In this activity, you’ll write a history of yourself, and then you’ll reflect upon the scale at which you examined your own history. This will help show you how your own personal narrative has a lot in common with the much larger Big History narrative. This activity also introduces the concept of both temporal and spatial scale. This will help you  understand why historians will occasionally zoom out (in terms of both time and geography) to create a larger context for understanding a single history.

Writing
You are asked to write as part of this activity. This is meant to be fun, informal writing.

Take 4 minutes to write a “history of you.” Do your best and include whatever you want in your history. Don’t worry about spelling and grammar, this is more about the details of your life.

When you’re done, your teacher will ask you a series of questions, such as, how many of you wrote about:

• your time in high school
• your childhood
• your parents
• your parents' childhoods
• your grandparents
• anything that happened over 100 years ago
• anything that happened over 1,000 years ago

You probably wrote about your childhood and your parents. You might have written about your grandparents, but you probably didn’t write about anything more than 100 years ago.

Also, did you write about anything that is further away than the state you’re currently in? Did you talk about anything that’s further away than the country you’re currently in? What is the most distant place you mentioned?

You can’t really think about history without first thinking about the scale at which you’re examining it, so it’s really important. This includes both time scales and spatial scales. In this course, you’ll use timelines to help with scale, and you’ll also use the language of spatial scale when talking about where things happened in history. The terms personal, local, regional, national, and global will be used to help us think and talk about scales of space. There are many other terms, but those are the ones we’ll use in this course.

In this video, a group of people built a scale model of the Solar System. Not only did they space the planets appropriately, they also had correct proportions so that we could really see how big the Sun and each of the planets are as part of the scale. Pictures can’t capture the Solar System to scale, because to fit on a piece of paper, the planets would be too small to see. 

In this video, you’ll watch how some filmmakers made a scale model of the Solar System outside. This will deepen your understanding of the scale of our Solar System, and kicks-off a course-long exploration of the concept of scale. Pay attention! You’ll come back to this video in Unit 4, following an activity in which you get to build your own scale model of the Solar System.In this video, you’ll watch how some filmmakers made a scale model of the Solar System outside, pretty much like what you did in the last activity. You’ve already grappled with the idea of scale in relation to our Solar System, and this will deepen your understanding and give you an idea of how other people construct scale models. 

Preview

On a dry lake bed in Nevada, a couple of filmmakers and their friends built a scale model of the Solar System complete with planetary orbits. This is a great illustration of how Earth fits into the Universe. 

Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch the video:

1. Why aren’t pictures of the Solar System to scale?
2. How much space do you need to build a scale model of the Solar System if the Earth is only the size of a marble?
3. What planet orbits at the edge of the Solar System?
4. How do you know that they’ve made their model correctly, with the right proportions?

Thinking Conceptually

After watching this video, what ideas, if any, do you have for how you might build a scale model of the Solar System yourself? How does having this visualization of the Solar System help you understand the true size of the Universe?

As you know, there is a glossary of words in the Big History course that all students need to know to be able to take part in the course. However, you’re not all students, and there are a lot of words in the course, so it’s highly likely you’re going to come across a bunch of words you don’t know that are not in the glossary. This repeated activity will help you become more familiar with a process for how to independently learn the meaning of new words.

Throughout the course, you’ll very likely encounter new and unfamiliar words. Some of these words will be addressed as part of the whole class vocabulary activities; however, many more of those words will not. Take out the BHP Vocab Tracker and follow your teacher’s directions about how to look up that word. Any time you encounter a word you don’t know in the course, add it to this tracker! By the end of the year, your personal lexicon will be huge, you’ll be a better writer, and you’ll very likely be better prepared for standardized tests.

The Big History narrative progresses through a series of eight thresholds of increasing complexity, starting with the Big Bang and ending with the Modern Revolution. Thresholds are guideposts along the way—major plot points in the Big History narrative. It turns out—and Big History Project research has shown this year after year—the better you grasp this narrative the better you can connect with the course content in a way that encourages deep and lasting learning. It just takes some practice. This activity is all about learning the thresholds through a simple memory exercise.

History is often easier to remember if we have a good grasp on the narrative or story that is being told when describing different events or processes in history. As you’re probably starting to pick up on, the major turning points in David Christian’s Big History story are the eight thresholds of increasing complexity. These thresholds are really like the main plot points in the Big History story. As a way to get a head start on remembering this story, you’re going to try to memorize the thresholds of increasingly complexity by playing what some people call the “name game.”

In this quick activity, you’re going to try your best to memorize the thresholds in chronological order—a sort of timeline that will support your learning throughout the course.

First, your teacher will organize you into groups of eight and distribute one set of threshold cards per group. Pass out the cards so each of the students in your group has one card. If your group has fewer than eight students, you can each take on more than one threshold; if your group has more than eight, pair up with each other.

Now, you’ll play the “name game” with your group:

1. Whoever has the Threshold 1 card starts by saying, “My name is the Big Bang and I am Threshold 1.”
2. The person holding the Threshold 2 card follows, saying, “[the name of the person in your group who had the Threshold 1 card] is the Big Bang and they are Threshold 1. My name is Stars Light Up and I am Threshold 2.”
3. Then, the student with the Threshold 3 card would say, “[the name of the person in your group who had the Threshold 1 card] is the Big Bang and they’re Threshold 1. [The name of the person in your group who had the Threshold 2 card] is the Stars Light Up and they’re Threshold 2. My name is New Chemical Elements and I am Threshold 3.

Continue doing this until everyone in your group has had a chance to name all eight thresholds.

At the end of the activity, discuss the following questions with your group:

• What was the purpose of this activity?
• How will knowing the thresholds allow you to see the larger narrative of Big History?

Any time during this course, if you think you’re starting to forget the thresholds, tell your teacher and see if you can play a quick round of the name game as a refresher!

This activity introduces you to the Three Close Reads process. You will use this process when approaching all readings in the course, because it will help you practice historical inquiry. The Three Close Reads process will teach you how to analyze historical accounts and interpretations by using a variety of reading strategies. Instead of simply learning about historical concepts, you will learn to evaluate different perspectives on historical issues, so you can take an active role in constructing and breaking down history, rather than taking everything you read at face value.

Before digging into the article, take out the Three Close Reads Worksheet and quickly review the process and how to fill out the worksheet with your class. Reading everything in the course three times might seem insane, but it’s actually a really helpful tool for getting all the information you need from the articles. Also, you will get faster and faster with each reading. Somewhere in the middle of the course, you’ll probably notice that the three reads take the same amount of time one used to take. Note that for each reading assignment, your teacher will provide the overall question or idea to think about as you read.

Reading 1 – Skimming for Gist

The first close read is really meant to be a skim of the article. It should be very quick and give you the gist, or general idea of what the article is about. You should be looking at the title, author, headings, pictures, and opening sentences of paragraphs for the gist. On the Three Close Reads Worksheet, look at the “Pay Attention to...” and “Questions” sections for the first close read and see which questions you can answer quickly.

Reading 2—Understanding Content

Now that you’ve completed the first close read, look at the second section of the worksheet. This read is probably closest to the kind of reading you usually do. Basically, you’re trying to get a better understanding of the concepts and arguments that are presented in the article. Review the “Pay Attention to...” and “Questions” sections of the worksheet so you know what to think about when reading the article in addition to making sure you understand the information the article contains.

This first article might be a little tough to read. It’s long and it explores some pretty technical scientific concepts. Your goal is to read for an overall understanding of the scientific explanation of what occurred before humans existed. You are NOT expected to memorize or fully understand the mechanics of the science described in this article.

By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What is Big History?
2. What are thresholds of increasing complexity?
3. When you look at the first five thresholds (The Big Bang; The Stars Light Up; New Chemical Elements; the Earth and the Solar System; and Life), which do you think is the most important and why?
4. When you look at the final three thresholds of increasing complexity (Collective Learning, Agriculture, and the Modern Revolution), which do you think is the most important and why?

Reading 3 – Thinking Conceptually

Now it’s time for the third and final read. The third reading should help you understand why this article matters, how it connects to other content you’ve studied. This will become more important later in the course, but for now, focus on how this article connects to the Unit 1 driving question, “Why do we look at things from far away and close up?”

At the end of the third read, discuss the following questions with your class:

1. Most history courses begin with humans. BHP begins with the origin of the Universe. To what degree does it help you make sense of human history and your world to think about zooming out on time at such a large scale?
2. The end of this article asks what you think the next threshold of increasing complexity might be. Try to come up with the next threshold of increasing complexity, and explain why you chose it. Try to remember your answer – you’ll think about this again at the end of the course and you might be surprised at how your answer has changed!

Summary

This overview sets the stage for what you will learn in the Big History Project course. After reading about this modern, scientific, origin story and the eight thresholds of increasing complexity, you’ll think about what’s coming next in our world.

This overview article sets the stage for what you will learn in the Big History Project course. After reading about this modern, scientific, origin story and the eight thresholds of increasing complexity, you will think about what’s coming next in our world.

The “Big History: An Overview” lays out the eight thresholds of increasing complexity that frame this course. Taking into account the entire history of the Universe, rather than starting with the emergence of humans, shows that people use a variety of perspectives and time frames to examine history, and that these different perspectives and frames change how we view the past. Because Big History starts 13.82 billion years ago, we don’t have artifacts from human history to understand this part of our past. Instead, we rely on a variety of scientific disciplines to help us understand what happened, which brings the interdisciplinary nature of the course to the foreground. Understanding natural resources, including chemical elements and the environment, significantly shapes our conception of history.

** Note: The questions in the section below are the same as in Three Close Reads – Introduction Activity. **

First, your teacher will give you a question or idea to think about as you read the article.

Reading 1 – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you do your first close read.

Reading 2 – Understanding Content

As you read the article more carefully a second time through, think about the following questions.

1. What is Big History?
2. What are thresholds of increasing complexity?
3. When you look at the first five thresholds (The Big Bang; The Stars Light Up; New Chemical Elements; the Earth and the Solar System; and Life), which do you think is the most important and why?
4. When you look at the final three thresholds of increasing complexity (Collective Learning, Agriculture, and the Modern Revolution), which do you think is the most important and why?

Reading 3 – Thinking Conceptually

After you’ve finished your third close read, respond to these questions:

1. Most history courses begin with humans. BHP begins with the origin of the Universe. To what degree does it help you make sense of human history and your world to think about zooming out on time at such a large scale?
2. The end of this article asks what you think the next threshold of increasing complexity might be. Try to come up with the next threshold of increasing complexity, and explain why you chose it. Try to remember your answer—you’ll think about this again at the end of the course and you might be surprised at how your answer has changed!

Each unit of the Big History course is guided by a driving question. Throughout the course, the driving question is referred to as the DQ. You’re learning a ton of stuff in this and every other unit, and it can be hard to keep track of what’s most important. It would be pretty easy to become obsessed with a detail that, although interesting and a great way to impress people at a party, is relatively unimportant. This activity will help you stay focused! You’ll think about the unit’s driving question, and then you’ll respond to it in writing. By journaling these questions and responses, you’ll see how much you’ve learned as you move through each section of the course.

Think about this question: Why do we look at things from far away and close up?

Use the Unit 1 Driving Question Notebook Worksheet to respond to this question as best as you can. Be prepared to talk about these ideas with your class.

After the class discussion about the Unit 1 driving question, you’ll dive into the Big History Discussion Guide. This is kind of long and a lot to think about, but after this lesson you’ll just use the Discussion Quick Guide to help you remember all of the important elements of a Big History discussion. Big History discussions are quite different from other class discussions you might have had. In this course, you’ll have deliberate and academic discussions. This might seem strange and unnatural at first. But with each discussion, you’ll get more practice, and by the end of the course you’ll be talking like a Big Historian without even having to think about it.

This hands-on activity will help you gain another perspective on scale.

Have you ever met a person over 100 years old? Imagine the changes such people have observed in their lifetimes! There are Galapagos tortoises that have lived for 175 or more years and some whales often live for 200 or more years. The lifespans of most animals are a lot different from those of humans, but differences on this scale are not that hard to appreciate. When you compare human lifetimes with the history of our Solar System, the Milky Way, or the Universe, it gets tricky. The scales of time needed for considering the Universe and its parts, which are recorded in billions of years, are enormous compared with that of a human lifetime. To help put the timescale of Big History into perspective, you’ll create a timeline showing the eight major thresholds of increasing complexity on the sideline of your school’s football field (or other large area).

Your first step in the process is to calculate how many years each yard will represent. You’ll do this in groups and then check in with your teacher to ensure you’ve calculated everything correctly.

Follow these steps, answering any questions:

1. A football field is 100 yards from one goal line to the other, and the Big Bang happened 13.8 billion years ago. How many years would each yard equal if 13.8 billion years were to be mapped onto the football field?
2. Work in your groups to calculate the yard line on which each of the major thresholds of increasing complexity should be placed. You can use one of the goal lines for Threshold 1, the Big Bang. The worksheet lists the thresholds and dates for each. To calculate how many yards from the goal each threshold should be placed, you’ll need to take the number of years after the Big Bang for that threshold and divide it by the number of years that each yard represents. This will tell you how many yards from your Big Bang goal line to place each threshold.
3. After you’ve calculated everything, mark each of the thresholds on the football field diagram attached to your worksheet. Some of your numbers will not be whole numbers, so approximate those positions on the football field.
4. Share your findings with the class. Once everyone has finished, you’ll move out to the football field (or another area chosen for this activity). Be sure you take your worksheet with you.
5. Once you’re out on the field, mark each threshold, checking your work carefully to make sure you’re matching up correctly to your calculations. When you’re done, you’ll have Big History laid out on the football field!
6. If you can, snap some pictures.

In this activity, you'll compare the scale of development of the Universe, based on the Big History timeline, to the scale of notable events in human history. The scale of the timeline of the Universe and its major events compared to the scale of the timeline of human history and its major events can be hard to grasp, and this activity should help you gain a better understanding of it.

The Universe is 13.8 billion years old, but humans have only been around for tens of thousands of years. While the history of the Universe is huge, relatively few events took place compared to what’s taken place since the beginning of human history.

Your teacher will break you into two groups. Each group is going to construct a scale using the exact same amount of string. The reason for doing this is so you can physically compare one scale to another. One group will work on a scale timeline of the development of the Universe, and the other group will work on a scale timeline of important events in human history. Before you build your model, you have to calculate the numbers you need to figure out where your events go on the string. Use the Scale of Human History on a String Worksheet to do this.

Once you've made your calculations, check in with your teacher to verify they're correct. Then, build your model: Stretch out your group's piece of string, and then, using your calculations from the worksheets, measure where each threshold or event goes.

Decide who in your group is going to fill the necessary roles. You'll need:

• People to measure and mark the pieces of string—you’ll mark the appropriate section of the string with the matching threshold or event in human history. The pieces of string can be marked with colored tape or anything else to signify what is what.
• One person to represent each of the thresholds or events in human history. Each person should have a sign that they wear (this can be as simple as the threshold or event written on paper and taped to their clothes) so others can see what each person represents.

Once all of this has been sorted out, line up your string near the other group's string, with each person standing in the appropriate place to represent their threshold or event. This might be tricky, because each group will have a lot of crowding at one end of their string. Just do your best.

Then, going down the line, each person representing an event will explain what they represent and how long ago the threshold or event happened. It will become very clear that in the history of the Universe, events were spread out more evenly than those in human history. Discuss the following questions as a class:

• What does the comparison of the two strings show?
• Why does it seem like so much more happen at the end of the timelines?
• Is there truly more happening now? Or do we just think more recent events are more important?
• If there is more happening, why? Is it because of increasing complexity or something else?

Timelines are used as analytical tools in history, and they will be used in this way throughout the course. However, before beginning the analysis process, you have to know how to read timelines. The Big History timeline is more detailed and complicated than the average timeline, and learning how it works and what it represents will provide you with some of the knowledge you need to both analyze and construct timelines. In this activity, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the import role that scale plays in timelines by reviewing some of their key features.

Part I Creating Timelines
Your teacher will break the class into groups. Each group will get a blank timeline from the Scale: Timelines Worksheet. Your teacher will then assign each group their timeline (see below for descriptions of Timelines A, B, C, and D).

Place the events listed on your timeline. To start, place a start and end date on your timeline. Then, place the other two events at approximately the right place on your timeline in relation to the start and end dates. For an added bonus, add markings to the timeline that evenly break up the time period covered (each mark might represent every year, every hundred years, or every billion years, for example). Finally, your group should decide on a name for your timeline that connects all of the events.

Data groupings:

• Timeline A
  • Big Bang (13.8 billion years ago)
  • The first stars light up (13.6 billion years ago)
  • The formation of our Sun (4.5 billion years ago)
  • Early humans appear (1 million years ago)
• Timeline B
  • The year of birth of each student in your group
  • When you started school
  • When you went to junior high
  • When you're supposed to graduate from high school

• Timeline C
  • Birth of Krishna (3228 BCE)
  • Fall of the Western Roman Empire (476)
  • Start of WWII (1939)
  • The first time man landed on the moon (1969)

• Timeline D
  • Birth of Newton (1642)
  • Newton finishes his undergraduate studies at Cambridge University (1665)
  • Newton publishes Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)
  • Death of Newton (1726)

Once the timelines are completed, your teacher will post them somewhere in the room so that the class can see them next to each other. Then, you will discuss the following questions.

1. How did each group come up with a name for their events?
2. In what directions do the timelines read?
3. On what scale are these timelines?
4. Without making the actual line any longer, how could they put all of these timelines together into one and make it so that you can still see all of the events and periods of time?

Part II The Big History Project Timeline
Now, let’s take a look at the Big History Project Timeline. This is a much bigger and much more complicated timeline than the ones you just created. For now, pay attention to the scale of the timeline. Take a couple of minutes to explore the timeline on your own. Try to look at one detail or event in each section of the timeline. Next, discuss with your group or your class what you notice about scale by answering the following questions.

• Is the scale consistent throughout?
• Why do you think the Big History timeline has “bends”?
• After looking at this timeline, would you change how you did your timelines to get all four on the same sheet of paper?

This activity introduces you to the WHP Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. This tool will show you a method for reading graphic biographies. Graphic biographies might look simple at first—after all, they have pictures!—but there’s a lot going on in these one-page comics. WHP graphic biographies provide you with new evidence at the scale of an individual life. You can use this evidence to support, extend, and challenge the course narratives. In this activity, you will learn how to read graphic biographies at three different levels: observe, understand, and connect. You will also learn how to use the Three Close Reads tool as a graphic organizer as you respond to the comics and become co-creators of them!

Graphic biographies use the visual tools of comics—images, fonts, boundaries, sequentially ordered panels, and gutters (the space between panels)—to tell a historical narrative. The graphic biographies in this course are collaborations between a trained historian and artist, and they should be read as secondary sources. But you also need to learn to interpret the layers of meaning in the art.

Begin by getting out your Three Close Reads for Graphic Biographies tool and opening the Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios – Introduction. You are going to read a comic about a woman named Ottilie Baader. You don’t need to know any history or have any experience reading comics. You will be guided through this first graphic biography. As you read along, you should practice filling out the tool. Feel free to record your responses in words or have fun and respond with art of your own. After all, the tool is designed to look like a blank comic book!

As an optional extension, your teacher may have you complete a three close reads of the “History and Memory – Graphic Biography” where you will consider the meaning of history and memory through one family’s story.