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Analyzing World History – Asynchronous

$560.00

“Historical trends are more than just the facts that characterize them. It’s important that we study not just the facts and figures but the big picture they create. If those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it, we need to find developments rather than just data.” ~ “Prof.” Deborah 

Available

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Offered By Instructor

Deborah Simon, M.Ed.
Content Level

Lower High School – High School – Grades 9-12
Course Length

Year-Long (32-Week) Course
Enrollment

Enrollment Options Linked Below

Description

History is often relegated to basic recall—names, dates, and places repeated, quizzed, and listed in objective fill-in-the-blank timelines that are cold and impersonal. Sometimes the stories themselves are allowed to breathe life into the endless line of facts, but those stories are too often anecdotal and disjointed. What would it be like to study history as a spiraling connection of themes joined together by common roots and shared destinations? Let’s find out!

First we will learn how to best read, process, and assess nonfiction texts, including both primary and secondary sources. Using that important skill, we will study the world’s events by making connections, contextualizing, and evaluating. We will identify and select historical data to explain and interpret its meaning, analyzing and manipulating its patterns so we can ultimately extrapolate and assemble the future.

Format:
Define—Deconstruct—Develop
While we will be focusing on the traditional method of defining the details to learn the facts, we won’t stop there. History is more than facts, so we’ll deconstruct that data and analyze both the facts themselves and their contextual significance by comparing and contrasting to find processes that tie the facts together. Finally, we’ll move into developing hypotheses and conclusions based on the analysis we’ve performed.

Themes:

  • Humans and the Environment
  • Cultural Developments and Interactions
  • Governance
  • Economic Systems
  • Social Interactions and Organization
  • Technology and Innovation

Topics:

The First Civilizations and the Rise of Empires

    • (Prehistory to 500 CE)
    • Early Humans and the First Civilizations
    • Ancient Egypt & Mesopotamia
    • Ancient India
    • Ancient China & the Indus River Valley
    • Ancient Greeks
    • Roman Republic & Empire

New Patterns of Civilization (500-1500CE)

    • The America
    • Islamic Civilizations
    • Africa & Mesoamerica
    • The Expansion of Civilization in South and Southeast Asia
    • Early Japan, Korea, and Vietnam
    • Middle Ages
    • Renaissance
    • Reformation
    • Age of Exploration

 

 

 

The Emergence of New World Patterns (1500-1800)

    • The Creation of a World Market
    • Age of Enlightenment
    • The Muslim Empires
    • The East Asian World
    • The West on the Eve of a New World Order

Modern Patterns of World History (1800-1945)

    • Industrialization and Nationalism
    • Western Culture
    • Imperialism
    • East Asia
    • World War I
    • Interwar Period
    • World War II
    • Asia
    • Middle East
    • Latin America

Global Conflict & Globalization (1945-current)

    • The Cold War
    • Spread of Communism
    • Europe and the Western Hemisphere Since 1945
    • Africa and the Middle East

Note to Parents:

  • Weekly class assignments and instruction will be made available each Monday. Assignments will be graded weekly, also on Mondays.

This Asynchronous Course includes:

  • Instructional webinar recordings by Prof. Deborah.
  • Offline comments/grading/guidance from Prof. Deborah.
  • Collaborative student forum postings and chat sessions.

Offered by:

Enrollment Options 

What to Expect

What to expect in the Required section in the classroom each week:

  • Like all Athena’s courses, this course can be heavily modified to fit many academic paths, including those working at a 12 grade+ level. Please contact the instructor to find out if the course is right for your child: “Prof.” Deborah Simon.
  • Individual factual reading and learning using texts, links, graphics, and other provided resources prior to the week’s webinar.
  • Expository and Persuasive writing.
  • Creative projects.
  • Individual and Group assignments.
  • We will use lecture, reading, group and individual projects, and activities in our studies. The nature and scope of our subject matter requires a flipped classroom in which you will be responsible for the factual reading and learning using texts, links, graphics, and other provided resources so that you can come to the webinar prepared to ask clarifying questions and contribute to analytical discussions where we will uncover the trends and developments that underly those facts. After that, both together and individually, you and your classmates will use those discoveries to make evaluative conclusions on their meaning and significance for the future. Your final products will include expository and persuasive writing, creative projects, role-playing, etc.

What to expect in the Highly Suggested & Optional sections in the classroom each week:

  • Because of the nature of this class, all sections in the classroom are either required for the current webinar or required in preparation for the following week’s topic.

What to expect during the weekly webinar:

WHEN PRESENTED AS A LIVE CLASS –

  • Weekly webinars are 90 minutes long. Webinars are recorded and are available for students with schedule conflicts.
  • Teacher instruction in the week’s topic/focus.
  • Discussions and investigations to uncover trends and developments.
  • Participation in discussions that demonstrate the student has read the material and done the preparatory work for that week’s topic.

WHEN PRESENTED AS AN ASYNCHRONOUS CLASS –

  • Teacher guidance in the week’s topic/focus.
  • Suggestions for further study and thought on the week’s topic/focus.
  • Prompts for weekly forum postings for student interaction on the week’s topic/focus.
  • Questions and answers from students’ forum postings

Log in as a Guest to view Prof. Deborah’s Course Catalog and the Analyzing World History Syllabus

Materials & More

Before taking this course, students should be able to: 

  • Write a paper independently at a high school level.

Students should be willing to:

  • Fully explore and read factual information prior to class.
  • Participate in discussions in such a way that they demonstrate their preparation in advance of class and lend to the class’s exploration of themes.
  • Offer their writing for sensitive and constructive criticism from peers and the teacher.

Required books & materials:

 

Enrollment Options

Access to this course begins 8/09/21. Although there will not be live webinars, instructor support will be available. Enrollment Options linked above.

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