World History and Philosophy
COURSE INTRODUCTION:
World History and Philosophy Course Introduction
COURSE LENGTH:
Full Year (30 Sessions)
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
In this course, students will develop their literacy and historical thinking skills while simultaneously exploring the major themes of world history. The course begins in the present and works backwards. Students will explore the modern technological revolution, the industrial revolution, the agricultural revolution, and the cognitive revolution. Students will analyze the extent to which these events were turning points in the human story while also exploring how to understand and grapple with many of the essential questions of World History. Students will leave the course with a solid foundation in historical thinking skills and a greater appreciation for the complexity of the human past.
Course OBJECTIVES:
Thinking like a Historian:
Describe historical context and analyze point of view.
Examine and analyze historical sources.
Identify and analyze historical turning points.
Understand causation, change, and continuity over time.
Apply historical knowledge and historical thinking to contemporary issues.
Thinking about Thinking:
Why do I think what I think?
Why do human beings run the world?
To what extent are people products of their history?
Do the more things change, the more they stay the same?
What drives history?
Literacy Skills:
Critical reading
Argumentation
Public speaking
Collaboration
Reason and Inquiry
Course themes:
Theme 1 - Technological development and the Environment
Theme 2 - Development and Interaction of Cultures
Theme 3 - Political Structures and Systems
Theme 4 - Economic Structures and Systems
Theme 5 - Social Structures and Systems