Course Outline

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World History is a required course for sophomores concerning the nations and peoples of the world. Included with the history and geography are cultural development, political and economic systems, and social structures. The student will be challenged to think critically about international relations, human commonalities and differences and their impact on the student’s own life.

We will begin this course with an introduction into history, geography, and a little bit of anthropology to give you a framework for understanding the course as a whole. We will then begin with the four primary ancient civilizations and work our way through present day. This course is designed to give you an overview of what we know about World History and encourage you to think critically about the development of history as it relates to our present-day cultures and situations. Think of this course as the greatest epic ever written — one long story about the development, impact, and innovations of humans.

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Each virtual class you take will be slightly different from the others, whether you are a seasoned virtual student or new to the program, it is very important to your success to read through this description. There will be helpful hints about reading, assignments, and assessments.

1. Unit 1: The Americas

• Introduction

• Handout: Unit 1 Study Guide

• Assignment: Mound Builders and Cliff Dwellers

• Civilizations in America

• Handout: Mesoamerican Worksheet

• Assignment: Mesoamerica Worksheet

• In depth: The Maya

• The Maya cont.

• In depth: The Aztec

• The Aztec cont.

• In depth: The Inca

• The Inca cont.

• Assignment: Interactivity: Aztec and Inca Civilizations

• Essay: Aztec and Inca Civilizations Part Two

• Culture and Conquest

• Web Resources

 

1. Unit 1: African Kingdoms

• Introduction

• Western African Kingdoms

• Assignment: Timbuktu

• Assignment: African Kingdoms

• BBC Lost Kingdoms of Africa: Nubia

• Assignment: The Sahara Desert

• BBC Lost Kingdoms of Africa: Nubia cont.

• BBC Lost Kingdoms of Africa: Ethiopia

• Assignment: African Kingdoms: Scavenger Hunt

• BBC Lost Kingdoms of Africa: Ethiopia cont.

• Web Resources

 

1. Unit 1: Empires of Asia

• Introduction

• Japan

• Assignment: Medieval Japan: The Samurai

• Japan continued

• China

• China continued

• Assignment: Empires of Asia questions

• Web Resources

 

1. Unit 1: The Rise of Islam

• Islam

• Assignment: InterActivity: Early Islamic Civilizations

• Essay: Early Islamic Civilizations Part Two

• Rise of Islam

• Worksheet: Islamic Web Tutorial

• The Empire of Faith

• Assignment: Islam: The Five Pillars

• History of Islam

• History of Islam part 2

• History of Islam part 3

• Web Resources

 

1. Unit 1: Byzantine & Russian Empires

• Introduction

• Assignment: Medieval Women

• Essay: Medieval Women Part 2

• Byzantium

• Russia

• Assignment: Peter the Great

• Assignment: Moscow’s Roman Catholic Heritage

• Assignment: Comparing Russian and Byzantine Rulers

• Web Resources

• Assignment: Byzantine Empire reading questions

 

1. Unit 1: Medieval Europe

• Introduction

• Worksheet: Reading Assignments Worksheet

• Early Middle Ages

• Assignment: Medieval Europe

• Essay: Medieval Europe Part 2

• Age of Chivalry

• Assignment: Bubonic Plague

• Role of the Church

• Assignment: The Crusades

• Changing Society

• Review

• Web Resources

1. Unit 1: Final Project

• Final Project

• Assignment: Part 1: Timeline

• Part Two

• Essay: Part 2: Essay

 

1. Unit 2: Renaissance & Reformation

• Introduction

• Handout: Unit 2 Study Guide

• Assignment: Renaissance Life

• The Renaissance Spreads

• Assignment: Leonardo da Vinci

• The Reformation

• Assignment: Renaissance & Reformation reading questions

• Driven to Defiance

• Reluctant Revolutionary

• Web Resources

• Handout: Renaissance Test Review

• Assignment: Renaissance Test Review

 

1. Unit 2: Exploration & Colonization

• Introduction

• Spain and Portugal

• Assignment: Portugal & Spain Tutorial questions

• Assignment: Spain in the New World

• Assignment: Portugal in Africa

• Essay: Spain Part 2

• Britain and France

• Web Resources

• Handout: Explorers Graphic Organizer

• Assignment: Explorers Graphic Organizer

 

1. Unit 2: Absolute Monarchies

• Introduction

• The Monarchs

• Assignment: Catherine the Great

• Europe

• England

• Assignment: Absolute Monarchs questions

• Influence of the Enlightenment

• Web Resources

• Handout: English Monarchies Handout

• Assignment: English Monarchies Graphic Organizer

 

1. Unit 2: Scientific Revolution & the Enlightenment

• Introduction

• Revolution and Enlightenment

• The Scientists

• The Enlightenment

• Assignment: Enlightened Monarchs

• Path to the Enlightenment

• Assignment: Revolution and Enlightenment questions

• Web Resources

• Handout: Enlightenment Cause & Effect

• Handout: Enlightenment Review Questions

• Assignment: Enlightenment Cause & Effect

• Assignment: Enlightenment Review Questions

 

1. Unit 2: Revolutions

• Introduction

• American Revolution

• French Revolution

• Assignment: Battles of the Napoleonic Era

• Napoleon Bonaparte

• Revolution in Haiti

• Latin American Revolutions

• Web Resources

• Assignment: Revolutions questions

 

1. Unit 2: Final Project

• Comparing American & French Revolutions

• Request for Help

• Tasks

• Essay: Newspaper Article

• Assignment: Venn Diagrams

• Essay: Analysis

• Documents to Review

• Mid-test

• Assignment: Mid-test

 

1. Unit 3: Industrial Revolution

• Introduction

• Handout: Unit 3 study guide

• Victorian England

• Second Revolution

• Reform Movements

• Handout: Industrial Revolution Graphic Organizer

• Assignment: Industrial Revolution

• Assignment: Industrial Revolution Graphic Organizer

• Web Resources

 

1. Unit 3: 19th Century Movements

• Introduction

• Assignment: Origins of the Franco-Prussian War

• Age of Ideologies

• Essay: Marxism: The Communist Manifesto

• Women’s Suffrage

• Abolition Movements

• Essay: 19th-Century Political & Intellectual Movements

• Web Resources

 

1. Unit 3: Age of Imperialism

• Introduction

• Assignment: Queen Victoria

• Unification of Germany & Italy

• Assignment: Unification of Italy

• British Imperialism

• Assignment: The Opium Wars

• The Scramble for Africa

• Assignment: Scramble for Africa

• Essay: Scramble for Africa Part 2

• American Imperialism

• Spanish-American War

• Web Resources

1. Unit 3: WWI

• Introduction

• Assignment: Czar Nicholas II

• Total War

• Major Battles and Campaigns

• Assignment: Failure of European Diplomacy

• Essay: European Diplomacy Part 2

• Assignment: The Schlieffen Plan

• Propaganda

• The End of the War

• Peace: Versailles & the League of Nations

• Web Resources

• Assignment: WWI questions

 

1. Unit 3: Rise of Totalitarianism

• Introduction

• Russia

• Assignment: Trotsky and Stalin

• Essay: Trotsky and Stalin Part 2

• Biography: Lenin

• Italy

• Biography: Mussolini

• Germany

• Assignment: Adolf Hitler

• The Great Depression

• Japan

• Assignment: Japanese Expansion

• Review: Totalitarian Leaders

• Assignment: Totalitarianism questions

  • Web Resources

 

1. Unit 3: Final Project

• Final Project

• Assignment: World War I Scrapbook

 

1. Unit 4: WWII

• Introduction

• Handout: Unit 4 Study Guide

• War in Europe

• Battle of Britain

• Assignment: Winston Churchill

• Pacific Theater

• America’s Role

• The Holocaust

• Essay: The Holocaust and Hiroshima

• D-Day

• Assignment: WWII questions

• End of the War

• Web Resources

• Handout: WWII Quiz

• Assignment: WWII Quiz

 

1. Unit 4: Cold War

• Introduction

• Assignment: The Marshall Plan

• Korean War

• Space Race

• Cuban Missile Crisis

• Assignment: Cuban Missile Crisis

• Essay: Cuban Missile Crisis Part 2

• Vietnam War

• China’s Cultural Revolution

• Europe

• Fall of the Soviet Union

• Assignment: End of the Cold War

• Assignment: Cold War questions

• Web Resources

  • Handout: Cold War Information Graphic Organizer

 

1. Unit 4: Asia & The Pacific

• Introduction

• India

• Assignment: Gandhi and the Partition of India

• Essay: Gandhi Part 2

• Modern Japan

• Assignment: Japanese Economic Miracle

• Assignment: The Emperor in Modern Japan

• Khmer Rouge

• Web Resources

1. Unit 4: Africa & The Middle East

• Introduction

• Assignment: The Suez Crisis

• Essay: Suez Crisis Part 2

• Darfur

• Rwanda

• South Africa

• Assignment: Apartheid in South Africa

• The Middle East

• Israel & Palestine

• Essay: The Arab-Israeli Conflict

• Iran & Iraq

• Assignment: OPEC Oil Embargo

• Web Resources

1. Unit 4: Latin America

• Introduction

• Mexico

• Haiti & Cuba

• Assignment: Cuban Communism

• South America

• Assignment: The Amazon Rainforest

• Assignment: Peronism in Argentina

• Essay: Peronism Part 2

• Web Resources

1. Unit 4: Contemporary Overview

• Introduction

• Handout: Unit 4 Review

• Globalization

• Essay: Analyzing Conflicts

• Science & Technology

• Health & the Environment

• Assignment: World Trade Organization

• Terrorism

1. Unit 4: Final Project

• Final Project

• Assignment: Part 1: Map

• Assignment: Part 1: History

• Parts 2 & 3

• Assignment: Part 2: Recent Events

• Essay: Part 3: Current Challenges

• Post-test

• Assignment: Post-test