Now that you have a grip on the different—and similar—ways the world’s empires have risen to prominence, we’ll make a more detailed comparison of two representative examples. One is often referenced in…
The World History Project starts where the Big History Project leaves off, and focuses on the history of humanity. By taking a closer look at three different narratives of history, the World History Project examines how we organize our communities; how we make and share the goods we use every day; and the networks through which ideas and information are shared. WHP also has a strong focus on developing the skills historians use to practice historical reasoning: claim testing, comparison, contextualization, and more. Along the way, the World History Project course looks to make history usable by drawing lines from various points in history to today, always with an eye toward tomorrow.
To support your high school students at home, experienced WHP teacher Wood Boyles will guide students daily through the World History Project. He will provide content recommendations, along with a Word of the Day and guiding questions to frame each day’s content.
If you are a parent who wants a little more support as you use these materials with your kids, sign up as home school teacher at whp.oerproject.com and join the WHP Teacher Community. This is where you’ll find real-time support from other WHP educators and academics, and get your own questions answered.
Wood teaches at Highland School of Technology in Gastonia, NC. He was one of the founding teachers of the World History Project, helping to shape the program from the outset. When not in the classroom, Wood coaches cross country and plays drums in a bagpipe band. He also enjoys reading, watching old cars shows, being with family, and sharing his passion for history with anyone he meets.
Now that you have a grip on the different—and similar—ways the world’s empires have risen to prominence, we’ll make a more detailed comparison of two representative examples. One is often referenced in…
In this video, we discuss how although empires may seem strong and domineering because they are large and expansive, they are actually pretty delicate.
Driving Question: What… |
In today’s video, we’ll consider the idea of syncretism. Syncretism is the process by which belief systems meld with each other and change to suit new places, people, and traditions.
Humans have generally sought answers to big questions about life, the universe, and everything. They often do this through the use of different belief systems. In the past these tended to be regional,…
In today’s video, we explore cause and effect relationships. We examine this largely in relation to Era 3, including causation as it relates to portable belief systems and empire.
The modern world is full of nation-states, also known as countries, but they are mostly less than three centuries old. Ancient societies often grew into states, once their ability to farm and store food…
Humans were mostly foragers for the first 245,000 years of our existence. But when cities began to form about 5,000 years ago, it had everything to do with making the switch to farming. In some areas,…
As farming societies around the world grew into cities, people became more connected—to other city folks, to the farmers outside the city, and even to people in other cities as larger networks began to…
Today, we learn about how farming made villages possible. Being able to store extra food allowed humans to do other things, like build houses, build roads to go visit people in other houses, invent cooking…
As foragers became pastoralists and farmers, they also became village dwellers and city-builders. They built larger and larger trading networks and grew into complex societies. Systems were constructed…
The Agricultural Revolution is widely considered to be a key turning point in human history. Agriculture popped up in different areas around the world independently. It’s easy to forget how significantly…
Before farming and writing developed, humans were predominately foragers. They hunted and gathered the resources they needed to survive while roaming in small family units. There were benefits and challenges…
In this video, you’ll be introduced to the idea of historical periodization This approach to history, which divides time into distinct and identifiable periods, not only helps frame different accounts…
Evidence of how the earliest humans lived is pretty scarce. We know they were nomadic and moved around, and then after 245,000 years of gathering food by foraging, many early humans switched to farming…
Historians study the past using different scales of both time and space. In this course, we start history from the very beginning of time as we know it—this approach is often referred to as Big History…
Production is how we make and use things. Distribution refers to how we share, sell, trade, and otherwise move those things within our communities and across networks. This video helps us explore how this…
In this video, we’ll think about the networks frame and how over the course of history, our world has become increasingly interconnected. Our current networks are global and expansive, and we’ll think…
Trying to learn about the history of the world is a lot. A LOT. In this video, we’ll learn about how frames can help us narrow our focus so we can understand and create historical accounts in a more manageable…
History is often presented from one person’s viewpoint, which makes it seem like there is only one story to tell. In this video, we’ll discuss why relying on only one view of history can be problematic…
This video introduces the World History Project course and your host, Wood Boyles. You’ll be given a driving question to explore, a word of the day to think about, and video to watch. Finally, you’ll make…