CHW3M course explores the history of various societies and civilizations around the world, from earliest times to around 1500 CE. Students in CHW3M will investigate a range of factors that contributed to the rise, success, and decline of various ancient and pre-modern societies throughout the world and will examine life in and the cultural and political legacy of these societies. CHW3M will extend students’ ability to apply the concepts of historical thinking and the historical inquiry process, including the interpretation and analysis of evidence, when investigating social, political, and economic structures and historical forces at work in various societies and in different historical eras.
Course curriculum
Inside %course-code%: how civilizations rise, flourish and fall
History as a Group 1 credit
CHW3M counts toward the Group 1 compulsory credit and builds the historical thinking and inquiry skills that CHI4U and Grade 12 social sciences assume.
Every region, not just Europe
Polynesian wayfinders and the first peoples of the Americas, India and China, then the Middle East, Africa and Europe, with the fifteenth century as the hinge into the Age of Exploration.
Think like a historian
Continuity and change, cause and consequence, historical perspective and significance, applied to primary and secondary evidence in every unit.
Biographies, timelines and two essays
Each unit pairs a mid-unit task, such as a biography, timeline or graphic organizer, with an end-of-unit essay or presentation, building to a live summary presentation as the final task.
CHW3M Course outline
Full unit-by-unit breakdown.
Taught throughout the course rather than as a separate block: formulate historical questions, plan research, locate and evaluate sources, analyse and synthesize evidence, and communicate conclusions while reflecting on your process.
Key topics
Historical inquiry process · concepts of historical thinking · finding and evaluating sources · citing evidence
Assessed by
Embedded in every unit task
Trace the evolution of modern Homo sapiens and the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic eras, identify when the key elements of civilization emerged, and judge which early societies qualify as civilizations and why technological innovation drove social, political and economic change.
Key topics
Human evolution · Paleolithic to Neolithic · elements of civilization · early societies · careers that use historical skills
Assessed by
Biography presentation · end-of-unit task
Follow the Polynesian wayfinders and the migration of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, analyse the push and pull factors behind those migrations, examine the social, economic and political structures of early Polynesian and American societies, and connect their legacies to the region today.
Key topics
Polynesian wayfinding · migration to the Americas · push and pull factors · Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations · interactions between societies
Assessed by
Civilization timeline · end-of-unit essay
Examine how civilizations were established in India and China and became interconnected, assess the contributions of ideologies and individuals to identity and culture, and begin analysing the factors that drive a civilization’s expansion and decline.
Key topics
Indus Valley and Vedic India · dynastic China · Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism · trade and interconnection · expansion and decline
Assessed by
Graphic organizer and questions · end-of-unit presentation
Investigate the interconnected regions of the Middle East, Africa and Europe from Mesopotamia and Egypt through Greece and Rome to the Islamic world, medieval Africa and Europe, explain how these civilizations shaped each other’s rise, expansion and decline, and analyse their socio-economic, cultural and political legacies.
Key topics
Mesopotamia and Egypt · Greece and Rome · the Islamic world · medieval Africa · medieval Europe · legacies and interconnection
Assessed by
Mid-unit presentation · researched essay
Bring the course together by explaining how ancient and pre-modern civilizations laid the path for modern society, revisit push and pull migration factors, and examine the early consequences of the Age of Exploration in two or more regions of the world.
Key topics
The world in 1500 · early Age of Exploration · legacies across regions
Assessed by
Unit 5 presentation and conversation
Prepare an overall summary of the key points of the course and present it live to your teacher, then write the proctored final exam.
Key topics
Course summary presentation · final exam
Assessed by
Final task: live summary presentation (10%) · final exam (15%)
