BIG HISTORY 1 (FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE 1 – 4FYE1)

Ask the big questions about our Universe, our planet, life, and humanity. Explore 13.8 billion years of the
past, but don’t stop there. How does Big History help us understand our present and inform our future? Where do
we stand in the “Big History”? Where is GOD in the “Big History”?
OVERVIEW OF MODULE 1

Big History is a course that tells the story of the Universe from the Big Bang to the present, which
means students are going to be looking at billions of years of history.
In this module, students learn how stars were created, how they have changed the Universe, and why
they play such an important role in Big History. Students learn how aging and dying stars created new
elements, including the elements from which we are made. Finally, they learn how the Universe
became more chemically complex as entirely new forms of matter, each with distinctive properties,
began to appear in the space between stars.
 INTRODUCTION TO BIG HISTORY

What Is Big History?

Summary
Big History is a unique history
course because it strives to tell
the history of the Universe
from the Big Bang to the
present, rather than focus on
some smaller chunk of the
story, as history courses have
typically done. Because Big
History answers questions
about how the Universe began
and the place of humans in the
Universe, it is considered a
modern, scientific origin story.

Big History weaves expert

thinking about the Universe
into a coherent story, one that
tells us about the way the
world is, how we fit in, and
where we are going. Big
History is defined by looking at
the entire span of history at
different scales. It’s is a
modern, scientific version of
an origin story.
 Big History is a course
that’s probably different
from other history courses
your students have taken.
It covers a much bigger
chunk of history than
other history courses—all
of it, in fact! It uses
information from many
academic disciplines—
physics, astronomy,
chemistry, biology, and
anthropology—to tell its
story. Big History focuses
on how the Universe has
become more complex
over time.

How did things get to be the way they are?

How was the Universe created?
Why are stars so big and humans so small?
Why are we here in this part of the Universe?
Why are humans so powerful? What does it mean to
be human?
 Seeing yourselves as part of
the history of everything can help you
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.