In this activity, you’ll become more familiar with the nuances (slight differences) of authority. This is a challenging but worthy claim tester because authority can either be earned or granted—and is deeply connected to our personal biases. The reasons we choose to believe people are varied, and it’s not always because someone has authority on the topic at hand. Understanding how and why we decide what to believe is a critical skill not just in history, but in our everyday assessment of claims. You will dig into the specifics of authority and understand how to identify, assess, and use authority when evaluating and making claims.

Reading, sourcing
At this point, you’ve had multiple opportunities to practice your reading skills for a variety of media (articles, videos, and graphic biographies). However, in this activity, you will be pushed to think about what and how you read. As historians and critical thinkers, you should be curious about where you are getting your information, and you should be equipped with the skills to evaluate a source’s claims. This lends itself to the historical thinking practice of sourcing—which is necessary in all subjects and in life. You need to develop your claim testing skills so that you can make, evaluate, defend, and refute claims as well as the claims of others.

In the last activity on claim testing, you had the opportunity to discuss and explore the practice. In this series of activities, you will do a deep dive into claim testers so that you feel comfortable applying each when you read, write, do research, and speak.

Think about the following scenario:

Leading up to the November 6, 2018 midterm elections, Taylor Swift, a famous musician, took to social media to promote voter registration. After her post, Vote.org saw 155,940 unique visitors within 24 hours (up from the average daily number of 14,078). Further, over 2,100 new voters registered in Tennessee the day after her post, which nearly matches the typical monthly number of registrations (about 2,800). Her short post on social media had a real impact on the number of registered voters—and likely, actual voter turnout—in both Tennessee and the nation.

Now, take out the Claim Testing – Authority worksheet, and respond to the questions in Part 1. Be ready to discuss your answers with the class.

Authority comes in all shapes and sizes, and it often helps us decide not only what to believe—but whom to believe. Some authority is earned based on merit, such as licensure or education (doctors, teachers, estheticians, electricians, lawyers, and so on); some is given due to popularity. Our biases are deeply embedded in whom we believe. We may be biased based on our religious beliefs, where we grew up, or what our family believes. We can also be biased based on the popularity (or lack of popularity) of a claim or the person making the claim.

So, what do we do when two authorities disagree? There are long-standing debates among historians, scientists, and other scholars about what really happened in the past, and we’ll encounter those disagreements frequently in this course, as we do in life all the time. Let’s dig into a historical debate about early humans to see if we can start to figure out what to do when authorities disagree. Your teacher will collect your completed worksheets at the end of the activity and provide feedback to help you refine your claim testing skills.

This article introduces some of the intangible connections between the peoples and cultures of the Afro-Eurasian landmass between 1200 and 1450. Besides goods and people, the author notes that ideas including science, technology, and religions also moved throughout these regions. The movement of these ideas, arriving with merchants, pilgrims, and conquerors, transformed cultures and societies throughout Afro-Eurasia. The people who encountered these new ideas decided how to interpret them, as well as whether to accept them, reject them, or to blend their existing ideas with the new ones.

This article helps you understand how people interacted throughout Afro-Eurasia between 1200 and 1450, beyond the histories you’ve read about trade, warfare, and diplomacy. The way societies interacted in this period is the main question shaping this entire unit. In reading this article, consider how people receiving new ideas and new information could react with a spectrum of choices including rejection, acceptance, or syncretism—blending old ideas with the new ideas.

Think about the following question as you read the article: To what extent does this article help you to explain the intellectual and cultural effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to 1450? Write this question at the top of the Three Close Reads worksheet. You will be asked to respond to this question again after the third read in the Evaluating and Corroborating section of the worksheet.

Read 1—Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Read 2—Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Did most people in Afro-Eurasia travel extensively between 1200 and 1450?
2. In this same period, what two main regions/cultures of Afro-Eurasia made the most remarkable contributions to technology throughout other regions?
3. What were some of the major technological contributions made by China and the Islamic world in this period, 1200 to 1450?
4. What different religious traditions came together in Southeast Asia in this period?
5. According to the article, what shape did Islam take in many of its movements and adaptations around the region?

Read 3—Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. To what extent does this article help you to explain the intellectual and cultural effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to 1450?
2. This article gives some examples about how ideas, including religions, were adopted in new areas in this period. Based on evidence from the article, why do you think people were willing or even enthusiastic to adopt ideas coming in from other places? What were their motives?

One of the most influential poets in history, Rumi lived a life and preached a philosophy that transcended borders. He believed that universal love—expressed in poetry, dance, and music—was a path to God. His poetry and teachings rejected divisions based on ethnicity and religion.

Rumi believed that universal love could cross all ethnic divisions and borders and bring people together. This may seem like a very modern idea, but Rumi expressed it in poetry in the thirteenth century! His biography provides evidence to help you to understand this era not only as a period of military conflict, commercial rivalry, and state expansion, but also intellectual and artistic flowering that connected people across borders.

Read 1: Observe

As you read this graphic biography for the first time, review the Read 1: Observe section of your Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. Be sure to record one question in the thought bubble on the top-right. You don’t need to write anything else down. However, if you’d like to record your observations, feel free to do so on scrap paper.

Read 2: Understand

On the tool, summarize the main idea of the comic and provide two pieces of evidence that helped you understand the creator’s main idea. You can do this only in writing or you can get creative with some art. Some of the evidence you find may come in the form of text (words). But other evidence will come in the form of art (images). You should read the text looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the main idea, and key supporting details. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Where did Rumi live as a young man, and what was his home city like?
2. How did meeting Shams Al-Dīn transform Rumi?
3. What did Rumi teach and write about?
4. What is the meaning of Rumi’s poem about a reed, shown around his body in the biography?
5. How does the artist’s design reflect the theme of crossing or transcending borders?

Read 3: Connect

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in this unit of the course. On the bottom of the tool, record what you learned about this person’s life and how it relates to what you’re learning.

1. To what extent does this article explain how belief systems influenced society in the period from c. 1200 to 1450 CE?
2. How does this biography of Rumi support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about this period in world history?
3. What did you find surprising or significant about Rumi’s life and biography?

To Be Continued…

On the second page of the tool, your teacher might ask you to extend the graphic biography to a second page. This is where you can draw and write what you think might come next. Here, you can become a co-creator of this graphic biography!

3x5 note cards or cut up paper

This sourcing collection, along with the Quick-Sourcing Tool, gives you an opportunity to practice a quicker kind of sourcing than you do in the sourcing practice progression. The tool and the process for using it—specifically designed for unpacking document collections—will help you be successful on both the SAQ and DBQ portions of the AP^® World History: Modern exam.

If you are unfamiliar with the Quick-Sourcing Tool or the process for using it, we recommend reviewing the Quick-Sourcing Introduction activity in Lesson 1.4.

The Quick-Sourcing Tool can be used any time you encounter a set of sources and are trying to respond to a prompt or question, as opposed to the deeper analysis you do when using the HAPPY tool that is part of the sourcing progression.

First, take out or download the sourcing collection and review the guiding question that appears on the first page. Then, take out or download the Quick-Sourcing Tool and review the directions. For Part 1, you’ll write a quick summary of each source in terms of how it relates to the guiding question (we recommend using one note card or scrap of paper for each source).

For Part 2, which uses the first four letters of the acronym from the HAPPY tool, you only have to respond to one of these four questions. This will get you a partial point on the AP^® World History: Modern exam. You should always include the historical significance or “why” (the “Y” in “HAPPY”) for any of the four questions you choose to respond to.

In Part 3, you’ll gather the evidence you found in each document and add it to your note cards so you can include it in a response later. Once each document is analyzed, look at your note cards and try to categorize the cards. There might be a group of documents that support the claim you want to make in your response, and another group that will help you consider counterclaims, for example.

To wrap up, try to respond to the guiding question.

This collection touches on cross-cultural trade, interaction, and cultural exchange, highlighting innovations in finance, governance, religion, medicine, and transportation and the transfer of technology, beliefs, and commodities.

The AP^® World History: Modern CED suggests students develop their sourcing skills in line with certain topics. For Unit 2, the topic is “Cultural Consequences of Connectivity”; therefore, we’ve compiled a number of primary source excerpts to help you develop these skills in relation to this content. This should help prepare you to be successful on the AP exam.

We recommend using the accompanying Quick Sourcing activity (above) to help you analyze these sources.

You will play a trading game in this activity that will help you learn about some specific events that occurred during this era, which will help make this topic more concrete.

Causation
You will be asked to model the spread of disease and pandemics, which in many ways creates a causal map of how disease travels and its effects.

In this activity, you will first play a card trading game, and you will then be asked to create an infographic that relates to the game’s outcome.

Part 1

As you come into the room, your teacher will hand you a 5×7 card that will tell you if you are going to play the role of a peasant, a merchant, or a nobleman or woman in this game. Then, your teacher will give you each some playing cards. The goal of the game is to gather more of one card suit than anyone else. The suit you must collect depends on the role you’re playing. Each card is worth one point. Here is the key to determining which suit each role should collect:

You can decide how you want to make trades. There is only one rule to the game: Every time you trade with someone, you have to write that person’s name down on your 5×7 card.

Once everyone has their cards and is ready, you will have 5 minutes to trade. Your teacher will tell you when the time is up, and will explain what to do next.

Part 2

Now that you know the game is actually about pandemics and not just trading, you are going to think about how dangerous pandemics really are to humanity. There are some scientists, such as Amesh Adalja from Johns Hopkins University, who believe that pandemics are one of the greatest threats to our species. They think pandemics are more likely to destroy humanity than the impacts of climate change and natural disasters, more than the threat of nuclear war, or even cyberwar. It is your job to do some research on the history and spread of pandemics and to create an infographic that displays this history. Then, you’ll decide if you agree that pandemics are the greatest threat to humanity.

Get into small groups to start working on your infographic. Note that your infographics must include information about at least four pandemics, and one of those them must be the Black Death. The infographic should also include information about the causal relationships between the pandemics and the WHP frames of communities, networks, and production and distribution. More specifically, show how pandemics may have impacted the community, networks, and production and distribution frames, and conversely, how those frames impacted the spread of pandemics.

As you create your infographic, pay attention to the following:

• Topic – Make sure the topic—pandemics—is somehow defined or explained through visuals.
• Type – The type of infographic chosen (for example, timeline or informational) should strongly support the content being presented.
• Objects – The objects included in the infographic should be relevant and support the topic.
• Data visualizations – The data visualizations must present accurate data and be easy to understand.
• Style – Fonts, colors, and organization should be aesthetically pleasing, appropriate to the content, and enhance the viewer’s understanding of the information presented.
• Citations – Full citations for all sources must be included.

Take some time to research some past pandemics and gather the information for your infographic. Once you’ve designed and constructed your infographic, be prepared to display it. You and your classmates will take part in a gallery walk so you can get more familiar with the information shared on each. As you view each of the infographics, write down three pieces of evidence that either support or challenge the argument that a pandemic is the greatest threat to our society today. You’ll either share your findings with the class or hand them to your teacher.

This is an article about unintended consequences. It traces the spread of the Black Death, also called the Bubonic Plague, across the same networks that moved ideas and trade goods. With increasing connections, merchants and the animals that accompanied them—sometimes without their knowledge—came in contact with more and more people. That in turn helped disease spread, devastating many communities in Europe, Asia, and North Africa.

This article focuses on how cultural interactions facilitated the spread of a disease, which in turn had a massive impact on the economic systems in the affected areas. It provides evidence that will equip you to evaluate both of these theme narratives for this era.

Think about the following question as you read the article: Using evidence from the article, describe the extent to which this article explains the environmental effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to 1450. Write this question at the top of the Three Close Reads worksheet. You will be asked to respond to this question again after the third read in the Evaluating and Corroborating section of the worksheet.

Read 1—Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Read 2—Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How did the success of the Mongol state help the Black Death spread?
2. How many people are estimated to have died from the plague?
3. What do gerbils have to do with plague?
4. Where was plague the worst? Why?
5. How did the plague affect economies?

Read 3—Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Using evidence from the article, describe the extent to which this article explains the environmental effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to 1450.
2. In the economic systems narrative, we generally hear about expanded trade routes as a purely good thing. How does this article affect that view?
3. What “change” in the Afro-Eurasian networks of exchange does this article cover, and how would you describe it?

3x5 note cards or cut up paper

This sourcing collection, along with the Quick-Sourcing Tool, gives you an opportunity to practice a quicker kind of sourcing than you do in the sourcing practice progression. The tool and the process for using it—specifically designed for unpacking document collections—will help you be successful on both the SAQ and DBQ portions of the AP^® World History: Modern exam.

Note: If you are unfamiliar with the Quick-Sourcing Tool or the process for using it, we recommend reviewing the Quick-Sourcing Introduction activity in Lesson 1.4.

The Quick-Sourcing Tool can be used any time you encounter a set of sources and are trying to respond to a prompt or question, as opposed to the deeper analysis you do when using the HAPPY tool that is part of the sourcing progression.

First, take out or download the sourcing collection and review the guiding question that appears on the first page. Then, take out or download the Quick-Sourcing Tool and review the directions. For Part 1, you’ll write a quick summary of each source in terms of how it relates to the guiding question (we recommend using one note card or scrap of paper for each source).

For Part 2, which uses the first four letters of the acronym from the HAPPY tool, you only have to respond to one of these four questions. This will get you a partial point on the AP^® World History: Modern exam. You should always include the historical significance or “why” (the “Y” in “HAPPY”) for any of the four questions you choose to respond to.

In Part 3, you’ll gather the evidence you found in each document and add it to your note cards so you can include it in a response later. Once each document is analyzed, look at your note cards and try to categorize the cards. There might be a group of documents that support the claim you want to make in your response, and another group that will help you consider counterclaims, for example.

To wrap up, try to respond to the guiding question.

The Black Death devastated Afro-Eurasian communities in the fourteenth century, but the origins of the bubonic plague may have begun much earlier than previously thought. The sources in this collection range from firsthand accounts of the plague’s devastation in the fourteenth century to scholarly articles from the twenty-first century.

The primary and secondary source excerpts in this collection will help you understand the origins and spread of the fourteenth-century Black Death and how our understanding of this epidemic has changed over time. These sources will help you understand the environmental consequences of connectivity as outlined in Topic 2.6 of the AP^® Course and Exam Description. In addition, you will work on your sourcing skills using the Quick-Sourcing Tool, which will help prepare you to be successful on the AP exam.

We recommend using the accompanying Quick Sourcing activity (above) to help you analyze these sources.

In this activity, you will continue to grapple with cause and consequence and how causal reasoning can be used to help you understand change over time. Causal reasoning can help you develop evidence-based explanations or arguments in response to a causal question that considers human actions, events, and larger structures or processes. You will think about both the causes and consequences of the spread of the Black Death, which will push you from thinking about causation as linear, toward an understanding of the complex relationship between cause and consequence. In addition, by working through the causes and consequences of this pandemic, you will begin to understand how, due to an ever increasingly connected world, the causes and consequences might look similar today.

Claim testing
Causation requires a great deal of sound reasoning, which is another way of saying claim testing. In order to identify and categorize causes and consequences, you’ll have to use logic, evidence, and (usually) authority to decide if these were long term or short term and if the causes or effects were historically significant.

In this activity, you’ll first identify the factors that may have caused the Black Death to spread so easily. If you need to refresh your memory, review the articles “Trade Networks and the Black Death” and “Source Collection – The Black Death.” Then, you’ll think about the consequences that resulted from the spread of the Black Death and construct a causal map that helps you put all of this into perspective. Historians use causal maps to help them organize historical events or processes. Creating a causal map allows you to see the connections between events over time. In addition, these maps will help you understand that causation is rarely linear.

First, your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Causation – The Black Death worksheet, which includes the Causation Tool. Working together with your class, follow these directions:

1. In the Event box, write the name of the event you’re studying, along with the dates, location, and a brief description.
2. Using what you’ve learned so far in the course about the Black Death, think of all the possible causes that led to the spread of this disease. Your teacher will write these on the board.
3. As you think about the causes listed, decide which should be categorized as long term, intermediate term, or short term. Make sure you’re able to justify your categorizations.
4. Write each cause in the appropriate box of the worksheet (long term, intermediate term, and short term).

We’ll get to the other parts of the tool later in the course. For now, categorizing by time will be a sufficient way to understand these causes.

Now, your teacher will break up the class into small groups. With your group, look at the causal map for the spread of the Black Death. Think about the following questions as you review the map:

• Are all the causes that were written on the board included in this causal map?
• Would you have organized this causal map differently? If so, how?

Now, try to think of all the possible consequences (effects) of the Black Death and add them to your tool. Then, add those effects to your causal map. Fill in the circles on the map and add at least three more circles. Next, label your causal map. For each circle that’s a cause, write the letter “C” next to it. For consequences/effects, write the letter “E” next to those circles.

Once you’re done, be ready to discuss what you labeled as causes or consequences and which of those are the most historically significant. You can determine historical significance in several ways. Use the acronym ADE to help you determine if historical events or processes, in this case the causes and consequences of the Black Death, were significant.

• Amount – How many people’s lives were affected by the cause/effect?
• Depth – Were people living in the time period being studied deeply affected by the cause/effect?
• Endurance – Were the changes people experienced as a result of this cause/effect long-lasting and/or recurring?

Your teacher will collect your worksheet and use it to assess how your causation skills are progressing.

Make sure you have the Unit 2 Themes Notebook worksheet that you partially filled out earlier in the unit.

This is a continuation of the Themes Notebook activity that you started earlier in this unit. As part of WHP AP, you are asked to revisit the AP themes in order to maintain a connection to the core themes of the course. Because this is the second time you’re working with the themes questions, you’re asked to explain how your understanding of the unit’s themes has changed since you began the unit. Make sure you use evidence from this unit and sound reasoning in your answers.

Fill out the second table on your partially completed worksheet from earlier in Unit 2. Be prepared to talk about your ideas with your class.

This activity will provide additional evidence to help you respond to the Unit Problem: What were the similarities and differences among networks of exchange in various regions of the world from c. 1200 to 1450 CE? You will reflect on what you’ve learned during this unit by comparing two political maps. You’ll also review the predictions you made about the consequences of long-distance trade in the Unit 2 Part 1 map activity earlier in this unit. Finally, you’ll be able to look at a map showing trade routes, the spread of the Mongol Empire, and the Black Death as you discuss what patterns might connect them.

This activity begins with an identification opening in which you identify 10 political communities in the year 1450 CE. Next, you will compare maps of political communities in 1200 and 1450 CE as you evaluate how states changed and stayed the same over this 250-year period. Finally, you will compare your guesses and predictions from the Part 1 activity to a map of the Black Death and the Mongol Empire and write a response to a prompt about the consequences of connectivity.

Step 1

Identify the political communities associated with the numbers on the black-and-white map of the world in 1450 CE and record your answers on the worksheet. You should complete this part of the activity without referencing outside sources or the rest of the maps in this activity.

Step 2

Open and review the 1450 CE Political Map and correct your identifications. Then, in small groups, examine the 1450 CE Political Map alongside the 1200 CE Political Map you first saw in the Part 1 map activity at the start of the unit. You should compare these two maps and identify three significant changes or continuities between the two.

Step 3

Remaining in small groups, open and review the Black Death and Mongols Thematic Map. Review the guesses and predictions you made in the Part 1 map activity for this unit. What did you get right? What did you miss? Finally, prepare a short paragraph or bullet list in response to this prompt: The period in this unit saw rapid expansions, collapses, and recoveries of long-distance trade routes. Using the maps you encountered in this unit as evidence, explain how empires, trade, and environmental factors (including disease) were connected in Afro-Eurasia from 1200 to 1450.

As we continue the progression on writing, you’ll look at how to construct a thesis that answers a long essay question (LEQ) prompt and how to contextualize in your essays. These skills are necessary to ensure you have a solid grasp on these essential elements of good writing. You’ll analyze a student essay to identify these aspects of the writing, which will help improve your historical writing skills and help you prepare for the AP^® World History: Modern exam.

In this activity, you will take a close look at the Thesis and Contextualization rows of the WHP LEQ Writing Rubric and analyze the first two paragraphs of a student essay using the criteria included in the rubric. (Note: these rows are identical on the DBQ and LEQ rubrics.)

It’s time for another writing activity! As you did in the first activity in the writing progression, you’ll examine a student-written essay. But this time, instead of reviewing using the whole rubric, you will be looking at how well the writer constructed their thesis and incorporated contextualization as defined in the WHP LEQ Writing Rubric. The essay is in response to the Unit 1 LEQ (Develop an argument that evaluates the similarities and differences in the ways societies were organized in different parts of the world from c. 1200 to 1450 CE); therefore, you should be familiar with the prompt and potential responses.

Before you start your analysis, review the Thesis and Contextualization rows of the WHP LEQ Writing Rubric. Once you’ve reviewed these criteria, your teacher might put you into small groups or pairs to complete the Writing – Thesis and Contextualization Part 1 worksheet.

First, find and circle the major claim/thesis in the essay. Next, review the second paragraph and underline any areas of the essay where the student provided contextualization. As a wrap up, suggest some ways you could improve contextualization in this paragraph.

• Have the Comparison, CCOT, and Causation tools available (find all resources on the Student Resources page)

This LEQ is another opportunity for you to write in response to a historical prompt. It will help foster your general research and writing skills and will give you a formal opportunity to see how your writing abilities are advancing. It will also help you recall and reinforce some of the important content you’ve learned in this unit and help prepare you for the AP^® World History: Modern exam.

Day 1

In this activity, you’re going to prepare to respond to an LEQ, or long essay question. To do this, you will conduct research and think about any relevant information you’ve learned so far in the course to help you form a response to the question. This particular LEQ asks you to respond to this prompt: Develop an argument that analyzes the similarities and differences between various networks of exchange from c. 1200 to 1450 CE. To make sure you’re clear on what the prompt is asking, take out the Question Parsing Tool. Work with your classmates to deconstruct the prompt. Once you have deconstructed the prompt, choose the relevant historical thinking tool to help you organize your research findings.

Now, it’s time for some research! You can use materials from the course and conduct further research online for additional evidence. As you gather evidence for your essay, write it on the tool you chose. Next, use the evidence you gathered to help you form a thesis statement that directly responds to the question. Make sure your thesis statement is relevant to what was asked of you!

Finally, it’s time to contextualize. As you know, ALL historical essays require you to contextualize. As needed, you can use the Contextualization Tool to help with this part of the process.

Day 2

This second day is your writing day. Feel free to use your tools and notes from any prewriting work you completed as you craft your essay response. Make sure you have a copy of the WHP LEQ Writing Rubric available to remind you of what’s important to include in your essay. And don’t forget to contextualize! In doing so, think of the entire time period, not just the time immediately preceding the historical event or process you are writing about. Your teacher will give you a time limit for completing your five- to six-paragraph essay responding to the LEQ.