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Standard 2:  World History - Commencement

1. The study of world history requires an understanding of world cultures and civilizations, including an analysis of important ideas, social and cultural values, beliefs, and traditions. This study also examines the human condition and the connections and interactions of people across time and space, and the ways different people view the same event or issue from a variety of perspectives.

Students:

• define culture and civilization, explaining how they developed and changed over time. Investigate the various components of cultures and civilizations including social customs, norms, values, and traditions; political systems; economic systems; religions and spiritual beliefs; and socialization or educational practices
• understand the development and connectedness of Western civilization and other civilizations and cultures in many areas of the world and over time
• analyze historic events from around the world by examining accounts written from different perspectives
• understand the broad patterns, relationships, and interactions of cultures and civilizations during particular eras and across eras
• analyze changing and competing interpretations of issues, events, and developments throughout world history.

• analyze important events and developments in world history
• through the eyes and experiences of those who were there, as reported in their literature, diaries, letters, debates, art and music, and artifacts ('Taken from National Standards for World History)
• compare two or more historical interpretations of an important event in world history, differentiate fact from opinion, and determine which facts are most significant in the historian's judgment and why (Taken from National Standards for World History)
• explain how an important event or development from world history can be viewed from multiple perspectives, noting how different values, motives, beliefs, frames of reference, and perspectives influence interpretations of the past
• use dramatizations, timelines, debates, and other research reports to explain how different observations of the same event or issue develop
• analyze important developments and turning points in world history; hypothesize what might have happened if decisions or circumstances had been different; investigate such developments and turning points as:

2. Establishing timeframes, exploring different periodizations, examining themes across time and within cultures, and focusing on important turning points in world history help organize the study of world cultures and civilizations.

Students

• distinguish between the past, present, and future by creating multiple-tier timelines that display important events and developments from world history across time and place
• evaluate the effectiveness of different models for the periodization of important historic events, identifying the reasons why a particular sequence for these events was chosen
• analyze evidence critically and demonstrate an understanding of how circumstances of time and place influence perspective
• explain the importance of analyzing narratives drawn from different times and places to understand historical events
• investigate key events and developments and major turning points in world history to identify the factors that brought about change and the long-term effects of these changes.

• develop composite timelines for different areas of the world (e.g., the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, Africa south of the Sahara, the Americas), showing important events at any given time
• discuss models for periodizing events from world history, the development of the major civilizations, and the history of other cultures throughout the world. Explain the underlying principles for these models and make a case for why others might want to periodize these events differently
• analyze historical narratives, biographies, or stories to determine their temporal structure. Select an important event from world history and follow it forward over time to determine its consequences and trace it backward to identify its causes
• construct timelines that display key events and developments in world history and which describe the important facts about the event/development and link the event/development to other important events which took place somewhere else in the world

analyzing historical narratives about the movements of people and ideas over time and place, including reports about the beginnings of human society in Africa, Mesopotamia, Indus, and China.
 

Students:

• analyze the roles and contributions of individuals and groups to social, political, economic, cultural, and religious practices and activities
• explain the dynamics of cultural change and how interactions between and among cultures has affected various cultural change throughout the world
• examine the social/cultural, political, economic, and religious norms and values of Western and other world cultures.

• investigate how groups of people living in different geographic regions throughout the world (e.g., Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, China) interacted with and structured their natural environments to accommodate their varied lifestyles
• prepare narratives that describe important historic events and developments (e.g., beginnings of human societies; global exploration and expansion; scientific, technological, and intellectual achievements; social and political reform; revolution; case studies of genocide and human rights violations) from the perspectives of the individuals and groups who witnessed them
• investigate the lives of important political and social reformers by describing the conditions they were attempting to improve and evaluating the access of their efforts
• report on the spread of Christianity and Islam throughout world history. identify' regions where these religions spread, and describe the effects on the lives of the people who lived in these regions

trace the experiences of different emigrant groups throughout world history identify the factors that caused these groups to leave their homelands, and describe the social and economic effects on their new homelands.
 

Students:

• identify historical problems, pose analytical questions or hypotheses, research analytical questions or test hypotheses, formulate conclusions or generalizations, raise new questions or issues for further investigation
• interpret and analyze documents and artifacts related to significant developments and events in world history
• plan and organize historical research projects related to regional or global interdependence
• analyze different interpretations of important events, issues, or developments in world history by studying the social, political, and economic context in which they were developed; by testing the data source for reliability and validity, credibility, authority, authenticity, and completeness; and by detecting bias, distortion of the facts, and propaganda by omission, suppression, or invention of facts. (Taken National Standards for World History)

• complete historical/social science research projects focusing on topics and issues drawn from world history; organize data according to the following activities: social, political, economic, cultural, and religious; consider multiple perspectives in interpreting the past and explain how different motives, beliefs, interests, and perspectives influence interpretations of the past (Adapted from National Standards for World History)

• apply the skills of historiography by analyzing different interpretations of key events and developments in world history (e.g., the development of the world's great empires; the emergence of feudalism; encounters between Europeans and the people of sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Americas; nationalism and its global effects). Analyze competing narratives by comparing and contrasting historians' selection of analytical questions, frames of reference, and values/beliefs to show how different interpretations develop

• evaluate the validity and credibility of historical interpretations, including new or changing interpretations that have developed as new information about events or developments in world history is learned, and new interpretations and methodologies are developed (Taken from National Standards for World History)

• complete social science research projects focusing on topics and issues drawn from world history (e.g., causes of major revolutions, effects of imperialism, causes and consequences of the Industrial Revolution, social reform movements, and global consequences of World Wars I and II). Consider multiple perspectives in interpreting past events and describe how different values, frames of reference, beliefs, and motives influence interpretations of topics and laws.