines, Egypt and Nigeria; Compare the causes and social
impact of the Industrial Revolution in Western Europe and Japan.
3. Text Timeline Review: See explanation regarding this activity in Unit one.
4. Learning Log: Write a reflective commentary considering the roots and influences of
Enlightenment thought during this era and its connection to the larger story of world history.
5. Short Primary Source Analysis: The source analysis will include identifying POV, intended
purpose, audience, and historical context of each source. Sources might include excerpts from:
Locke, Montesquieu, Declaration of Independence, Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen,
Jamaica Letter, Adam Smith, and Karl Marx; statistics about bonded labor migrations from Asia to
the Americas and Africa.
6. Point/Counterpoint: Students will employ Socratic Seminar strategy.
Unit Five Test: 50 multiple choice questions, in-class DBQ essay
Unit Six: Accelerating Global Change and Realignments
Periodization: Contemporary c. 1900 to the present
 Key Concepts 6.1: Science and Environment
 Key Concepts 6.2: Global Conflicts and Their Consequences
 Key Concepts 6.3: New Conceptualizations of Global Economy, Society, and Culture
LOC: 24 days
Major Assignments:
1. Text Reading: Strayer Chapters 21 - 24, handwritten outlines
2. Writing Assignments: Students will continue work on how to write essays. Possible prompts
include questions from previous released AP exams: Compare the notion of the “East” and the
“West” in Cold War ideology; DBQ – Muslim Nationalist Movements; Choose two revolutions
(Russian, Chinese, Cuban, Iranian) and compare their effects on the roles of women; Compare the
causes and effects of the World Wars on areas outside of Europe; Compare legacies of colonialism
and patterns of economic development in two of the following regions: Asia, Latin America, Africa;
Compare patterns and results of decolonization in Africa and India.
3. Text Timeline Review: See explanation regarding this activity in Unit one.
4. Learning Log: Write a reflective commentary considering social movements during this era and
its connection to the larger story of world history.
5. Short Primary Source Analysis: The source analysis will include identifying POV, intended
purpose, audience, and historical context of each source. Sources might include Gandhi, Nkrumah,
and Ho Chi Min; data on the growth of outsourcing and business cycles of multinational
corporations in the twentieth and twenty first centuries.
6. Point/Counterpoint: Students will employ Socratic Seminar strategy.
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Unit Six Test: 50 multiple choice questions, in-class essay drawn from either the past
Compare/Contrast, CCOT, or DBQ formats.
Students are required to attend all review sessions prior to the Advanced
Placement World History Exam. Dates and times for review sessions are posted
in the course contract which should be printed, read/signed and returned to the
instructor no later than September 2, 2014.
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