By Trevor Getz, OER Project Team
San Francisco, USA

Editor's Note: Farming vs. foraging—the debate lives on! The Agricultural (or Neolithic) Revolution marked a turning point in the history of humanity and shaped societies in every region of the world. And like most things in history, we can’t boil down this monumental event to simply “good” or “bad.” We’ve pulled together

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By Monica H. Green, Guest Expert Editor's note: We’re dusting off this "vintage" blog as part of our new collection of Sourcing lesson plans. This post explores some of the essential documents regarding the Black Death, and it makes a great pre...

By Bridgette Byrd O’Connor The Columbian Exchange was a monumental turning point in our history, so it’s no surprise that it’s likely a topic that appears somewhere in your course plan, whether you teach world or American history an...

By the OER Project Team Find direct links to ALL the updates described in the blog below with this handy 2023-24 OER Project Course Updates chart. “Butter,” “Old Town Road,” “Bad Blood,” “Call Me...

By Molly Sinnott When you’re looking for a new coffee maker, you look to see what other consumers have said about the product, right? Is it intuitive to use? Is it built to last? And perhaps most importantly, does it make good coffee?  So ...

The world has never been more wondrous or complex—or more fragile. Today's students of history need guidance to understand how climate, economics, and politics shape our world. These resources will help! www.youtube.com/watch--> Is the wo...

By Bennett Sherry Everything is awful When we’re asked, “Are things getting better?” a pessimistic quip is often our default response. Many people think things are even getting worse. Hans Rosling, the medical doctor and educator wh...

By Molly Sinnott Collective learning is a focal point in Big History and World History Project courses, in large part because it highlights for students our unique human ability to share, store, and pass on information. And it’s not difficult t...

By Bridgette Byrd O’Connor The end of the school year is approaching at the speed of light. What better way to wrap up students’ learning voyage than by looking to the future to understand the past? That might seem a little weird. After a...

By Bridgette Byrd O’Connor Now that the glow of spring break has faded, there’s probably one pressing concern on your students’ minds. No, not the start of summer break—it’s the AP exam. If you’re racing to get thr...

By Kristen Potter In the Climate Project, students research “big thorny” climate problems and then make plans to take action in their communities in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But which specific group of people do they ...

By Bennett Sherry “Artificial intelligence has a long history, dating back to the 1950s when early experiments aimed to create computer programs that could learn and reason like humans. Over the decades, AI has made significant strides, revolut...

By Rachel Phillips Assessment is vital for learning. It’s important to know where students are, how they’ve grown, and what they need to do next to continue to improve. Assessment also helps drive instructional decisions. Assessment is an...

By Eman M. Elshaikh and Farhad Imam  As human societies have changed, so too have the diseases that afflict us. In Unit 9 of the AP® World History Modern Course and Exam Description, students are expected to understand how the changing natur...

By Michael Zis How do we eliminate 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases from the world? That is a huge thorny problem, and finding answers is profoundly important. But those answers can’t just be inferred or deduced. They require research! Many ...

By Bennett Sherry Human scales History is written by the victors, or so it’s said. And there have been few victories so resounding as that of humanity over our natural environment. Yet, as we’ve reluctantly learned over the last century, ...

By Bridgette Byrd O’Connor When students are working at the large scales of Big History and world history, they can easily come to the conclusion that human history is a story of constant progress. But progress is not a straight line. There are...

By Bennett Sherry Flows, waves, and swells Migration is a little bit like water. We even use words like flow and waves to describe migration patterns. Like water, migrants tend to follow established paths. Of course, people move for all sorts of reas...

By Trevor R. Getz How do you build a climate course for the twenty-first century? One that doesn’t just focus on the science but also helps students engage with the social, economic, and political realities we face? Oh, and that also encourages...

By Natalie Martinez Imagine you’re looking at someone through a two-sided mirror. How does your perspective differ from theirs? How do your respective views differ when you’re looking at opposite sides of the same thing? As an Indigenous ...

By Rachel Phillips We’re used to associating timelines with history, particularly as a way to visualize when important dates happened in relation to one another—and this is likely what many students assume is the sole purpose of a timelin...

By Michael G. Vann Why did the Japanese Imperial Navy attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941? Many Americans thought—and many still think—it was the start of an invasion of the United States. Japan’s focus, however, was the invasio...

By Bennett Sherry The collective learning behind collecting gases Humans first inferred long ago that changes in our climate affect our lives. Foraging societies have been adapting and migrating in response to climactic changes for millennia. Ancient...

By Heather Nice History starts with a question. Although it might seem counterintuitive to the way we’re expected (or perhaps required?) to teach—breadth over depth; textbooks and tests over inquiry and sources—the idea of starting ...

By Trevor R. Getz I became a historian because of the stories my grandfather told me of “the war.” Sitting beside him at the dining-room table as he sketched campaign maps and showed me photographs from his brief leave to marry my grandmo...