World History Project Origins to the Present

Ideal for states where high-school world history begins at the origins of human existence and continues through the birth of the modern world.

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Ideal for grades

9–12

Course length (months)

3–12

Course materials

660+

The World History Project (WHP) course isn’t a typical march through time. Rather than teach history as a disconnected series of people and events, we strive to create a context through which students understand the past, orient themselves to the present, and prepare for the future.

Aligned: We’ve worked with many states and educators to ensure our world-history course is aligned to the vast majority of state standards for world history.
Grounded in research and best practices: OER Project works with teachers, scholars, and learning scientists to incorporate and share the latest learning insights and approaches.
Adaptable: Our built-in scaffolding tools allow you to meet a range of learning contexts and abilities in your classroom.
Skills-forward: Our course connects fundamental reading, writing, and critical-thinking skills to the content.
Professional development: OER Project teacher training is aligned to the curriculum and includes self-paced and real-time opportunities to advance your practice whenever works best for you.
Community: the OER Project Online Teacher Community is a supportive and helpful place for educators to get and share support, ideas, and inspiration.
Compatible: All course materials are downloadable, printable, and compatible for integration with the LMS of your choice. We also support Clever single sign-on and Google Classroom integration.

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I expected a random collection of assets but was pleasantly surprised to find a well-organized, comprehensive, and cohesive curriculum. Through the online teacher community and professional development course I discovered a pacing guide, how to use the leveled and audio readings, and experienced WHP teachers who were happy to help. This course is different in how it examines history through various lenses that connect, compare, and contrast the periods, people, and places of our past and present. We learned how to put our learning into context and look at causation as we used critical reasoning to draw conclusions about the past to apply to our future.

Dominique, tenth- and eleventh-grade world history teacher, Lufkin, TX

OER Project packages cutting-edge pedagogical research with relatable content in an easily accessible digital format. The World History Project course gives teachers the flexibility to meet the dizzying array of state standards. Throughout their curricula is a commitment to helping students become better writers through investigations, DBQs, and LEQs. Having taught many English language learners, I found the scaffolding—in the form of analytical writing activities and Lexile leveled readings—a unique strength compared to other curricula.

Greg, ninth-grade world history teacher, TX

WHP has changed the way I teach. Now my classroom is inquiry-driven and my students enjoy it! Because they get to take hold of their learning they are more engaged than ever before. With all of the scaffolding of skills and resources, even my struggling students are doing better. I have seen real growth. The difference in where they started and where they end up is amazing. This is a far better way to teach.

Rebecca, ninth- and tenth-grade world history teacher, Mesa, AZ

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Take a Closer Look

Preview a selection of essential course materials and resources to help you decide if this course is a good fit for your teaching needs.

OER Project Teaching Guide

PDF / 24 MB

WHP Origins Course Guide

PDF / 22 MB

WHP Origins Teacher Course Plan

PDF / 359 KB

WHP Origins Practice Progressions

PDF / 105 KB

State-specific Planning Resources

WEBPAGE

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