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BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 1 GUIDE 1

UNIT 1 GUIDE
Table of Contents
Learning Outcomes 2
Key Concepts 2
Misconceptions and Teaching Challenges 3
Vocabulary 4
Lesson and Content Overview 5
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BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 1 GUIDE 2
Unit 1What Is Big History?
Unit 1 Driving Question: Why do we look at things from far away and close up?
Learning Outcomes
1. Define thresholds of increasing complexity, origin stories, and scale.
2. Understand that Big History is a modern, science-based origin story that draws on many different types of
knowledge.
3. Understand how you fit into the Big History narrative, using the concept of thresholds to frame your past,
present, and future and the history of the Universe.
4. Understand what disciplines are and consider the viewpoints of many different scholars about the same
topic.
Key Concepts
Big History is a course that tells the story of the Universe from the Big Bang to the present, which means you and
your students are going to be looking at billions of years of history. Because telling the story of the Universe covers
so much time and so many topics, it will probably require a different approach than other courses youve taught.
Scale
Seeing yourselves as part of the history of everything can help you and your students understand your place in the
Universe. Big History brings together a broad range of historical accounts and many different temporal and spatial
scales. In your own life, you can ask yourself, What is my first memory? Or you can ask about your family history
or the history of your country. But you can also ask about the history of humanity, of life on Earth, or of the Solar
System. In the same way, you can ask about the history of the entire Universe, and you can then try to see how all
these stories fit together.
Origin Stories
Every society has its own history and origin stories. Origin stories focus on the most important questions of our
existence; they tell us how all the components of our world were created, and by doing so they demonstrate how
each of us is linked to everything else. Big History weaves evidence and insights from many scientific and historical
disciplines into accessible origin stories that account for everything within the Universe. Big History tells the origin
stories as told by modern science.
Ways of Knowing and Understanding
The Big History course relies on information from people other than just historians, which is not typical for a history
course. Your students will consider what scholars from many disciplines have to say about the past, including
scholars in physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, anthropology, and of course, history. This type of approach, in
which you and your students consider the viewpoints of many different scholars about the same topic, is called an
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BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 1 GUIDE 3
interdisciplinary approach. Your students will learn that when they use the perspectives of many different disciplines
to help them answer complex questions, theyll inevitably get a fascinating and complex answer.
Thresholds of Increasing Complexity
Obviously, you cant cover everything thats happened in the last 13.8 billion years. In Big History, we use guiding
criteria that determine what gets included in the course and what gets left out. These criteria are defined as the
eight thresholds of increasing complexity. These are the ideas critical to the story of Big History and they guide
decisions about the resources that have been chosen for you to use in teaching the course. You and your students
will spend time learning about the ingredients and Goldilocks Conditions necessary to create each of the eight
thresholds.
Misconceptions and Teaching Challenges
Scale
Another challenging aspect for students is they may feel that their belief systems are in opposition to both the Big
History narrative and the origin stories that they encounter in this unit. Its helpful to point out that there are often
many different explanations for the same phenomena, and instead of trying to reconcile different stories, it can be
more useful to compare the similarities and differences in the stories. This will open their eyes to other narratives
and alternative explanations for history, and set the stage for open-mindedness throughout the course.
Reconciling Faith and Science
Another challenging aspect for students is they may feel that their belief systems are in opposition to both the Big
History narrative and the origin stories that they encounter in this unit. Its helpful to point out that there are often
many different explanations for the same phenomena, and instead of trying to reconcile different stories, it can be
more useful to compare the similarities and differences in the stories. This will open their eyes to other narratives
and alternative explanations for history, and set the stage for open-mindedness throughout the course.
Thresholds of Increasing Complexity
Unit 1 touches on complexity and thresholds, two critical concepts of the Big History course. Although these topics
are important for students to understand, theyre less concrete than other topics in the course, which may make
them more challenging for some students to understand. Reassure students that theyll return to these ideas in
each unit when a new threshold is introduced and over time theyll feel more comfortable with these concepts.
Reading, Writing, and Discussion
The Big History course is great for addressing English and Language Arts standards because it has a framework
for reading, writing, and holding successful class discussions. The course provides leveled readings for all students.
There are anywhere from two to four versions of each article so students at different reading levels can all engage
with the material. The Big History guides to reading, writing, and discussion will help you and your students
navigate and become familiar with the practices that will help them succeed in the course. It may seem like a bit of
a grind at first, but if you use these guides and employ the methods they suggest, it will really pay off in the future.
A few units into the course, the practices will become second nature for everyone. Instead of having to grapple
with how to get through a reading, time will be spent on grappling with Big Historys big ideas.
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Understanding the Website
A common issue for Big History teachers is that their students didnt learn how to use the website early on in the
course, and this affected their experience throughout the school year. It may seem silly and not terribly academic,
but its worth your and your students time to complete the Big History Website Scavenger Hunt activity. This will
save you a lot of headaches down the road.
Vocabulary
astrophysics The study of the properties and interactions of planets, stars, galaxies, and other astronomical
objects.
Big Bang A theory, first articulated in the 1920s, proposing that the Universe started out extremely hot and
dense and gradually cooled off as it expanded.
Big History A unified account of the entire history of the Universe that uses evidence and ideas from many
disciplines to create a broad context for understanding humanity; a modern scientific origin story.
complexity A quality of an object or system that has diverse components precisely arranged in connection
with one another (so that new properties emerge which did not exist in the components alone).
cosmology The study of the Universe on its largest scales, including its origin.
emergent properties Properties of a complex system that are not present within its parts but that emerge
only when those parts are combined.
entropy (the law of) The natural tendency of all things to move from order to disorder. (Note: Although
often called the law of entropy, it is more accurate to refer to it as the second law of thermodynamics.)
Goldilocks Conditions Specific set of conditions necessary to enable greater complexity. The reference is
to the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears, in which Goldilocks looks for the porridge, chair, and bed that
are just right.
history The study of past events.
ingredients Components that are put together to form something new and more complex.
interdisciplinary approach An approach to a subject that uses the viewpoints of many different
kinds of scholars about the same topic. For instance, Big History relies on information from cosmologists,
astrophysicists, geologists, chemists, paleontologists, biologists, anthropologists, and historians, as well as
experts in other disciplines, to learn about the past.
origin story A narrative about the beginning of the Universe and humanity.
religion A set of beliefs and practices that concern humanitys relationship with the spiritual, the
supernatural, and reality.
scale Degrees of magnification, or perspective, used to measure time, space, and size.
science An approach to discovering knowledge about the natural world that relies on testing ideas through
observation or experiment.
scientific notation A method of expressing very large and very small numbers to avoid using the many
zeros that would be required otherwise.
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thresholds of increasing complexity Moments in the history of the Universe when specific ingredients
under the right Goldilocks Conditions come together to create something new and more complex.
Universe All the matter and energy in existence, as well as the space that contains it.
Lesson and Content Overview
Lesson name Lesson description Content Activity
1.0Welcome to Big History Big History starts with the big
picture. Examining Big History
big ideas from the beginning
helps set the stage for the rest
of the course.
Watch: What Is Big History?
Watch: The Big Bang Crash
Course
Watch: A Big History of
Everything H2
Activity: Visions of the Future
Activity: Big History Website
Scavenger Hunt
1.1Scale Big History is so big that we
need to use a variety of scales
to understand different topics
in the course. Looking at things
temporal and spatial scales
helps us do this.
Activity: Powers of 10
Activity: DQ Notebook
Vocab Activity: Memorization
Activity: Big History on a
Football Field
1.2Origin Stories People have always told origin
stories stories about how the
Universe and humans came
to be. Big History is a modern,
scientific origin story.
Watch: Big Questions H2
Read: Cosmology and Faith
Opening: BANG! The
Universe Verse Book 1
Activity: Origin Stories
Introduction
Activity: Origin Stories from a
Variety of Cultures
Closing: DQ Notebook
1.3What Are Disciplines? Big History enlists scholars
from many disciplines including
physics, astronomy, chemistry,
biology, anthropology, and
history to help answer complex
questions.
Watch: Are We Alone? H2
Watch: Ways of Knowing
Introduction to Cosmology
Watch: Ways of Knowing
Introduction to Astrophysics
Opening: Who Knows What?
Vocab Activity:
Comprehension
Activity: Easter Island
Mystery
Closing: Exit Ticket What
Do You Know, What Do You
Ask?
1.4My Big History Students place themselves in
the Big History narrative by
exploring the scale of their own
lives, and the core concepts
of Goldilocks Conditions and
thresholds of increasing
complexity are introduced.
Watch: A Big History of
Everything H2
Read: Complexity and
Thresholds
Opening: My Timeline
Activity: Threshold
Concentration
Activity: History of Me
Closing: Investigation 1
Investigation: Why do we look
at things from far away and
close up?
The first investigation in the
course is focused on scale
and why it is important to look
at things from different spatial
and temporal perspectives.
David Christian and Fernand
Braudel on historical scales
Different geographic and
time scales
Worksheets
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Lesson name Lesson description Content Activity
Additional content Additional content items,
including image galleries,
can be used to augment
lessons or customize
your own unit.
Introduction to Thresholds of
Increasing Complexity (video)
The Big History (video)
A Student of Big History
(video)
Learning tips
Random facts
Related galleries, images,
websites, and videos
Web links
Assessments Unit 1 includes lesson and
glossary quizzes.
Lesson Quizzes Glossary Challenge
Actions The Unit Log is required for
every unit. Unit 1 includes a
survey, which students and
teachers are encouraged to
take.
Unit Log
Survey
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BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 1 GUIDE 7