Teaching big history / edited by Richard B. Simon, Mojgan Behmand, and Thomas Burke.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Simon, Richard B., editor.

Behmand, Mojgan, editor.

Burke, Thomas, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History--Study and teaching.

History.

Physical sciences--Study and teaching.

Physical sciences.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (443 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oakland, California : University of California Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Big History is a new field on a grand scale: it tells the story of the universe over time through a diverse range of disciplines that spans cosmology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and archaeology, thereby reconciling traditional human history with environmental geography and natural history. Weaving the myriad threads of evidence-based human knowledge into a master narrative that stretches from the beginning of the universe to the present, the Big History framework helps students make sense of their studies in all disciplines by illuminating the structures that underlie the universe and the connections among them. Teaching Big History is a powerful analytic and pedagogical resource, and serves as a comprehensive guide for teaching Big History, as well for sharing ideas about the subject and planning a curriculum around it. Readers are also given helpful advice about the administrative and organizational challenges of instituting a general education program constructed around Big History. The book includes teaching materials, examples, and detailed sample exercises. This book is also an engaging first-hand account of how a group of professors built an entire Big History general education curriculum for first-year students, demonstrating how this thoughtful integration of disciplines exemplifies liberal education at its best and illustrating how teaching and learning this incredible story can be transformative for professors and students alike.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction

One. What Is Big History?

Two. Big History and the Goals of Liberal Education

Three. Summer Institutes: Collective Learning as Meta-Education

Four. Assessing Big History Outcomes: Or, How to Make Assessment Inspiring

Five. Big History at Other Institutions

Six. Teaching Complexity in a Big History Context

Seven. Teaching Threshold 1: The Big Bang

Eight. Teaching Threshold 2: The Formation of Stars and Galaxies

Nine. Teaching Threshold 3: Heavier Chemical Elements and the Life Cycle of Stars

Ten. Teaching Threshold 4: The Formation of Our Solar System and Earth

Eleven. Teaching Threshold 5: The Evolution of Life on Earth

Twelve. Teaching Threshold 6: The Rise of Homo Sapiens

Thirteen. Teaching Threshold 7: The Agrarian Revolution

Fourteen. Teaching Threshold 8: Modernity and Industrialization

Fifteen. Threshold 9? Teaching Possible Futures

Sixteen. Reflective Writing in the Big History Classroom

Seventeen. Activities for Multiple Thresholds

Eighteen. Igniting Critical Curiosity: Fostering Information Literacy through Big History

Nineteen. A Little Big History of Big History

Twenty. Big History at Dominican: An Origin Story

Twenty-One. Teaching Big History or Teaching about Big History? Big History and Religion

Twenty-Two. The Case for Awe

Conclusion

Annotated Bibliography of Big History Texts and Resources

Contributors

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520283558

0520283554

9780520959385

0520959388

OCLC:

894124012