Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5 minutes – The story so far...
10 minutes – Tune in: What do these symbols mean?
15 minutes – Find out: Symbols for communication
25 minutes – Take action: Invent a symbolic language
5 minutes – Reflection

Presentation slides

We strongly encourage you to use the Presentation Slides as a guide for yourself and your students through this lesson.

The story so far...

Step 1.

Revisit the story so far, using the Threshold Cards as a guide to retell the story of the history of the universe. Students should be involved in the retelling - you might nominate different students each lesson to be responsible for a different threshold. Prompt them to explain what ingredients were present in the universe at the time, what goldilocks conditions existed to enable a change, and the new complexity it resulted in.

Remember, students' explanations can't be wrong, but you might supplement them with the information below.

In the beginning, we weren't sure there was anything in the universe. If there was, we don't know what it was. We also don't know what the conditions were like. However, something happened, which we know as the Big Bang. This caused the universe to change so much that we recognise it as a new complexity - almost a totally new place. After that, we had space, time, matter (hydrogen and helium), and energy (gravity and electromagnetism).
These were perfect Goldilocks Conditions for something to happen. First, gravity pulled matter together. Inside these fusions, it was more than 10 million degrees Celsius. Suddenly, stars lit up. Galaxies, clusters, and superclusters were formed.
The stars started to age and die. They were running out of hydrogen and helium. Giant stars collapsed, fusing to create more complex elements in the billion-degree temperatures. After a time, 92 elements were present in the universe, making our universe a far more complex place.
Now gravity started to have an impact on these new elements. They underwent accretion. Random collisions started to happen, where elements gathered together and combined. Eventually, these clusters grew big enough to create comets, asteroids, and - most exciting of all - planets. Much more complex structures, including our Solar System, developed in the universe.
Now there was just the right amount of energy for many different chemical reactions to take place. And, importantly, there was liquid water, which made it easier for matter to combine and recombine. So that's exactly what it did! Complex chemicals, including DNA, came together to form new life that could maintain and refuel (feed) itself, adapt to changes around itself over time, and copy itself (reproduce).

The universe had changed once again.

Tune in: What do these symbols mean?

You can also use the Presentation Slides to guide you through these steps.

Step 1.

Start by explaining to students that symbols are pictures that we have given meaning to. They are used to communicate, because everyone who sees them understands their meaning.

There are a lot of other symbols we use throughout society that aren't words. Look through the slides of images and see if you can determine what some of these symbols are trying to communicate.

Step 2. Use the last slide of the word 'apple' to drive home the point about symbols. What does this symbol mean? On its own, the way these lines are arranged into letters, and then combined into a word, is meaningless. It is just a collection of lines. But we have given it meaning. We know that that collection of lines means - although that drawing is also a symbol! Tricky stuff!

Find out: Symbols for communication

Step 1.

Watch:

Threshold 6: Humans and Collective Learning | Big History Project (Public Embed) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBbv7klqg44)

Step 2.

Watch:

What Makes Humans Different? | Unit 6: Big History Project | OER Project (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfFqSnulTR8)

Step 3.

Now we will use the 'think, pair, share' activity to guide us in our own collective learning process from the information in the videos.

Give each student a copy of the Student Worksheet.

Students will first work independently to record what they learnt from the videos. They will then share with a partner. They will then share with another pair.

Step 4.

Finally, ask one representative from each small group to share their knowledge with the class. Create a word wall, mindmap, or graffiti board of key terms and ideas.

Step 5.

Explain to students that this is one example of collective learning. If they go home and tell their family about their new learning, this will also demonstrate collective learning. If parents or older members of their family have other facts to tell them, that is also collective learning!

Ensure children understand that they can witness collective learning in many ways, such as in their everyday classes, within families, school lessons, community activities and any research they undertake.

Step 6.

Discuss: what is most necessary to allow collective learning to happen effectively amongst humans? That is, what do we need to be able to do before we're able to pass on our knowledge or learn from others?

Students might suggest the ability to communicate, and they're on the right path. But many creatures are able to communicate verbally. You just need to watch how cats meow at their owners for food to see evidence for that. Crows are an example of knowledge passing from generation to generation in animals through verbal communication.

What really separates humans from other creatures is our written language.

Step 7.

Watch:

Writing: A Brief Big History (H2) | Unit 6: Big History Project | OER Project (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDY-AKEoV2w)

Step 8.

Explain to students that writing is a symbolic language. It uses symbols (letters, words) to communicate meaning. Another way of thinking about this is as a code. A drawing of this shape "A" has no real meaning, it's just some lines arranged together. But as a society we have given that shape meaning, we all understand what that symbol means and how it is used.

Take action: Invent a symbolic language

Step 1.

Independently, students create their own set of symbols for communication.

Students could create a set of 26 symbols to substitute for the letters of the (English) alphabet. Write out the letters A to Z and create a new symbol beneath each of these letters to represent that letter in a 'new' alphabet.
- To take it a step further, what about full stops and other punctuation?
- Will this new symbolic language have the same rules as English? For example, could students create a language similar to English, but with no vowels? Would it still be understandable?
Alternatively, students could create a set of symbols that are very contextual, requiring others to use a higher degree of interpretation. Symbols used by many Indigenous Australian peoples, as well as cave paintings from other early humans, are a good example of this.
- What might be the advantages and challenges of such a language? Is it more or less easily understood?

Step 2.

Students create a 'key' to help other students learn and understand their symbols. In real-world history, we have the Rosetta Stone to help scholars decode ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Students need to create a similar cheat sheet.

Step 3.

Students create a simple sentence using their symbols. This sentence should communicate something that they have learnt about the history of the universe during this unit.

Step 4.

Students swap their symbol sentence and key sheet with another student, then use the guides to see if they can decode the sentence. Students check in with their partner if they need help or to see if they're on the right track.

Reflection

Exit Ticket - Before moving to their next class or an outside break, students purchase their 'exit' with a 'ticket' that demonstrates their understanding of the learning undertaken in this lesson.

You can have students write their responses on a sticky note along with their name, or you can have them line up and verbally communicate their understanding to you at the door as they leave.

Ask students to define 'symbol', and explain how it enabled collective learning amongst humans (two sentences).

Threshold crossed

Finally, tell the next part of the history of the universe that we have just covered.

"Big, powerful brains and the ability to share learning using precise language and symbols made the perfect conditions for humans to transfer and store information across individuals and communities as they interacted.

This led to a new species of humans: homosapiens.

The universe had changed once again."

Stick your Threshold 6 Card up around the classroom somewhere as an indicator of a threshold being crossed!

Students fill in their Threshold Reflection Sheet.

Where to next?

Students' learning throughout Big History is leading them towards designing future cities. As Big Historians, we are travelling through 13.82 billion years of our universe’s history to find solutions to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal #11: to make cities inclusive, safe and resilient.

Remind students that the Sustainable Development Goals are the world’s to-do list for people and the planet. We all need to be a part of the process. 193 nations came together and agreed on one common list for all of us that helps make the planet and our communities stronger.

What will be our seventh touchdown threshold in our next lesson? Agriculture and civilisation: How did agriculture change how humans lived?

Big History Passport check-in

After this lesson, students should have added to their Big History Passport:

Code Key
Student Worksheet - Think, Pair, Share
Symbol Sentence (solved or unsolved)
Threshold 6 Reflection Page.

Differentiated learning

Extension - Watch Early evidence of collective learning. Students discuss new information they heard, then write an information report on the more complex evidence they have learnt.

Big History - Human Development - Collective Learning

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