AP WORLD HISTORY: MODERN

(SECONDARY)

Selective Unit 1 (S01)

(Foundation for Modern World History: The World Before 1200)

(July 2019)

Unit Statement: The period before 1200 was instrumental as it set the foundation for the
world today. Via early trade routes, major belief systems spread and took root throughout the
world while empires and states rose and fell. They left a legacy for new states to follow and
adapt. This unit acts as a foundation for the AP World History Modern course and it is
suggested that it is engaged at the beginning of the school year before Essential Unit 1, based
on teacher assessment of student’s understanding of the world before 1200 CE.

Essential Outcomes: (assessed for mastery)

1. The Student Will compare the Paleolithic to the Neolithic era.
2. TSW identify on a map early complex civilizations.
3. TSW explain the causes and effects of human migrations.
4. TSW map continuities and changes in political features.
5. TSW describe social, political and economic characteristics of different historical
regions of the world as they developed.
6. TSW evaluate the role that belief systems played in the organization of civilizations.
7. TSW outline trade networks that connected disparate cultures.
Introduced Outcomes: (not assessed for mastery)
1. TSW identify regions and their locations relative to other regions and landforms. (see
Map 1 AP World History: World Regions; A Big Picture View and Map 2 AP
World History: World Regions; A Closer Look on page 31 of the Course and
Exam Description)
2. TSW identify and apply course themes across periods and regions. (Humans and
Environment [ENV], Cultural Developments and Interactions [CDI], Governance
[GOV], Economic Systems [ECN], Social Interactions and Organization [SIO],
and Technology and Innovation [TEC])
3. TSW identify and explain historical developments and processes. (see Course and
Exam Description page 181)
Key Terms and Concepts:
Neolithic Paleolithic Diaspora
Judaism Zoroastrianism Christianity
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 Hinduism Buddhism Islam
Silk Road Mesopotamia Indus River Valley
Yellow River Valley Nile River Valley Mesoamerica
Ancient Greece Persia Roman Empire
Chinese Dynastic Cycle Mandate of Heaven Dark Ages
Crusades Byzantium Bantu Migrations

Suggested Materials:

• Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, publisher: McGraw

Hill, 2007 by Jerry Bentley and Herbert Ziegler.

Chapters 1-17
Additional Resources:
AP Course Review Books:

• Cracking the AP World History: Modern Exam 2020 Edition (available in November
2019)
• AMSCO® Advanced Placement® World History: Modern. Perfection Learning Corp,
2019.

Suggested Activities:
• Graphic Organizer: Assign an excerpt from a secondary source like Southeast Asia
in World History by Craig A. Lockard (available on World History Connected). Ask
students to read the document silently. Then have them complete the following steps:
With a partner, choose a graphic organizer that represents the structure of the author’s
argument. Reread the document and organize the information learned on the graphic
organizer. Individually, write a summary of the graphic organizer. Start with
“According to the author . . ..”
• Think-Pair-Share and Debriefing: In pairs, assign students two of the regions
addressed in this unit. Ask them to individually complete a Venn diagram comparing
how the governments of each region developed and maintained power. Have students
share their diagrams with their partner and work together to write a claim about
similarities in the process of state formation. Ask a few students to volunteer to share
their claims. Debrief by discussing the strengths and areas for improvement for each
claim with the class.
• Notetaking Method: It is important that students adopt a method that is used
consistently for taking notes. Here are two methods that are used by many AP
teachers:
▪ Cornell Notes are created by dividing the paper in three sections, each section
includes: key points, notes, and summary.

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 ▪ InSPECT is an acronym used as a device for students to remember the AP themes
and use them to take effective notes (Interactions with the environment, Social
interactions, Political systems and ideology, Economic systems, Culture and
interactions, and Technology and innovations). You can either create note sheets
of your own to assign, find one online created by other teachers, or have the
students create them by themselves.
• Create Representations: Give students a set of data, such as the migration rates by
place of origin and destination and have them create a graph that best shows the data
and the trends.
• Guided Discussion: A guided discussion is an umbrella strategy that allows for the
use of different techniques as you guide students through the lesson.
• Jigsaw: Each student in a group actively reads a different text or different passage
from a single text, taking on the role of “expert” on what was read. Students share the
information from that reading with students from other groups and then return to their
original groups to share their new knowledge.
• Look for a Pattern: Students evaluate data or create visual representations to find a
trend.
• Making Connections: Write concepts related to one of the course themes on cards,
place them into a box, and have students pick a concept at random. Give students a
few minutes to gather and recall information about the term and then pair students and
ask them to find the connection between their concepts. Finally, ask the pairs to write
a brief explanation of how the concepts are related.
• Socratic Seminar: Students engage in a focused discussion tied to a topic, essential
question, or selected text in which they ask questions of one another. The questions
initiate a conversation that continues with a series of responses and additional
questions.

Technology Links:
• Destiny Discover (see Librarian) Use this search engine to find age-appropriate
websites that align with your unit.
• Crash Course World History episodes 1-16:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yocja_N5s1I&list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9
• Facebook: Join the AP World History teacher community on Facebook, you will gain
access to the Google Drive that contains hundreds of lessons, articles and ideas from
other AP World History teachers. www.facebook.com
• Internet History Sourcebook: Fordham University has catalogued primary source
documents available for use by history teachers and students. All of the sources
needed for this unit can be found here: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/index.asp
• World History Archives: This website offers documents to support the study of
world history. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/

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 • Khan Academy: Sal Khan and the team have created a collection of lectures and
sources to support the AP World History curriculum:
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-world-history

Suggested Assessment Tools and Strategies:

• Teachers should remember that even at the ‘B’ level, students are expected to be able
to produce work independently or display engagement with the material. Copying a
list or definition from a book should not be considered mastery of a TSW. To display
mastery at the ‘A’ level, the student is expected to exhibit higher order thinking skills.
The student must independently assess, evaluate, interpret, or infer, rather than repeat
a memorized response.
• Attached rubric or teacher-generated rubric that assesses ALL essential outcomes
(TSWs). An effective rubric is presented and discussed with the student at the
beginning of the unit, referred to throughout the unit, and used to assess at the end.
Students will collaborate with peers and the teacher to assess mastery of the
unit with final judgment by the teacher.
• Teacher made exams that mirror the AP exam: it should include Stimulus Based
Multiple Choice Questions (SBMCQ’s), Shorth Answer Questions (SAQ’s),
Document Based Questions (DBQ’s) and Long Essay Questions (LEQ’s).

RUBRIC FOUND ON FOLLOWING PAGE………………………………………

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 AP WORLD HISTORY: MODERN
Suggested Rubric S01: Foundations- The World Before 1200

Name______________________________ Class _____________Date______________________

• All TSWs must be mastered for a ‘B’.
• 2 of 3 ‘A’ level TSWs should be met to receive an ‘A’.

TSW- B level A level Comments

1) I can compare the Paleolithic to My comparison includes multiple
the Neolithic era. similarities and differences between
the two periods.

2) I can identify on a map early

complex civilization.

3) I can explain the causes and

effects of human migrations.

4) I can map continuities and

changes in political features.

5) I can describe social, political My description is inclusive of social,

and economic characteristics of
different historical regions of the
world as they developed.
6) I can evaluate the role that
belief systems played in the
organization of civilizations.
7) I can outline trade networks
that connected disparate cultures.
political and economic characteristics
of multiple states and empires as they
developed over time.
My evaluation assesses the impact
that belief systems had on social,
political and economic features of
multiple civilizations across time and
place.

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AP WORLD HISTORY SEC S01
Copyright © 1988-2019