Virginia World History Origins Standards Brief
This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0.Virginia State Standards Alignment to OER Project: World History OriginsOER Project: World History Origins (WH Origins) is a comprehensive, inquiry-based curriculum designed to provide a coherent, standards-aligned foundation for instruction. The course is organized around nine coherent units spanning early humans to the present, with transparent alignment to the 2023 Virginia Grade 9 World History and Geography to 1500 A.D. course, and the disciplinary practices and habits of mind that define Virginia’s vision for rigorous social studies education. The course includes ready-to-use lessons, curated primary and secondary sources, activities, and assessments that address the major content, skills, and inquiry expectations found in state world history standards. As with any curriculum, teachers and districts may choose to adapt pacing, emphasize particular topics, or incorporate additional materials to meet local priorities and student needs. Standards that require state-specific, local, or community-based examples may call for targeted supplementation so students can connect the course’s global historical themes to the places and contexts named in their state standards.1Virginia World History I Standards and AlignmentWH Origins fully addresses all of Virginia’s WHI standards through integrated, inquiry-based instruction aligned to Virginia’s performance expectations, driving disciplinary concepts, and core ideas.VA WHII Standard CodeTopic and FocusWH Origins Units Skills WHISelecting and synthesizing evidence; applying geographic skills; questioning and constructing arguments from multiple sources; comparing historical and cultural perspectives; determining cause and effect; contextualizing and corroborating sources for credibility and biasUnits 1–9WHI.1The period from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic including the emergence and migration of early humans, characteristics of hunter-gatherer societies, the role of geography, and how technological and social developments gave rise to sedentary settlementsUnit 1, Unit 2WHI.2Historical development of Egypt, Nubia, Mesopotamia, the Israelites and the origins and spread of Judaism, and the PhoeniciansUnit 2, Unit 31Virginiastandards not covered in WH Originsmaterials are either highlighted in the alignment document or a note is included to address portions of a particular standard.
2VA WHII Standard CodeTopic and FocusWH Origins Units WHI.3Historical development of India and China including the origins of beliefs and customs such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism Unit 5WHI.4Historical development of Ancient Persia and Greece; Greek political and cultural development including Athens, Sparta, and democracy; the Persian and Peloponnesian wars; Alexander the Great and Hellenistic culture; Greek contributions to science, art, andphilosophyUnit 5, Unit 6WHI.5Roman Republic and Empire; the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople; origins and spread of Christianity; Roman contributions including law, citizenship, architecture, and engineeringUnit 4, Unit 5WHI.6Origins and spread of Islam; the Qur’an and Sunnah; expansion of Muslim rule; growth of trade routes across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Indian Ocean; the role of merchants and citiesUnit 5WHI.7China in the Middle Ages including Tang and Sung Dynasties; spread of Buddhism and influence of Confucianism; agricultural and commercial developments; Mongol Ascendancy and Ming Dynasty trade; Chinese innovations including paper, printing, the compass, and gunpowderUnit 5WHI.8Sub-Saharan Africa including the Niger River and vegetation zones; trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, and enslaved people; growth of the Ghana and Mali empires; the role of Islam; written and oral traditions in African history and cultureUnit 5WHI.9Medieval Japanese society and its connections to China and Korea; Prince Shōtoku; the lord-vassal system of shogun, daimyo, and samurai; Japanese Buddhism; golden age of literature and art; rise of military societyUnit 5WHI.10Medieval Europe including the geography of Europe and Eurasia; spread of Christianity after the fall of Rome; development of feudalism and the manor system; growth of towns and trade as Europe emerged from feudalismUnit 5WHI.11Conflict and cooperation between papacy and European monarchs including medieval English legal developments including the Magna Carta; the Great Schism of 1054; the Crusades and their effects on Unit 5
3VA WHII Standard CodeTopic and FocusWH Origins Units Christian, Muslim, and Jewish populations; decline of Muslim rule in Iberia; the Catholic Church as a political and intellectual institutionWHI.12Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations including Maya, Aztec, and Inca; geography and its effects on economies and urban societies; artistic and oral traditions; Mesoamerican achievements in astronomy and mathematics; class structures, religious beliefs, and the defeat of Aztec and Inca empires by the SpanishUnit 5, Unit 6WHI.13Factors contributing to the European Renaissance including economic, political, philosophical, and cultural foundations; rise of Italian city-states; Machiavelli’s theory of governing; contributions of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and PetrarchUnit 6Total pacing:Approximately 180days (adaptablefor Virginia school division calendars). All unitsare taught to depth, not breadth, with sustained opportunities for source analysis, evidence-based argumentation, and multiple-perspective inquiry throughout.Course StructureNine units, each organized around a compelling inquiry question:•Unit 1: Origins of History—How does changing perspectives change our understanding of history?•Unit 2: Early Humans—What caused some humans to shift from foraging to farming and what were the effects of this change?•Unit 3: Early Agrarian Societies—How did complex societies develop and how did they impact humans inside and outside these communities?•Unit 4: Empires and Belief Systems—How did the emergence of portable belief systems change human communities and networks?•Unit 5: Regional Web—How do human systems restructure after catastrophe?•Unit 6: The First Global Age—How did the first ongoing connections between the hemispheres change the world?•Unit 7: The Long Nineteenth Century—What were the engines of change that created our “modern” world?•Unit 8: Global Conflict—What caused the global conflicts from 1914 to 1991, and how did people experience this period of global war?•Unit 9: Globalization—How has globalization made our lives today more interconnected while also producing new divisions and conflicts?
4Key FeaturesInquiry-Based Learning Aligned to Virginia’s SOL SkillsEach unit begins with a compelling question and uses three analytical frames—communities, networks, and production/distribution—to organize student thinking across units and support deep conceptual understanding. This directly supports Virginia’s WHI Skills standard, which requires students to question, investigate, and construct arguments using evidence from multiple sources, and to contextualize and corroborate sources for credibility, propaganda, and bias. The practices are not taught as discrete skills in isolation but are woven into every unit as habits of mind students use repeatedly across content.Source-Rich and Writing-IntensiveStudents analyze primary and secondary sources from diverse global perspectives, including colonized and marginalized communities, Indigenous peoples, and those historically excluded from traditional narratives. They complete source-based short constructedresponses and extended evidence-based essays (particularly in Units 6–9) that are directly aligned with Virginia’s expectation that students select and synthesize evidence from information sources including artifacts, primary and secondary sources, charts, graphs, and diagrams.Ready for Use as Core CurriculumWH Origins includes all necessary materials: ready-to-use lessons, primary and secondary source sets, formative and summative assessments, and teacher guidance. No student accounts are required and there is no physical textbook to purchase. Teachers can download, embed, and share learning materials or direct students to the OER Project website.PLC-Friendly DesignShared inquiry questions, shared analytical frames, and transparent standards alignment support professional learning community (PLC) work and departmentwide coherence without requiring external programs or consultant support. The alignment to Virginia’s WHI Standards of Learning enables cross-grade collaboration within and across school divisions.Aligned to Virginia’s History and Social Science Standards of LearningThe course explicitly integrates Virginia’s WHI Skills standard and content standards, including:•History and Social Science Skills (WHI Skills)—Foundational to every unit: Synthesizing evidence from multiple source types; applying geographic skills; questioning and constructing arguments; determining cause and effect; comparing and contrasting historical perspectives.•Early Humans to Ancient Civilizations (WHI.1–WHI.6)—Units 2–4: Paleolithic and Neolithic eras; early societies in the Fertile Crescent; ancient Asian societies; Persia, Greece, Rome, Byzantium, and Islam.
5•The Middle Ages (WHI.7–WHI.11)—Unit 5: Medieval China, sub-Saharan Africa, Japan, Europe, and the conflict and cooperation between the papacy and European monarchs.•Mesoamerican and Andean Civilizations and the Renaissance (WHI.12–WHI.13)—Unit 6: Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations; the Italian Renaissance and its foundations.Assessment AlignmentWH Origins’ assessment design reflects Virginia’s standards-based approach to historical thinking and analysis:•All units emphasize source analysis, comparison, and explanation tasks that build foundational historical thinking and support students’ ability to select and synthesize evidence and apply geographic and analytical skills aligned to the WHI Skills standard.•Units 2–9 feature multi-source stimulus sets, short constructed responses requiring citation and reasoning, and extended argumentative/explanatory writing that align with Virginia’s expectation that students investigate and analyze evidence from multiple sources to construct arguments and draw conclusions.•All assessments are embedded in daily instruction, not separate from it, reducing curriculum-to-assessment misalignment and ensuring authentic engagement with Virginia’s WHI content and skills.By aligning everyday classroom work with Virginia’s WHI Standards of Learning, WH Origins ensures students’ daily practice develops historical thinking, disciplinary literacy, and evidence-based reasoning required for Virginia’s accountability expectationsand for engaged, informed citizenship.Why WH Origins for Virginia School Divisions?1.Full SOL coverage—All Virginia World History I Standards of Learning addressed to depth; no content or skills gaps requiring district supplementation.2.Virginia standards-first design—Built explicitly for Virginia’s 2023 History and Social Science Standards of Learning, including the WHI Skills standard and all thirteenth content standards, not adapted from another jurisdiction’s course.3.Culturally inclusive and historically rigorous—Diverse global perspectives, Indigenous voices, and varied belief systems focused on throughout.4.Civic engagement-ready—Daily instruction develops students' capacity to gather diverse perspectives, evaluate evidence, develop claims, and understand their agency in shaping history and the future5.Global citizenship-focused—Supports Virginia’s emphasis on understanding world civilizations and global interconnections, preparing students for informed citizenship in the Commonwealth and beyond.
66.Teacher-friendly—All materials included; no backfilling; shared inquiry questions and analytical frames support coherent instruction and collaborative PLC work within school divisions.7.Cost-effective—No textbook purchase, no licensing, no recurring vendor fees; sustainable and accessible for Virginia school divisions of all sizes and funding levels.Using WH OriginsDistrict and school leaders, supervisors of social studies, instructional coaches, and teacher teams can use this guide in several ways to support Virginia SOL-aligned implementation of WH Origins.For adoptions and approvals•Review theVirginia World History I Standards of Learningoverview table to see how the course scope and sequence aligns with Virginia’s organization of world history from ancient times to 1500 A.D.•Use theWH Origins Units Aligned to Virginia WHI Standardsmatrix to confirm that all required content standards and skills are addressed across the nine units and that total pacing fits within a typical Virginia instructional year.For curriculum and PLC planning•Use theunit--level notes in the WH Origins alignment documentwhen building or revising pacing guides, identifying which Virginia WHI standards and skills are emphasized in each unit and where key assessments and performance tasks occur.•Reference theskills and disciplinary literacy coveragesection to plan inquiry routines, source analysis, and writing expectations that match Virginia’s WHI Skills standard and support department-wide agreements.•Draw on the describedstudent tasks—document analysis, debates, evidence-based writing, and decision-making activities—to design common formative and summative assessments that align with local benchmarks and Virginia’s accountability expectations.For audits and documentation•Use the alignment tables as evidence that WH Origins addresses the relevant Virginia WHI Standards of Learning, including content, inquiry, and literacy expectations.•Attach or reference this guide in curriculum-adoption reports, program reviews, and accreditation documentation to show that WH Origins functions as a standards-aligned full-course option for World History I in Virginia.Adoption ReadinessWorld History Origins offers complete coverage of the ancient, medieval, and early modern world history eras addressed in Virginia’s World History I course, integrated with inquiry-based learning, disciplinary literacy, and Virginia’s WHI Skills standard expectations. Each unit is built around a
7compelling question and a coherent sequence of lessons, source sets, and writing tasks, so teachers aren’t left to backfill standards coverage or create their own materials. Together, this Virginia-focused alignment guide, the WH Origins Course Overview, and the online Unit Guides provide a documentation stack that curriculum supervisors and department teams can use for adoption decisions, curriculum audits, and professional learning aligned to Virginia’s requirements.Implementation of WH Origins does not require a separate textbook or ancillary program: Every unit includes ready-to-use lessons, primary and secondary sources, formative and summative assessments, and guidance for using the course’s three analytical frames as a common language across classrooms and professional learning communities. Assessment design is intentionally source-based and writing-rich, mirroring the kinds of document analysis, short constructed responses, and extended argumentative or explanatory writing emphasized in Virginia’s social studies standards and associated literacy expectations, particularly in Units 2–9.Unlike traditional textbook-based approaches that organize instruction around discrete chapters and factual recall, WH Origins organizes all nine units around compelling questions and three analytical frames, helping students develop the durable habits of historical thinking Virginia’s standards identify as essential for postsecondary success.Implementation Support•Online course materials (freely available): Unit overviews, detailed Lesson Guides, source sets, and assessment rubrics.•Teacher guides and pacing recommendations for flexible implementation across Virginia school division calendars.•Professional learning resources to support department transitions and PLC alignment with Virginia WHI Standards of Learning.•Comprehensive standards alignment documentation (this brief plus detailed World History I alignment tables) for adoption, audit, and accreditation purposes.•No division-specific textbook adoption, no ongoing licensing fees, no vendor lock-in.Next Steps•Review the detailed Virginia World History I Standards Alignment Guide for unit-by-unit performance expectation mapping.•Explore WH Origins online course materials online at oerproject.com.•Schedule a demonstration session or site walkthrough with OER Project.For questions or to schedule an adoption consultation, contact team@oerproject.com