Big History

Course manual 2024/2025

Course content

How did the histories of the cosmos, life, earth and human societies jointly shape the world around you? The big history course will help you address this question. During the course, a variety of renowned experts, ranging from astronomers to historians, will take you on a journey from the big bang until today. You will also work on a project that will stimulate you to explore how material, biological and cultural aspects of big history have affected a specific aspect of your world. All of this will encourage you to think about long-term history and what it means for your present and future in a creative and interdisciplinary way.

Study materials

Literature

• F. Spier (2015). Big History and the Future of Humanity. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
  NOTE: Since you will have to use this book in Perusall, you will need to buy it in that application.

Other

• Various videos and optional podcasts.

Objectives

• Provide an evidence-based overview of the history of the cosmos, Earth, life and human societies;
• Summarize some of the major driving forces behind that history;
• Examine how the histories of the cosmos, Earth, life and human societies are intertwined and have influenced each other;
• Examine how these histories have jointly affected important aspects of our current world;
• And while doing so, use big history as a platform for creative, out-of-the-box, interdisciplinary thinking about important aspects of our current and future world.

Teaching methods

• Seminar
• Self-study
• Working independently on e.g. a project or thesis
• Presentation/symposium

Before the seminars, you will  review and annotate introductory knowledge clips and reading, which will help you explore the various astrophysical, geological, biological and cultural processes that jointly shaped our world.

During seminars you will deepen your understanding of these processes.

And in your own little big history, which you will work on in various assignments and will present during  a symposium, you will apply what you've learned throughout the course to an aspect of our current world that you think is particularly interesting, and while doing so, think about this aspect in a creative and interdisciplinary way.

Learning activities

Attendance

Additional requirements for this course:

Because of the interactive nature of the seminars, in-person attendance during the seminars is mandatory. 

You are allowed to miss 2 out of the 11 seminars. If you have a valid reason for missing a seminar, this will not count towards the 2 seminars you are allowed to miss, as long as you inform Esther before missing the seminar.

Assessment

Students that were enrolled in the course in previous years

The IIS uses the rule that course components that were passed with a sufficient grade ánd meeting the attendance requirements ánd practical exams, can be used for one year. In case students want to finish the course after two years, they need to meet the same requirements as the first year.

Assignments

This course consists of various types of assignments and assessments.

Perusall assignments require you to review and annotate introductory knowledge clips and reading and:

• Are individual assignents;
• Are autograded weekly as pass/fail;
• Are obligatory but do not count towards your final grade;
• And align with learning goals 1, 2 and 3.

Little big history brainstorm assignments require you to brainstorm about possible connections between big history and an aspect of the world of your own choice. They:

• Are individual assignments;
• Are graded weekly as pass/fail;
• Are obligatory but do not count towards your final grade;
• And align with learning goal 1,2, 3 and 4.

Little big history outline assignments require you to develop the best connections you developed in your brainstorm assignments into interesting research questions and well supported arguments that form the basis for your little big history project. They:

• Are individual assignments;
• Are graded on a scale from 1-10;
• Count towards 40% of your final grade;
• And align with learning goal 1, 2, 3 and 4.

During your little big history presentation you are required to present your preliminary project ideas in the form of a 3 minute talk, on which you will receive feedback. It:

• Is an individual assignment;
• Is peer-graded on a scale from 1-10;
• Counts towards 20% of your final grade;
• And aligns with learning goal 4 and 5.

Your little big history project requires you to develop your preliminary project ideas into a final coherent project. It:

• Is an individual assignment;
• Is graded on a scale from 1-10;
• Counts towards 40% of your final grade;
• And aligns with learning goal 4 and 5.

Fraud and plagiarism

This course adheres to the general rules on ‘Fraud and Plagiarism` as set by the UvA. Students are expected to have familiarized themselves with these rules.

The terms Fraud or Plagiarism are to be interpreted as the copying of the work of peer-student and/or the copying of (scientific) sources of information, without explicitly referring to its source.

Fraud/plagiarism is forbidden and actively checked by staff. When one is suspected of having committed fraud/plagiarism, the exam committee of beta-gamma and future planet studies will be informed. The highest punishment for fraud/plagiarism involves the student to be disallowed to partake of any exams or examination activities within the future planet studies programme, for the duration of a whole academic year, or may even face dismissal from the programme. More information about Fraud and Plagiarism can be found at: www.uva.nl/plagiaat

Course structure

Contact information

Coordinator

• Esther Quaedackers