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Course Description:

The goal of this course is to enable students to develop an understanding of global developments and interactions from 8000 BCE to present day. It is shaped according to six themes and the “habits of mind” as presented in the AP World History, Course description Guide. These themes and habits of mind are listed in the sections below.

For each time period, knowledge of major developments that illustrate or link the six thematic areas and of major civilizations in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe is expected. Coverage of European history will not exceed 30% of the total course in order to encourage increased coverage of topics that demonstrate diffusion across cultures, as well as attention to areas of the world outside of Europe.

By providing an engaging and rigorous course it is hoped that the students will develop the background knowledge to help them understand the complexities of their world and an appreciation for cultures other than their own. Students are strongly encouraged to take the AP World History Test and the course focuses on providing guidance and practice to ensure the student’s success in that endeavor.

Themes:

1. Impact of interaction among major societies

2. The relationship of change and continuity across the world history periods covered in this course

3. Impact of technology and demography on people and the environment.

4. Systems of social structure and gender structure.

5. Cultural and intellectual developments and interactions among and within societies.

6. Changes in functions and structures of states and in attitudes toward states and political identities, including the emergence of the nation-state.

Habits of Mind:

All History Courses

• Constructing and evaluating arguments: using evidence to make plausible arguments.
• Using documents and other primary data: developing the skills necessary to analyze point of view, context, and bias, and to understand and interpret information.
• Developing the ability to assess issues of change and continuity over time.
• Enhancing the capacity to handle diversity of interpretations through analysis of context, bias, and frame of reference.

World History

• Seeing global patterns over time and space while also acquiring the ability to connect local developments to global ones and to move through levels of generalizations from the global to the particular.

• Developing the ability to compare within and among societies, including comparing societies’ reactions to global processes.

• Developing the ability to assess claims of universal standards yet remaining aware of human commonalities and differences; putting culturally diverse ideas and values in historical context, not suspending judgment but developing understanding.

Required Texts, Supplies & Learning Materials:

• Text: Bentley, Jerry, Herb Ziegler. Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, 3^rd ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2006.

• Other texts and readings will be given during the year.

• Supplies: Pen, pencil, bound notebook required. Colored pencils, highlighters, scissors, glue optional.

Course Outline:

Quarter	Topics
1st	Foundations 8000CE – 600CE (Early civilizations, classical China, India, Greece and Rome) Cross cultural interaction 600CE – 1450CE (The Maya, The Rise of Islam, Tang and Song China, the Mongols, and the Black Death…)
2nd	Cross cultural interaction (ctd) Emergence of the first global age 1450CE – 1750CE (European Exploration, Renaissance, Reformation & Scientific Revolution, Atlantic Slave Trade, Ming China, Gunpowder Empires, Inca & Aztec etc…)
3rd	Emergence of the first global age (ctd) Revolution, Industrialization and Imperialism 1750 – 1914 (Enlightenment, French Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Western Imperialism, Qing China, Scramble for Africa etc…) The Contemporary World 1914 – today
4th	The Contemporary World (ctd) (World War I, Nationalism in Latin America, Africa & Asia, The Age of Anxiety, World War II, Cold War, End of Imperialism & Globalization etc…) Exam Review Research Project (The Greatest Individual in History)

Topics covered each quarter are stated following College Board guidelines but may change due to instructional needs.