Habits+of+Mind+and+Skills+for+World+History

=THEMES AND HABITS OF MIND=

1. __Impact of interaction among major societies__ (trade, systems of international exchange, war, and diplomacy).
How does interaction impact societies? “Among major societies” implies that interaction is a phenomenon that must be looked at globally one, even two places is not sufficient. This theme is looking for impact but does not want only one side of the relationship. Impacts are themselves often “impacted” by resistance, tradition, local environments etc.

2. __The relationship of change and continuity__ across the world history periods covered in this course.
What changes and continuities can be identified through global processes experienced over time? For example, migration, trade, disease, spread of religion, government, democracy might be identified as global processes and help students understand the global historical context in any situation. Knowing how these processes have changed or stayed the same allows students to provide global context as well as identify the relationship between change and continuity.

3. __Impact of technology and demography on people and the environment__ (population growth and decline, disease, manufacturing, migrations, agriculture, weaponry).
How do humans interact with the environment (two way process) and how does (NEW?) technology impact the environment? Additionally, what then is the impact of these environmental changes and technological developments on demography?

4. __Systems of social structure and gender structure__ (comparing major features within and among societies and assessing change).
How have different societies dealt with class and gender? The theme emphasizes the need to compare these structures within societies and over time between places? So for example, how would one compare economic opportunities for lower class women in Japan with lower class women in the United States and how has that changed (or stayed the same) over time?

5. __Cultural and intellectual developments and interactions among__ and within societies.
How cultural and intellectual endeavors develop within societies and how do they adapt, often creating change in the place of origin as well, as they are spread between places?

===6. __Changes in functions and structures__ of states and in attitudes toward states and political identities (political culture), including the emergence of the nation-state (types of political organization).=== The key word here is change. How have the functions of political control and/or governance changed over time? How is government legitimacy acquired, affirmed, maintained and lost? How have attitudes towards governments evolved as their role has changed? An additional possible issue is that government takes place not only through states. Families, lineages, associations also govern, especially at local levels

World History Habits of Mind or Skills
World History addresses habits of mind or skills in two categories: 1) those addressed by any rigorous history course, 2) those addressed by a world history course.

Four Habits of Mind are in the first category: • __**Constructing and evaluating arguments:**__ using evidence to make plausible arguments.

• __**Using documents and other primary data:**__ developing the skills necessary to analyze point of view, context, and bias, and to understand and interpret information.

• **__Developing the ability to assess issues of change and continuity over time.__**

• **__Enhancing the capacity to handle diversity of interpretations through analysis of context, bias, and frame of reference.__**

Three Habits of Mind are in the second category: • **__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.

• **__Developing the ability to compare within and among societies__**, including comparing societies’ reactions to global processes.

• **__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.