Unit Overview
New power arrangements emerged across Eurasia. Political states and empires employed a variety of techniques for expanding and maintaining control. Periods of relative stability allowed for significant cultural, technological, and scientific innovations.
Unit G1.3 Outline
8 Subunits
These resources introduce students to the concepts and vocabulary they will encounter in the unit.
Through these resources, students will examine the political, economic, and social institutions of feudal Western Europe during the Middle Ages.
Through these resources, students will examine the political, economic, and social institutions of the Byzantine Empire, including the role of Justinian and Theodora during the Middle Ages.
Through these resources, students will examine the achievements and innovations of the Tang and Song dynasties, explore the spread and evolution of technology and learning from East Asia to Western Europe via the Middle East (e.g., gunpowder, ship technology, navigation, printing, paper), and trace the previous arrival of elements of Chinese culture (e.g., Buddhism, writing, poetry, art) and how those elements were adopted in and adapted to Japanese society.
Through these resources, students will identify the place of origin, examine the core beliefs and practices, and explore the sacred texts and ethical codes for Islam, examine the achievements and innovations of the Abbasid Caliphate, and explore the methods used by Islamic caliphates to gain, consolidate, and maintain power.
Students will identify the location of the Trans-Saharan Trade Routes and Indian Ocean Complex, identify and explain the importance of at least two key resources and/or products and/or luxury items vital to exchanges along the routes, and examine the travels of Ibn Battuta and Mansa Musa.
Through these resources, students will examine the empire-building process of the Mongols.
Our units are developed through a backwards design process in which we start with the summative assessments and then create resources and formative assessments based on the content and skills students will need to be successful (See Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe). We encourage teachers to start their planning by looking first at the end of unit assessments and then at specific resources.
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