Scale
Teacher Resources
Lesson Guide
For teaching tips, vocabulary, timing, and sample answers, check out this guide.
Blog: Scale-Switching and Other History Buzzwords
Scale-switching is a core concept in Big History. Read this blog post to learn how students can connect this concept to their own lives and see how the history of the Universe relates to them.
Driving Question: How does looking at things from different scales of time and space help us understand our past?
Big History explores different scales of time and space to understand human history from new angles. How does zooming in and zooming out help us see different perspectives of the Universe’s history?
Learning Objectives:
- Define scale and scale switching.
- Explain how scale switching makes Big History different from other approaches to history.
- Create mental maps to organize information about places, environments, and people at different scales.
Vocab Terms:
- geography
- history
- scale
- scale switching
In Big History, you’ll often be asked to look at history from close up and far away. Scale switching is an important and necessary part of studying our Universe, so let’s start practicing this skill!
Make this article more manageable for students by dividing it into chunks, either by paragraph or section. After they read each chunk, have them write a one-sentence summary of what they read. If you use the editable Word or Google Doc version, you can incorporate guiding questions into the article so that students know where to look for answers.
If you think students could use a little extra help understanding scale-switching, this fun, quick, teacher-generated activity allows students to pick an object and draw it from three different scales.
How does switching scales of both time and space help you understand Big History? For one thing, it will help you see how one individual—you—fits into the story of something as vast as the Universe.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Preview the questions below, and then skim the article. Be sure to look at the section headings and any images.
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- What does the word scale mean?
- What are two examples of the different scales of time and space used in Big History?
- What is scale switching?
- How is scale switching used in Big History?
After you read
Respond to this question: What are some pros and cons of looking at things from different scales of time and space?
History of Me is a Big History favorite. In this community conversation, teachers share modifications such as using Google Slides and dialing in on events that occurred before students were born to help them make connections regarding how history impacts their lives.
Big History is a way of thinking that you can use to understand many different things. Next, we’ll tell the story of your life—Big History style.
This slideshow and activity align with Standard 1 (how to use maps and spatial thinking) and Standard 2 (how to use mental maps) of the National Geography Standards (NGS). For more information about how Big History materials align with NGS standards, check out this standards-alignment and placement resource.
Time to bring things down to earth! You’ll explore geography and scale using maps, both regular and “mental.”
Geography 101
Fun fact to share with your students: If you put 13.8 billion years on a timeline and use a centimeter for every year, the timeline would be so long it would wrap around the world more than three times!
How can you make scale-switching feel more relevant to students? Ask them to connect it to their lives. See what one middle-school Big History class came up with in this community conversation, and then try it in your classroom!
The average human lives to be 70 or 80—so how can you get your mind around 13.8 billion years? These simple scale activities can help.
Have students use the deep zoom feature (the + button in the magnifying glass in the top-left corner) to zoom in on the Big History timeline. You can also download a printable timeline.
The Cosmic Calendar was a great start. Now let’s use a timeline and see what we can learn from a different perspective.
Long story short, this comic tells whole history of how the Universe began. You’ll learn more stuff in a shorter time than you ever have before!
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Preview the questions below, and then skim the article. Be sure to look at the section headings and any images.
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- How did the Universe begin?
- What four forces emerged after the Universe began to cool?
- What were the earliest atoms to form?
- How did stars form?
- What happens when stars die?
After you read
Respond to this question: How does this comic incorporate scale switching to help you understand the early Universe?
