History IB I Junior Year Blocks 2 & 4

2010-2011

Mr. David Nelson/ Email:

Class Website: /

Class Information also available on Moodle at

Brief Description of Course

This is the first year of a two-year program preparing 11th graders to take the International Baccalaureate examination at either the Standard or the Higher Level at the end of 12th grade. During the first year, candidates for either examination will follow the same curriculum. The course will focus on 20th century history of the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Through the use of primary sources and by applying historical best practices, students will engage with the IB Class Syllabus. Historical study will include the selection and interpretation of data and its critical evaluation. Students at both levels will also be required to undertake a historical investigation, a problem-solving activity that need not be related to the syllabus.

Learning Outcomes/ Standards

Having followed the history course at the higher or standard level, students will be expected to:

  1. Comprehend, analyze, evaluate and integrate source material critically as historical evidence.
  2. Demonstrate historical understanding of 20th century world history through the acquisition, selection, effective use and synthesis of knowledge.
  3. Explain different approaches to and interpretation of, historical events and topics.
  4. Place events in their historical context.
  5. Explain the causes and effects of historical continuity and change.
  6. Present arguments that are clear, coherent, relevant and well sustained.
  7. Present historical explanations from an international perspective.
  8. Compare and contrast developments and events.
  9. Construct written arguments within time constraints, as preparation for the examination.
  10. Demonstrate evidence of research skills, organization and referencing.

Outline of Course

The two-year IB history syllabus consists of three prescribed subjects, five 20th century world history topics, one regional option and a historical investigation. Prescribed ‘Subject 3’ (as per IB syllabus) will address communism in crisis from 1976-1989. Students will study the struggle for power following the death of Mao Zedong in China, investigate China under the rule of Deng Xiaoping, analyze the impact of policies implemented by Gorbachev in the USSR, and examine the consequence of Gorbachev’s policies in Eastern Europe. Two topics from the following 20th century topics will also be studied: Causes, practices and effects of war, democratic states-challenges and responses, origin and development of authoritarian and single-party states, and the Cold War. Students will examine ‘Option3’ from the IB History Syllabus with special emphasis on the following sections: The Great Depression and the Americas 1929-1939, The Second World War and the Americas 1933-45, and The Cold War and the Americas 1945-1981. Higher Level Students will also selectone additional section from the syllabus for independent in-depth study.

ACS Course Outline (Year I):

Unit I- Introduction to Historical Methods and Research Structures

  • Dissecting Questions
  • Formulating Historical Imagination
  • Glossary of IB Command Terms for history

Unit II- The Great Depression and the Americas 1929-39

(From Option 3: Aspects of the history of the Americas in the IB Syllabus)

This section focuses on the nature of the Depression as well as the different solutions adopted by

governments in the region and the impact on these societies.

  • The Great Depression: political and economic causes in the Americas
  • Nature and efficacy of solutions in the United States: Hoover; Franklin D Roosevelt and the New Deal;

critics of the New Deal

  • Canada & Latin America’s responses to the Depression: Mackenzie King and RB Bennett; Import

Substitution Industrialization (ISI)

  • Students will complete a case study on one of the following areas:
  • Impact of the Great Depression on society: African Americans, women, minorities
  • The Great Depression and the arts: photography, the movie industry, the radio, literary currents, African Americans, women, minorities, photography, the movie industry, the radio, literary currents.

Unit III- Adolph Hitler- Origins and development of authoritarian and single-party states

(From Route 2/ Topic 3 from the IB Syllabus)

  • Origins and nature ofauthoritarian and single-partystates
  • Establishment of authoritarianand single party states
  • Domestic policies and impact

Unit IV- World War II- The Second World War and the Americas 1933‑45

(From Option 3 from the IB Syllabus)

This section focuses on the changingpolicies of the countries in the region as a result of growing political and diplomatic tensions preceding and during the Second World War. It also examines the impact of the war upon the Americas.

  • Hemispheric reactions to the events in Europe: inter-American diplomacy; cooperation and neutrality;Franklin D Roosevelt’s Good Neighbour policy, its application and effects
  • The diplomatic and/or military role of the United States and other Latin American countries in the Second World War
  • Social impact of the Second World War on: African Americans, Native Americans, women andminorities; conscription
  • Treatment of Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians
  • Reaction to the Holocaust in the Americas
  • Impact of technological developments and the beginning of the atomic age
  • Economic and diplomatic effects of the Second World War in one country of the Americas

Unit V- Joseph Stalin- Origins and development of authoritarian and single-party states

(From Route 2/ Topic 3 from the IB Syllabus)

  • Origins and nature ofauthoritarian and single-partystates
  • Establishment of authoritarianand single party states
  • Domestic policies and impact

(Introduction to the IB History Internal Research project)

Unit VI- The Cold War- (Europe and The Americas)

(From Topic 5 from the IB Syllabus)

This topic addresses East–West relations from 1945. It aims to promote an international perspective andunderstanding of the origins, course and effects of the Cold War—a conflict that dominated global affairsfrom the end of the Second World War to the early 1990s. It includes superpower rivalry and events in allareas affected by Cold War politics such as spheres of interest, wars (proxy), alliances and interference indeveloping countries. The course will include a selection of objectives from each of the following Cold War themes:

  • Origins of the Cold War:
  • Ideological differences
  • Mutual suspicion and fear
  • From wartime allies to post-war enemies
  • Nature of the Cold War:
  • Ideological opposition
  • Superpowers and spheres of influence
  • Alliances and diplomacy in the Cold War
  • Development and impact of theCold War:
  • Global spread of the Cold War from its European origins
  • Cold War policies of containment, brinkmanship, peacefulcoexistence, détente
  • Role of the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement
  • Role and significance of leaders
  • Arms race, proliferation and limitation
  • Social, cultural and economic impact
  • The Cold War in the Americas
  • Truman: containment and its implications for the Americas; the rise of McCarthyism and its effects onDomestic and foreign policies of the United States; the Cold War and its impact on society and culture
  • Korean War and the United States and the Americas: reasons for participation; military developments; diplomatic and political outcomes
  • Eisenhower and Dulles: New Look and its application; characteristics and reasons for the policy;

repercussions for the region

  • United States’ involvement in Vietnam: the reasons for, and nature of, the involvement at differentstages; domestic effects and the end of the war
  • United States’ foreign policies from Kennedy to Carter: the characteristics of, and reasons for, policies; implications for the region: Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress; Nixon’s covert operations and Chile; Carter’s quest for human rights and the Panama Canal Treaty
  • Cold War in either Canada or one Latin American country: reasons for foreign and domestic policiesand their implementation
  • End of the Cold War:
  • Break-up of Soviet Union: internal problems and externalpressures
  • Breakdown of Soviet control over Central and Eastern EuropeMaterial for detailed study
  • Wartime conferences: Yalta and Potsdam
  • US policies and developments in Europe: Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, NATO
  • Soviet policies, Sovietization of Eastern and Central Europe, COMECON, Warsaw Pact
  • Sino–Soviet relations
  • US–Chinese relations
  • Germany (especially Berlin (1945‑61)), Congo (1960‑64), Afghanistan (1979‑88), Korea, Cuba, Vietnam,
  • Middle East
  • Castro, Gorbachev, Kennedy, Mao, Reagan, Stalin, Truman

Preview to Year II of IB History:

Unit VII- Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) Origins development of authoritarian and single-party states

(Finalizing the IB History Internal Research project)

Unit VIII- Communism in crisis 1976‑89

(From Prescribed subject 3from the IB Syllabus)

  • Gorbachev and his aims/policies (glasnost and perestroika) and consequences for the Soviet state;
  • Consequences of Gorbachev’s policies for Eastern European reform movements: Poland—the role of Solidarity; Czechoslovakia—the Velvet Revolution; fall of the Berlin Wall.

Unit IX- Communism in crisis 1976-1989

  • Struggle for power after the death of Mao
  • China under Deng Xiaoping

Unit X- Paper 2 Review- Single Party States, The Cold War/ Exam Review

Interdisciplinary Connections:

Materials will be drawn from a range of disciplines-including economics, politics and sociology.

Texts : Select chapters from the following sources will be utilized in the two year course:

American Odyssey, By Gary B. Nash- Professor of History University of California

**A People’s History of the United States (1492-Present,)By Howard Zinn – Boston University**

International Relations 1914-1995, By Tony Rea and John Wright

**A History of the Modern World Since 1815, Ninth Edition, By R, Palmer- University of Chicago**

ISBN 0-07-112137-4

Challenging History: Europe 1890-1990, By John Traynor

**Stalinist Russia, By Steve Phillips. Heinemann, 2000.

A History of Asia,By Rhoads Murphey

**History: 20th Century World--The Cold War, By Keely Rogers and Jo Thomas**

ISBN 978-0-435994-28-0

**20th Century World History Course Companion, By Martin Cannon (Oxford, 2009)**

ISBN 978-0-19-915261-2

**Although these sources are provided by the school, it is recommended that students purchase a copy of each starredsource so that they can complete detailed annotations as they read.

Supplies:

  • Students must maintain a separate binder for each Unit.
  • Students must have adequate lined paper, pens, and highlighters for use during class.
  • Although students have open access to PCs and the network at school, access to a PC and internet at home is essential to success in the course.
  • Purchase a USB memory stick of 2GB or more to use in the class
  • Purchase blank DVDs (+) in order to make back-up copies of certain documentaries presented in class.

Assessment Criteria:

Assessment rubrics and the descriptors for all the written work assignments are included in the IB History Handbook. All students have received a complete printed set of the IB History Handbook (First Exams 2010).

The IB uses several methods to assess work produced by students. Each criterion compromises a set of hierarchically ordered level descriptors and markbands. For Paper 1 there is a detailed markscheme specific to each examination paper. For Paper 2 and Paper 3, there are markband descriptors and markschemes. The markband descriptors are related to the objectives established for the history course and the group 3 descriptors. The markschemes are specific to each paper. For internal assessment, a number of criteria have been identified. Each assessment criterion has markband descriptors describing specific levels of achievements.

Grading Scheme for the ACS Grade:

Quarter grade components

10% Class Participation

20 % Homework and Binder

*The Binders will be assessed at the completion of each unit.

20% Class work and Quizzes

50% Tests

Semester grade

80% of the two quarter grades + 20 % exam

Final grade

50 % of Semester 1 + 50 % of Semester 2 grade

Course-specific Information and Late Work Policy:

  • All assignments will be posted on and on the ACS Moodle Site.
  • Late work will receive a maximum grade of 60%. Late work is defined as an assignment that is not submitted by the pre-defined deadline. If there are extenuating circumstances, which may merit an extension, an extension must be arranged in the days prior to the deadline.
  • If a student has an excused absence on a test day, he/she will be required to make arrangements to take a make-up test within the next two school days.
  • All students are expected to be on class in time and be fully prepared.
  • No cell phones, IPods, earphones, etc. are permitted in class.