A. P. World History Thematic Review Book

Rationale: The AP Exam assesses students’ ability to use factual information to good purpose. Working with themes enables students to make connections between specific information and broader concepts, helping them to understand how the issues play out over extended periods of time. Thus, particular pieces of information become pillars that support a thesis and reflect an understanding of the flow of history, rather than simply a list of facts to be memorized. Additionally, students recognize that thematic content is interrelated both within and between units of study, emphasizing the dynamic nature of history. They also learn that, in many cases, specific information can be used to support theses dealing with more than one theme.

Directions: Students will compile, throughout the year, a Thematic Review Book. This book should be well organized and utilized for review later in the year. This assignment will be submitted in class as well as on

  • Part I: AP World History Curriculum Framework Vocabulary (20 points formative)
  • Students need to define and discuss the significance of each Vocabulary term for the unit.
  • Part II: AP Themes (30 points summative)
  • Theme book can be divided two different ways. Option 1: Using TABS/DIVIDERS, divide the theme book according to the 5 themes for A.P. World History. Option 2: Divide the theme book according to the units we have to study. Either option you choose, you must also include the section for unit vocabulary.
  • A—Thematic Examples (must use all 5 Themes and 3 subtopics and have at least 25 examples)
  • For each theme/subtopic, students must provide specific information relevant to each theme.
  • Example:

-Theme 1: Interaction Between Humans and the Environment [patterns of settlement]

  • River Valleys such as the Indus River Valley, Nile River Valley
  • (Students should/could use unit terms for examples)
  • Students may choose to expand upon examples which will assist in their understanding of the concepts/history and retention
  • B— AP World History Concepts
  • Change and Continuity over time
  • Multiple Perspectives
  • Cross Regional Themes
  • Local – Global
  • Compare and Contrast
  • Multiple Causation
  • Linkage over time and place
  • The next requirement is that students must consider the above listed concepts and consider relationships across units of study as well.
  • Choose a minimum of three concepts and write two paragraphs for each describing how the it manifested within the time period being studied.
  • C—Comparison and Analysis.
  • Using the following list, students must select a minimum of two topics from below and write a one page comparative essay. The format should be as follows:
  • Paragraph 1: Introduction with thesis. (highlight background info YELLOW, thesis statement BLUE.
  • Paragraph 2: Body paragraph with similarities or differences. Highlight main idea/topic sentence BLUE. Highlight historical evidence GREEN. Highlight Analysis ORANGE.
  • Paragraph 3: Body paragraph with similarities or differences. Highlight main idea/topic sentence BLUE. Highlight historical evidence GREEN. Highlight Analysis ORANGE.
  • Conclusion: Explain the impact of these similarities or differences.

Themes of AP World History

  1. Interaction b/t humans and the environment

Demography and Disease

Migration

Patterns of Settlement

Technology

  1. Development and interaction of cultures

Religions

Belief Systems, philosophies, and ideologies

Science and Technology

The arts and architecture

  1. State-building, expansion and conflict

Political Structures and forms of governance

Empires

Nations and nationalism

Revolts and revolutions

Regional, trans regional, and global structures and organizations

  1. Creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems

Agricultural and pastoral production

Trade and Commerce

Labor Systems

Industrialization

Capitalism and socialism

  1. Development and transformation of social structures

Gender roles and relations

Family and kinship

Racial and ethnic constructions

Social and economic classes

Comparison and Analysis Topics

Origins – 600 CE (Covers two time periods)

  1. Compare major religious and philosophical systems including some underlying similarities in cementing a social hierarchy, e.g., Hinduism contrasted with Confucianism.
  2. Compare the role of women in different belief systems – Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, and Hinduism
  3. Compare collapse of empires in Western Europe than it was in the eastern Mediterranean or in China. Understand how and why the collapse of empire was more severe in West versus East.
  4. Describe interregional trading systems e.g. Indian Ocean trade (Compare to another system)
  5. Compare the caste system to other systems of social inequality devised by early and Classical civilizations, including slavery.
  6. Compare the societies: Civilizations versus pastoral/nomadic societies.
  7. Compare the development of traditions and institutions in major civilizations, e.g., Indian, Chinese, and Greek
  8. Compare the political and social structures of two early civilizations, using any two of the following: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, Shang dynasty, and Mesoamerica and the Andean South America

600 CE – 1450CE

  1. Compare the role and function of cities in major societies
  2. Compare and analyze gender systems and changes, such as the effects of Islam and one other civilization/structure.
  3. Compare and Contrast interactions and characteristics in the time period between Jews, Christians, and Muslims
  4. Compare the developments in political and social institutions in both eastern and western Europe.
  5. Compare Japanese and European feudalism
  6. Compare European and sub-Saharan African contacts with the Islamic world.
  7. Analyze the Chinese Meritocracy (Civil Service Exam) to a traditional aristocracy.

1450 CE – 1750CE

  1. Compare colonial administrations
  2. Compare coercive labor systems: slavery and other coercive labor systems in the Americas
  1. Compare and Contrast the the development of empires (i.e., general empire building in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas)
  2. Analyze imperial systems: a European seaborne empire compared with a land-based Asian empire
  3. Compare, contrast, and analyze Russia’s interaction with two of the following (Ottoman Empire, China, western Europe, and eastern Europe)
  4. Compare Mesoamerican and Andean systems of economic exchange.

1750 - 1914

  1. Compare the causes and early phases of the Industrial Revolution in Western Europe and Japan.
  2. Compare the Haitian and French Revolutions
  3. Compare reaction to foreign interference in the Ottoman Empire, China, India, Southeast Asia, and Japan.
  4. Compare nationalism in the following pairs: China and Japan, Egypt and Italy, Pan Africanism and the Indian National Congress
  5. Compare, contrast, and explain forms of Western intervention in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia
  6. Compare roles & conditions of elite women in Latin America w/ those in Western Europe before 1850.

1914 – Present

  1. Compare patterns and results of decolonization in Africa and India
  2. Pick 2 revolutions (Russian, Chinese, Cuban, Iranian) & compare effects on roles of women
  3. Compare the effects of the World Wars on areas outside of Europe
  4. Compare legacies of colonialism and patterns of economic development in two of three areas (Africa, Asia, and Latin America)
  5. Analyze nationalist ideologies and movements in contrasting European and colonial environments
  6. Compare the different types of independence struggles
  7. Examine global interactions in cultural arenas (e.g., reggae, art, sports)
  8. Analyze the global effects of the Western Consumer Society
  9. Compare the major forms of twentieth-century warfare
  10. Assess different proposals (or models) for economic growth in the developing world and the social and political consequences.