Using the World History for Us All Curriculum to Teach Variable Scales

The curricular website World History for Us All currently offers the most comprehensive and high-quality world history curriculum freely available on the internet. Drawing upon the insights of world historical scholarship, the site helps teachers present the history of humanity from a truly global perspective. Teaching units are categorized into nine chronological “Big Eras,” each one presenting teaching materials at variable geographic and chronological scales—from “close-up” units that situate small-scale events in a global context to broader “landscape” and “panorama” units, which address topics that bridge regions and continents. While World History for Us All is an invaluable resource for educators, it does not yet fully reflect recent developments in the teaching of historical thinking skills, such as the skills involved in looking at sources and events at variable geographic and chronological scales. The UCLA History Department is preparing to undertake a revision of the site’s content with the teaching of historical thinking skills foremost in mind. In spring 2016, Lynch will teach an undergraduate course at UCLA that focuses on teaching with World History for Us All at the secondary level. As an exercise, students will try their hand at revising the site’s panorama units, which address different spatial and temporal scales but do not necessarily engage students in the types of historical thinking associated with scale-shifting. This presentation will provide an overview of lessons learned from the class and also propose a path forward for a team of professional educators and scholars to expand and improve the model curriculum.