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Efik Origin Story Compiled by David Baker, adapted by Newsela In this origin story of the
Nigerian Efik people, the first
humans defy the gods to
achieve greater power and
wisdom. The Efik people live in southern Nigeria, for many centuries dwelling near the
regions around the Cross River. They traditionally worshipped... |
What Happened on Easter Island? By David Burzillo, adapted by Newsela Easter Island is most famous for moai,
the huge statues that encircle the island.
What caused its civilization to collapse? Introduction In the spring of 1722, Dutch explorers landed on Easter Island. Upon arrival, they found
a most puzzling and fas... |
Big History: An Overview By John Green, adapted by Newsela History is an attempt to understand both our
insignificance and our significance. To study history is
to better understand the world and your place in it. You are very small. You are one of several billion living members of your species, a
species that lives o... |
Zulu Origin Story Compiled by David Baker, adapted by Newsela Different versions of the
Zulu origin story all share
this theme: Life has a
single common ancestor. The Zulu are a proud African people, famous throughout history for their fierceness and bravery in fending off invaders. Archaeologists tell us they traveled... |
All of the following terms appear in this unit. The terms are arranged here in alphabetical order. adapt — Make fit for, or change to suit a new purpose; adapt or conform oneself to new or different conditions ancestor — Someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent) astrophysics — The... |
Cosmology and Faith An illustration of multiple worlds by 18th-‐century mathematician Leonhard Euler © Science Source By John F. Haught Since the beginning of human existence on our planet, people have asked questions of a religious nature. For example, what happens to the dead? Human beings have always wondered how th... |
Greek Origin Story: The Titans and the Gods of Olympus An illustration of Zeus crowned by Victory © Bettmann/CORBIS Compiled by Cynthia Stokes Brown This origin story comes from some of the earliest Greek writings that have survived. We know the Greek origin story from some of the earliest Greek literary sources that h... |
Approaches to Knowledge By Bob Bain, adapted by Newsela How do people create knowledge? It starts by being puzzled, curious, or even confused about the world. There’s a sense of wonder in it all. Here in a library, surrounded by books, I’ve set out to write about knowledge. Libraries make such appropriate places to di... |
Judeo-Christian Origin Story: Genesis Compiled by Cynthia Stokes Brown This story comes from the first book of the Old Testament, the sacred source book of both Judaism and Christianity. This biblical story comes from Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, which is the sacred sourcebook of both Judaism and Chris... |
Iroquois Origin Story: The Great Turtle Illustration of the Iroquois Prayer of Thanksgiving © National Geographic Society/CORBIS Compiled by Cynthia Stokes Brown The Iroquois people of North America spoke this story. Settlers from Europe wrote it down. This story comes from the Iroquois people in North America. In the ... |
Origin Stories Introduction By Cynthia Stokes Brown All humans yearn to know where we came from and how our world began. We may have different stories, but they all serve
a similar purpose. Everywhere around the world people tell stories about how the Universe began and how humans came into being. Scholars, namely ant... |
Chinese Origin Story: Pan Gu and the Egg of the World Compiled by Cynthia Stokes Brown First written down about
1,760 years ago, this
story of how the Universe
began was told orally long
before that. This origin story comes from Chinese culture. It was first written down
about 1,760 years ago, roughly 220 — 265 CE, yet... |
Mayan Origin Story: The Popul Vuh Creation by Diego Rivera © Christie’s Images/CORBIS Compiled by Cynthia Stokes Brown This is the beginning of a long, complex story called the Popol Vuh which means “council book.” It was told by the Mayans who long ago lived in theYucatán Peninsula of Mexico. This origin story was tol... |
Modern Scientific Origin Story: The Big Bang Planetary nebula NGC 6210 in Hercules Constellation © ESA/Hubble and NASA By Cynthia Stokes Brown From vast nothingness to a Universe of stars and galaxies and our own Earth. This version of modern science’s origin story is condensed and interpreted from a great body of hist... |
Complexity & Thresholds By David Christian What does complexity mean, and why is it so important? What role has complexity played in getting us to the world we live in today? One of the central themes of this course is the idea of increasing complexity. In the 13.8 billion years since our Universe appeared, more and m... |
The Graphic Biography below uses “Three Close Reads”. If you want to learn more about this strategy, click here. Reading 1: Skimming for gist This will be your quickest read. It should help you get the general idea of what the graphic biography will be about. Pay attention to the title, headings, images, and layout. As... |
Evidence for an Expanding Universe By Cynthia Stokes Brown Born: November 20, 1889; Marshfield, Missouri. Died: September 28, 1953; San Marino, California. Edwin Hubble © SPL / Photo Researchers, Inc. In the course of five years, Edwin Hubble twice changed our understanding of the Universe, helping to lay the foundatio... |
A sun-centered view of the universe By Cynthia Stokes Brown Born: February 19, 1473; Torun, Poland. Died: May 24, 1543; Frombork, Poland. An engraving of Copernicus © Copernicus/PoodlesRock/CORBIS In the middle of the 16th century a Catholic, Polish astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus, synthesized observational data to for... |
Standing on the Shoulders of Invisible Giants By Eman M. Elshaikh The history of science is a history of our collective learning. Historians piece together different conversations to tell a story that crosses centuries and continents Sir Isaac Newton, the famous English scientist, once said, “If I have seen further, ... |
Measuring Distance in the Universe By Cynthia Stokes Brown Born: July 4, 1868; Lancaster, Massachusetts. Died: December 12, 1921; Cambridge, Massachusetts. Henrietta Leavitt © Photo Researchers Henrietta Leavitt discovered the relationship between the intrinsic brightness of a variable star and the time it took to vary... |
The Graphic Biography below uses “Three Close Reads”. If you want to learn more about this strategy, click here. Reading 1: Skimming for gist This will be your quickest read. It should help you get the general idea of what the graphic biography will be about. Pay attention to the title, headings, images, and layout. As... |
All of the following terms appear in this unit. The terms are arranged here in alphabetical order. astronomy — The branch of science that deals with the Universe and the various objects, like stars, planets, and galaxies, that we find within it. Cosmology and astrophysics are closely related to astronomy, and the words... |
Browse through different views of the Universe and zoom in on the light from distant stars to better understand how our understanding of cosmology has evolved. Ptolemy's Universe Source: Big History ProjectThe Ptolemaic view of the Universe was an Earth-centered, or geocentric, model. The Sun and all of the planets orb... |
The Missing Link? The Maragha Observatory By Eman M. Elshaikh From Ptolemy to Copernicus and Galileo, thinkers have debated what the Universe looked like for centuries. Ultimately, scholars moved from an Earth-centered model to a Sun-centered model. How did we get there? Planetary revolutions Television with breaking ... |
An Earth-Centered View of the Universe Born: 85 CE; Hermiou, Egypt. Died: 165 CE; Alexandria, Egypt. Portrait of Ptolemy by Andre Thevet © Bettmann/CORBIS By Cynthia Stokes Brown The Earth was the center of the Universe according to Claudius Ptolemy, whose view of the cosmos persisted for 1400 years until it was overtu... |
Father of Modern Observational Astronomy By Cynthia Stokes Brown Born: February 15, 1564; Pisa, Italy. Died: January 9, 1642; Florence, Italy. An undated portrait of Galileo © Bettmann/CORBIS An Italian Renaissance man, Galileo used a telescope of his own invention to collect evidence that supported a Sun-centered mode... |
Physics, Gravity & the Laws of Motion By Cynthia Stokes Brown Born: January 4, 1643; Lincolnshire, England. Died: March 31, 1727; London, England. Portrait of Isaac Newton © CORBIS Sir Isaac Newton developed the three basic laws of motion and the theory of universal gravity, which together laid the foundation for our c... |
The Red Supergiant Betelgeuse The Red Supergiant Betelgeuse. Source: ESO/L. Calcada This is an artist's impression of the red supergiant Betelgeuse in Orion, a prominent constellation throughout the world. Betelgeuse, the 8th brightest star in the night sky, can be easily identified as one of Orion's armpits. Betelgeus... |
Pure Metal: Jābir Ibn Ḥayyān By Trevor R. Getz Whether an individual or a collection of people, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān’s work with chemical substances was an inspiration and guide for the later creators of chemistry. The original transformer Whether you realize it or not, you wake up every morning and do some chemistry. You... |
The Graphic Biography below uses “Three Close Reads”. If you want to learn more about this strategy, click here. Reading 1: Skimming for gist This will be your quickest read. It should help you get the general idea of what the graphic biography will be about. Pay attention to the title, headings, images, and layout. As... |
All of the following terms appear in this unit. The terms are arranged here in alphabetical order. carbon — A chemical element with six protons that is the basis for all known life on Earth. chemical element — A substance whose atoms are all the same (that is, each atom contains the same number of protons as each of th... |
A Closer Look at the Popular Metal A Greek silver tetradrachm from about 160 BCE © Hoberman Collection/CORBIS By Big History Project It’s amazing how much you can learn when you look at things through the lens of Big History. Take a medium-weight element like silver, a shiny whitish metal with an unassuming spot (atomi... |
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