An exploration of the past from the big bang to the present, dividing the history of the universe, earth, life, and humanity into periods using very large scales of time.
Prof. Mark Walker
Office: Lippman 216
Office Hours: TBA.
Email: walkerm@union.edu
Learning Outcomes
After taking this course, students should know how the history of mankind, life, the earth, and the universe have played out over vast stretches of time, understand why this happened as it did, and appreciate how the “Big History” perspective can shed light on our contemporary societies and cultures.
Disability
Students needing academic accommodations for a disability must first be registered with Disability Services to verify the disability and to establish eligibility for accommodations. Students may call 518-388-8785 or visit Disability Services to begin the process. Once registered, students should then schedule an appointment with me to make appropriate arrangements.
Union College Statement on Mental Health
The Eppler-Wolff Counseling Center provides free counseling and therapy services (including psychiatry) to all enrolled students. Please call 518-388-6161 or visit the Wicker Wellness Center in person any weekday between 8:30 and 5:00 to schedule an initial contact appointment. Visit the Counseling Center website at https://www.union.edu/counseling-center for more information.
Honor Code
Matriculation at the College is taken to signify implicit agreement with the Academic Honor Code. It is each student’s responsibility to ensure that submitted work is his or her own and does not involve any form of academic misconduct. Students are expected to ask their course instructors for clarification regarding, but not limited to, collaboration, citations, and plagiarism. Ignorance is not an excuse for breaching academic integrity.
Please read through this statement on plagiarism.
Students are also required to affix the full Honor Code Affirmation, or the following shortened version, on each item of coursework submitted for grading: “I affirm that I have carried out my academic endeavors with full academic honesty.” [Signed, Jane Doe]
Cell Phones, Tablets, and Laptops
The use of phones is not allowed. All phones must be shut off before class begins. If you use phones during the class, then your final grade will be lowered. Tablets or laptops may only be used if I have given you permission to do so ahead of time. Please discuss this with me during my office hours.
Attendance
I expect you to come to class. Each absence will detract from your final grade. Since our class will meet thirty times in the term, each absence will subtract 3.33% from your attendance grade. If you have a good reason to miss class, please let me know, if possible in advance, and I may take this into consideration.
Class Participation
I expect you to do the assigned reading, watch the assigned videos, participate in the classroom discussion, and to work through the class outlines I post on Nexus (see below). I will use index cards to call on students by name, but also invite voluntary comments and questions.
At the end of each class I will ask you to answer a few questions from the reading and discussion in a blue book, and these answers will form part of your class participation grade. We will also begin each class by reviewing briefly the material from the previous class.
The baseline class participation grade for a student who comes to class and responds to my questions will be a B-. For a B+ a student has to respond well, and for an A- or A a student has to volunteer comments, questions, or answers.
Readings and Videos
All readings and videos will be available on the class Nexus site in the form of PDF files or via internet links on the syllabus. Please complete the reading and video assignments before coming to class.
Online Quizzes
Each Thursday after class a weekly online quiz will be posted on Nexus. These will consist of image and definition identifications taken from the class outlines from that week and must be completed by 9:00 pm on the following Saturday evening. Once you access the quiz, you will have 30 minutes to complete the quiz. While you are welcome to use the readings, videos, and class outlines to take the quiz, you may not help another student, or accept help from another student while a quiz is being taken.
Suggestions for Learning the Material
If I was a student in HST 138, this is how I would go about learning the material in the course.
Do the assigned reading and view the assigned videos before each class. Please note that some videos are recommended, not required.
Come to class, where I will discuss most, but not necessarily all of the material I provide on the class outline. After class, I will post the outline I used as a PDF file in Nexus, including one or two review essay questions.
Before you come to the next class meeting, go through this complete outline again yourself. This will help you answer the quiz questions. After reading through the outline, you should draft answers to the essay questions. It is important that you do not merely cut and paste text from my class outlines, rather you should always try to answer the questions in your own words.
The midterm and final exams will consist of some of the essay questions.
The essay questions on the second midterm will cover the material since the first midterm; the final exam will cover the material since the second midterm plus some essay questions drawing on all the material presented in the class.
Please begin preparing for the essay questions well in advance of each test by drawing up an outline of a good and complete answer. You may not bring these outlines to class on the day of the test, but merely creating it and reading through it will be good preparation. Superior essays will follow an outline and have a beginning, middle, and end; they will provide both relevant concrete examples and your own interpretation of them, but exclude irrelevant information; finally, they will have an argument.
You should only begin writing after you think that you have the answer. I suggest that, once the test begins, you first of all try to answer the essay questions in your head. Second, draft an outline of your answer. Third, once you know what your answer is, and have an outline for the proper order of the parts, then write the answer down. In this way it should be easier for you to exclude what is irrelevant, include as much as possible of what is relevant, and present your answer in the form of a well-crafted argument.
I will be happy to discuss the essay questions with you, and would prefer that you come to my office hours to do so.
Grading
15 % Weekly Quizzes (10 weeks)
20 % Midterm 1
20 % Midterm 2
20 % Class participation
25 % Final Exam
If the grade on your final exam is higher than that for your lowest midterm, then I will replace the lowest midterm grade with the grade from your final exam. Students have to take tests in order that the grades may be replaced.
Calendar
Tuesday, January 8: Big History and the Origin of the Universe
Reading
[In class] “Creation Myths.”
Video
[In class] Kurzgesagt: The History and Future of Everything–Time [7:10]
[In class] MinutePhysics: Does the Universe Have a Purpose? [2:33]
Recommended video
A Brief History of Everything (Narrated by Neal deGrasse Tyson) [8:30]
Thursday, January 10: The Big Bang, Galaxies and Stars
Reading
Edwin Hubble, “The Exploration of Space” (1946) and “A Relation between Distance and Radial Velocity among Extra-Galactic Nebulae” (1929).
Video
Kurzgesagt: The Beginning of Everything — The Big Bang [5:54]
Minute Physics: The Big Picture. Why Doesn’t Time Flow Backwards? [3:35]
Minute Physics: The Big Picture. How Entropy Powers the Earth [3:15]
Minute Physics: The Big Picture. Where Does Complexity Come From? [3:35]
Minute Physics: The Big Picture. What is the Purpose of Life? [4:23]
Recommended video
Kurzgesagt: What Is Dark Matter and Dark Energy? [6:20]
Kurzgesagt: How Far Can We Go? Limits of Humanity [7:44]
Powers of Ten [9:00]
Tuesday, January 15: New Chemical Elements, the Sun, and Solar Systems
Reading
Hans Bethe, “The Lives of the Stars: Energy Shapes Their Careers” (1980).
Video
Crash Course Astronomy #10: The Sun [12:03]
Crash Course Astronomy #31: High Mass Stars [12:16]
Kurzgesagt: The Solar System–Our Home in Space [7:20]
Thursday, January 17: The Earth and Exoplanets
Reading
Alfred Wegener, The Origin of Continents and Oceans (1960).
Video
Kurzgesagt: Everything You Need to Know about Planet Earth [7:21]
MinuteEarth: Plate Tectonics Explained [2:36]
Crash Course Astronomy #27: Exoplanets [11:49]
Recommended Video
Kurzgesagt: The Fermi Paradox I–Where Are All the Aliens? [6:21]
Kurzgesagt: The Fermi Paradox II–Solutions and Ideas–Where Are All the Aliens? [6:16]
Kurzgesagt: Why Alien Life Would be our Doom – The Great Filter [9:36]
Tuesday, January 22: Evolution
Reading
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, System of Invertebrates (1800) and Zoological Philosophy (1809); Charles Darwin, “The Origin of Species” (1859); Sir Francis Galton, “Hereditary Talent and Character” (1864- 1865); Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (1871a).
Video
Minute Earth: Evolution versus Natural Selection [2:48]
Kurzgesagt: How Evolution Works [11:48]
Thursday, January 24: Life
Reading
Richard Dawkins, “The Replicators” from The Selfish Gene (1976).
Video
Kurzgesagt: What Is Life? Is Death Real? [5:56]
Eons: What Was the Ancestor of Everything? [11:44]
Eons: How Two Microbes Changed History [7:57]
Eons: How Sex Became a Thing [6:22]
Eons: That Time Oxygen Almost Killed Everything [5:44]
Recommended video
Eons: The Search for the Earliest Life [5:37]
Eons: Where Did Viruses Come From? [8:14]
Eons: The Other Explosion You Should Know About [6:54]
Eons: From the Cambrian Explosion to the Great Dying [11:58]
Space Time: The Physics of Life [13:41]
It’s Okay to Be Smart: Where Did Life Come From [13:40]
Tuesday, January 29: Midterm 1
Thursday, January 31: Almost Human
Reading
Raymond A. Dart, “The Predatory Transition from Ape to Man” (1953).
Video in class
2001: A Space Odyssey (Dawn of Man) (1968) [9:33]
Video
Eons: The Humans That Lived Before Us [12:22]
Eons: When We First Walked [12:16]
Eons: When Humans Were Prey [9:51]
Recommended Video
Eons: Your Place in the Primate Family Tree [12:26]
Tuesday, February 5: The Last Humans
Reading
Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (1871b); H. G. Wells, “The Grisly Folk” (1921); Jane Auel, The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980).
Video
Kurzgesagt: What Happened Before History? Human Origins [0:00-5:40]
Natural History Museum: Neanderthals and Us [2:39]
Eons: The Two People We’re All Related To [9:32]
Recommended Video
Svante Pääbo, A Neanderthal Perspective on Human Origins [56:21]
Thursday, February 7: Why Did We Settle Down?
Reading
Steven Mithen, After the Ice: A Global Human History 20,000-5000 BC (2003), 3-7, 40-45.
Video
Kurzgesagt: What Happened Before History? Human Origins [5:40-10:05]
Recommended video
Crash Course Big History #7: Migrations and Intensification [13:40]
Crash Course World History #1: The Agricultural Revolution [11:10]
Tuesday, February 12: Social Complexity
Reading
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality” (1755); Instruction in Letter-Writing for a Scribe.
Recommended video
Crash Course World History #3: Mesopotamia [12:05]
Crash Course World History #201: Rethinking Civilization [13:42]
Thursday, February 14: Guest Lecture by Prof. emeritus George Shaw on “Great Moments in the History of Life.”
Recommended video
SciShow A Brief History of Life: Survival Is Hard [9:18]
SciShow A Brief History of Life: When Life Exploded [11:02]
SciShow A Brief History of Life: Dinosaur Time! [9:10]
SciShow A Brief History of Life: Rise of the Humans [8:18]
Tuesday, February 19: Agrarian Civilizations
Reading
The Epic of Gilgamesh; The Code of Hammurabi.
Video
Kurzgesagt: A New History for Humanity–The Human Era [7:52]
Recommended video
Crash Course World History #2: Indus Valley Civilization [9:34]
Thursday, February 21: World Systems and Exchange Networks
Reading
Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population (1826); Giovanni Boccacio, The Decameron [Plague] (1351).
Recommended video
Crash Course World History #9: The Silk Road and Ancient Trade [10:30]
Crash Course World History #203: Disease in Human History [11:37]
Crash Course World History: #222: Water and Classical Civilizations [11:08]
Tuesday, February 26: Midterm 2
Thursday, February 28: Toward the Modern Revolution
Reading
William of Rubruck, “On the Mongols” (1253); Zheng He’s World Voyages (c. 1433).
Recommended video
Crash Course World History #18: Int’l Commerce, Snorkeling Camels, and the Indian Ocean Trade [10:14]
Crash Course World History #215: Population, Sustainability, and Malthus [12:50]
Crash Course World History #23: The Columbian Exchange [12:08]
Crash Course World History #203: Disease! [11:36]
Tuesday, March 5: Breakthrough to Modernity
Reading
Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations” (1776); Friedrich Engels, “Explanation of Das Kapital” (1868); French Revolution Documents [Levée en Masse Edict and the Law of Suspects] (1793).
Recommended video
Crash Course Big History #8: The Modern Revolution [13:25]
Crash Course World History #32: Coal, Steam, and the Industrial Revolution [11:04]
Crash Course World History #214: The Railroad Journey and the Industrial Revolution [12:30]
Crash Course World History #29: The French Revolution [11:54]
Thursday, March 7: Communism, Fascism, and World Wars
Reading
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (1925-1926); Joseph Stalin, Foundations of Leninism (1924) and “Industrialization of the Country” (1928).
Recommended video
Crash Course World History #35: Imperialism [13:45]
Crash Course World History #213: Asian Responses to Imperialism [12:54]
Crash Course World History #33: Capitalism and Socialism [14:02]
Crash Course World History #36: World War I [11:44]
Crash Course World History #38: World War II [13:12]
Tuesday, March 12: The Nuclear Age
Reading
John Hersey, “Hiroshima,” The New Yorker (1946); Herman Kahn, On Thermonuclear War (1960).
Video
Kurzgesagt: Is War Over? A Paradox Explained [5:45]
Kurzgesagt: 3 Reasons Why Nuclear Energy Is Terrible! 2/3 [4:09]
Kurzgesagt: 3 Reasons Why Nuclear Energy Is Awesome! 3/3 [4:20]
Recommended video
Kurzgesagt: Nuclear Energy Explained: How does it work? 1/3 [5:17]
Kurzgesagt: Fusion Power Explained – Future or Failure [6:15]
Crash Course World History #39: USA vs USSR Fight! The Cold War [12:15]
Thursday, March 14: The Anthropocene
Reading
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962).
Video
Kurzgesagt: The Rise of the Machines – Why Automation is Different this Time [11:40]
Kurzgesagt: Overpopulation – The Human Explosion Explained [6:39]
Kurzgesagt: A Selfish Argument for Making the World a Better Place — Egotistical Altruism [7:15]
Kurzgesagt: Optimistic Nihilism [6:09]
Recommended video
Kurzgesagt: Quantum Computers Explained – Limits of Human Technology [7:16]
Kurzgesagt: Do Robots Deserve Rights? What if Machines Become Conscious? [6:34]
Kurzgesagt: Genetic Engineering Will Change Everything Forever – CRISPR [16:03]
Monday, March 18 , 2:30-4:30: Final Exam