Teaching Big History

Authors

Richard B. Simon, Department of Literature and Language, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Mojgan Behmand, Office of Academic Affairs, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Thomas Burke, Department of Literature and Language, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Esther Quaedackers, University of Amsterdam
Seohyung Kim, Institute of World and Global History, Ewha Women’s University, Seoul
Kiowa Bower, Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Neal Wolfe, Department of Art, Art History and Design, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
James B. Cunningham, Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Cynthia Taylor, Department of History, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Martin Anderson, Department of History, Dominican University of California
J. Daniel May, Department of Literature and Language, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Philip Novak, Department of Religion and Philosophy, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Debbie Daunt, Department of Nursing, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Jaime Castner, Office of Academic Affairs, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Ethan Annis, Archbishop Alemany Library, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Amy E. Gilbert, Archbishop Alemany Library, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Anne Reid, Archbishop Alemany Library, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Suzanne Roybal, Archbishop Alemany Library, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Alan Schut, Archbishop Alemany Library, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Cynthia Brown, Department of History, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
Harlan Stelmach, Department of Religion and Philosophy, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow

Format

Book

Publication Date

12-23-2014

Publisher

University of California Press

ISBN

978-0520283541

Description

Big History is a new field on a grand scale: it tells the story of the universe over time through a diverse range of disciplines that spans cosmology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and archaeology, thereby reconciling traditional human history with environmental geography and natural history.

Weaving the myriad threads of evidence-based human knowledge into a master narrative that stretches from the beginning of the universe to the present, the Big History framework helps students make sense of their studies in all disciplines by illuminating the structures that underlie the universe and the connections among them.

Teaching Big History is a powerful analytic and pedagogical resource, and serves as a comprehensive guide for teaching Big History, as well for sharing ideas about the subject and planning a curriculum around it. Readers are also given helpful advice about the administrative and organizational challenges of instituting a general education program constructed around Big History. The book includes teaching materials, examples, and detailed sample exercises.

This book is also an engaging first-hand account of how a group of professors built an entire Big History general education curriculum for first-year students, demonstrating how this thoughtful integration of disciplines exemplifies liberal education at its best and illustrating how teaching and learning this incredible story can be transformative for professors and students alike.

Editor

Richard B. Simon, Mojgan Behmand, and Thomas Burke

Files

City

Oakland, CA