Everything came from somewhere. In this video, we’ll consider those somewheres, and the stories we tell to explain and understand how life, the universe, and everything came to be. You’ll also meet Alphonse the Camel, who is co-hosting today’s video.
Driving Question: Where did everything come from?
- Every culture has a story they tell about the Universe, its origin, and their place in that story. What is your worldview? How do you think the Universe was created? When and how did humans appear in this story?
Word of the Day: Origin Story
- An origin story is a narrative about the origin of the Universe and humanity.
Lesson
- Today, we’ll explore several origin stories from a variety of cultures around the world, along with the modern scientific origin story that unfolds in Big History.
- Go to Khan Academy and pick out at least one origin story to read, along with the Modern Scientific origin story.
- Think about what questions origin stories answer and the motivations of humans in asking these types of questions. Think about how these origins stories (and maybe even others from your own culture) compare to the modern scientific origin story that is Big History.
Historian’s Journal Prompt
- Where and how did the coronavirus originate? How long has it existed in the world? When did it first spread to humans?
- See if you can record what caused the coronavirus to spread across the world. Was it specific people traveling to the US? Was it the globalized nature of the world economy? Or is it a consequence of the Columbian Exchange started when Christopher Columbus sailed West from Europe, beginning a legacy of globalized monoculture and facilitating the spread of incredibly deadly diseases across the globe? Trace the origins of coronavirus back as far as you can into history!
