Collective Learning
The greatest power humankind has ever wielded is not the engine or the atom but collective learning, the capacity to share and build on one another’s knowledge. Dig into the “big history” of collective learning, from collaboration among early humans to the exchange of scientific knowledge between diverse modern cultures.
Featured Materials
Collective Learning
Video
Collective Learning
Collective learning allows us to share, store, and pass on information. Its development was a transformational episode in human history, and still affects us today.
"Collective Learning" (Part 1)
Article
"Collective Learning" (Part 1)
Collective learning sets humans apart from all other species, and language magnifies the impact of that learning.
Early Evidence of Collective Learning
Video
Early Evidence of Collective Learning
Stone tools, changes in the human skull, and mutant genes: John Shea discusses some of the early evidence we have for collective learning.
Standing on the Shoulders of Invisible Giants
Article
Standing on the Shoulders of Invisible Giants
The history of science is a history of our collective learning. Historians piece together different conversations to tell a story that crosses centuries and continents.
The Missing Link?: The Maragha Observatory
Article
The Missing Link?: The Maragha Observatory
From Ptolemy to Copernicus and Galileo, thinkers have debated what the Universe looked like for centuries. Ultimately, scholars moved from an Earth-centered model to a Sun-centered model. How did we get there?
Threshold 6: Humans and Collective Learning
Video
Threshold 6: Humans and Collective Learning
About 200,000 years ago, man evolved to become the most important force for change on the Earth’s surface. What makes us so different from other living things? How did we, together, make something entirely new?
Collective Learning Snap Judgment
Activity
Collective Learning Snap Judgment
You think you know collective learning? Prove it by evaluating these snap judgments.
Culture and Collective Learning Debate
Activity
Culture and Collective Learning Debate
Does culture count as collective learning? Debate this topic with your classmates and decide if cultural changes occur as a direct result of our ability to learn collectively.
Lion of the Sea: Ahmad Ibn Mājid
Article
Lion of the Sea: Ahmad Ibn Mājid
Being a great sailor requires a lot of knowledge, and the greatest among them relied heavily on the collective learning that made crossing the vast Indian Ocean possible.