This course will survey the history of the universe from the Big Bang to the development of agrarian societies. Students will move beyond the memorization of names, dates, and places and gain a deeper understanding of “how history works.” The course will require them to exercise their critical thinking faculties in order to take a position on the historical and scientific problems addressed in the class. They will learn how what constitutes evidence, and how evidence is discovered, tested, and integrated into knowledge about our universe and our world. Students will delve into the arguments and interpretations that define history and related scholarship and they will work with primary and secondary sources that provide conflicting accounts and interpretations. This course will survey major patterns and thresholds, or points in time when new forms of complexity have emerged. It will integrate multiple disciplines including cosmology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, geology, biology, anthropology, archaeology, and history to help explain the origin of the human species and societies across large time scales. Students will practice collective learning, interdisciplinarity, information literacy, and critical thinking during this course.
- Teacher: Shawn Ragan