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Advanced
Placement World History Course
Syllabus Spring,
2007 www.historyhaven.com Jonathan
Henderson |
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Course
Description
AP
World History is an advanced level course designed to prepare students for the
Advanced Placement exam administered by the College Board in May of each
year. Final test scores are reported on
a 5 point basis; students who score a 3 or better may earn college credit,
advanced placement, or both, depending on their college.
This
course will be much different than the traditional high school World History or
Western Civilization course. European
History will comprise only about 30% of the course. American History is considered only to the
extent of its involvement in global processes.
In short, the approach will be truly global, analyzing and comparing
several themes across different regions and time periods. To manage the daunting scope of the subject
material, this course has been developed around six organizational themes.
Course Themes
The
themes round which this course will be taught are:
- the impact of
interaction among major societies
- the relation of change
and continuity from 1000 to the present
- the impact of
technology and demography on people and the environment
- systems of social and
gender structure
- cultural and
intellectual movements among and within societies
- changes in functions
and structures of states
Time Periods and Exam Dates
Chronologically,
the course will be broken down into the following time periods with unit exams
following each:
I.
Foundations 8000 B.C.E. to 600
C.E. January 29
II.
600-1450 February 26
III. 1450-1750 March
20
IV. 1750-1914 April
19
V.
1914-the present May
11
APWH EXAM May 17
Requirements
This
is a college-level course and will be treated as such in every respect. Students should be aware that college
courses require inordinately more reading and writing than their high school
counterparts. It is impossible to
cover all the material for the AP test in the 79 days we have this semester. Consequently, it is imperative that you read
all the assigned material. Class
discussions and lectures are designed to compliment the text readings, not reinforce them. Please understand
that I
will test you on reading material not covered in class and you will not be
successful in this class without reading the assignments. One of my goals for this class is to create
an atmosphere of relaxed alertness, intellectual freedom and analytic
discussions. This cannot be accomplished
if you come to class unprepared.
All
students must have an email account (see me if you need one.) Internet access is highly recommended.
Reading Quizzes
The
most frequent grade in this class will be quizzes on assigned readings. These will count as formative assessments
(40% of total grade).
Essays
Every
one or two weeks you will write a timed in-class essay in the format of the
essays you will write on the APWH test in May.
These will count as summative assessments (60% of total grade).
Exams
The
five Unit exams in this class will follow the format of the AP exam you will
take in May. Each exam will be comprised
of multiple-choice questions and an essay question. These count at summative assessments (60%).
Projects and writing
assignments
There
will be a group project on the 5 APWH units of study. The class will be divided into groups and
each group will research the six APWH themes for the given period and report it
to the class as a PowerPoint presentation at a specified time.
Notebook
Every
student is also required to keep a notebook.
The notebook will contain this syllabus, class notes, papers and
handouts, essay rubrics, and all documents used in class.
TEXTBOOKS AND RESOURCES
The
primary text for this class is:
Bently,
Jerry H., et al, Traditions and
Encounters, 3rd edition (
Other
required reading:
Documents
and primary sources available in class, on my website, or on reserve in the library.
The class
website is:
www.historyhaven.com
GRADING
The
semester and quarter grades for this class will be calculated according to the
following guidelines:
Summative Assessments 60%
Formative Assessments 40%
Note: Unit Exams will be graded on the College Board
guidelines for AP test, not on an exact percentage.
What
you need to know
According to the College Board, here is what you
need to know for this course, broken down into each unit of study.
Unit I:
Foundations: c. 8000 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.
What students are expected to know:
Major Developments:
1. Locating
world history in the environment and time
a. Environment
i. Geography
and climate: Interaction of
geography and climate with the development
of human society
ii. emography: Major population
changes
resulting from human and environmental
factors
b. Time
i. Periodization in early human history
ii.
Nature and causes of changes associated
with the time span
iii.
Continuities and breaks within the time span
c.
Diverse Interpretations
i. What are the issues involved in
using
"civilization"
as an organizing principle in world
history?
ii. What
is the most common source of change:
connection or diffusion versus independent
invention?
2. Developing
agriculture and technology
a. Agricultural,
pastoral, and foraging societies, and
their demographic characteristics
(include
the
b. Emergence
of agriculture and technological
change
c. Nature
of village settlements
d. Impact
of agriculture on the environment
e. Introduction
of key stages of metal use
3. Basic
features of early civilizations in different
environments: culture, state, and social
structure
(Students should be able to compare
two of these
listed)
a.
b.
c.
d. Shang
e.
4. Classical
Civilizations
a. Major
political developments in
the
b. Social
and gender structures
c. Major
trading patterns within and among Classical
Civilizations; contacts with adjacent regions
d. Arts,
sciences, and technology
5. Major
Belief Systems
a. Basic
features of major world belief systems prior
to 600 C.E. and where each belief system
applied
by 600 C.E.
b. Polytheism
c. Hinduism
d. Judaism
e. Confucianism
f. Daoism
g. Buddhism
h. Christianity
6. Late
Classical Period (200 C.E. to 600 C.E.)
a. Collapse
of empires (Han China, loss of western
portion of the
b. Movements
of peoples (Huns, Germans)
c. Interregional
networks by 600 C.E.: Trade and
religious diffusion
Major Comparisons and Snapshots
· Comparisons
of the major religious and philosophical systems including some underlying
similarities in cementing a social hierarchy, e.g., Hinduism contrasted with
Confucianism
· Role of
women in different belief systemsBuddhism,
Christianity, Confucianism, and Hinduism
· Understanding
of how and why the collapse of empire was more severe in western
Europe that it was in the eastern
· Compare the
caste system to other systems of social inequality devised by early and
classical civilizations, including slavery
· Compare
societies and cultures that include cities with pastoral and nomadic societies
· Compare the
development of traditions and institutions in major civilizations, e.g.,
Indian, Chinese, and Greek
· Describe
interregional trading systems, e.g., the Indian Ocean Trade
Examples of the types of information students are expected to know
contrasted with examples of those things students are not expected to know for
the multiple-choice section:
· Nature of
the Neolithic Revolution, but not the characteristics of previous stone ages,
e.g., Paleolithic and Mesolithic
· Economic
and social results of the agricultural revolution, but not the specific date of
the introduction of agriculture to specific societies
· Nature of
patriarchal systems, but not changes in family structure within a single region
· Nature of
early civilizations, but not necessarily specific knowledge of more than two
· Importance
of the introduction of bronze and iron, but not specific inventions or
implements
· Political
heritage of classical
· Greek
approaches to science and philosophy, including Aristotle, but not details
about other specific philosophers
· Diffusion
of major religious systems, but not the specific regional forms of Buddhism or
Aryan or Nestorian Christianity
Unit II: 600 C.E.
to 1450 C.E.
What students are expected to know:
Major Developments
1. Questions
of Periodization
a. Nature
and causes of changes in the world history
framework leading up to 600 C.E.
1450 C.E. as a
period
b. Emergence
of new empires and political systems
c. Continuities
and breaks within the period (e.g., the
impact of the Mongols on international
contacts
and on specific societies)
2. The
Islamic World
a. The
rise and role of Dar al-Islam as a unifying
cultural and economic force in
b. Islamic
political structures, notable the caliphate
c. Arts,
sciences, and technologies
3. Interregional
networks and contacts
a. Development
and shifts in interregional trade,
technology, and cultural exchange
i. Trans-Saharan
trade
ii.
iii. Silk
routes
b. Missionary
outreach of major religions
c. Contacts
between major religions, e.g., Islam and
Buddhism, Christianity and Islam
d. Impact
of the Mongol empires
4.
a. The
importance of the Tang and Song economic
revolutions and the initiatives of the
early Ming
dynasty
b. Chinese
influence on surrounding areas and its
limits
5. Developments
in
a. Restructuring
of European economic, social, and
political institutions
b. The
division of Christendom into eastern and
western Christian cultures
6. Social,
cultural, economic, and political patterns in the
Amerindian world
a. Maya
b. Aztec
c. Inca
7. Demographic
and environmental changes
a. Impact
of nomadic migrations on Afro-Eurasia and
the
Vikings, and Arabs)
b. Migration
of agricultural peoples (e.g., Bantu
migrations, European peoples to east/central
c. Consequences
of plague pandemics in the
fourteenth century
d. Growth
and role of cities
8. Diverse
interpretations
a. What
are the issues involved in using cultural
areas rather than states as units of analysis?
b. What
are the sources of change: nomadic
migrations versus urban growth?
c. Was
there a world economic network in this
period?
d. Were
there common patterns in the new
opportunities available to and
constraints placed
on elite women in this
period?
Major Comparisons and Snapshots
· Japanese
and European feudalism
· Developments
in political and social institutions in both eastern and western
· Compare the
role and function of cities in major societies
· Compare
Islam and Christianity
· Gender
systems and changes, such as the impact of Islam
· Aztec
Empire and Inca Empire
· Compare
European and sub-Saharan African contacts with the Islamic world
Examples of the types of information students are expected to know
contrasted with examples of those things students are not expected to know for
the multiple-choice section:
· Arab
caliphate, but not the transition from Umayyad to Abbasid
· Mamluks, but not Almohads
· Feudalism,
but not specific feudal monarchs such as Richard I
· Manorialism, but not the three-field system
· Crusading
movement and its impact, but not specific crusades
· Viking
exploration, expansion, and impact, but not individual explorers
· Mongol
expansion and its impact, but not details of specific khanates
· Papacy, but
not particular popes
·
Unit III: 1450 C.E.
to 1750 C.E.
What students are expected to know:
Major Developments:
1. Questions
of Periodization
Continuities and breaks, causes of changes from the
previous period and within this period
2. Changes in
trade, technology, and global interactions
3. Knowledge
of major empires and other political units
and social systems
a.
African
empires in general but knowing one (Kongo,
b.
Gender and empire (including the role of women in
households and in politics)
4. Slave
systems and slave trade
5. Demographic
and environmental changes: diseases,
animals, new crops, and comparative
population
trends
6. Cultural
and intellectual developments
a. Scientific
Revolution & the Enlightenment
b. Comparative
global causes and impacts of cultural
change
c. Changes
and continuities in Confucianism
d. Major
developments and exchanges in the arts
(e.g., Mughal)
7. Diverse interpretations
a. What
are the debates about the timing and extent
of European predominance in the world economy?
b. How
does the world economic system of this
period compare with the world economic network
of the previous period?
Major Comparisons and Snapshots
· Imperial
systems: European monarchy compared with a land-based Asian empire
· Coercive
labor systems: slavery and other coercive labor systems in the
· Comparative
knowledge of empire (i.e., general empire building in
· Compare
Examples of the types of information students are expected to know
contrasted with examples of those things students are not expected to know for
the multiple-choice section:
· Neoconfucianism, but not specific Neoconfucianists
· Importance
of European exploration, but not individual explorers
· Characteristics
of European absolutism, but not specific rulers
· Reformation,
but not Anabaptism or Huguenots
· Ottoman
conquest of
· Siege of
· Slave
plantation systems, but not
· Institution
of the harem, but not Hurrem Sultan
Unit IV: 1750 C.E.
to 1914 C.E.
What students are expected to know:
Major Developments:
1. Questions
of Periodization
Continuities and breaks, causes of changes from the
previous period and within this period
2. Changes in
global commerce, communications, and
technology
a. Changes
in patterns of world trade
b. Industrial
Revolution (transformative effects on and
differential timing in different societies;
mutual
relation of industrial and scientific
developments;
commonalities)
3. Demographic
and environmental changes (migrations,
end of the Atlantic slave trade, new birthrate patterns,
food supply)
4. Changes in
social and gender structure (Industrial
Revolution; commercial and demographic
developments; emancipation of
serfs/slaves; tension
between work patterns and ideas about
gender)
5. Political
revolutions and independence movements;
new political ideas
a. Latin
American independence movements
b. Revolutions
(
c. Rise
of nationalism, nation-states, and movements
of political reform
d. Overlaps
between nations and empires
e. Rise
of democracy and its limitations: reform;
women; racism
6. Rise of
Western dominance (economic, political,
social, cultural, and artistic, patterns of expansion;
imperialism and colonialism) and different cultural and
political reactions (reform; resistance; rebellion;
racism; nationalism)
Impact of changing European ideologies on colonial
administrations
7. Diverse
Interpretations
a. What
are the debates over the utility of
modernization theory as a
framework for
interpreting events in
this period and the next?
b. What
are the debates about the causes of serf and
slave emancipation in this period and how
do
these debates fit into broader
comparisons of
labor systems?
c. What
are the debates over the nature of women's
roles in this period and how do these debates
apply to industrialized areas and how do they
apply in colonial
societies?
Major Comparisons and Snapshots
· Compare the
causes and early phases of the Industrial Revolution in western
Europe and
· Comparative
revolutions (compare two of the following: Haitian, American, French,
Mexican, and Chinese)
· Compare
reaction to foreign domination in: the
· Comparative
nationalism
· Compare
forms of western intervention in
· Compare the
roles and conditions of women in the upper/middle classes with
peasantry/working class in western Europe
Examples of the types of information students are expected to know
contrasted with examples of those things students are not expected to know for
the multiple-choice section:
· Women's
emancipation movements, but not specific suffragists
· The French
Revolution of 1789, but not the Revolution of 1830
· Meiji
Restoration, but not Iranian Constitutional Revolution
· Jacobins,
but not Robespierre
· Causes of
Latin American independence movements, but not specific protagonists
· Boxer
Rebellion, but not the Crimean War
·
· Muhammad
Ali, but not Isma'il
· Marxism,
but not Utopian socialism
· Social
Darwinism, but not Herbert Spencer
Unit V: 1914 C.E.
to Present
What students are expected to know:
Major Developments
1. Questions
of Periodization
Continuities
and breaks, causes of changes from the
previous period and within this period
2. The World
Wars, the Holocaust, the Cold War, nuclear
weaponry, international organizations,
and their impact
on the global framework (globalization of
diplomacy
and conflict; global balance of power; reduction
of
European influence; the
Nations, the Non-Aligned Nations, etc.)
3. New
patterns of nationalism (the interwar years;
decolonization; racism. Genocide; new nationalisms,
including the breakup of the
4. Impact of
major global economic developments (the
Great Depression; technology;
multinational corporations)
5. New forces
of revolution and other sources of political
innovations
6. Social
reform and social revolution (changing gender
roles; family structures; rise of
feminism; peasant
protest; international Marxism)
7. Globalization
of science, technology, and culture
a. Developments
in global cultures and regional
reactions, including science and consumer culture
b. Interactions
between elite and popular culture and
art
c. Patterns
of resistance including religious
responses
8. Demographic
and environmental changes (migrations;
changes in birthrates and death rates; new forms of
urbanization; deforestation;
green/environmental
groups)
9. Diverse
Interpretations
a. Is
cultural convergence or diversity the best model
for understanding increased intercultural
contact in
the twentieth century?
b. What
are the advantages and disadvantages of
using units of analysis in the twentieth century, such as
the nation, the world, the West, and the
Major Comparisons and Snapshots
· Patterns
and results of decolonization in
· Pick two
revolutions (Russian, Chinese, Cuban, Iranian) and
compare their effects on the roles of women
· Compare the
effects of the World Wars on areas outside of
· Compare
legacies of colonialism and patterns of economic development in two of three
areas (
· The notion
of "the West" and "the East" in the context of Cold War
ideology
· Compare
nationalist ideologies and movements in contrasting European and colonial
environments
· Compare the
different types of independence struggles
· Compare the
impacts of Western consumer society on two civilizations outside of
· Compare
high tech warfare with guerrilla warfare
· Different
proposals (or models) for third world economic development and the social and
political consequences
Examples of the types of information students are expected to know
contrasted with examples of those things students are not expected to know for
the multiple-choice section:
· Causes of
the World Wars, but not battles in the wars
· Cultural
and political transformations resulting from the wars, but not French political
and cultural history
· Fascism,
but not Mussolini's internal policies
· Feminism
and gender relations, but not Simone de Beauvoir or Huda Shaarawi
· The growth of
international organizations, but not the history of the ILO
· Colonial
independence movements, but not the details of a particular struggle
· The issue
of genocide, but not
· The
internalization of popular culture, but not the Beatles
· Artistic
Modernism, but not Dada