Sessions

 

Session 1:  Looking Back

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define accelerate, achievement, challenge, collectively, complexity, existence, generate, generation, hydrogen, network, population, solution, technology and universe.

Students will review units 1 - 9.

Students will review the vocabulary for this unit.

Students will complete and discuss their answers on the Vocabulary: Part 1 worksheet.

Students will watch and discuss "The History of Everything – Ted"

HOMEWORK:

No Homework

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Session 2: Scale

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will examine the Driving Question Notebook and Discussion Guide.

Students will review how important scale is to understanding the Big History story.

Students will evaluate a historical event and explain why an interdisciplinary team is better than solving a problem from an individual perspective. 

HOMEWORK:

No Homework

 

Session 3: Natural Disasters and Globalization

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will examine natural disasters and their impact upon global historical events. 

Students will review the vocabulary for this unit.

Students will complete and discuss their answers on the Vocabulary: Part 2 worksheet.

Students will watch and discuss "Globalization II – Good or Bad?: Crash Course World History" 

HOMEWORK:

No Homework. 

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Session 4: Atmosphere and Climate

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will watch and discuss "The Atmosphere and Climate" and "Jacqueline Howard Presents: A Day on Mars".

Students will examine gaps that exist in today’s world, and challenge preconceived ideas about what the world is really like today.

Students will identify a problem affecting the world at large, and they will then predict a vision of the future based on this problem and what they now know about the history of the Universe. 

HOMEWORK:

Create your presentation. It must have the following:

• Define and explain the problem, and explain why they picked that problem.

• Explain why it qualifies as a problem that affects the entire world rather than a small part of it.

• Explain how this problem affects the world now, and how they think it will impact the world in 25 years and in 100 years.

• Explain the top three changes to the world that result from this problem now, in 25 years, and in 100 years. Students should use their understanding of the history of the Universe to create an evidence-based vision of the future.

• Share research findings about the current status of the problem (if any exists).

• Research and share predictions that have already been made about what this problem might look like in the future.

• Discuss how their visions of the future have changed since Unit 1.

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Session 5: Looking Forward

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will present their presentations. 

Students will create a new timeline of their lives, include some predictions about future thresholds, and compare it to the one they made at the beginning of the course. 

Students will watch and discuss "A Big History of Everything – H2".

Students will read, analyze and discuss "Complexity and the Future" using the Three Close Reads method. 

HOMEWORK:

No Homework. 

 

Session 6: Into the Future

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will watch and discuss "Visions of the Future – Bill Gates" and "Crash Course: The Deep Future"

Students will read, analyze and discuss "Biography of Sylvester James Gates, Jr.: At the Forefront of Science" using the Three Close Reads method.

Students will examine the Driving Question Notebook and Discussion Guide.

HOMEWORK:

Create a solution for a problem that you think will happen. You will have 5 - 10 minutes to present the problem and your solution to the class in the next session. Be creative as possible, but also to be realistic. Using your scientific and historical knowledge and common sense, what can you come up with? If you're going to create a new technology, you should draw a simple model of this technology that explains the most important parts. If you develop an action plan, you should create a digital presentation that includes the steps of your plan.

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Session 7: Aliens

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will present their projects. 

Students will make connections between possible alien life, their home planet’s environment, and how these two things are connected.

Students will watch and discuss "The Fermi Paradox – Where Are All the Aliens?"

Students will use the most recent scientific evidence and discoveries to discuss, imagine, and come up with their own ideas about how many of these worlds there might be in the galaxy.

HOMEWORK:

No Homework

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Session 8: Hello! Anyone Out There?

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will watch and discuss "Neil deGrasse Tyson – Where Are the Aliens? " 

Students will read, analyze and discuss "“Are We Alone? Now Is the Time to Find Out" and “40 Years Ago, Earth Beamed Its First Postcard to the Stars” using the Three Close Reads method. 

Students will review some of what they learned in this lesson, and use it to think more deeply about what and how they would communicate with an alien species.

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