History is made up of accounts of the past. Most of these accounts deal with humans. But humans emerged in an environment—our universe, the ecosystem of our planet, and other species. This environment began to form long before humans evolved, and it continues to affect our story today. Big history is an attempt to understand this environment. Archaeology gives us a way to look at the emergence of human’s ancestors, like Ardi (Ardipithecus ramidus). This evidence helps us understand our past. A better understanding our past can help us comprehend the world today.

This video introduces you to the context and environment in which humans evolved. This big history affected our later history. It introduces the Era 1 Problem “Why begin a course in human history before humans existed?”. You will take on that problem throughout this era. It also introduces the idea that history is made up of accounts, but that accounts can be tested using evidence. This process—testing accounts using evidence, and constructing your own accounts—is the process on which this course is built.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Before you watch the video, open and skim the transcript. Additionally, you should always read the questions below before you watch the video (a good habit to use in reading, too!). These pre-viewing strategies will help you know what to look and listen for as you watch the video. If there is time, your teacher may have you watch the video one time without stopping, and then give you time to watch again to pause and find the answers.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video

1. What kinds of narratives about the past might you encounter, according to the video?
2. Why should we start a course in world history before humans existed?
3. The video introduces one historian’s account of history, David Christian’s Big History. What does Christian argue were the big transitions, or changes, in his account?
4. The video also introduces the story of Ardi, who was one of our ancestors but not yet a modern human. Ardi’s life seems very different from ours. What were some of these differences?
5. Ardi and her species did share at least one attribute with modern humans, however. What was it?

Evaluating and Corroborating

One of the goals of this course is that the information you learn becomes usable for you. Can you think of any ways in which you might use the information you learned in this video at some point, despite the fact that this is the most distant history in the whole course?

Print and cut out the Supporting Statement Cards

Claim testing is an important analytical process for assessing the quality and veracity (truthfulness) of claims. It helps you “see” and evaluate people’s assertions and gives shape to one of the most important and useful critical thinking practices in history. Since history is all about making assertions, it’s important that you learn the skill of testing claims early and use it frequently as part of evaluating historical accounts and making historical interpretations.

Reading, writing
Being well-versed in claim testing will help you be a critical consumer of what you read. If you use claim testers to construct essays, your speaking and writing skills will improve.

In this course, and in everyday life, we encounter assertions or claims. At times, we believe we can take these at face value, but more and more, it is important to question and test the claims that we come across. In other words, we need to decide if the claims are true, so we can determine what to believe. In this course, we use what we call claim testers to help us check the soundness and strength of our beliefs. The four claim testers are intuition, authority, logic, and evidence. Before we use the claim testers, we need to understand what they are! Look at the claim testing poster on the wall, and get ready to review each claim tester as a class.

Now, you’ll practice with a claim. You are going to get a bunch of statements that support the claim: “There is one true history.” Your job will be to determine which supporting statements match which claim tester. Before starting, think about the following example with your class:

The school board and the government require that we all take the same social studies classes.

What claim tester do you think is being used here? Discuss your answer with the class.

Now that you’ve practiced as a class, get into groups and sort the cards into the four claim testing categories and tape them to the grid in the areas designated by your teacher. You will be asked to defend your categorizations at the end of the activity, especially for those supporting statements that were hard to place in just one claim tester category.

Finally, see if you can come up with any statements or counterclaims that might help debunk the claim, “There is one true history.” Do you believe this claim?

Remember that this course encourages us to consider multiple accounts in history. We all have different perspectives, and that is often reflected in how history stories are told. So, while there might be different stories about the same thing, it’s not necessarily because one story is true and another is false—it’s about our perspective. And often, the story that seems more true is just better supported via claim testers—and that is why you’ll be practicing claim testing all the time in this class.

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 deconstructing history, rather than taking everything you read at face value.

At the beginning of each new era of this course, you will be provided with an overview reading that will help you get a sense of what’s to come. By looking at a zoomed-out view of an era, you’ll be able to think about the patterns and themes that exist within it, something that is often more difficult to figure out when you study history in smaller time periods or segments.

Before digging into the article, take out the Three Close Reads Worksheet, and with your class, quickly review the process as well as how to fill out the worksheet. 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. Don’t worry—the process 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.

Before you start to read, make sure you have a question or idea to think about as you read to write in the box at the top of the Three Close Reads Worksheet. Your teacher will probably provide you with the question or idea at first. As you get farther along in the course, your teacher might ask you to help choose these topics or questions. Keep these in mind as you read the article.

Preview – 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 (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 “Questions” section for the first close read and see which questions you can answer quickly.

Key Ideas – 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 are 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, in addition to making sure you understand the information from the article. Also, this is where you will write down any vocab you see in the article that is unfamiliar to you. Your teacher will suggest ways to keep track of these words.

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

1. Why are there so many different types of history?
2. What are some common characteristics of all histories?
3. How do some historians include multiple perspectives?
4. Why does this course begin 13.8 billion years ago? That is, billions of years before humans even evolved?
5. What will this course use as its frame to tell the history of humanity?

Evaluating and Corroborating

Now it’s time for the third and final read. For this read, focus on why this article matters, how it connects to other content you’ve studied. Since this is the first reading assignment of the course, you may not connect it to much other than the knowledge you already have.

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

1. Most history courses begin with humans. This course begins with a prehuman era. To what degree does it help you make sense of human history and your world to think about time at such a large scale?
2. The end of this article mentions how some of the information you’ll learn in the course may lead you to question the narratives that are presented. Why do you think this might be the case? Why would the author want you to test the claims that are being made? Explain your answer.

Era 1 sets the stage for how history can come in many different shapes, sizes, and perspectives. We’ll begin with why there are so many histories and how these can be so different. Then, we’ll begin this history by examining the period from 13.8 billion years ago to 250,000 years ago. This overview uses the frame of Big History to begin our history of humanity and our connections to life, Earth, and the Universe (that is, everything).

Reading this article serves two purposes: it will introduce you to Three Close Reads, as well as giving you an overview of what you are about to learn in Era 1. In particular, this article should help you consider the Era 1 Problem: Why begin a course in human history before humans existed?

At the beginning of each new era of this course, you will be provided with an overview reading that will help you get a sense of what’s to come. By looking at a zoomed-out view of an era, you’ll be able to think about the patterns and themes that exist within it, something that is often more difficult to figure out when you study history in smaller time periods or segments.

Framing Question or Idea

Before you start to read, make sure you have a question or idea to think about as you read to write in the box at the top of the Three Close Reads Worksheet. Your teacher will probably provide you with the question or idea at first. As you get farther along in the course, your teacher might ask you to help choose these topics or questions. Keep these in mind as you read the article.

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

Preview – 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 (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 “Questions” section for the first close read and see which questions you can answer quickly.

Key Ideas  – 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 are 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, in addition to making sure you understand the information from the article. Also, this is where you will write down any vocab you see in the article that is unfamiliar to you. Your teacher will suggest ways to keep track of these words.

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

1. Why are there so many different types of history?
2. What are some common characteristics of all histories?
3. How do some historians include multiple perspectives?
4. Why does this course begin 13.8 billion years ago? That is, billions of years before humans even evolved?
5. What will this course use as its frame to tell the history of humanity?

Evaluating and Corroborating

Now it’s time for the third and final read. For this read, focus on why this article matters, how it connects to other content you’ve studied. Since this is the first reading assignment of the course, you may not connect it to much other than the knowledge you already have.

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

1. Most history courses begin with humans. This course begins with a prehuman era. To what degree does it help you make sense of human history and your world to think about time at such a large scale?
2. The end of this article mentions how some of the information you’ll learn in the course may lead you to question the narratives that are presented. Why do you think this might be the case? Why would the author want you to test the claims that are being made? Explain your answer.

This activity will introduce you to WHP’s map activities. Maps are a great way to show information about our world. They let you know where stuff is in relation to other stuff. They can help orient you in time and space and identify some important historical changes. But maps are also one more way to tell a story. In Era 1, you’re learning about Big History—the 13.8 billion-year history of our universe. As astronomers know, mapping our universe is a really big task, so we’re not going to ask you to do that. Instead, in this first activity, you’ll get familiar with WHP mapping activities by completing a scavenger hunt—a map of your personal universe!

You’ll begin this activity by completing a scavenger hunt, in which you identify, label, and annotate a blank map. Next, you’ll discuss what maps are and what they do. Finally, your teacher will do some show-and-tell, guiding you through some of WHP’s maps so you can easily recognize the various blank, political, and thematic maps you’ll encounter in the course.

Step 1

This is the first of several mapping activities you’ll complete in this course. At the beginning of each era, you will identify features and label them on a map, and at the end of each era, you will use maps to respond to the Era Problem or frame narratives.

Individually or in small groups, you should review the scavenger hunt list and label the map to the best of your ability. Some items on the list ask you to provide an annotation—meaning you need to write notes on the map giving additional explanation along with the label. Remember, this is the first map activity, and you’re not expected to know everything.

Step 2

As a whole class, share your answers to the scavenger hunt and make any corrections to your map. Your teacher will then ask you some questions about what maps are and what they do.

Step 3

In groups or as a whole class, your teacher will guide you through some of WHP’s maps. In the scavenger hunt, you’ve just worked with a blank map, but there are two more kinds of maps in WHP activities: political and thematic maps. As your teacher introduces you to each new map, try to identify important features. What information is contained in the map? What do the labels and colors mean? Where is the legend? What did the makers of this map care about? What’s missing from this map? Did anything surprise you?

Collective learning is one of the developments that made our species distinct from others. It is the human ability to use language to share and pool information. This ability helped us to innovate and to grow our knowledge and skills over time. But it is also possible for a ‘glitch’ to get in the system and for mistaken ideas to be spread through collective learning.

This video introduces the concept of collective learning, an idea that we will return to many times in this course. It argues that collective learning made it possible for us to build large and complex communities, to construct and operate networks, and to pass on information about producing and distributing goods. It also helps us to understand the world today, and our own experiences.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Before you watch the video, open and skim the transcript. Additionally, you should always read the questions below before you watch the video (a good habit to use in reading, too!). These pre-viewing strategies will help you know what to look and listen for as you watch the video. If there is time, your teacher may have you watch the video one time without stopping, and then give you time to watch again to pause and find the answers.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video

1. According to Craig Benjamin, what is collective learning?
2. Why is the concept of collective learning introduced so early in the course?
3. This video introduces the argument by David Christian and Yuval Harari that symbolic language was important to collective learning. According to the video, why is symbolic language important to collective learning?
4. Bob Bain argues that collective learning can also lead to the spread of concepts that are a ‘virus’ or ‘glitch’, and not really useful. Given the images on the screen and the things he is saying, what is one example of a glitch, and why?
5. Where does Sharika Crawford see collective learning working in the world today?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. What is one example of a place where you see collective learning operating in your life?

Sourcing—the act of understanding who wrote a document, where they wrote it, and why they wrote it, for the purposes of analysis or interpretation—is integral to the work of a historian. Without properly understanding an author’s purpose and perspective, it’s difficult to properly interpret a document. In this first activity on sourcing, you’ll learn how an author has framed that event, and how that then impacts your interpretation of it.

Reading, claim testing
It’s nearly impossible to source something without reading it first. Not all sources are based on text, so in this course we consider reading more broadly and include video, artifacts, infographics, photographs, art, and other data representations all part of reading. In order to adequately make sense of a source, it’s important to understand the author, their background, and how this might have impacted what they produced. This connects to one of our claim testers—authority. Understanding what kind of authority the author has helps us interpret their point of view and also assists us in determining if their account is credible or trustworthy.

In this activity, you’re going to read a collection of documents related to a high school located in Anytown, USA, that recently changed its off-campus lunch policy. As you can probably imagine, changing a school policy such as this one garnered a lot of reactions from both the local and school community. Everyone—from the administration, to students, to local business owners—had an opinion about this change. Now, you are being asked to examine everyone’s reactions to this policy change to determine why this was such a significant moment in time. This is something historians do all the time to understand the past: they look at the past from different people’s perspectives to understand the historical importance of that event. This is typically referred to as sourcing.

You will source documents throughout the course, something that is not easy to do. Sourcing can be hard because sometimes people have to interpret old documents that are written in less-modern English, or that are translated from other languages. As part of sourcing work, you’ll also be asked to look at images and other types of documents to try to interpret the creator’s intention. Because this can be tricky, we’ve created a tool you can use to help you source documents. Review the Sourcing Tool, which is included in the Sourcing—Introduction worksheet, with your class. One way to remember what to think about when sourcing is by using the acronym HAPPY. Review each section of the tool with your class and be sure to pay attention to the questions being asked in each section.

Once you’ve reviewed the tool, you’re going to learn more about it by using it to review some source documents from when the off-campus lunch policy change took place.

Get into groups of four and look at the excerpts, also included in the worksheet. Each person in your group should pick one excerpt to read and then share about with the rest of the group. Then, decide which document is the best fit for each of the first four sourcing categories of HAPPY: historical context (H), audience (A), purpose (P), and point of view (P). Be sure you can explain your category decisions and be prepared to share your answers with the class.

Once you’ve discussed the documents as a class, pick out one of the sources and answer the questions in the WhY (Importance) row of the Sourcing Tool. Hand in your answers to your teacher before leaving class.