Working with frames allows you to understand how and why people lived the way they did throughout history. They help you recognize how communities (such as societies and nations); networks (such as those for trade and exchange); and the production and distribution of goods, impacted, and still impact, people in different parts of the world. Viewing history through frames gives us a usable knowledge of history that allows us to make sense of the world today and think critically about the future. The process of depicting frames by drawing them—mixing language with imagery—will make the information more memorable.

In this activity, you will draw the course frames, much like you did earlier in the course. However, instead of coming up with your own ideas about each of the frames, you will draw them according to the frame narratives at this point in the course. This will not only help you gain a sense of your understanding of the frames, but will also give you a chance to review what you’ve already learned, which will help you remember all that stuff!

Don’t worry about your drawing skills—you don’t have to be an artist to complete this activity. However, try to use more pictures than words. And feel free to be creative! Here are the criteria:

• Draw a representation of community based on the content of this era. Be sure to label that area of the picture with “community.”
• Draw a representation of production and distribution based on the content of this era. Be sure to label that area of the drawing with “P&D.”
• Finally, draw the networks between communities (people, states, empires, and so on) based on the content of this era.
• Where possible, use arrows and other lines to show movement. This will largely apply to P&D and networks.

Once you’re done, be ready to share your drawings and thinking behind them with your class. Was your approach the same as your classmates? Or did you think about the frames differently? Frames are no different from anything else we study in history—there can be many perspectives on the same topic.

In museums all around the world, remains of Indigenous peoples and ancestral objects have been stored and held against the wishes of descendent communities. The Pueblo communities of the present have launched extensive efforts to reclaim the remains of their ancestors, as have other Indigenous American communities across the United States. In this video, Jerad Koepp interviews Pueblo leaders and educators about the importance of these efforts and how they help Pueblo people reclaim historical narratives and protect sacred places in the present.

As you learn more and more in this unit about globalization, you’re hearing about how increasing connections have made our communities larger and brought cultures together. Still, we are all connected to our ancestors and to diverse histories. The process of globalization threatens the existence of many Indigenous cultures and traditional ways of life. In this video, you will learn how Pueblo and other Indigenous peoples are resisting and attempting to secure their past for their future.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Remember to open and skim the transcript, and then read the questions below before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Factual

Think about the following questions as you watch this video.

1. According to Theresa Pasqual, why is it a mistake to refer to Pueblo historical sites and ancestral objects as “ruins” and “artifacts”?
2. What challenges do Pueblo people face when trying to access places that are important to their history and culture today?
3. Why does Brian Vallo say that “there’s no need to excavate” archaeological sites?
4. What’s one problem that Dr. Swentzell mentions with returning human remains and cultural objects to the places from which they were removed?
5. What are some examples of successful repatriation of remains and cultural items that Brian Vallo mentions?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. How does this video make you think differently about some of the other archaeological and historical evidence you’ve encountered in this course?

In November 1999, thousands of protesters converged on the streets of Seattle, Washington to protest the World Trade Organization during its annual conference. The protesters were there to voice their opposition to globalization and what they saw as its negative effects. Things quickly turned violent. This article explores the motivations of the diverse groups of protesters and those of the ministers inside the World Trade Organization meeting. The clash between police, protesters, and the WTO symbolized opposing views on the benefits and dangers of globalization.

This article will help you respond to the Era Problem and evaluate the pros and cons of globalization. It also gives you evidence to evaluate globalization and identify how and why it is resisted, using the three frames of this course.

Preview—Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas—Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What is the WTO?
2. Who were the groups that came to protest, and why were so many different people against the WTO?
3. What is the WTO’s main goal?
4. What did the N30 group list as their main goals?
5. What were the results of the protests?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Based on this article and other things you have learned about resistance in this course, do you think violent or non-violent protest is more effective?
2. How were anti-globalization movements like N30 and J8 different from and how were they similar to the reform movements of the long nineteenth century?

Indigenous Americans have played an important role in globalization since the beginning of the Columbian Exchange. Cultural and economic influences flowed both ways across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This video addresses some misconceptions about globalization and explores how the processes of globalization affected indigenous communities. In exploring these changes, the video challenges the misconception that globalization is always a positive process.

This video provides you with evidence to evaluate the effects of globalization on indigenous communities, as well as indigenous communities’ influences on the processes of globalization. This should help you understand how indigenous communities are still impacted by globalization today, such as with the Dakota Pipeline project.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. What are the two misconceptions about globalization that this video addresses?
2. What are some examples of Indigenous Americans’ contributions to globalization?
3. Who was Paul Cuffee Jr., and was globalization good for him?
4. What sort of things do neoliberal policies promote?
5. What is the Dakota Access Pipeline, and what does it tell us about the impacts of globalization on indigenous communities?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. What do historical examples of people resisting the changes connected to globalization share in common with the Dakota Access Pipeline protests?

In 1994, indigenous Maya guerillas calling themselves the Zapatista Army of National Liberation launched an attack on Mexican government institutions. They were protesting free trade agreements that they believed would destroy their ability to live independently. The Mexican government fought back by arming other groups to fight the Zapatistas. Many have died. Although the situation remains dire, Zapatista groups have built schools and provide medical services to communities that did not have them in the past. They offer an alternative system to that of the Mexican government and the global order. Is it better, or worse?

This article provides evidence for you to use in responding to two key issues. The Era 7 Problem asks you to evaluate both the opportunities and the challenges of globalization and to assess whether there is one shared human story, or many different stories. The Zapatista example provides both a challenge to globalization and an alternative system that seems to be outside of globalization. This article will help you extend and contest the both the Era Problem and the way the recent past is told through the frame narratives.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Why did the Zapatista Army of National Liberation attack government institutions in 1994?
2. How do the Zapatistas see themselves as a continuity of a long history?
3. What were Mexican government responses to the Zapatistas?
4. What are the Zapatistas doing in Chiapas in an attempt to provide alternate, community-based services?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. How do you think a Zapatista supporter would describe globalization? Would you agree with their definition? Does the Zapatista example suggest that there are limits to the globalization process? Do you think the Zapatistas will successfully resist globalization in the long term?
2. What does the Zapatista example tell us about change and continuity over long periods of time? What has the Maya experience of the past 500 years been, according to this article?

Those who support globalization argue that it creates freedom and prosperity. Free trade deals like NAFTA open up borders and create close economic ties, bringing down the cost of consumer goods. But all around the world, many workers have had to shoulder the burdens of a world economy. The processes of globalization upend communities and disrupt local patterns of life and production. The Zapatista movement in Mexico and anti-WTO protests in Seattle are two examples of some of the ways people have worked together locally and transnationally to resist globalization.

This article digs deeper into the negative sides of globalization. It provides you with evidence at the local, national, and global levels for understanding the challenges of increasing global connections. This article will help you evaluate the impacts of globalization on human communities, networks, and production and distribution. It provides several examples of globalization’s impacts on global and local economies as well as some networks and communities that resisted its spread. These examples will help as you consider the Era Problem, which asks whether we ought to tell a single human history or many different human histories.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Who were the Zapatistas, and how did they react to globalization?
2. What was the Zapatistas’ main complaint about NAFTA?
3. What is direct action? What example does the article provide for direct action?
4. Is Nike “woke”? In other words, does the clothing company promote social justice through globalization?
5. What is austerity, and how it is an example of the downsides of globalization?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. This article ends by asking “is it possible for globalization to benefit all parts of the world?” But the evidence in this article clearly seems to point toward the answer being “no.” Using examples from your life or from other parts of this course, challenge this claim. What evidence can you think of that shows how the benefits of globalization outweigh the negative examples in this article?
2. The actions of the Zapatistas in Mexico and the “direct action” tactics of the WTO protesters in Seattle were extreme. These people were clearly pushed to a breaking point by the injustices of globalization. What would it take for you to engage in “direct action” and protest injustice in the streets?

In the twenty-first century, news media and politicians often tell alarming stories about refugees. But refugee migration is nothing new. People have been forced to flee their homes for a variety of reasons throughout human history. But it was not until the twentieth century that governments created official legal categories for refugee migration. This article explores how the major trends of the twentieth century displaced millions of refugees. It examines the ways that these migrations reshaped national and international policies and ideas about citizenship and belonging.

This article will introduce you to the major trends in refugee migration during the last 100 years. Refugee migration has influenced the ways that people define membership in communities and the shape of existing communities. Not surprisingly then, this article provides evidence that will help you evaluate the communities frame narrative. As you read, consider the importance of refugee migration for the development of nationalism and the nation-state in an era of globalization.

Preview—Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas—Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. According to this article, why did anti-migrant protests happen in Europe after 2015?
2. What country hosts the most refugees, and what did they receive for limiting illegal refugee migration into the European Union?
3. How did nationalism shape governments’ approaches to dealing with refugees and migration in general?
4. How did decolonization lead to an increase in refugees?
5. According to the author, what are some reasons that refugees migrate and seek refuge?
6. Why do some nations, in particular wealthy nations, allow migrant workers to come into their countries?
7. How did wealthy nations react to increasing refugee and labor migration?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. How do you think globalization has changed the ways that people have migrated in the last 100 years?

There are tens of millions of migrant laborers in the world today, and their stories are human stories representative of a world on the move in search of work and economic prosperity. But the journey is often difficult and the results are only sometimes positive. Grace and Aminah are aliases for two women from Uganda, both of whom followed pathways that took them to the United Arab Emirates to look for work. For one, the experience was positive. For the other, it was dangerous and the results were negative.

This era focuses on the issues and trends surrounding globalization, particularly in the late twentieth century. Central to any discussion of these debates is the story of refugees and their experiences. Globalization is both one cause of the challenges they face and a potential avenue for seeking opportunities. You can use this biography—perhaps together with those of the Ugandan labor migrants—to explore how and why people move in this era.

Read 1: Observe

As you read this graphic biography for the first time, review the Read 1: Observe section of your Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. Be sure to record one question in the thought bubble on the top-right. You don’t need to write anything else down. However, if you’d like to record your observations, feel free to do so on scrap paper.

Read 2: Understand

On the tool, summarize the main idea of the comic and provide two pieces of evidence that helped you understand the creator’s main idea. You can do this only in writing or you can get creative with some art. Some of the evidence you find may come in the form of text (words). But other evidence will come in the form of art (images). You should read the text looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the main idea, and key supporting details. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Where was Islam Alhashel born and why did her family leave?
2. Where did her family first find refuge, and how did they move onward?
3. What were Islam’s experiences when they arrived in the United States?
4. How does the artist use art and design to depict how Islam’s life was fractured, and then rebuilt?

Read 3: Connect

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in this unit of the course. On the bottom of the tool, record what you learned about this person’s life and how it relates to what you’re learning.

1. How does this biography of Islam Alhashel support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about how different communities have experienced globalization in the contemporary era?

To Be Continued…

On the second page of the tool, your teacher might ask you to extend the graphic biography to a second page. This is where you can draw and write what you think might come next. Here, you can become a co-creator of this graphic biography!

There are tens of millions of migrant laborers in the world today, and their stories are human stories representative of a world on the move in search of work and economic prosperity. But the journey is often difficult and the results are only sometimes positive. Grace and Aminah are aliases for two women from Uganda, both of whom followed pathways that took them to the United Arab Emirates to look for work. For one, the experience was positive. For the other, it was dangerous and the results were negative.

This era focuses on the issues and trends surrounding globalization, particularly in the late twentieth century. Central to any discussion of these debates is the story of labor migrants. Although labor migration pre-dates the twentieth century, it is a central feature of the world we live in today because of elements of globalization, such as easier transportation and international finance. This twin biography provides some evidence to help you to evaluate the overall impact of globalization on the lives of people in different parts of the world.

Read 1: Observe

As you read this graphic biography for the first time, review the Read 1: Observe section of your Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. Be sure to record one question in the thought bubble on the top-right. You don’t need to write anything else down. However, if you’d like to record your observations, feel free to do so on scrap paper.

Read 2: Understand

On the tool, summarize the main idea of the comic and provide two pieces of evidence that helped you understand the creator’s main idea. You can do this only in writing or you can get creative with some art. Some of the evidence you find may come in the form of text (words). But other evidence will come in the form of art (images). You should read the text looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the main idea, and key supporting details. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Where did Grace and Aminah come from, and why were they seeking work in the United Arab Emirates?
2. How did Grace and Aminah get permits to travel?
3. How were Grace and Aminah’s experiences in the UAE different?
4. How did the Ugandan government react to the experiences of its citizens like Aminah?
5. How did the artist use art and design to show the different experiences of Grace and Aminah?

Read 3: Connect

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in this unit of the course. On the bottom of the tool, record what you learned about this person’s life and how it relates to what you’re learning.

1. How does this biography of Ugandan Migrants to the UAE support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about how different communities have experienced globalization in the contemporary era?

To Be Continued…

On the second page of the tool, your teacher might ask you to extend the graphic biography to a second page. This is where you can draw and write what you think might come next. Here, you can become a co-creator of this graphic biography!

Reading and writing depend on the ability to identify arguments and supporting evidence—only by understanding this can you identify a main idea in a text or build out main ideas in your own writing. This activity is the final in the claim-testing series, and as in the previous ones in this series, you’ll repeat the practice of creating supporting statements, evaluating evidence, and identifying disconfirming ideas. This activity ends with an opportunity to create your own claim and supporting evidence to assess the pros and cons of globalization. At this point, you’ll demonstrate your command of claim testing and be able to apply it to your own reading and writing.

In this claim-testing activity, you are given four claims about globalization. You are asked to work with these claims in three different ways:

1. Find supporting statements for those claims.
2. Evaluate the strength of the supporting statements provided for those claims.
3. Provide statements that refute (argue against) the claims.

Get into small table groups. Each group should have a complete set of Claim Cards in the middle of their table. Listen for your teacher’s directions for when to start.

Round 1

1. Grab one Claim Card from the center of the table.
2. On the card, write down a statement that supports the claim. You can use prior knowledge or course materials for this.
3. Pass your Claim Card to the person to your right.
4. Write down a statement that supports the claim on the card that you now have. It can’t be the same as any of the supports already written on the card.
5. Repeat the process until each group member has written a supporting statement on each card.
6. Put the Claim Cards back in the center of the table.

Round 2

1. Grab one Claim Card from the pile and stand up.
2. Find at least three other students who have the same claim as you and get into a group with them (if there are more than six people in your group, let your teacher know).
3. Look at all the supporting statements that were written for your claim. Decide which supporting statements are strongest (that is, they best support the claim).
4. Write the strongest supporting statements on the whiteboard so everyone can see them.

Round 3

1. With the same group you were in for Round 2, consider any historical exceptions to your claim. What can you offer to refute the claim?
2. Add at least one refuting statement, what we often refer to as a counterclaim, on the board so everyone can see it.
3. Present both your strongest supporting statements and the exception to the claim to the class—be sure to explain your reasoning for choosing your supporting statements and refutations.

Once you are done, write a two-paragraph mini-essay using one of the claims as a thesis statement. Then, use a few of the best supporting statements as evidence to support your thesis claim. Be sure to acknowledge the counterclaim or refuting statements in your mini-essay. For example:

• You might begin your mini-essay by stating the claim.
• Then, you should use the supporting statements you’ve identified as being the strongest to explain why this claim (thesis) is correct.
• Next, you’ll acknowledge the counterclaim by including the strongest refuting statement you identified in the activity.
• Finally, you’ll provide evidence to refute the counterclaim, which will then add another level of support to your claim (thesis).

This will help you learn the best way to use supporting statements as evidence for a thesis statement, and how to acknowledge counterclaims in essay writing. Be prepared to share these with your class and teacher.

Download the video, We the People

In this activity, you will explore the 17 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and then pick one goal and one country to research further in order to take informed action. While this activity builds important research skills, more importantly, it shows you how in today’s world, a global community has banded together in the interest of making the world a healthier place to live in terms of climate, social justice, and overall economic and social equality. You will consider how our twenty-first-century communities and networks support these lofty goals, and then you will take action in support of one of these goals.

In this activity you will research six of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, pick the goal that seems most important to you, and then research a country that this particular issue has impacted. Finally, you will come up with a way to take informed action in relation to your chosen goal.

Start by watching We the People, a three-minute video about the UN’s goals.

Do you know what this video is about? If not, either your classmates or your teacher will fill you in about the UN Sustainable Development Goals: what they are, and how they were created. Now, it’s time to dig in more! Take a few minutes to review the UN’s 17 sustainability goals, found here: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals. Then, take out the UN Sustainable Development Goals Worksheet and research six of the goals in a bit more depth, adding information about each one of the goals to the worksheet. When you’re done, answer the questions at the end of the worksheet.

Next, choose the goal that is most important to you, and then do some research about one of the countries the issue impacts the most. After you’ve gathered more information, come up with a realistic plan about what kind of action you can take part in to help your global community meet these goals. When you have a plan, get your teacher’s approval before moving forward. Once you get the go-ahead, it’s time to institute your plan! At some point, your teacher will ask you to share your plan and how it worked out with your class. This will include:

• The ways in which you took (or are still taking) action in light of the goal you chose.
• How this has impacted you.
• Whether participating in global action has made you feel like you are a more-involved member of a global community.

Humans are the only species currently able to drastically alter the biosphere (the air, land, and water that make up the Earth) and some scientists seek to highlight this by calling the current epoch of geological time the Anthropocene, from the Greek root for human. Humans have changed the environment, particularly the oceans and atmosphere, through the burning of fossil fuels, which creates excess CO2. In addition, humans have produced nuclear power and artificial chemicals that further change the biosphere. Surviving these changes will take the commitment, innovation, and cooperation of a large portion of all humans on the planet.

Something that unites everyone on Earth is the place we live, Earth. If we impact the Earth as directly as many scientists suggest, and the name Anthropocene highlights, then we will need to cooperate to solve climate change and environmental deterioration. This reading introduces us to both the evidence for and problem of global climate change as it relates to human communities. It also illustrates how decisions and processes that started in the past have a very real influence on the present and even the future.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What is the other geological name for the Anthropocene?
2. What does the graph “Human Influences on Global Temperature” (figure 2.1) illustrate?
3. Using the same reference, compare the period between 1880 and 1940 and that between 1940 and 2020. What do you notice?
4. What is the current rate of decline in the biodiversity of all sectors of the planet?
5. What do Three Mile Island (US), Chernobyl (Ukraine), and Fukushima (Japan) have in common?
6. According to the article, how long do many scientists believe we have left to address global climate change? How might we correct our ongoing impact on the environment?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. How does climate change influence human rights? Who is most affected by climate change?
2. Are different perspectives on climate change helpful or harmful? Both?

After 1945 the international community vowed to never again allow genocide but only thirty years later the Khmer Rouge perpetrated genocide in Cambodia. About twenty years after that genocides occurred in Bosnia and Rwanda. In the twenty-first century genocides continue to take place, for instance in Iraq, Sudan, and Myanmar. Why? The author suggests that it is because the current power structure (an assortment of governments with the most power, money, and influence) favors national sovereignty over international human rights.

This article puts a paradox front and center, why as international human rights have expanded since 1750 has genocide been so common in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries? Why after the world at large appears to have agreed to never again bear witness to genocide do vulnerable populations face genocide even today? The author provides evidence of genocides since World War II and right up to the present. In the process, you can consider the value of studying history at local vs. global scales, which will help you respond to the Era Problem.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What did the United States have to do with the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia?
2. What group of people did the Iraqi government, under Saddam Hussein, subject to a campaign of mass killing?
3. What evidence does the author provide that propaganda played a role in the Rwandan genocide?
4. What groups were involved in the Rwandan genocide?
5. What evidence is there to suggest that religion played a role in the Bosnian genocide and continues to play a role in the ongoing Rohingya genocide?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Respond to the question posed by the author: “If the common language of the international community is indeed human rights, and genocide continues to happen, what does that say about human rights and the collective morality of our global community?”
2. Why do you think the macro (big) and micro (small) levels of human interaction meet in a way that allows for thousands and even millions of people to murder each other? Is it a matter of big ideas or small ones?

Globalization has distanced us from each other almost as much as it has connected us. For instance, substituting processed food for fresh and digital stimuli for lived experience. Families have experienced increased freedom and increased divorce. Trade now accounts for almost half of the world’s GDP. As a result, it is easier than ever to get flowers in winter but what about the environmental impact of getting those flowers to you? This video explores these topics and others to ask the question of whether or not globalization is good or bad.

Because we are experiencing globalization and its outcomes in the present, determining whether or not it is a good or bad thing requires imagining the future. It is hard to imagine the future without reference to the past. The lessons so far have helped guide us in that endeavor and this video leaves open the question to you: is globalization good or bad? The answer may not be the same for everyone, which might help you to respond to the Era Problem: What are the virtues and challenges of trying to tell one human history as opposed to human histories?

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you want the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. What is solipsistic individualism?
2. How has increasing individual freedom changed sex and the family?
3. What are the main points of John’s discussion of flowers?
4. According to the video, how are current models of economic growth and environmental sustainability impacted by globalization? How are they at odds with each other?
5. What country does John list as democracy’s most famous success story?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. Is globalization good or bad? What evidence supports your answer? What evidence challenges your answer?

Historically, most of the energy consumed by humans has been generated by the sun in one way or another. We get energy from plants in the form of food, directly from the sun through solar power, and via fossil fuels. In this video, substitute host Stan Muller discusses these sources of energy and describes how humans will continue to use up this energy as populations increase and energy sources become scarcer. Stan explores some of Alfred Crosby’s ideas in discussing humans and their relationship to energy.

This video will provide you with evidence to respond to the Era Problem and evaluate how our increasing use of energy has driven globalization, and how globalization has in turn sped up our consumption of energy.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. How does Stan define energy and where does most of our energy come from?
2. What were the first two major energy technologies that humans discovered?
3. Does Stan think that coal is a nineteenth-century technology? Explain your answer.
4. Why don’t we use more nuclear energy?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. Do you think the history of energy use is a story of progress? Why or why not?
2. How would the society you live change if we suddenly lost access to energy from fossil fuels?

Throughout the course, you have been pushed to see the ways in which we can make history “usable.” In other words, how can we take what we’ve learned about the past and apply it to today, or even to the future? In this activity, you will use what you’ve learned in the course to make some predictions about what will be happening in the world in 2050 in terms of community, networks, and production and distribution. This will help you continue to practice your skill of making the past relevant and useful.

What will the world be like in 2050? The UN predicts that by 2050, there will be 9.8 billion people on the planet (as compared with 7.7 billion in 2021). What happens when we add 2 billion people to the Earth? In this activity, you’ll predict what the future will be like in various categories and make recommendations for how to prepare for what will be happening in the world in 2050.

First, as a whole class, brainstorm topics that might be problematic when we have 2 billion more people in the world. As we know from our studies of CCOT and causation, things could go in many different directions! After your class has come up with a list, get into small groups and pick one of the issues from the list to focus on.

Take out The World in 2050 worksheet and fill out the organizer to reflect the state of your particular issue in 2050 in relation to each of the course frames. Once you’ve determined what your chosen issue will be like for each of the frames, make recommendations for how the world should most appropriately handle the issue. Make one recommendation for what the world can do now to try to prevent the issue from materializing, and then a second recommendation about what to do if it does materialize. Be creative, but also realistic in making your recommendations. Be prepared to share your ideas with the class.

History is all about narratives, and those narratives are created from a particular perspective. In this course, frames are used to tell three stories of the history of the world—the story of communities, the story of production and distribution, and the story of networks. In this activity, you will tell the history of the world from a frame of your choosing. This will reinforce the concept that all historical narratives are presented through a particular lens, and it will also give you an opportunity to think about the history of the world from the perspective or topic that is most interesting to you. We hope that doing so will be both memorable and motivating.

In this activity, you will create a frame of your own and you will be tasked with presenting the history of the world from that particular frame. What are frames and why do we use them? Think about this and discuss your ideas with your class.

At this point in the course, you probably feel pretty comfortable with the three course frames: communities, networks, and production and distribution. Now, it’s time to create a new frame of your choosing, and then tell the history of the world via that frame. For example, you may want to talk about the history of the world from the perspective of sports. Or maybe from the perspective of food...or music...or art—the list goes on and on. Be creative and have some fun with your frame.

Although the frame itself is your choice, there are a few requirements for this activity. Your frame narrative must have the following elements:

1. Description/definition of the frame.
2. Why you chose the frame.
3. Frame narrative that describes the history of the world, and highlights at least three important time periods in history for your chosen frame, and what changed across those time periods. You can create your own periods based on your topic, but your frame should span the following periods:
   • Before the Columbian Exchange (pre-1492).
   • Columbian Exchange to the long nineteenth century (1492–1914).
   • Global conflict to present (1914–present).
4. Historical evidence that’s used to support the frame narrative.
5. Prediction of what will happen with this frame in the future, supported using historical evidence and what you know about the frame to date.
6. Be creative!

Your teacher will give you direction about the format for what you turn in. Be sure to look at the Build Your Own Frame Checklist before you get started so you have a clear understanding of the goals you’re trying to meet with this activity.

Graded essay scored on the WHP Writing Rubric

Download the Sentence Starters worksheet (optional)

In this final activity in the writing progression, you’ll edit one of your own essays. This is, in many ways, the ultimate editing task. It can be hard to self-edit, as it’s difficult to see your own writing errors. Also, you’re being asked to use the entire rubric to evaluate your essay, instead of just one or two rows. This will help prepare you for your culminating writing assignment in the course, and will also help you be a better writer in general.

In this final activity in the writing progression, you’re going to examine your own essay against the WHP Writing Rubric, and improve it based on what you find. Start by taking out your graded Era 6 DBQ, the WHP Writing Rubric, and the Sentence Starters worksheet, if your teacher makes it available. You will have feedback to use in this process—either from your teacher or your peers, depending on how your essay was graded. Keep in mind that this feedback is intended to supplement the most important part of the self-editing process: your review of your essay against the WHP Writing Rubric. Review your graded essay, then follow the directions on the Writing – Self Editing worksheet.

First up is the Claim and Focus row of the rubric. Identify the major claim in your essay, and then rewrite the claim to improve it. Next, pick one area of focus you could have done better and write an edited version of that on your worksheet.

The second step is revising for use of analysis and evidence. First, add additional evidence to your essay. Then, find one analysis statement you could improve upon (you might even add a new sentence if you found an instance where you didn’t analyze evidence you used) and provide the original and rewritten statements on the worksheet.

Third, look at the organization of your essay and improve one area of the essay where it could be better. This might mean adding a transition sentence or even rearranging some text. Write your suggestions for improving organization on the worksheet.

Fourth, look at how you did in terms of language and style, and improve upon one area in the essay where you could have done better. Even if you didn’t make obvious errors, essays can almost always benefit from more precise language or domain-specific vocabulary to make them even stronger.

Finally, examine how well you applied WHP concepts in your essay and find one area that you can improve upon in terms of that rubric criteria. Add your revised text or your addition to the worksheet.

Note: If you feel you’ve done the best you possibly can on any particular part of your essay, write a statement pointing out the features of your writing—connected to specific rubric criteria—that made it exemplary.

Once you’re done, be prepared to discuss your revision process with the class!

DBQ: Evaluate the extent to which globalization since the Second World War has benefited everyone.

This DBQ is the final writing assessment for the course. It is the exact same prompt you encountered early in the course in DBQ 0. This DBQ will show you how much you have grown in your ability to use a range of texts to construct an evidence-based, well-structured explanation or argument. Answering this DBQ now will give you a true sense of what you’ve learned and accomplished during the course.

Today, you are going to take the final DBQ assessment for the course. Do your best—you’ll very likely see a lot of growth since you first encountered this same DBQ at the beginning of the year.

Take out the DBQ and follow the directions. You may want to review the WHP Writing Rubric to remind yourself of the criteria you are aiming for in your writing.

In order to improve your writing skills, it is important to read examples—both good and bad—written by other people. Reviewing writing samples will help you develop and practice your own skills in order to better understand what makes for a strong essay.

Your teacher will provide sample essays for this era’s DBQ prompt and provide instructions for how you will use them to refine your writing skills. Whether you’re working with a high-level example or improving on a not-so-great essay, we recommend having the WHP Writing Rubric on hand to help better understand how you can improve your own writing. As you work to identify and improve upon aspects of a sample essay, you’ll also be developing your own historical writing skills!