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AP World History Syllabus 2009-2010
Course Description
The purpose of the AP World History course is to develop greater
understanding of the development of global processes and contacts, in
interaction with different types of human societies. This understanding is
advanced through a combination of factual knowledge and analytical skills.
The course highlights the nature of changes in international frameworks and
their causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies.
The course emphasizes relevant factual knowledge deployed in conjunction with
leading interpretive issues and types of historical evidence.
The AP World History course offers motivated students and their teachers the
opportunity to immerse themselves in the processes that, over time, have
resulted in the knitting of the world into a tightly integrated whole. AP
World History offers an approach that lets students “do history” by guiding
them through the steps a historian would take in analyzing historical events
and evidence worldwide. The course offers balanced global coverage with
Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe each represented.
College Credit
Each college or university decides which AP Examination grades it will accept
for credit. Almost all colleges and universities in the United States,
Canada, and Europe, take part in the AP program, most institutions accept
grades of “3” and above.
Text and Resources
Bulliet, Richard et.al. The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History, 4th ed.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008.
***Student resources for the textbook available at:
http://www.college.cengage.com/history/world/bulliet/earth_peoples/4e/student_
home.html
Andrea, Al and Overfield, James. The Human Record: Sources of Global History,
2 vols.,5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. We will have a classroom
set of these.
Other supplemental texts, articles, and materials will also be used
throughout the year to produce assignments, essays, and document-based
questions.(DBQs).
We will be developing writing skills throughout the year. This will range
from writing on primary sources, writing thesis statements, organizing
materials to write your essays, and writing the essays at home. Later, more
practice with timed in-class essay assignments using questions in the style
of the AP World History Exam will be provided, as well as the AP Exam free-
response questions posted on AP Central®.
Contact information for Mrs. Griffin or Mrs. Brodie. ggriffin@ccboe.net
or deidre.brodie@ccboe.net
Themes
This course is based on a global perspective of the world and human
interactions from 8000 B.C.E. to present day, using the five themes outlined
in the AP World History Course Description consistently throughout the
course.
1. Interaction between humans and the environment
• Demography and disease
• Migration
• Patterns of settlement
• Technology
2. Development and interaction of cultures
• Religions
• Belief systems, philosophies, and ideologies
• Science and technology
• The arts and architecture
3. State-building, expansion, and conflict
• Political structures and forms of governance
• Empires
• Nations and nationalism
• Revolts and revolutions
• Regional, trans-regional, and global structures and organizations
4. Creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems
• Agricultural and pastoral production
• Trade and commerce
• Labor systems
• Industrialization
• Capitalism and socialism
5. Development and transformation of social structures
• Gender roles and relations
• Family and kinship
• Racial and ethnic constructions
• Social and economic classes
The themes are used throughout the course as unifying threads, helping you to
put what is particular about each period or society into a larger framework.
The themes also provide ways to make comparisons over time. The interaction
of themes and periodization encourage cross period questions. I can’t stress
the importance of the themes enough. We will mention them and work with them
daily.
Habits of Mind or Skills
The AP World History course addresses habits of mind or skills in two
categories: 1) those addressed by any rigorous history course, and 2) those
addressed by a World History course.
Four habits of mind are in the first category:
• Constructing and evaluating arguments: using evidence to make plausible
arguments
• Using documents and other primary data: developing the skills necessary to
analyze point of view
and context, and to understand and interpret information
• Assessing continuity and change over time and over different world regions
• Understanding diversity of interpretations through analysis of context,
point of view, and frame of
reference
Five habits of mind are in the second category:
• Seeing global patterns and processes over time and space while connecting
local developments to
global ones
• Comparing within and among societies, including comparing societies’
reactions to global processes
• Considering human commonalities and differences
• Exploring claims of universal standards in relation to culturally diverse
ideas
• Exploring the persistent relevance of world history to contemporary
developments
Chronological Boundaries of the Course
The course will have as its chronological framework the period from
approximately 8000BCE to the present as listed in the periodization outline
below.
Period covered in this class
Foundations (8000BCE – 600CE) 19-20%
600 1450 22%
1450 1750 19-20%
1750 1914 19-20%
1914-the present 19-20%
Manageable Coverage
For each time period, knowledge of major developments that illustrate or link
the five thematic areas and of major civilizations in Asia, Africa, Europe,
and the Americas is expected. Knowledge of year to year political events is
not required.
Maximum Percentage Coverage of European History
Coverage of European history does not exceed 30% of the total course. This
encourages increased coverage of topics that are impor¬tant to Europe in the
world and not just to Europe itself, as well as attention to areas of the
world outside Europe.
Grading
Tests-50 % of your grade.
Essays and quizzes- 30 % of your grade.
Homework/classwork- 15 % of your grade.
Participation-5% of your grade
Tests
Tests and quizzes cover information from the readings, handouts, and lectures
and are usually in multiple-choice format. The multiple-choice questions are
taken from test banks and are also teacher generated. They will include 5
multiple choice answers. We will discuss and have activities over how to
take multiple choice tests.
Test will be over units or partial units. After completion of each unit you
will have a multiple chice test. You will also have an essay test covering
major comparison and analysis after each unit. This is usually given several
days after the multiple choice test.
Quizzes/Essays
You will have a vocabulary quiz on Fridays. You will also have a content quiz
each Wednesday covering information covered in class and in readings for that
week. Be prepared!! Keeping u p with your notes and bringing them to class
daily is your responsibility. You will use these on your Wednesday quizzes.
Homework/Notebook
A notebook devoted exclusively to AP World History is required. Notes,
homework assignments, essay writing guides, charts and other handouts should
be placed in these notebooks. Dividers should be used to organize your
information. Your notebook should be divided by the Periods mentioned above
(under the subtitle Chronological Boundaries of the Course). You will
received a handout on how to put your notebook together.
Class Participation
Participation is a crucial part of the class. You are expected to fully
participate in class discussions, group projects, and presentations. Sleeping
in class, non participation in activities and any other off task behavior
will be reflected in your participation grade for the day and nine weeks.
Outside Readings and Resources used in the course:
2002 AP World History Released Exam (College Board)
2003–2006 AP World History Essay Questions, Rubrics and Student Samples (AP
Central)
CNN’s Millennium VHS (Turner Home Entertainment, 1999)
Cracking the AP World History Exam: Student Study Guide (Princeton Review,
2004).
DBQ Practice: AP-Style Document-Based Questions to Help Students Prepare for
the World History Examination, Williams, ed., (Social Studies School
Services, 2004)
Guns, Germs and Steel by Diamond (DVD 2005)
The Silk Road DVD Collection (Central Park Media ,2002)
Lost Civilizations Videos.
The Patriot
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Schindler’s List
Swing Kids
And any other videos approved by the school media committee.
PARENTS AND STUDENTS
Some of the videos that we will use during the year will include adult
content. It will be in an educational format, but nudity is included in some
of these videos. For instance in Guns, Germs and Steel it shows native women
in tropical climates not fully clothed. Sign below to acknowledge that you
have received this notice. Please keep in mind that this is a college level
class. I will certainly do all I can to help the students accept the visuals
and discussion of sensitive materials in mature way.
I understand that some of the support materials may contain adult content.
___________________________________________
Parent Signature
___________________________________________
Student Signature
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