AP World History Course Syllabus
2007-08
Mr. William T. Donohoe Jr
donohoe@lschs.org
215-233-2911 ex. 4110
AP World History Course Description
The purpose of the AP World History course is to develop greater understanding
of the evolution of global processes and contacts, in interaction with different types of
human societies. This understanding is advanced through a combination of selective
factual knowledge and appropriate analytical skills. The course highlights the nature of
changes in international frameworks and their causes and consequences, as well as
comparisons between major societies.
The course emphasizes relevant factual knowledge deployed in conjunction with
leading interpretive issues and types of historical evidence. Focused primarily on the last
thousand years of the global experience, the course builds on an understanding of
cultural, institutional, and technological precedents that, along with geography, set the
human stage prior to 650 C.E. Periodization, explicitly discussed, forms the organizing
principle for dealing with change and continuity from that point to the present. Specific
themes provide further organization to the course, along with the consistent attention to
contacts among societies that form the core of world history as a field of study.
Methods and Materials
Methodology used in this course include but are not restricted to the following:
 Large group discussion
 Small group discussion
 Writing (formal and informal)/Writing to learn activities
 Book reviews
 Debates
 Group presentations
 Research
 Outside reading of primary/secondary sources
 Cooperative learning activities
Textbook and Secondary readings
 World Civilization: The Global Experience (AP Edition). Stearns and others,
Longman, 3rd ed.(2003)
 Documents in World History. Stearns and others , Pearson/Longman 4th ed.
(2004) (Volumes I & II)
 Student Atlas- Rand McNally (2005)
Paperbacks:
 Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
 History: A Very Short Introduction by John Arnold
 Giving Up the Gun: Japan’s Reversion to the Sword 1543-1879 by Noel Periin
 The Tree of Red Stars by Tessa Bridal
 What Went Wrong? by Bernard Lewis
 Cry the Beloved Country By Alan Paton
 Animal Farm By George Orwell
 Burmese Days by George Orwell
 The Colombian Exchange by Alfred Crosby
Media
 The library has an extensive collection of media including:
 Foundations of World Religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism
and Islam.
 Internet sites such as PBS.org, historychannel.org and others using streaming
video clips.
 Interactive maps of various websites on the WWW.
Chronological Boundaries of the Course
The course will have as its chronological frame the period from approximately 8000
B.C.E. to the present, with the period 8000 B.C.E. to 600 C.E. serving as the foundation
for the balance of the course.
An outline of the periodization for the course:
Foundations: c. 8000 B.C.E.–600 C.E. -- 7 Weeks (19–20%)
600 C.E.–1450 -- 8 Weeks (22%)
1450–1750 -- 7 Weeks (19–20%)
1750–1914 -- 7 Weeks (19–20%)
1914–Present -- 7 Weeks (19–20%)
Themes
AP World History highlights six overarching themes that will receive approximately
equal attention throughout the course beginning with the Foundations section:
1. Patterns and impacts of interaction among major societies: trade, war,
diplomacy, and international organizations.
2. The relationship of change and continuity across the world history periods
covered by the course.
3. Impact of technology and demography on people and the environment
(population growth and decline, disease, manufacturing, migrations, agriculture,
weaponry).
4. Systems of social structure and gender structure (comparing major features
within and among societies and assessing change).
5. Cultural and intellectual developments and interactions among and within
societies.
6. Changes in functions and structures of states and in attitudes toward states and
political identities (popular culture), including the emergence of the nation-state
(types of political organization).
The themes serve throughout the course as unifying threads, helping students to put what
is particular about each period or society into a larger framework. The themes also
provide ways to make comparisons over time. The interaction of themes and
periodization encourage cross-period questions such as “To what extent have civilizations
maintained their cultural and political distinctiveness over the time period the course
covers”; “Compare the justification of social inequality in 1450 with that at the end of the
twentieth century”; “Select four turning points in world history since 1000 C.E. and
explain why you designated them.”
Course Requirements
 To prepare for the AP World History Examination in May
 Each student is to come prepared to class everyday ready to participate is class
discussion and activities. The enthusiasm and participation of each student is
essential to each class.
 Each student should have their textbook, notebook, binder, loose-leaf and writing
utensils everyday in class. The binder should be a large three ring binder- there
will be a great deal of handouts and the organization of your binder when the AP
test comes will make things much easier when we prepare/review for the test.
 Test, quizzes, essays and other assignments have specified due dates and each
student is expected to be in school for those assessments unless there is a
documented reason for being absent. If you are absent then you should email your
paper to me.
 Challenge yourself to work hard and maintain high standards.
Purpose and Organization of Course Activities
AP World History is the equivalent of a college-level survey course in world history.
Similar to a college student, you will be required to keep up with the assigned textbook
and secondary readings. You are also required to take notes on the assigned readings in
traditional outline form or one may use graphic organizers to better visualize what they
have read. In designing this course, the College Board aimed to help you gain higherorder thinking skills you will need to be successful in college.
There will be frequent quizzes on the readings to make sure that everyone is
keeping up with the assigned readings. We will also do in class analysis on various
primary sources followed by small group and large group discussions. This analysis and
interpretation of primary sources will build the foundations needed to be successful in
composing essays for the Document Based Question (DBQ) essay on the exam. You will
also become familiar with the historiographical issues such as point of view and bias
when reading these documents.
Fairly often we will conduct seminar-like discussion where all students will be
able to discuss/debate the various interpretations of the primary/secondary sources we
will analyze. In some cases we will set up debates on issues the are controversial in
nature like the African Slave Trade.
As sophomores in high school, you will continue to apply critical thinking skille
throughout this course. For example:
 Compare/Contrast civilizations reactions to global processes
 Evaluate the impact of religion on the development of societies
These examples along with many other will demand higher level critical thinking forn the
students. These skills will be essential in scoring high on the AP exam in May. The third
essay on the exam is a comparative essay, so these skills are extremely important for you
to improve.
Habits of Mind or Skills
The AP World History course addresses habits of mind or skills in two categories:
1) those addressed by any rigorous history course, and
2) those addressed by a world history course.
As stated by the College Board…
Four Habits of Mind are in the first category:
1) Constructing and evaluating arguments: using evidence to make plausible
arguments.
2) Using documents and other primary data: developing the skills necessary to
analyze point of view, context, and bias, and to understand and interpret
information.
3) Developing the ability to assess issues of change and continuity over time.
4) Enhance the capacity to handle diversity of interpretations through analysis of
context, bias, and frame of reference.
Three Habits of Mind in the second category:
1) Seeing global patterns over time and space while also acquiring the ability to
connect local developments to global ones and to move through levels of
generalizations from the global to the particular.
2) Developing the ability to compare within and among societies, including
comparing societies’ reactions to global processes.
3) Developing the ability to assess claims of universal standards yet remaining
aware of human commonalities and differences; putting culturally diverse ideas
and values in historical context, not suspending judgment but developing
understanding.
Every part of the AP World History Examination assesses habits of mind as well as
content. For example, in the multiple-choice section, maps, graphs, artwork, and
quotations are used to judge students’ ability to assess primary data, while other questions
focus on evaluating arguments, handling diversity of interpretation and making
comparisons among societies, drawing generalizations and understanding historical
context. In the essay section of the examination, the document-based question (DBQ)
focuses on assessing students’ ability to construct arguments; use primary documents;
analyze point of view, context and bias; and understand the global context. The
remaining two essay questions focus on global patterns over time and space and
comparisons within and among societies.
The Examination
The AP World History Examination is approximately three hours and five
minutes longand includes both a 55-minute multiple choice section and a 130 minute
free-response section. The multiple-choice section accounts for half of the student’s
examination grade and the free-response section for the other half.
The multiple-choice section consists of 70 questions designed to measure the
students’ knowledge of world history from the Foundations period to the present. The
examination follows the percentages given in the section Chronological Boundaries of
the Course; that is, approximately 19-20% of the questions in the Foundations period,
22% in the period 600 C.E.-1450, 19-20% in the period 1450 – 1750, 19-20% in the
period 1750 –1914, and 19-20% in the period 1914 to the present. Of course, a number of
questions are cross chronological.
In section II, the free-response section of the examination, Part A begins with a
mandatory 10 minute reading period for the document-based question. Students are
required to answer the DBQ in the remaining 40 minutes. In part B, students are asked to
answer a question that deals with change over time (covering at least one of the periods in
the course). Students will have 40 minutes to answer this question, 5 minutes of which
should be spent planning and/or outlining the answer. In Part C, students are asked to
answer a comparative question that will focus on broad issues in world history and deal
with at least two societies. Students will have 40 minutes to answer this question, 5
minutes of which should be spent planning and/or outlining the answer. The three parts of
section II are weighted equally.
Grades
Grading Scale
100-93- A
92-90- B+
89-85- B
84-83- C+
82-77- C
76-74- D+
73-70- D
Below 70- F
Grades will be based upon chapter and unit tests, quizzes, short-term and long-term
research projects, formal essays accompanied at times by a presentation and defense,
written critical reviews of historical literature, debates, simulations, and a variety of unit
activities.
Course outline
-Based on the Stearns textbook correlation with the AP Course Description
Unit I. Formation of Civilizations: Foundations. From 8000 BCE to 600 C.E. (7
weeks)
I.
Historiography and the introduction to the AP World History Themes
Objectives
a. To begin to have students think in a global perspective
b. Work on AP World History “Habits of Mind”
c. For students to familiarize themselves with the six AP World History
themes.
d. Students will understand expectations and the pace we will be moving
throughout the year.
Readings
1. Discussion of Arnold’s History: Avery Short Introduction
2. Excerpts from Carr’s What is History?
Activities and Assessment
1. Large/small group discussion
2. Summer assignment reviewed
3. In-class essay “what is history” topic
II.
World Geography, Agriculture Revolution and Characteristics of
Civilizations
Objectives
a. Students will evaluate the impact of the Agriculture Revolution
b. Students will examine the impact of Geography on the development of
civilizations
Readings
1. Discussion of summer reading Guns, Germs and Steel
2. National Geographic Video of Guns, Germs and Steel
3. Stearns Introduction and chapter 1
Activities and Assessments
1. Essay on Guns, Germs and Steel
2. Large group discussion
3. Graphic Organizer on Civilization
4. Quiz on textbook readings
5. Writing assignment: Impact of geography on the development of
civilizations
III.
Major Early Civilizations and the Emergence of Cities
Objectives
a. Students will understand the characteristics of early city-states and the
characteristics of early civilizations
b. Students will evaluate the social, religious, cultural and political values
of the early civilizations
Readings
1. Stearns chapter’s 2
2. Internet Research
3. Primary source analysis
Activities and Assessments
a. Comparative chart of early civilizations
b. Large/small group discussion
c. Readings quiz
d. DVD- Egypt/Nile River Valley
e. Document analysis/discussion
f. Major test
IV.
Classical Civilizations
Objectives
a. Compare/Contrast the major political developments in the classical
civilizations in China, India and the Mediterranean.
b. Evaluate the social and gender structures
c. Identify major trading patterns
d. Analyze arts, sciences and technology of the period.
Readings
1. Stearns chapters 2-5
2. Primary source analysis
Activities and Assessment
1. Athenian Democracy VS Representative Democracy debate
2. Small/large group discussion
3. Quiz/test
4. Writing assignment
V.
World Religions
Objectives
a. Understand origins of features major beliefs systems prior to 600
i. Polytheism, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Daoism,
Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.
b. Compare/Contrast different aspects of World Religions
c. Analyze religions through “change over time”
Readings
1. Stearns chapter 6 (and previous sections)
2. Primary sources
Activities and Assessment
1. Quiz/Test
2. Media- video on World Religions
3. PowerPoint/interactive lecture on world religions
4. Change over time essay: Religions
VI.
Late Classical Period
Objectives
a. Analyze causes of the collapse of classical civilizations. (also
compare/contrast)
i. Han China, Western Roman Empire, Gupta
b. Examine Migration of Huns and Germans
c. Identify interregional networks by 600 C.E.
Readings
1. Second half of Stearns chapter 5
2. Primary Document analysis
Activities and Assessment
1. Graphic organizer illustrating (comparisons/contrast) between the fall
of the classical empires
2. Writing assignment on Decline and Fall of Roman Empire
Unit II. 600-1450
I.
Questions of Periodization
Objectives
a. Analyze the causes and changes in world history leading up to 6001450 C.E. as a period.
b. Identify and evaluate the emerging empires and political systems
between 600-1450 C.E.
c. Understand the continuities and breaks within the period
Readings
1. Stearns 112-113
II.
The Islamic World
Objectives
a. Analyze the Rise and fall of Dar al-Islam
b. Evaluate Islamic political structures
i. Umayyad, Abbasid periods
c. Analyze contributions in the arts, sciences and technologies of the
Islamic World.
Readings
1. Stearns chapters 6 and 7
2. Begin What Went Wrong by Bernard Lewis
3. Primary/secondary Sources
Activities and Assessment
1. Primary sources analysis- The Koran
2. Cooperative group research
3. Test
III.
Interregional networks and contacts
Objectives
a. Analyze development and shifts in interregional trade, technology, and
cultural exchange.
b. Compare/contrast trans-Saharan trade, Indian Ocean trade and the Silk
Routes.
c. Evaluate missionary outreach of major religions
d. Analyze the contacts between major religions
e. Evaluate the impact of the Mongol invasions
Readings
1. Stearns assigned sections from chapters 6,7,8,14
2. Primary/secondary sources
Activities and Assessment
1. Cooperative activity using maps to illustrate major trade routes
2. Analyze various attitudes of people from their contacts with other
civilizations
3. Interactive map from WWW illustrating the commodities of the Indian
Ocean Trade network
4. Quiz/test
IV.
China’s internal and external expansion
Objectives
a. Examine the importance of the Tang and the Song Dynasties
b. Evaluate the Tang and Song economic revolution and the early Ming
c. Analyze the Chinese influence on surrounding areas and its limits
Readings
1. Stearns chapter 12
2. Primary source
Activities and assessment
1. Large group discussion
2. Quiz
V.
Developments in Europe
Objectives
a. Analyze the restructuring of economic, social and political institutions.
b. Compare/contrast the Western and Eastern Christian Empires
c. Evaluate cultural difference between East and West
Readings
1. Stearns chapters 9 and 10
2. Primary sources
Activities and Assessment
1. Chess and feudalism activity
2. Graphic organizer to illustrate compare/contrast
3. large/small group discussion/debate
4. quiz/test
VI.
Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political patterns in the Amerindian
World
Objectives
a. Analyze, compare/contrast the following civilizations
i. Maya
ii. Aztec
iii. Inca
b. Evaluate the impact geography had in the development of these
civilizations
Readings
1. Stearns chapter 13
2. Primary source reading
Activities and Assessment
1. Map Quiz on Latin America (Identify major geographical features in
Latin America)
2. Small group presentations
3. Read/pair/share activity with primary sources
4. PowerPoint
5. Quiz
VII.
Demographic and Environmental Changes
Objectives
a. Evaluate the impact of the nomadic migrations in Afro-Eurasia and the
Americas
b. Analyze the consequences of plague pandemics in the fourteenth
century
c. Analyze the growth and role of cities
Readings
1. Stearns- specific sections up to chapter 15
2. Section from Cities written by John Reader
3. Primary source
Activities and Assessment
1. Internet maps of migrations
2. Primary source interpretation
3. Think/pair/share
VIII. Diverse Interpretations
Objectives
a. Identify the issues involved in using cultural areas rather than states as
units of analysis
b. Analyze the sources of change: nomadic migrations versus urban
growth
c. Was there a world economic network at this time?
d. Compare/contrast patterns in the new opportunities and constraints on
elite women in this time period
Readings
1. Stearns up to (and including) chapter 13
2. Primary source
Activities and Assessment
1. Graphic organizer- gender
2. Map activity and discussion- migrations
3. Quiz
Unit III. 1450-1750
I.
Questions of periodization
II.
Changes in global interactions, trade, and technology
III.
Knowledge of major empires and other political units
Objectives
a. Analyze the continuities and breaks, causes of changes from the previous
period and within this period.
b. Identify major features of the following prominent empires;
i. Aztec
ii. Ottoman
iii. Inca
iv. Ming
v. Qing (Manchu)
vi. Portugal
vii. Spain
viii. Russia
ix. France
x. England
xi. Mongol
xii. Tokugawa
xiii. Mughal
c. Identify characteristics of African empires in general
a. Kongo, Benin, Oyo, or Songhay
e. Compare/contrast the territorial and commercial aspects of the major
empires
f. Compare/contrast gender in these empires
g. Analyze the early slave systems and slave trade
Readings
1. Stearns chapters 15-20
2. The Columbian Exchange: The biological Effects of 1492
3. Primary sources
4. Secondary sources
5. Giving Up the Gun: Japan’s Reversion to the Sword 1543-1879 by Noel
Periin
6.
Activities and assessment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Graphic organizers
Book review
Small group presentation
Primary sources analysis
DBQ activities/essay
Quizzes/test
IV.
Demographic and environmental changes: diseases, animals, new crops, and
comparative population trends
V.
Cultural and intellectual developments
Objectives
a. Analyze and evaluate the major advancements of the Scientific Revolution
and the Enlightenment
b. Compare/contrast global causes and impacts of cultural changes
c. Analyze Neoconfucianism
d. Analyze major developments and exchanges in the arts
Readings
1. Stearns chapters- sections from 15-23
2. Primary sources
Activities and Assessment
1. Graphic organizers
2. Read/pair/share activities
3. Cooperative group activities
VI.
Diverse Interpretations
a. What are the debates about the timing and extent of European predominance
in the world economy?
Unit IV. 1750-1914
I.
Questions of periodization
Objectives
a. Examine the continuities and breaks, causes of changes from the previous
period and within this period.
II.
Changes in global commerce, communication and technology
Objectives
a. Identify and evaluate the changes in patterns of word trade
b. Evaluate the impact of the Industrial Revolution
Readings
1. Stearns sections of 23-27
2. Primary source reading
Activities and assessment
1. PowerPoint
2. Internet research
III.
3. quiz
4. read/pair/share primary source activity
Demographic and environmental changes
Objectives
a. Analyze the migrations of peoples of this time period
b. Evaluate end of the Atlantic slave trade
c. Identify new birthrate patters and food supplies
Readings
1. Stearns sections of 23-27
2. primary source
Activities and assessment
1. DBQ/activity
2. Change over time essay
3. small/large group discussion
4. slave trade debate
5. quiz/test
IV.
Changes in social and gender structure
Objectives
a. Analyze the impact if the Industrial Revolution on commercial and
demographic developments
b. Compare/contrast the emancipation of slaves/serfs in different parts of the
world
Readings
1. Sections from Stearns 23-27
2. primary source
Activities and assessment
1. small/large group discussion
2. read/pair/share primary source activity
3. In-class change over time writing activity
4. PowerPoint
V.
Political revolutions and Independence movements: New political ideas
Objectives
a. Analyze independence movements in Latin America
b. Compare/contrast revolutions in the following countries
i. United States
ii. France
iii. Haiti
iv. Mexico
v. China
Readings
1. Sections from Stearns 23-27
2. primary source
Activities and assessment
1. Compare contrast graphic organizer
2.
3.
4.
5.
read/pair/share with sources
DBQ- revolutions
Writing assignment
quiz/test
VI.
VII.
VIII.
Rise of Nationalism, nation-states, and movements of political reform
Overlap between nations and empires
Rise of democracy and its limitations: reform; women; racism
IX.
Rise of Western dominance
Objectives
a. Identify and analyze the economic, political, social, cultural and artistic
patterns of expansion.
b. Evaluate the imperialism and colonialism of the Western powers
c. Analyze the different cultural and political reactions
i. Reform
ii. Resistance
iii. Rebellion
iv. Racism
v. Nationalism
Readings
1. Sections of Stearns 23-27
2. Primary sources
3. Burmese Days by George Orwell
Activities and assessment
1. Graphic organizers
2. Internet research
3. Debate on causes and effects of European imperialism
4. DBQ activity and essay (also change over time option)
5. quiz/test
X.
Diverse interpretations
Objectives
a. Identify the debates over the utility of modernization theory as a framework
for interpreting events in this period and the next
b. Analyze the debates about the causes of serf and slave emancipation in this
period, and how these debates fit into broader comparisons of labor systems.
c. Evaluate the debates over the nature of women’s roles in this period, and how
these debates apply to industrialized areas, how they apply in colonial
societies
Readings
1. Overview of Stearns 23-27
2. primary sources
3. Burmese Day by George Orwell
Activities and assessment
1. Writing assignment
2. small/large group discussion
3. Debate issues
4. Quiz/test
Unit V: 1914-Present
I.
Questions of periodization
Objectives
a. Analyze/Compare-contrast the continuities and breaks, causes of changes
from the previous period within this period
II.
The World Wars, the Holocaust, the Cold War, nuclear weaponry,
international organizations, and their impact on the global framework
Objectives
a. Analyze globalization of diplomacy and conflict
b. Evaluate global balance of power
c. Analyze reduction of European influence
d. Evaluate the role of the League of Nations, United Nations and the NonAligned Nations
Readings
1. Sections from Stearns 28-36
2. Primary sources
3. Secondary sources
4. Animal Farm by George Orwell
5. Night by Elie Wiesel
6. Wild Thorns by Sahar Khalifeh
Activities and assessment
1. Book reviews
2. Graphic organizers
3. Debate modern issues
4. Small/group discussions
5. Writing assignments/in-class and formal
6. Quiz/Test
III.
New patterns of nationalism, especially outside of the West
Objectives
a. Analyze the interwar years, decolonization, racism, genocide, new
nationalism, including the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Readings
1. Sections from Stearns 28-36
2. primary sources
3. The Tree of Red Stars by Tessa Bridal
4. Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
Activities and assessment
1. Small/large group discussion
2.
3.
4.
5.
Visual collage/PowerPoint assignment on 20th century genocide
Book reviews
Graphic organizers
quiz
IV.
Impact of major global economic developments
Objectives
a. Evaluate the causes and effects of the Great Depression
b. Identify and evaluate the impact of the technological advances of the time
period
Readings
1. Sections from Stearns 28-36
2. primary sources
Activities and assessment
1. Small/large group discussion
2. change over time-technology
3. Graphic organizers
4. quiz
V.
VI.
New forces of revolution and other sources of political innovations
Social reform and social revolution
Objectives
a. Analyze the evolution/change in the following:
i. gender roles
ii. family structures
iii. rise of feminism
iv. peasant protest
v. international Marxism
Readings
1. Sections from Stearns 28-36
2. primary sources
Activities and assessment
1. Small group presentations
2. DBQ activity and essay
3. Graphic organizers
4. quiz
VII.
Globalization of science, technology, and culture
Objectives
a. Analyze the developments in global and regional cultures, including
science and consumer culture
b. Evaluate the interactions between elite and popular culture and art
c. Identify the patterns of resistance including religious responses
Readings
1. Sections from Stearns 28-36
2. primary sources
Activities and assessment
1. Interactive map exercise
2. Writing assignments- DBQ/change over time essays
3. Graphic organizers
4. quiz
VIII. Demographic and environmental changes
Objectives
a. Evaluate the migrations of people of this time period
b. Analyze the changes in birthrates and death rates
c. Evaluate the new forms of urbanization, deforestation
(green/environmental movement)
Readings
1. Sections from Stearns 28-36
2. primary sources
Activities and assessment
1. Interactive map exercise
2. Writing assignments- DBQ/change over time essays
3. Graphic organizers
4. quiz/test
IX.
Diverse interpretations
a. Is it cultural convergence or diversity the best model for understanding
increased intercultural contact in the twentieth century
b. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using units of analysis in
the twentieth century such as the nation, the world, the West, and the
Third World