I’ve completed half of the Big History Project online professional development and want to share some of my initial thoughts. While this post might not be of value to the English and Social Studies teachers who will be completing the P.D., I thought it might be of interest to others who want to get a better sense of the skills the course emphasizes. These skills certainly transcend any single discipline.

(1) Critical Thinking: Big History emphasizes critical thinking as a skill. The course explicitly teaches critical thinking through the routine of “claim testing.” In Big History, claim testing means examining an idea in four different areas that challenge students to consider four different questions:

• intuition: Does the claim jive with your intuition?
• authority: Does the claim come from a trusted source?
• evidence: Does the claim come with data points to back it up?
• logic: Does the claim follow a clear line of reasoning?

The course starts by having students apply claim testing to readings. Then, they practice with debates. The idea is that as the practice of claim testing becomes more familiar to students, they naturally apply it to class discussions and writing.

(2) Reading: Big History embraces three different approaches to teaching reading:

• leveled readings: In partnership with Newsela, the course readings are provided at a variety of reading levels so that students at all levels have access to the big ideas. I love this embedded differentiation!
• three close reads: On the first reading, students read for the “gist” and make a prediction. On the second read, the students read for key facts and main ideas. On the third read, students “think bigger” and are asked to connect the text to a broader concept.
• video as text: The course treats video as text to be “read.” I love this mindset as it encourages active learning in activity often viewed by our culture as passive.