Why is Mesopotamia considered the "cradle of civilization"? Sal explains the history of the early empires on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

High level overview from Ancient Egypt to Babylon with reference to stories from the Old Testament.

This overview of Ancient Persia explains the origins of the term "Persia" and Zoroastrianism; it also puts the Median, Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Sassanian dynasties in context.

In the first of two lessons on ancient river valley civilization, students examine the physical environment of the early river valley civilizations. After identifying the locations of the ancient civilizations, students complete a feature analysis to assist them in comparing the physical environments and determining how it afforded protection to the civilizations. Key questions: Why was a river valley a good place for a settlement? What was the significance of these river valley civilizations?

In the second of two lessons on ancient river valley civilizations, students examine the physical environment of the early river valley civilizations. Moving water carries and sorts sediment, changes landforms, and creates strata. The sediment becomes the base for soil formation, and it is the material of which flood plains, deltas, and natural levees are built. Through a demonstration of the sedimentation process, students will come to understand the significance of the process and seasonal flooding to agricultural activity in the early river valley civilizations. Key questions: How does the process of sedimentation affect soil fertility? Why are some river valleys good sites for human settlement?

 This inquiry focuses on the social hierarchy of ancient Rome, viewed through the lens of statues that tell us about life during this time. Through analysis of videos, photographs of ancient statues, and images of architectural reliefs, students develop an argument supported by evidence that answers the compelling question, “What stories should statues tell about ancient Rome?”The inquiry prioritizes depth over breadth: rather than broadly describe contributions across categories, the inquiry instead invites students to take a close look at the influence of ancient Roman art and architecture on statues and monuments today. Through this deep study, students will hone analytical skills required to notice and interpret details in art and architecture while also building their knowledge about the social structure that divided the citizens and enslaved people of the ancient Roman republic and empire.

The first lesson of two on Ancient Rome, students examine physical maps of Rome to identify physical features that provided security for the site of Rome. In addition, students examine the relative location of Rome and its connections within the Mediterranean Basin and beyond. The second segment of the lesson examines the expansion of the Roman Empire through time and the role of physical features in facilitating or hindering that expansion. Key questions: What are the physical features of Rome?;
How did the physical geography of Rome influence its development?

The second lesson of two on Ancient Rome, students examine the geographic extent of the Roman Empire. The Orbis Web site, hosted by Stanford University, provides a map of the Roman Empire at its largest extent with the locations of key cities and transportation links. Key questions: How were places within the Roman Empire connected?; How did time and distance affect interactions within the Roman Empire?

In this lesson plan, students will learn about the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. In the introductory first lesson, they will see how animals are often used as symbols. In the second lesson, they will hear one of several versions of how the 12 animals were chosen. They will then focus upon a few of the animals in the story and see how they can be used as symbols of certain human characteristics. In the third lesson, they will be introduced to the other animals of the zodiac, and they will be given a chart on which they will assign traits to each animal. Then they will consult a number of websites to find the traits traditionally associated with the animals, which they will add to their list. Then, they will come up with a number of ways to compare and contrast the animals in the list. In the third lesson, they will focus upon the animal associated with the year of their birth, learning about its traits and discussing whether or not these apply to themselves and their peers. Finally, each student will make an acrostic, combining the letters of his or her first name with adjectives that relate to his or her zodiac sign.

Drawing upon the online archives of the U.S. Holocaust Museum, this lesson helps students to put the events described by Anne Frank into historical perspective, and also serves as a broad overview of the Nazi conquest of Europe during World War II. After surveying the experiences of various countries under Nazi occupation, the lesson ends with activities related specifically to the Netherlands and Anne Frank.

In which John Green, Hank Green, and Emily Graslie teach you about the Anthropocene, an unofficial geological era that covers the last century or so, in which humanity has made massive progress. We've discovered the Higgs-Boson particle, and awesome electric cars, and amazing smartphones. So all this collective learning and progress has been good for everyone, right? Maybe not. We'll look at some of the pros and cons of all this "progress," including environmental impact, changes in the way people live and work, and political changes and wars that come along with the modern world. We've come a long way, but there's a long way to go. Crash Course will also take a look at what's going to happen in the near future. If we manage to make our way through the coming bottlenecks, we could be OK in coming centuries. Don't get too hopeful, though. The Sun will eventually die, and the Earth will be destroyed, and later the universe will eventually experience heat death.

Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Peace), 13-9 B.C.E.Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris & Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

The Bedouins of ancient Arabia and Persia made poetry a conversational art form. Several poetic forms developed from the participatory nature of tribal poetry. Today in most Arabic cultures, you may still experience public storytelling and spontaneous poetry challenges in the streets. The art of turning a rhyme into sly verbal sparring is considered a mark of intelligence and a badge of honor. Students will learn about the origins and structure of Arabic Poetry.

We will explore images that pertain to the emergence of Japan as a modern state. We will focus on images that depict Japan as it comes into contact with the rest of the world after its long and deep isolation during the feudal period. We will also cover city planning of Tokyo that took place after WWII, and such topics as the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Organized around the compelling question "How have Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders engaged civically and contributed to U.S. culture?" and grounded in inquiry-based teaching and learning, this lesson brings history, civics, and the arts together to learn about the experiences and perspectives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in U.S. history. Primary sources, literature, and works of art created by AAPI individuals and related organizations provide an historical as well as contemporary context for concepts and issues including civic participation, immigration, and culture.

This is a Round Robin review game for World History II SOL 6. It covers the empires of Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals, China & Japan. This assignment template could be easily adapted for a review for another set of content material. *Also known as "I have, who has".

This unit is intended to address the VA Standards of Learning for World History II Standards 6 and 7.  Students are required to explore the similarities and differences between the various Asian land empires and African societies of the 1500s-1800s, with a particular focus on geographic, political, cultural, and economic interactions with each other and the rest of the world. Through the unit, students practice information literacy skills as they research and become experts in one Asian or African empire, work with a group to develop a virtual museum exhibit on it, and explore the virtual museum exhibits created by the other groups to learn about all of the empires and synthesize the unit content.  The unit, which is separated into 6 modules,  was designed for use in a virtual learning environment with both synchronous and asynchronous components.  It could easily be converted to a fully face-to-face unit, but it would be challenging to convert it to a fully asynchronous online unit because of the group work activities involved. 

Gavrilo Princip assassinated Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, setting off World War I. Created by Sal Khan.