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What Is Big History? (6:46)

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.

Key Ideas

Think about the following questions as you watch the video


  1. 01:28 David Christian emphasizes the importance of questions in the course. What are some of the questions he identifies?
  2. 02:04 What is Big History?
  3. 03:21 What kinds of questions did David Christian ask as a result of his thinking about the teaching of one country’s history? How did these questions lead him back to the origins of the Universe?
  4. 04:08 What are origin stories?
  5. 04:18 What is Big History?
  6. 06:19 What are “thresholds of increasing complexity”?