Teaching Big History

Richard B. Simon, Mojgan Behmand, Thomas Burke

Univ of California Press, Dec 23, 2014 - History - 426 pages

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

• Introduction I: 1
• THE CASE FOR BIG HISTORY: 9
• Big History and the Goals of Liberal: 21
• to Make Assessment Inspiring: 41
• The Big Bang: 91
• The Formation: 109
• Heavier Chemical: 120
• The Formation: 135
• The Evolution: 149
• Homo sapiens: 164
• The Agrarian: 201
• Modernity: 215
• Threshold 9? Teaching Possible Futures: 232
• Reflective Writing in the Big History: 261
• Activities for Multiple Thresholds: 275
• Fostering: 287
• A Little Big History of Big History: 296
• BIG HISTORY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS: 309
• Big History? Big History and Religion: 318
• CONTENTS: 361

About the author

Richard B. Simon is Adjunct Professor of English at Dominican University of California, instructor of English at City College of San Francisco, and Contributing Editor at Relix magazine.

Mojgan Behmand is Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Dominican University of California. She is also Associate Professor of English and former Director of General Education and First Year Experience.

Thomas Burke isÊAssistant Professor of English and Cultural Studies at Dominican University of California.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Teaching Big History
• Authors: Richard B. Simon, Mojgan Behmand, Thomas Burke
• Edition: illustrated, reprint, annotated
• Publisher: Univ of California Press, 2014
• ISBN: 0520283546, 9780520283541
• Length: 426 pages
• Subjects: History / Ancient / General; History / World; Science / Cosmology