Vida Winter Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 This is the one from Bill Gates, not the TC course. When I search I find mostly "planning to use it" posts but not much info from those who have used it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in NY Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 We loved it! It was not a full year program for us, but was definitely worth the few weeks it took us to get through it. If you are doing a world history, earth science, Human Geography, or Geography course of any kind it would be a great go-along. Or just do it as a short stand alone. Highly, highly recommend! (and you can't beat the price!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 We're just wrapping it up this year. I used it with my 7th grader, because that's where it made sense - we'd just finished a history rotation and did this before re-starting with Ancients. It does need to be modified a bit for a 7th grader, it's designed for 9th grade but really can be used any time 7th-12th. We added a ton of resources to make it into a full history and full science credit. Here's a recent post about it. Feel free to ask me anything else. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/543528-anyone-using-big-history-project-for-middle-school-and-like-to-give-me-a-review/?hl=big+history+project&do=findComment&comment=6215437 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in NY Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Wow, Rose! What a great thread!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted April 7, 2015 Author Share Posted April 7, 2015 Thank you Jen, and Rose - if dd takes it through G3 this fall it looks like I need to add a lot to make it a full high school credit. Maybe human geography. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Wow, this thread appeared at a great time for me. Thank you, Vida. (Vida is my name IRL!) And thank you to Rose for all the info in their other thread. Can I ask Jen and Rose: What does a typical week of Big History look like for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Sure. It does differ a bit now than at the beginning. Since the first 5 units are Big Bang-Life, there are no pesky humans, and thus no "history" per se, so that first semester was definitely science - heavy. Each day, she'd watch videos, read articles, or do activities as assigned from the Big History site. This might take up to an hour. She'd have another hour of science supplements - reading a textbook, answering study questions, watching a documentary, etc. At the end of each Unit, she would do the Investigation - this usually took a full week, to read, make notes, develop a thesis, outline, write, and revise. During that week, she did do other science, but no other activities from the BH website. Now that we're in the second half that is mostly human history, she's doing pretty separate science, but it is an intro to ecology and environmental science, so it's still somewhat related to the issues addressed in Units 9 & 10. We did a short Nutrition unit during the Agriculture Unit, so that was a nice correlation too. Still similar schedule - a separate hour of science, and an hour spent on the BH website working through the materials. But we're also doing a history read-aloud together. So usually a week or two of working through the website materials plus assigned supplements, then a week doing the Investigation, then on to the next Unit. She does really enjoy the variety of activities offered - short videos, interesting articles, visuals, activities (some of which involve reading and interpreting graphs or discussing pictures of artifacts, art pieces, etc.) If that doesn't answer your question, do ask anything else. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Sure. It does differ a bit now than at the beginning. Since the first 5 units are Big Bang-Life, there are no pesky humans, and thus no "history" per se, so that first semester was definitely science - heavy. If that doesn't answer your question, do ask anything else. Thank you! We've spent a good amount of time learning about the history of the universe and the eons of earth history in science. Would it make sense to skip to later units that are more history-like, or does skipping defeat the whole purpose of Big History? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Thank you! We've spent a good amount of time learning about the history of the universe and the eons of earth history in science. Would it make sense to skip to later units that are more history-like, or does skipping defeat the whole purpose of Big History? I wouldn't skip the units, because they do a nice job of setting up the investigative style and method that will be used throughout - the idea of claims testers, and how we know what we know, things like that. But you could go through them quickly and not do a bunch of supplements, just stick with the material on the site. You should be able to get through it pretty quickly if you do that. I also think the Investigations are worth their weight - I don't know where your student is at for writing, but for Shannon these were a great way to build essay-writing skills in a scaffolded way. I should mention that there is a *ton* of supplemental material linked on each Unit page. We did some of it, but not everything by any means. Some of it was at a great level for a 7th grader, some was actually more technical and an older kid would get more out of it. So you'll want to evaluate that stuff and decide if it adds value. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Thanks again. I'm going to read the Getting Started Guide tonight and bookmark your other thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 You know how when you read just the right thread at just the right time? This is one of those times. Thank you, Rose. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I'm so glad! We've gotten so much out of Big History this year, I'm trying to hold back cheerleading about it *too* much. But we've truly enjoyed it, and I hope you do, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I'm so glad! We've gotten so much out of Big History this year, I'm trying to hold back cheerleading about it *too* much. But we've truly enjoyed it, and I hope you do, too. Hey! I just figured out I can print out the text assignments choosing which versions of each article I want to use and deleting the rest. Okay, now I'm really sold. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Yes, I did print out the Investigation Libraries and most of the worksheets for the Activities. I made her read articles online that had a lot of graphics - I didn't want to use all that ink to print them! But being able to print the libraries and choose the articles we wanted to use was very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krystan Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 So good to see all these posts! I am thinking of using it for 9th grade next year. It seems like if you go through the "school" section of the website, and not the general section, there is more than enough material to make it a full year course. I'm wondering if you think this can count as a world history program? And we were also planning to do biology. Will this be too much the same? Or a nice complement? Just wondering how others have treated it on a transcript. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in NY Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Wow! I am so glad you guys talked about this again... I just went to the website and see that it is greatly expanded since we did it in the very beginning. We'll have to revisit it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 So good to see all these posts! I am thinking of using it for 9th grade next year. It seems like if you go through the "school" section of the website, and not the general section, there is more than enough material to make it a full year course. I'm wondering if you think this can count as a world history program? And we were also planning to do biology. Will this be too much the same? Or a nice complement? Just wondering how others have treated it on a transcript. Thanks! yes, if you are doing biology, I'd count this as world history. and limit time spent to one credit's worth - easily done. It will be a nice complement to biology. The first four units are more cosmology, chemistry, solar system, and earth systems science, but from unit 5 on, it's all life science related. There is origin and evolution of life on earth, human evolution, anthropology, etc. which are all nice complements to biology. The unit on agriculture ties in with botany a little bit, and the later units can connect with ecology/enviro science. It would definitely complement a year of Bio! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Wow! I am so glad you guys talked about this again... I just went to the website and see that it is greatly expanded since we did it in the very beginning. We'll have to revisit it! Yeah, they've even added a lot of things over the course of the year. It's constantly being massaged as teachers use it in classrooms and give feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Did you sign up as lifelong learners or teacher/student one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkateLeft Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I signed up as a teacher. I think the teacher portal has more information and resources than the lifelong learner one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Teacher, definitely. That's where all the teaching resources - assignments, etc. - are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dachapman Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Teacher, definitely. That's where all the teaching resources - assignments, etc. - are. Can anyone please help me locate the teaching resources that are under the "Customer Created Deployments" listed in the BHP Teaching Guide (and attached to this thread)? I'm particularly interested in the "Middle School" and "Science Integrated" deployments. Thanks so much! Also, if you've used either of these, can you share how it went? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I really want to use this with ds, but he's a little reluctant to move through do much history so quickly. I've been toying with the idea of adding some supplementation to stretch it out a bit while keeping it as a full history credit, but am not sure if this could, or should, be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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