GRADE: AP World History (WHAP)                                                 AUTHORS: FLHS AP teachers
UNIT TITLE/FOCUS:  Period 1: Technical and Environmental Transformations to 600 BCE
UNIT LENGTH: 1-2 weeks


Essential Question: How did the ability of humans to adapt to their environment impact the development of complex institutions and the building of civilization?

Enduring Understanding:  Students understand …
  1. How humans have impacted the environment.
  2. How environmental factors influenced human migration and settlements.
  3. Why the development of agriculture directly impacted the beginnings of civilization.
  4. How complex institutions brought people together through trade or divided people through war.

Guiding Questions: (content, process, metacognitive)

Content:
  1. Why have humans migrated from their regions of origin? (1.1.I)
  2. How have humans adapted their technology and culture to new regions? (1.1.I)
  3. How did the Neolithic Revolution lead to the development of more complex economic and social systems? (1.2.I)
  4. How did agriculture and pastoralism begin to transform human societies? (1.2.II)
  5. Why did civilization develop in highly developed agricultural zones? (1.3.I)
  6. To what extent can Mesopotamia and the Nile River Valley be considered core civilizations? (1.3.II)
  7. How did culture help to unify states? (1.3.III)

Process:
  1. How does understanding the author’s point of view (POV) provide context in analyzing a primary source?
  2. Why is understanding primary sources useful in answering historical questions?
  3. To what extent does evaluating a historian’s argument help in the analysis of different interpretations of historical events?
  4. How does comparing and contrasting events, individuals and processes over time and across time periods help us to construct a better understanding of historic developments?
  5. Why is chronology and geography essential to contextualizing history?
  6. To what extent does understanding a historical issue provide insight to events that occurring today?
  7. Can evaluating causation provide an opportunity for historical contingency?
  8. How does evaluating the process of continuity and change over time relate to bigger historical questions?
  9. To what extent can history be organized into discrete periods of time?
  10. How does a student’s ability to develop an argument demonstrate the application of historical thinking?
  11. How can relevant evidence help to drive an argument?


Metacognitive:
  1. How did a debate help you or hurt you in developing your own perspective?
  2. How was your writing able to express your understanding of historical context?
  3. How challenging is it to understand an author’s POV?
  4. How did evaluating primary sources assist your understanding of the time period?



Standards: KEY CONCEPTS

1.1 Big Geography and Peopling of the Earth
  1. Archeological evidence indicates that during the Paleolithic era, hunting-foraging bands of humans gradually migrated from their origins in East Africa to Eurasia, Australia and the Americas, adapting their technology and cultures to new climate regions.
1.2 The Neolithic Revolution and Early Societies
  1. Beginning about 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution led to the development of more complex economic and social systems.
  2. Agriculture and pastoralism began to transform human societies.
1.3 The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and Urban Societies
  1. Core and foundational civilizations developed in a variety of geographical and environmental settings where agriculture flourished, including Mesopotamia in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys, Egypt in the Nile River Valley, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in the Indus River Valley, Shang in the Yellow River (or Huang-He) Valley, Olmec in Mesopotamia, and Chavin in Andean South America.
  2. The first states emerged in core civilizations in Mesopotamia and the Nile River Valley.
  3. Culture played a significant role in unifying states through laws, language, literature, religion, myths and monumental art.


ASSESSMENTS



Authentic Performance Task(s):

  • MAP Project on Regions


Other Assessments (Diagnostic, Formative, Summative):

Formative: Chapter quizzes, document analysis (Hammurabi’s code), thesis statement writing, comparative chart (Paleolithic v. Neolithic), archeological grab bag, gallery walk of cave art paintings
Summative: Multiple Choice Test and Performance Task




                                   TEACHING AND LEARNING PLAN


Teaching and Learning Activities:
Activities and tasks, Linked to guiding questions and standards, Describe what the students will do and why…
Students will…
1. Create thesis statements based off prompts provided in DO NOW activities.
2. Analyze primary source documents from the time period including Hammurabi’s Code to find author’s POV and comparing them to other primary source documents to identify societal expectations.
3. Compare and contrast the Paleolithic and Neolithic time period by using the “pre-history” T Chart.
4. Evaluate and distinguish between different images of technology, art and architecture from early settlements and civilizations.
5. Predict the development of societies by completing the Archeological Grab Bag activity and the semantic map for Early Stages of Human Development.


Resources and Technologies Needed:
ACORN Book
Hammurabi’s Code
Rig Veda (Hinduism)
Epic of Gilgamesh
Book of the Dead- Egypt
Semantic Map- Early Human Development
Crash Course World History- John Green YouTube series
Cave Art paintings

Text:  Stearns World History
              Primary Sources- Andrea book