Bill Gates: Big History Project Update

The Big History Project began a few years ago after I took an online version of the college-level Big History course. I was so impressed with the structure and approach of big history that I got excited by the opportunity to offer it to a broader audience.

Big history is different from other history courses in that it covers our complete 13.7 billion years of shared history – going all the way back to the Big Bang.  The course then progresses to cover the development of stars, elements, plants, life, humans and our modern-day civilization. These “threshold moments” all share common themes and patterns that are the foundation for the course. To understand the similarities, differences and implications of these thresholds, students have to use many different disciplines spanning cosmology, physics, chemistry, biology, anthropology and social studies.

By connecting different areas of knowledge into one unified story, big history provides a framework for learning about anything and everything. I really like how the course challenges students to wrestle with big questions – questions like how different time scales affect our perspective on history, how language transformed humanity, and what it means to be human. It’s a course I believe everyone should take.

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Related previous post: TED Talk - David Christian: Big history

Link to The Great Courses: Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity (not on sale now, but all courses go on sale for at least 70% off at least once a year).