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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 a high 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
course. Its approach will be global,
analyzing and comparing several themes across different global regions and time
periods.
Course Themes
The
themes round which this course will be developed 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 broad time periods with unit
exams following each:
I.
Foundations 8000 B.C.E. to 600 C.E. January 27
II.
600-1450 February 17
III. 1450-1750 March
3
IV. 1750-1914 March
31
V.
1914-the present April
25
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 class time.
Consequently, it is imperative that you read all the assigned
material. Please understand that I
will test you on reading material not covered in class. Class discussions are meant to analyze and
connect the readings with class themes, not repeat the material. One of my goals for this class is to create
an atmosphere of relaxed alertness, intellectual freedom and analytical
discussion. 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.
Exams
The
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. There may also be small chapter tests
periodically.
Projects and writing
assignments
There
will be an ongoing 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 before each Unit Exam.
Additionally, the students will complete document analyses, Data Based
Questions (DBQs), and Free Response Questions (FRQs) throughout the year.
Notebook
Every
student is also required to keep a notebook.
The notebook will contain class notes, papers and handouts, and all
documents used in class.
Class participation
This
grade will be determined by the students' part in class discussion, their
awareness of the topics through reading the material, and their preparedness
for class. The former includes coming to
class with materials, notebooks, etc.
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 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:
EXAMS 60%
HOMEWORK AND
SMALLER WRITING
ASSIGNMENTS 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 Third
World?
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