Little Big History Guide
LITTLE BIG HISTORY GUIDEThe Little Big History (LBH) project is the capstone assignment set atop the Big History course. It is designed to challenge students to use Big History’s essential skills and core concepts to take a deep dive into an event, object, or idea from a Big History perspective. This project has both collaborative and individual aspects, and results in either a presentation or service project. What exactly is a Little Big History project? It’s a compelling narrative. It tells the story of an object across at least three thresholds (at least one of which must be prehuman). It incorporates the perspectives of at least three disciplines, including history. Working individually or in teams, your students might choose to investigate one of the following: •an object or a commodity (anything that is bought or sold)•a process or technical innovation•a social construct or institution•an activityIn choosing an LBH topic, students can decide on just about anything that interests them and that they can research; however, it’s much easier to research objects rather than abstract concepts. To make things simpler for their students, one team of Big History teachers limits the class to “things they can buy at Walmart.” Other teachers steer their students away from an LBH on a particular person. At the end of the project, each member of the group will complete a collaborative group paper, an individual paper, and a group presentation on the subject of their LBH. The best Little Big History projects are great stories that highlight connections and insights about the subject. Students need to work together to ensure they bring their story to life. Sample student Little Big History projects
LBH GUIDE2The LBH requires a significant amount of work. Students begin work selecting their topics in the second half of the course and begin writing in earnest in Unit 8. To help prepare students to work on their Little Big Histories, students are exposed to activities that help them view examples and become familiar with the rubrics that will be used to evaluate their work later in the year. It’s worth noting that the History Channel program Big History was inspired by the Little Big History project. The episodes of this show provide students with a wealth of examples of what a Little Big History can be; for example, tracing the role of salt or silver in trade and civilization. LBH Preparation: Unit 1 Through Unit 5 In the first half of the course, students spend time practicing the skills needed to complete an LBH, such as essay writing or use of the course rubrics. • Lesson 3.1• “A Little Big History of Silver” Students encounter their first Little Big History in the article “A Little Big History of Silver. They will begin to familiarize themselves with the idea behind an LBH. • Watch Silver Supernova Students watch the H2 video Silver Supernova, an episode from the History Channel’s Big History series. Not only should this video continue to deepen their understanding of what makes an LBH, but it should also give them some ideas about how they might present an LBH. • Grading Silver Supernova Students use the Presentation Rubric to evaluate Silver Supernova. This is the same rubric that will be used to evaluate their LBH presentations at the end of the year. • Little Big History of an Element This activity is a continuation of the previous activity, Grading Silver Supernova. This time, students will work on their own to further their understanding of the Big History Presentation Rubric. Understanding the importance of narrative in explaining complex ideas is often a challenge for students, and it’s something they have to include as part of their LBH projects. • Lesson 4.1• Evaluating Writing Students evaluate “Early Earth,” a sample Big History essay, using the rubric that will be used to grade their own writing in the course. The goal of this activity is to familiarize students with the rubric by asking them to review the rubric’s categories and the descriptions of the standards by applying them to a sample paper. This is the same rubric that will be used to evaluate their LBH writing. • Lesson 5.2• Convincing NarrativesStudents will use their claim testing abilities as well as their research and writing skills to evaluate a Big History H2 video, and then write a persuasive essay about the importance of meteors. This not only exposes them to yet another example of an LBH, but also allows them the opportunity to work on narrative writing, an important element of a good LBH.
LBH GUIDE3LBH Project: Units 6 Through Unit 10 In the second half of the course, you will encounter LBH activities that help students complete the project. The Little Big History project is quite an undertaking. For this reason, it’s important to pace the final few course units appropriately so students have time to do LBH work. It’s also beneficial to create an event of the final presentations. This tends to invite a higher quality product from students and generates a lot of excitement. • Lesson 6.1• Little Big History Kickoff Students are introduced to the LBH project for the first time. They’ll get into their LBH project groups and begin brainstorming some possible ideas for their projects. • Lesson 6.3• Little Big History – Choosing Your Focus Students make a final decision about the LBH object they’ll study and research for their culminating project of the year.• Lesson 7.0• Little Big History Biography Students will answer a general set of questions about their Little Big History topic. This activity will help them become more familiar with their LBH topic and formulate better research questions when they start their final project. In addition, students will spend focused time reviewing and applying the Collaboration Rubric that will be used at the end to grade their participation in the group. • Lesson 7.2• LBH – Research Questions Students explore the questions they might answer in researching their Little Big History project. • Lesson 8.2• Little Big History Final Project This is the last structured Little Big History activity before the final presentations. Students will home in on the subject of their paper and choose how they would like to present it. At this point, please be sure to schedule class time, check-ins, and homework around these final activities so students continue to work on the projects. We highly recommend that you not have students working on other projects at the same time that they’re working on their Little Big Histories.