Frequently Asked Questions

What is Big History?

Big History Project is a free, online social studies course for middle and high school students that spans 13.8 billion years. It weaves insights from many disciplines to form a single story that helps students develop a framework to organize and connect what they’re learning both in and out of school. For an overview, see David Christian’s TED Talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/david_christian_big_ history.html.

What are the goals of the course?

Big History challenges students to think critically and broadly, and tries to ignite a passion for inquiry and exploration. In addition to helping students master the sequence and scope of 13.8 billion years, the course develops essential skills and intellectual tools such as: thinking critically across scales and disciplines, building informed arguments, making and testing claims, and writing. See the BHP Full Course Guide for details on these essential skills and core concepts.

Who is the target student?

Big History is designed as a social studies/history course targeting sixth- through tenth-grade students. With a variety of content formats, scaffolds, and structured routine-based approaches to fundamental historical thinking and writing skills, Big History Project accommodates a wide range of student skill levels. If you’re teaching middle school or general high school social studies, Big History Project is right for your students.

How is the course delivered?

All of the content is available online. A completely web-based model ensures the content is up to date, relieves schools of the need for costly textbooks, and helps teachers engage students by providing approachable, media-rich materials that can be used in different ways. Students and teachers are issued a personal login to gain access to the school version of the course. Class materials are available in PDF and Google Docs formats to facilitate viewing and printing in a variety of environments. The course can also be downloaded and integrated into a variety of LMS platforms and Google Classroom at the discretion of teachers and schools.

Who is involved in BHP?

Our design partners include some of the best and brightest contributors, including:

Pilot schools: The entire course is co-developed with pilot-school teachers and administrators. All aspects of the course – from the core curriculum and content to the assessment strategy – are authored with our pilot school partners.

David Christian: Professor of History at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. David, who built a widely taught college-level course, is the “father” of Big History. David oversees the strategy for the course and appears in several course videos.

Bob Bain: Associate Professor of History and Education at the University of Michigan. Bob oversees all work related to course design and delivery with a specific emphasis on the assessment plan and alignment to standards.

Key academic partners: Guest lecturers bring the ideas of Big History to life and provide students unique glimpses into different fields:

• Walter Alvarez
• Cynthia Stokes Brown
• Sal Khan
• Janna Levin
• Craig Benjamin
• Skip Gates
• John Green
• Newsela
• History Channel H2

Bill Gates: Businessman and philanthropist. Bill is providing support to jump-start the program and to make Big History Project freely available to everyone.

How is the course structured?

It might seem like 13.8 billion years is a lot to cover in a semester- or year-long course but we’ve structured it in a way that makes it possible…and worth the trip! Big History is made up of eight thresholds. Each represents a moment when the Universe got more complex. We start with the Big Bang where all of the matter and energy in the Universe originated. The story of these eight thresholds is told over ten units. Within each unit is a series of four to ten lessons broken down into articles, videos, infographics, and activities that reinforce key concepts and develop critical skills. All this is tied together with rituals and routines that facilitate engagement and learning throughout the journey. Every unit includes a guide that walks through the key ideas, vocabulary, possible student misconceptions, lesson plans, and assessments. For a more detailed look at course structure and contents, download the course guide.

What planning and instructional resources are available to teachers?

BHP offers teachers a wide variety of resources and support for course planning, including:

• Over 40 ready-to-teach lesson plans.
• Example course plans from a variety of grade levels, school types, disciplinary approaches, and classroom profiles.
• Teaching guides and supplementary PowerPoint decks.
• A robust, online community of educators and experts available to answer questions and share lessons, activities, and instructional strategies.
• Project-based learning (PBL) activities such as Unit 5’s Invent a Species, and Unit 7’s How Many People Could the Earth Support Now and 100 Years from Now?
• Investigations, which are writing activities that help frame some of the big issues tackled in each unit, designed to cultivate critical ELA, research, and persuasive writing skills.
• Score, a free essay-scoring service that empowers students with real-time writing feedback, and provides teachers with classroom- and student-level reports on Investigation writing activities. This frees up time for more personalized student instruction.
• Videos with captions and transcripts, complex texts, animations, comic books, infographics, interactive classroom activities, leveled readings, audio readings, and more, accommodating a variety of learning and instructional styles.

What assessments are included in the course?

The course gives teachers many opportunities to review student work both formally and informally. All assessments are optional and to be used at the teacher’s discretion. Assessment tools include:

• Rubrics to guide student writing, presentations, and PBL projects.
• Lesson closing activities such as exit cards, group discussions, peer reviews, and essays,
• Lesson quizzes and end-of-term exams.
• Formal writing activities such as Investigation essays and research papers, which research shows help improve student writing proficiency over the duration of the course. Download our research report to see the results.

What is Score?

For students to really understand how to write well, they need lots of quality feedback on their work. This takes a lot of time that teachers often don’t have. That’s why we developed Score, a service that provides immediate feedback on student writing for the course’s nine Investigation writing assignment. Score is not a replacement for teachers, but a formative tool that helps students improve as they write and provides teachers with the information and time they need to help individual students. To learn more, check out this blog on Score.

What training and professional development (PD) opportunities are available?

At BHP, we like to say we’re investing in teachers, not textbooks. That’s why we offer so many ways to support and connect teachers through the BHP journey. Teacher supports include:

Teaching Big History online PD
Teaching Big History online professional development is created and moderated by master BHP teachers. Access online any time and move at your own pace through sessions that build course knowledge and skills and get you up and running quickly.

Check out the Online PD course.

OER Project Teacher Community
The OER Project Teacher Community is the online meeting place of veteran OER Project teachers, new teachers, and content and technical specialists. In this vibrant community, teachers from around the world connect to ask and answer questions, share a lessons and success stories, and start or join conversations about teaching and learning.

PLCs
Regional professional learning consortiums (PLCs) occur throughout the year to provide schools and educators face-to-face professional development, implementation guidance, and direct assistance. Schedules are e-mailed to registered teachers and posted in the teacher community.

Email team@oerproject.com if you’re interested in joining a PLC.

Do I have to teach the entire curriculum?

Because the essential thinking, reading, and writing skills build on each other throughout the course, the best way to teach Big History is to teach the whole course. However, we want anyone and everyone to use BHP in whatever way best serves them. If that means using bits and pieces to supplement your current curriculum, that’s great too!

What does it cost?

Our goal is to ensure that Big History is taught effectively with no cost to schools. We provide, free of charge:

• All content and courseware
• PD/teacher training program
• Score essay scoring and reporting
• Access to core project team for support, assistance, and feedback

How does the course align to existing standards?

The Big History Project course is designed to align with the CCSS ELA, C3 and NGSS standards. Use this handy map to find out how BHP aligns to your state’s social studies and ELA standards. If you don’t see our state highlighted, choose a state you know has similarities. We’re rapidly adding new states so check back soon.

How can Big History fit with my school’s learning environment?

Big History can be tailored in a variety of ways to fit your school’s identity, mission, and infrastructure. Example course plans are available representing a wide variety of teaching environments and school types:

• English Language Arts (ELA) focus: a diverse range of complex text and literature is built into the foundation of BHP, making it a valuable tool for teachers and schools focused on integrating English Language Arts with history, social studies, and the sciences.
• Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) focus: Rigorous yet accessible content covering basic chemistry, physics, biology, and data literacy and analysis make BHP a great fit for schools with a STEM focus.
• Project-based learning (PBL) focus: PBL embedded in BHP allows students to dive deeply and creatively for solutions to driving questions related to complex interdisciplinary issues. Combining PBL and BHP creates meaningful, student-driven learning experiences. We offer three ready-to-deploy PBL activities.
• If you’re looking for a high school world history curriculum, check out one of our new, free, online course World History Project offerings Origins to the Present or 1750 to the Present.

What is the World History Project (WHP)?

We’ve learned from the success of Big History Project. Now we bring you World History Project, another free, online, awesome curriculum in the OER Project family of courses. World History Project is aligned to world history curriculum standards across the United States.

There are two versions of the WHP course: Origins to the Present, and 1750 to Present. Both versions of the course include carefully scaffolded units and lessons that you can pace out throughout your school year. The World History Project course assets (activities, readings, videos, writing assessments, and more) will support your students in drawing a line from the past to the present, with an eye to the future.

Can you describe the World History Project curriculum?

WHP has a clear focus on narrative and skill-building. In WHP, students put the narratives of history into a context, looking for evidence to support, extend, and challenge their thinking. The course has a clear focus on reading texts as historians do, with an eye toward context, comparison, and continuity and change over time (CCOT). World History Project also places a strong emphasis on aligning with AP historical thinking skills and reasoning practices, working with primary sources, and developing writing skills to prepare students for advanced high school and college work.

Which grade level is this course designed for?

While you may choose to use the World History Project (WHP) materials with any grade level you’d like (you know your students best!), we designed it to best fit with tenth-grade world history standards.

I’m interested in using the WHP course materials next year. Where do I start?

This is probably our favorite question to answer! We strongly suggest taking our Teaching World History course (TWH) as you begin mapping out your school year using the WHP materials. TWH is a free, online professional development course that will provide you with the guidance and support you need to start your year with us. Upon completion of the self-paced course, you’ll receive a certificate for 14 hours of continuing education. In addition to taking TWH, we suggest introducing yourself in our OER Project Teacher Community. Your fellow WHP teachers are waiting to welcome you and answer your questions as you get started!

How does World History Project align with state standards?

WHP is designed from the ground up to meet world history standards across the United States. With a careful balance between content and skills, and the flexibility to incorporate content addressing local requirements, WHP is for everybody. Interested in learning how we align with the world history standards of specific states? Check out this blog where we highlight several of our alignment documents and sample course plans.

What types of scaffolds are available within the World History Project curriculum?

Our skills practice progressions are perfect for scaffolding. Each of our skills (change and continuity over time [CCOT], contextualization, comparison, sourcing, claim testing, causation, reading, and writing!) are introduced early in the course and then spiral through each unit. We also have leveled texts available for the articles in the course, so you have at least three Lexile-leveled texts to choose from when sharing articles with students. Many of these leveled texts are already available on the WHP site, with more on the way.

I heard the course has two different versions. Which one is right for me?

Yes, there are two different versions of the course: Origins to the Present and 1750 to Present. The 1750 course is best for teachers in states like CA and NY, where state world history standards begin in the year 1750. For those whose standards start with early humans, the Origins course is the best choice. And if your world history course begins at a different time? Feel free to use materials from both the 1750 and Origins course to create your own scope and sequence for the year. Teaching World History is a great place to start!

I use a learning management system (LMS) to provide assignments and resources to students. Are your materials easily downloadable and accessible through an LMS?

Absolutely! All of our articles and activities are easily downloadable in both PDF and e-pub format. We also have a seamless integration with Google Classroom (learn more here). And if you’re looking for student-facing versions of our assets, look no further: We have developed a student-facing version of both WHP courses, and granting your students access to your virtual WHP classroom is easy. Learn how to add students to your WHP classroom here.

Are you primarily focused on skills or content?

Both! We believe that great courses should provide engaging content that draws upon the insights of multiple disciplines to inform historical inquiry. We know it’s important for students to engage and learn about different perspectives when studying history. WHP students also develop a set of intellectual tools that help them think critically, tie together big ideas, and build informed arguments—and practice these skills across disciplines. Students will spiral through skill-building activities throughout the WHP course content, building their expertise around eight different historical thinking practices: change and continuity over time (CCOT), contextualization, comparison, sourcing, claim testing, causation, reading, and writing.

Which historians were key writers/developers of the course?

We have partnered with Bob Bain from the University of Michigan, Trevor Getz from San Francisco State University, and 24 other illustrious historians who are an integral part of our World History Project Advisory Board. Our WHP article authors also represent a diverse array of academics and historians.

• Laura Mitchell — UC Irvine
• Molly Warsh — University of Pittsburgh
• Lauren Harris — Arizona State University
• Sharika Crawford — US Naval Academy
• Merry E Wiesner-Hanks — University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
• Urmi Engineer — Pitzer College
• Tim Keirn — CSU Long Beach
• Rita Verma — Adelphi University
• Ross Dunn — San Diego State University
• Yohuru Williams — University of St. Thomas
• Tony Maccarella — Saddle River Day School (New Jersey)
• Pete Lapre — Park East High School (New York City)
• Heather Streets-Salter — Northeastern University
• Audra Diptee — Carleton University
• Rob Collins — San Francisco State University
• Nick Dennis — St. Francis' College (Letchworth, UK)
• Craig Benjamin — Grand Valley State University
• Elaine Carey — Purdue University Northwest
• Alejandro Quintana — St. John's University
• Bekisizwe Ndimande — The University of Texas at San Antonio
• Tony Yeboah — Yale University
• Judith Jeremie — Brooklyn Tech High School (New York City)
• Sousan Arafeh — Southern Connecticut State University

How did you incorporate teacher feedback when creating the course materials?

Teacher feedback is extremely important to us. In the 2019/20 school year, we partnered with more than 50 schools to pilot our course materials. We partnered with our pilot teachers to gather feedback on our course content materials so that our articles, videos, and activities represent age-appropriate and teacher-approved materials.

WHP Pilot Teachers, 2019-20

• Eric Shulz
• Tony DeOrnellas
• Anne Koschmider
• Pat King
• Karen Prager
• Mike Sirois
• Kevin Brown
• Amber Vizard
• Joe Jarvis
• Holly Istas
• John Mason
• Wood Boyles
• Sharon Holmes
• Mike Burns
• Brian Smith
• Neal Cates
• Jason Milius
• Ane Lintvedt
• Rebecca Atchison Sloat
• Kaitlyn Dorson
• Michelle Reines
• Andy Rivera
• Joe Shokatz
• Shawn Comaris
• Emily Kaphaem
• Jonathan Schroeder
• Sharon Cohen
• Alex Iosbaker
• Megan Eichner
• Pete Lapre
• Abby Esbrook
• Tom Brenner
• Alaina Brown
• April Fitzgibbon
• Julie Horowitz
• Todd Nussen
• Jennifer Rose
• Rachael Schoenhardt
• Armando Venegas
• Ryan Grieve
• Justine Trevino
• Kevin Turk
• Dave Masen
• Rick Pfiefle
• Ryan Piipo
• Theresa Vernier
• John Worrell
• Dabney Standley
• Joe McMenamin
• Lisa Kapp
• Bill Zeigler
• Curt Greeley
• Ben Tomlisson
• Lynsey Woldendorp
• Colin Williamson
• Andrea Wong
• Jessica Greenfield
• Angela Lee Flakker
• Michael T. Skomba
• Rob Valenti
• Emily Carmadelle
• Matt Boeve
• Raj Bhat
• Abigail Hundley
• Dave Marshall
• Karen Natrop Anderson
• Megan Schultz

Whom should I reach out to if I have questions about WHP?

You can email us at help@oerproject.com if you have any further questions! We’ll make sure you get the information you need.