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1. is designed to provide the raw materials any teacher would need to describe the course to administrators, parents or other teachers

2. should be customized and tailored to the audience as needed by the presenter

3. slide 6 should be updated by the presenter to reflect how the course would function in a specific environment

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Instructions: this presentation

Big History ProjectIntroduction

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WHAT IS BIG HISTORY?

A social studies course covering 13.7B years of shared history.

Big history looks at the history of the Universe, from the Big Bang to modernity, and explores common themes and patterns that can help us better understand people, civilizations and the world we live in.

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WHAT IS THE BIG HISTORY PROJECT?

A collaborative effort to create a big history course for teachers everywhere.

• Complete, free curriculum including assessments, lesson plans and all content.

• A website that provides easy access to course materials for educators and students.

• Training and professional development opportunities.

• Active community of “big historians” to keep the course fresh, impactful, and connected.

• Advocacy organization to support schools and districts seeking to deploy the course.

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WHO IS BEHIND THE BIG HISTORY PROJECT?

Experts / Guest LecturersBroad range of experts on cutting edge of their fields share their perspectives – including Walter Alvarez, Janna Levin, Skip Gates , Sal Khan and many more

University of MichiganManages student data and assessment (always anonymous!) and drives course strategy

Teachers and Schools Course built in conjunction with core set of pilot schools – both public and independent

David Christian and Bill Gates David was one of the pioneers of big history, and his college level course inspired Bill Gates explore a collaboration designed to bring big history to high school students everywhere.

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OUR GOAL

By sharing “the big picture” and challenging students to explore the relationship between key events over time, Big History Project helps students learn how to synthesize complex information, develop key critical thinking skills and enhance their reading, writing, presentation, and research skills.

These skills and the perspective big history fosters is vital not only to more discipline-specific work in the sciences and humanities, but helps students understand and evaluate individual and societal impact – and potential.

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WHY OFFER BIG HISTORY?It’s a unique opportunity to engage students in a powerful learning experience that prepares them for broader, more integrative thinking.

1.Interdisciplinary: weaves together elements of traditional history, science, and 21st century skills

2.Common Core aligned: we engineered the course to deliver on CCSS ELA standards for 9 th/10th grade

3.Innovative online model: makes distribution easy and engages multiple learning styles

4.Flexible: modular curriculum can be adapted to fit school specific needs spanning PBL, STEM, ELA

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BIG HISTORY AT (SAMPLE SCHOOL)

Target grade: 9th/10th Elective

Teachers:

Approach: Pre-AP preparatory; designed to prepared students for AP US and World History by providing background and emphasizing core skill development.

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COURSE STRUCTURETotal course covers 13.7 billion years of history

Split into 2 main sections

1. Formations and early life: theories and evidence of origins of the Universe, planet formation, elements, and life.

2. Humans: the development of humans, civilizations and key milestones in our progress.

Formations and early life (50%) Humans (50%)

Assessment 1

Assessment 2

Assessment 3Post Course

Survey

Pre Course Survey

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Sample Content

Main Talk Videos

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Sample Content

Threshold Videos

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Sample Content

Animations

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Sample Content

Infographics

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Sample Content

Texts

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Sample Content

Comic Books

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Activities

Investigations

Teacher versions

Student versions

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Activities

Project Based Learning

Teacher versions

Student versions

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Activities

Debates

Teacher versions

Student versions

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Activities

Claim Testing

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Activities

A Hunter-Gatherer Menu

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Main Page

Website

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Unit View

Website

Get teaching or technical help

Each content item

is a tile

Unit resources

Ready-made lessons and

inline teaching guidance

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Unit View Continued

Website

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Lesson View

Website

BIG HISTORY PROJECT / INTRODUCTION

Lesson Components All

Downloadable

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Pilot Program

Our school’s responsibilities

1. Deliver a full big history course

2. Actively provide feedback to program team to improve the course

3. Administer light assessment program to help validate course impact

4. Be a sponsor and advocate for the program as needed in our region

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Pilot Program

ASSESSMENT PROGRAM

1. All assessments are “opt in” for students via simple consent form

2. 3 student perception surveys to gauge their reactions to the course

3. 3 lightweight (1250 word) writing samples

4. 3 tests focused on the core big history story and content

All data is anonmized and managed under strict supervision of The University of Michigan with extremely high levels of privacy protection.

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The Big History Project Community

Global map icon with BH schools pinned

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Does it work?

1. Student interest in the course is strong due to unique, innovative content, and compelling “big story.”

2. Focus on healthy debate and “claim testing” improves student engagement while helping to hone critical thinking and presentation skills.

3. Big history’s emphasis on interpretation of past events with an eye to implications for the future prepares students to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

4. Extremely flexible format and approach enables teachers to meet key standards and outcomes while serving their specific school and student needs.

5. Turnkey lesson plans and assets makes teacher prep easy, and improves effective instruction for students.

6. Strong growth in both content knowledge , skills and perception of self capacity achieved in a wide variety of learning environments.

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Go Deeper!

Follow Big History Project

David Christian’s TED talk Check out the site (You can register!) Learn more about Bill Gates’ participation

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Thank You