Origin Stories
Driving Question: How can you compare the Big History origin story with others?
Humans have asked questions about the origins of the Universe, Earth, and humanity for thousands of years. The Big History origin story is a modern example of the search for answers.
Learning Objectives:
- Define origin story.
- Compare the Big History origin story with others.
Vocab Terms:
- collective learning
- humanity
- origin story
- scale
- universe
Opener: Origin Stories
To teach this lesson step, refer to page 2 of the Lesson 1.3 Teaching Guide.
Everything has an origin story. Here’s your chance to make up your own!
Origin Stories Jigsaw
To teach this lesson step, refer to page 3 of the Lesson 1.3 Teaching Guide.
Take a look at the BHP Reading Guide for some approaches to teaching reading.
Dive into this conversation in the OER Project Teacher Community about how to make your Origin Story jigsaw more effective.
You can tell a lot about a culture by looking at the story it tells about where it came from. Let’s compare some origin stories from around the world!
Your Origins
To teach this lesson step, refer to page 4 of the Lesson 1.3 Teaching Guide.
Looking to go digital for this assignment. Check out this post in the teacher community about using AI to help students draw their Origin Stories.
Where do you begin your own story? Your first memory? The day you were born? How about the dawn of time?
Closer: Origin Stories
To teach this lesson step, refer to page 5 of the Lesson 1.3 Teaching Guide.
Our Writing Guide shares our approach to informal writing—check it out!
Time to bring it all together and use your knowledge of origin stories to answer this lesson’s driving question.
Indigenous Knowledge
People told stories for thousands of years before writing was invented. The information they shared through storytelling was essential for their survival.