This document outlines the requirements and timeline for a final theme project in a course about pre-modern encounters between civilizations. Students must choose one of the course themes and select a topic within that theme to analyze using one of two approaches: tracing how a topic changes over time across at least three periods, or analyzing how a topic impacted and interacted across two to three societies in the same time period. The final paper should be 3-5 pages and discuss the topic's impact on the modern world. The document provides the project timeline and submission guidelines.

1. Final Theme Project
The goal of this course is to explore pre-modern encounters
between people of different civilizations and cultural regions.
Early in the term I asked you to select one of the 7 themes this
course for your preferred area of focus. In the final project you
will select a topic from within that theme and apply the
techniques that historians use in analysis.
These are the two different approaches that we will use. Choose
one.
• Studying a subject by how it changes over time: Trace a
limited topic through history (up to 1500 CE) Compare its
change over at least three different points in time.
• Studying a subject in the same time period but across
several different locations and cultures: Analyze the impact and
interaction between two –three societies.
Regardless of which approach you use, your final paper should
include a discussion of the impact this topic has had in shaping
our world today.
TIMELINE FOR FINAL THEME PROJECT
NOW: Select theme. Throughout the remaining weeks you can
use this to guide your selection of modular learning topics to
align with your chosen area. You might want to expand on one
of these topics for your project. It will be helpful to keep note
of speculations and questions that pop-up during the readings.
They could lead to potential topics.
DETERMINE YOUR TOPIC. You will need to decide upon a
World History topic from within your chosen theme and then
narrow it down to either approach #1 or #2. From this you will
write a research statement explaining your position for your
written paper.
WRITE A THESIS STATEMENT that makes a statement about
global history. Your statement should
1. Connect to your chosen theme
2. Articulate which of the two approaches you will pursue.

2. 3. Be approved by your instructor
WRITE YOUR THEME PAPER
1. Your final theme paper should be approximately 3-5 pages
long.
2. Include a source page as the final page
3. It should contain at least 5 sources. At least one of them
should be a primary source. Images and maps are acceptable
sources with appropriate citations.
I encourage you to submit a draft early and I will be happy to
review it with you before final submission.
For the final project topic, my course theme is science and
technology, then I will study the changes of the three industrial
revolutions.
Unit 3 Graphing Exercise (watch lecture 3.6 first)
On Greenhouse Gas Contributions by Countries
Greenhouse gases are gases that cause the temperature of
Earth's atmosphere to rise. Thus, these are the gases that are
causing man-made Global Warming to occur. Their primary
source is the burning of fossil fuels, but there are others that are
discussed in the lectures. Considering this fact, it should make
sense that larger countries and richer countries typically
produce more of these gases than smaller and/or poorer
countries.
In this graphing exercise you'll be able to visualize the
cumulative contribution of greenhouse gases by various
countries. In this case, the percentages given are for the
estimated total amount of greenhouse gas produced by a country
since the widespread use of fossil fuels began during the
industrial revolution.
At this time, the U.S. and European Union are not the largest
contributors of greenhouse gases (China is), but overall the U.S.
and European Union have produced far more greenhouse gas
than any other countries. So, while we are not the biggest

3. contributor now, we are still the largest cumulative contributor.
In fact, the U.S., while making up only 4.5% of the world's
population, is responsible for the production of over one-fourth
of all man-made greenhouse gases ever produced.
Use the data below to complete the blank pie graph/chart on the
next page, and submit the graph by the posted deadline.
Remember to watch the lecture on making graphs before making
yours, and to follow the submission guidelines.
Approximate percent of cumulative greenhouse gas
contributions by countries:
United States:
27%
European Union:
25%
China:
11%
Russia:
8%
Japan:
4%

4. India:
3%
All Others (combined):
22%
Unit 3 Graphing Exercise
Unit 2 Graphing Exercise (watch lecture 2.11 first)
Per Capita Gross Domestic Product and the Total Fertility Rate
A nation's Gross Domestic Product is the total value of all the
goods it produces and all of the services provided during a year.
Likewise, its Per Capita Gross Domestic Product, would be that
value in dollars divided by the number of people in the country.
In other words, if we added up the total value of all the goods
and services produced/provided this year in the U.S. and
divided it up by the number of people in the U.S., everyone
would get a check for about $60,000. So, it's simply a way to
look at how much money a nation has/makes per year.
A nation's Total Fertility Rate is a number that represents the
average number of children a woman in a given population will
have in her lifetime. In other words, it's a way to look at the
average birth rates in a given country. Keep in mind that it is an
average. So, if the T.F.R. in a country is 5.0, that means that if
one woman has only 3 children, another must have 7!
Also, note that if the T.F.R. falls below about 2.1 in relatively
rich countries, a population will shrink over time, as two people
are not leaving behind two more people when they die. In other
words, they are not "replacing themselves" in a population.

5. There are exceptions though, as a nation such as the U.S. may
still grow due to immigration, despite its low T.F.R.
Fertility rates will be discussed in detail in upcoming lectures,
but in preparation for that, use the data below to complete the
included blank column graph. Note that it has a logrithmic scale
for G.D.P. Remember to watch the lecture on making graphs
before making yours, follow the submission guidelines, and
submit the graph by the posted deadline.
If done correctly, you should easily see that women, on average,
have far fewer children in relatively rich countries, but have far
more children in many poorer nations.
U.S.A.
Germany
UK
Japan
China
Peru
G.D.P. ($)
59,500
50,200
43,600
42,700
16,600
13,300
T.F.R.
2.0
1.4
1.9
1.4
1.6
2.2
India
Zambia
Mali

6. Ethiopia
Niger
G.D.P. ($)
7,200
4,000
2,200
2,100
1,200
T.F.R.
2.5
5.8
6.2
5.2
6.9
Unit 2 Graphing Exercise
Unit 4 Graphing Exercise (watch lecture 4.8 first)
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Seawater pH
Marine ecosystems are facing a variety of problems, with one of
them being Ocean Acidification, as the pH of the world's oceans
has been falling due to the use of fossil fuels. Water with a pH
of 7 is considered neutral, but seawater has a higher pH and is
thus basic (also called alkaline) and organisms that live in the
oceans have adapted to this basic pH over millions of years. If
it falls, then it moves towards being acidic rather than basic,
and that's the problem.
A basic pH (that stays between approximately 8.0 and 8.4) is
especially important to organisms like corals, clams, snails, and
other animals that produce calcium carbonate skeletons, shells,
spines, etc. primarily for two reasons. At a pH significantly
lower than 8.0, calcium carbonate simply cannot be produced by
organisms. The chemical reactions used to produce it will not

7. work. And, at a lower pH, calcium carbonate will actually
dissolve into sewater, too. So, if the pH falls more than a few
tenths of a point lower than it is now, some organisms will not
be able to make calcium carbonate structures, and even if they
can, the structures may be dissolved away as fast as they are
produced. Either is deadly, as this would be the equivalent of a
person being perfecetly healthy - except they wouldn't be able
to make any bones. Obviously, that would make it impossible to
survive.
The burning of fossil fuels is the main problem, because we add
billions of tons of CO2 to the atmosphere every year by doing
so. Much of this CO2 dissolves into the oceans, and some of it
combines with water molecules (H2O) and turns into carbonic
acid (H2CO3). This makes the overall pH fall, and as our
activities continue to produce more CO2, the pH will continue
to fall.
Do note that the oceans aren't actually acidic, as pointed out
above, and are still a long way from even being neutral.
However, they are closer to being acidic, which is why this is
called Ocean Acidification. As an analogy, if the average
temperature of very cold area was to warm up a few degrees due
to Global Warming, it would still be cold, but we would say it
has warmed.
With that covered, in this graphing exercise you'll be able to
visualize the rapid increase in the concentration of CO2 in the
atmosphere, and the corresponding fall of the oceans' pH, too.
So, use the data below to complete the blank line graph on the
next page, and submit the graph by the posted deadline.
Remember to watch the lecture on making graphs before making
yours, and to follow the submission guidelines.
1995
1996
1997

8. 1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Carbon Dioxide
361
363
364
366
368
370
371
373
376
377
379
Surface Water pH
8.095
8.093
8.092
8.089
8.087
8.085
8.084
8.082
8.079
8.078
8.076
2006
2007
2008

9. 2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Carbon Dioxide
382
383
385
387
389
390
393
395
397
400
Surface Water pH
8.073
8.072
8.070
8.068
8.066
8.065
8.062
8.060
8.058
8.055
Unit 4 Graphing Exercise
Unit 1 Graphing Exercise (watch lecture 1.0 first)
Global Population Growth and Energy Consumption

10. For a variety of reasons that will be covered later in the course,
the number of human beings on Earth has been rising extremely
quickly for many decades. In fact, over a period of 50 years,
from 1960 to 2010, the human population grew from 3 billion to
6.9 billion. This means that the population doubled in that time
– plus and additional 900 million people.
Let's put this population growth into perspective. The world's
population increased by 3.9 billion people from 1960 to 2010,
and the entire U.S. population is about 325 million. Therefore,
that's the same thing as adding the entire population of the U.S.
to the Earth twelve times, and in just 50 years! Try to imagine
how many more people that is that need to be housed, fed,
clothed, etc.
So, there are far more people on Earth than just a few years ago,
but that’s not the only “problem”. To add to this population
explosion, there has also been a rapid growth in global wealth
and consumerism. In other words, there are more people, and
they use/own a lot more stuff. Of course, there are still billions
of poor people around the world, but overall, humans use/own a
lot more things, and we must use natural resources to create,
transport, maintain, and run these things, etc.
A good example that makes this clear is the increase in the
number of cars, trucks, and buses on Earth relative to
population growth. From 1960 to 2010, the human population
grew from 3 billion to 6.9 billion, but the number of cars,
trucks, and buses grew from 130 million to about 1,000 million
(1 billion). This means the population increased about 2.3
times, while the number of cars, trucks, and buses increased
about 7 times. It takes a lot natural resources to create,
transport, maintain, and run these cars, trucks, and buses.
More people with more money means we make and use more
lights, air conditioners, washing machines, clothes dryers, hair

11. dryers, water heaters, TVs, stoves and ovens, microwave ovens,
refrigerators, computers, phones, boats, motorcycles and
scooters, chainsaws, lawnmowers, swimming pools, clothes, and
so on, and we make and eat a lot more food, too.
In this exercise you'll visualize the growth of the human
population and the increase of its energy consumption over 60
years. By doing so, you'll be able to see that energy
consumption has been growing faster than the population has
been growing, especially since the late 1990s.
Note that world energy consumption is the total amount of
energy used by all of human civilization, and includes all
energy harnessed from every energy source. This is sometimes
expressed as Millions of Metric Tons of Oil Equivalent (the
amount of oil that we'd need to burn to produce a given amout
of energy), but here it will be expressed as Thousands of
Terawatt-hours (TWh). This would be the amount of electricty
produced if we converted all the energy we use into electricity.
Note that 1 TWh is the same thing as 1 Billion Watt-hours, and
that 1,000 TWh is the same thing as 1 Trillion watt-hours.
That's enough electricity to run a 100 watt light bulb for
1,141,552 years. Yes, over a million years!
Now, use the data on the next page to complete the blank line
graph on the third page, and submit the graph by the posted
deadline. Remember to watch video 0.6 (Making Graphs) before
making yours, and to follow the submission guidelines. It can
be found in the "START HERE" folder under course files.
Year
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990

12. World Population
in Billions
3
3.3
3.7
4.1
4.5
4.9
5.3
Energy Consumption
in 1000 TWh
42
50
58
68
77
84
94
Year
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
World Population
in Billions
5.7
6.1
6.5
6.9
7.3

13. 7.7
Energy Consumption
in 1000 TWh
101
110
122
138
156
174
Unit 1 Graphing Exercise