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Course: World History Project - Origins to the Present > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Era 1 Overview | 1.1READ: Era 1 Overview - History of Many Shapes and Sizes
History can be the last 14 billion years of the universe, or the last 60 seconds of your life. In either case, details will be left out, and you’ll need a historian’s skills to discover a meaningful narrative.
The article below uses “Three Close Reads”. If you want to learn more about this strategy, click here.
First read: preview and skimming for gist
Before you read the article, you should skim it first. The skim should be very quick and give you the gist (general idea) of what the article is about. You should be looking at the title, author, headings, pictures, and opening sentences of paragraphs for the gist.
Second read: key ideas and understanding content
Now that you’ve skimmed the article, you should preview the questions you will be answering. These questions will help you get a better understanding of the concepts and arguments that are presented in the article. Keep in mind that when you read the article, it is a good idea to write down any vocab you see in the article that is unfamiliar to you.
By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:
- Why are there so many different types of history?
- What are some common characteristics of all histories?
- How do some historians include multiple perspectives?
- Why does this course begin 13.8 billion years ago? That is, billions of years before humans even evolved?
- What will this course use as its frame to tell the history of humanity?
Third read: evaluating and corroborating
Finally, here are some questions that will help you focus on why this article matters and how it connects to other content you’ve studied. Since this is the first reading assignment of the course, you may not connect it to much other than the knowledge you already have.
At the end of the third read, you should be able to respond to these questions:
- Most history courses begin with humans. This course begins with a prehuman era. To what degree does it help you make sense of human history and your world to think about time at such a large scale?
- The end of this article mentions how some of the information you’ll learn in the course may lead you to question the narratives that are presented. Why do you think this might be the case? Why would the author want you to test the claims that are being made? Explain your answer.
Now that you know what to look for, it’s time to read! Remember to return to these questions once you’ve finished reading.
Era 1 Overview - History of Many Shapes and Sizes
By Bob Bain
History can be the last 14 billion years of the universe, or the last 60 seconds of your life. In either case, details will be left out, and you’ll need a historian’s skills to discover a meaningful narrative.
Introduction: Everything has a history, and history comes in many shapes and sizes
Everything, and we mean everything, has a history. No matter how big or how small, everything has a past and a history that can be written. Of course, you know that people have written histories of individual people, cultures, communities, and nations. And we suspect you might know about histories of art, architecture, music, or animals, or even a history of a particular piece of art, or a building, or a musical composition, or even a special animal, like a racehorse. We have histories of big objects, like the Earth or the moon, and small objects, like paper, glass, or coffee beans
Everything has a history, and history comes in many shapes and many sizes. In this world history course, you will study all different types of histories. You will learn some personal stories of individual people, maybe even focusing only on a very short time in their lives. You will also investigate the histories of families and communities; of entire regions and societies; of the connections among people over great and small distances; of belief systems and ideas, such as science; of the environment and the planet; and even the history of the cosmos.
Each type of history is valuable. No matter how big or small the topic it discusses, every history is important to someone. Each begins with people asking questions about the present and the past. Each uses evidence to answer those questions. And each presents a perspective or way of seeing the past, the present, and even the future. It is important to realize that no history can include everything, even a history as short as your last minute. A minute- long history of you would have to leave out "stuff" like the number of times your heartbeat, the movements of your eyes as you focused on the words on this page, or the thoughts (or daydreams?) that flowed through your mind in the past minute.
No matter how big or small the topic or the amount of time or space a history covers, all histories give a picture of the past that could help us think more clearly about the present or the future. Indeed, historians have named the types of histories people have written by the size and scope of their focus. Table 1 shows one way to see this.
Table 1: Different ways to frame the past
| Conventional Name | Description of its unit of analysis, focus, or scale (the time or space it covers) |
|---|---|
| Micro-history/Biography | History of a person or an event in the life a person (a few hours to a lifetime) |
| National History | History of a nation-state (often a few decades to a few centuries) |
| Regional or Civilizational History | Geographic area and the communities within that area or a society (a few centuries to a few millennia) |
| Global or World History | History of humanity (often beginning after humans have fully evolved physically) |
| Deep History | Begins with the evolution of our species with careful attention to our pre-agrarian past (beginning anywhere from a few million years ago to 200,000 years ago) |
| Planetary History | The history of the Earth and the biosphere (beginning about 4.5 billion years ago to today) |
| Big or Cosmic History | Focuses on the history of the Universe, the Solar System, Life, and Human Life on Earth (covering about 14 billion years of time) |
Some historians work across many levels of time and space rather than just one. They ask questions about and try to explain possible connections between the everyday lives of people found in micro-history. Or they investigate a biography and larger patterns found in national, global, or even cosmic history. In studying connections among the events or processes at different scales, or levels of time and place, some historians think of these as nested, much like Russian dolls.
In WHP, we will move among all these different levels of our lives. We'll investigate the strength and weakness of connections among these scales of time and space. We call this scale switching, explicitly moving between events, people, details, questions, and narratives located within these envelopes of time and space to develop useful pictures of our global past.
Where to begin? The case for beginning with big historical stories: In launching an investigation into the past or in telling a historical story – or any type of story – everyone must decide where to begin. WHP is no different. And the choice we are making might surprise you. We are going to start world history over 9.5 billion years before the Earth even formed, and about 13.5 billion years before the "stars" of our story – us humans – even make an appearance.
We are starting with the Big Bang, the very beginning of time and space, or at least the very beginning according to most of the world's scientists and historians.
Why start here? There are four reasons why we think Big History, the big story about our long pre-human history, is important. In fact, we think Big History is worth a more in-depth study than we will be able to provide here.
First, Big History offers our most concise, scientific explanation of how the Universe, the Earth, and life on Earth has come to be the way it is now. In an orderly fashion, it connects human history to the development of other living organisms in our environment and to the environment itself.
Second, to create and present a "history of everything," Big Historians must draw on the best and most current thinking of all the disciplines of human knowledge. Remember, it cannot be a complete history of everything! But by beginning with this history, we are demonstrating how much humans have discovered and learned about the world in which we live and how the sciences, the humanities, and other ways of thinking have made contributions to our understanding. Ironically, we are using our most recent history of human thinking to construct and tell a history of our most distant past. Big History enables us to become familiar with some major findings of human thinking. This way, we can use things like Big Bang cosmology, plate tectonics, and the theory of evolution to make sense of the past.
Third, Big History also helps us see some of the differences between the various disciplines or ways of knowing. These disciplines include the physical sciences, the Earth sciences, cosmology, math, history, archaeology, anthropology, and even theology. It shows what each can and has provided us, and also how each has limitations. It shows us many ways we humans have studied ourselves and our world. Big History encourages us to pay attention to how we make and test claims, using intuition, logic, authority, and empirical evidence. We think that starting a course in history using the ideas of so many different disciplines, such as Earth science, physics, biology, and geology, also demonstrates the value of learning history and of learning to "do" history.
Finally, Big History places human history in its physical, biological, and environmental context. It offers answers to some deep human questions: How did our universe emerge or materialize? How did all the "stuff" we use come into being? How did the Earth and the environment form and why does it "behave" as it does with its patterns of seasons, wind or ocean currents, earthquakes and volcanoes, and its various climatic patterns? And what about the other living organisms with whom we share the Earth and the environment? How did various life forms come into existence, change, survive, or disappear? In short, Big History offers us a way to understand the stage on which the human story takes place. We will use some of the answers, such as the way the environment works, how the geography of the Earth and other organisms have helped or hindered humans, and how our place in the cosmos affected our history. And, we will also investigate how humans have affected the environment, the climate, and other organisms on the Earth.
So, let's begin with a Big History of the last nearly 14 billion years of time and space. The next article you read will outline the themes of two big histories, one constructed by a historian, David Christian, and an educator, Cynthia Stokes Brown. The other is constructed by a geologist, Walter Alvarez.
Author bio
Bob Bain is Associate Professor in the School of Education, and the Departments of History and of Museum Studies at the University of Michigan. He also is the director of U-M’s World History and Literature Initiative and the faculty lead on the Big History Project. Before coming to the U-M in 1998, he taught high school history and social studies for 26 years. Bain’s research centers on teaching and learning history and the social sciences in classrooms, on-line, in museums and homes.
Want to join the conversation?
My answers:
1. Because everything, from the small tool to the big universe, has their own history to tell. And the small histories from the small things can eventually connect to the big things in histories.
2. They describe its unit of analysis, focus or scale (time or space it covers) in one specific subject.
3. Because they think it is the best way to explain possible connections between the everyday lives of people found in micro-history to the big things in nations, global or even the universe.
4.
a. offers our most concise, scientific explanation of how the Universe, the Earth, and life on Earth has come to be the way it is now.
b. to create and present a "history of everything," Draw on the best and most current thinking of all the disciplines of human knowledge
c. see some of the differences between the various disciplines or ways of knowing.
d. places human history in its physical, biological, and environmental context.
5. They use the frame of the last nearly 14 billion years of time and space. And scale switching, explicitly moving between events, people, details, questions, and narratives located within these envelopes of time and space to develop useful pictures of our global past.(8 votes)
mission failed we will get them next time(5 votes)
Why does khan academy make not want to exist.(3 votes)
My Answers
1. Many historians are going to study different types of topics that interest them, like world history or Big history.
2. • Historians use evidence and logic to support their narratives.
• To make sense of the past, historians draw on both concrete evidence and abstract concepts, such as social structures and cultural values.
• Each narrative offers a glimpse into the past, the present, and even the future.
• Each history has a specific focus, whether it covers a wide range of time and space or a narrow timeframe and region.
• No story can include every important detail, so some information must be left out or summarized.
• The diversity of histories helps us understand the world and our own place in it.
3. Historians working across many levels of time and place often use nested approaches, in which they explore larger patterns while simultaneously studying the everyday lives of individuals in micro historical detail. By comparing the stories of individuals with larger macro-level trends, they are able to see how the small and big picture elements create a comprehensive understanding of historical experiences. Additionally, historians will often use techniques such as synthesis, triangulation, and other methods of comparison to combine different sources and views.
4.• Big History explains how the universe, Earth, and life came to be.
• It combines information from multiple disciplines, including science, humanities, and more.
• Big History shows the differences, strengths, and limits of different ways of knowing.
• It places human history within physical, biological, and environmental context.
• It answers human questions, such as how the universe and other organisms formed and how humans affect the atmosphere.
• It provides a way to understand the background of the human story.
5. This course will be using Big History as its framing device 14 billion years ago, this will encompass World History all the way down to Biography or the Personal History of others. This could be personal stories of individuals, focusing only on a certain aspect of their life. Ethnic, Religious, and Regional History will also be studied.
6. Understanding pre-human history offers a comprehensive understanding of human development and progress, allowing us to gain a broader perspective on our existence and the events that led to our current world, thereby fostering a more balanced understanding of our society.
7. This article wants to encourage the readers to remain open-minded and to think critically about the information learned in this course. Its purpose is to get the reader's question the narratives that are presented and to not accept them blindly. This is likely because the author believes that it is important for people to form their own opinions and make informed decisions, rather than follow the popular opinion or what is being presented as the truth without critical thinking.(3 votes)
Q: Most history courses begin with humans. This course begins with a prehuman era. To what degree does it help you make sense of human history and your world to think about time at such a large scale?
A: I think that it makes a great deal of sense to start with a prehuman history as it leads up to the beginning. It tells us what happened to shape the environment that led to human existence. I believe it is important to know what happened from the very start, as far back as we can know. If we are discussing WORLD HISTORY, why not start with the very beginning of our WORLD?
Q: The end of this article mentions how some of the information you’ll learn in the course may lead you to question the narratives that are presented. Why do you think this might be the case? Why would the author want you to test the claims that are being made? Explain your answer.
A: I believe that it is important to test any claim being made. It is important to think for yourself. We must gather all information from all different sources, analyze the data for ourselves, and come to a conclusion for ourselves based on that understanding. The more areas you are knowledgeable in, the more you understand the WORLD, how it has worked, how it does work, and you can infer how it will work.(2 votes)
Q 1. History helps me make sense of a large scale of time with the fact that with time, we continue to evolve along with the world. Our music, fashion, arts, morals, and sometimes even plants or animals look different in each time period. We are never the same, and cause of that, history will continue to grow.
Q 2. Because knowing the truth about history is important, some people will try to hide it to make history seem not as bad or use it to spin a narrative to justify horrible actions, so we must always make sure history is being told correctly.(2 votes)
Can somebody explain why Big History helps us see some of the differences between the various disciplines or ways of knowing? I can't understand (Y-Y)(1 vote)- 1. They have different types of history because the history is in every human being, so the history has several levels from the universe to the particular experience of each human being.
2. Every history contains many variables, it depends on the perspective you have.
3. Because there are many ways to explain these assumptions, connected or not.
4. Because, before the evolution of human beings, everything that existed on earth contributed to this.
5. Separate events into levels.
1. This course will teach you how the earth was prepared and able to receive human beings, and this knowledge is of great value.
2. Because it is by knowing and questioning that human beings can evolve their ideas and make more discoveries.(1 vote) - DTF or sum like that(1 vote)
- wiht it mom and dad(1 vote)