Category Archives: homework

Test 3 Results

Each question was worth up to 4 points, for a possible total of 32. The highest score in the class before extra credit, in both sections, was 25, and due to the lower top end, the median was a B-; the grade scale works out like this:

Grade starts at distribution
A+ 25
A 23.5 15%
A- 22.5
B+ 20.5
B 18.25 40%
B- 16.25
C+ 14.25
C 12 35%
C- 10
D+ 8
D 5.75 10%
D- 3.75
F under 3.75 1%

If you answered 8 questions, but failed to answer two from each chapter, I took a 2 point penalty off your grade. (If you didn’t answer all 8 questions, I did not)

If you want to discuss your performance, and how you can improve it next time, feel free to come by my office hours. If you want to dispute your grade, feel free to do so in writing.

 

Schedule Adjustment – not my fault this time

Hope everyone weathered the storm safely!

Obviously, a revised course schedule is now in place. I decided that we really needed the review day before this next test, so I used the review days for tests 4 and 5, and pushed everything back two days. This means that I’ll be lecturing Friday, then you’ll have a review session Monday before the test on Wednesday. This also means that the 3rd test, originally scheduled for the day before Spring Break, is now the Wednesday after break. Homework and Essay assignments have been adjusted accordingly. Also note that the Essay assignments are now available, so you can begin thinking about this as you work through the books.

Also note, if you are working from an older printed copy, that I’ve trimmed the list of terms for the 2nd test, to make things a little bit more focused.

Schedule Adjustment Again

My apologies again for my absence. I have revised the schedule (again), this time using the catch-up day for the next test. I’ll do my best to get through the material efficiently this week, so that we have some time to talk about the test beforehand.

The good news, I suppose, is that you’ve got an extra weekend to work on the Document Homework.

I will have the tests to give back Wednesday, and I will post comments about the grades and suggestions for improving next time.

Something like a study guide

You can find some exemplars of good work from previous semesters here and here. You can also see a comparison of good answers with the textbook sidebar definitions, if you’re thinking of memorizing those short definitions (hint: it’s not a good idea!)

I grade the individual questions on a 4-point scale: 4=A, 3=B, etc. I then total those up and, taking the highest grade in the class as 100%, convert them back to a 4-point scale letter grade with pluses and minuses. I record that grade (on a hundred point scale, so F is still worth more than zero) as your grade on the test.

World History Since 1500

  • The main course page can be found in the header links above, or here. This will have the current schedule, including any changes, links to resources like the syllabus (also available through the Past Syllabi tab above), my Powerpoint Slides when relelvant, and assignment handouts.
  • Your first homework, in addition to starting the reading in Spence and the document collection, is to complete the Student Information Form and email it to me before class on Friday.

Final Exam Take-home Essays Posted

The questions for the take-home final essays may be found here, or through the course schedule. Remember that the essays are only one part of the final: the third test will also be given during the final exam week as an in-class exam; same as the first two, but your time limit will be 2 hours instead of 50 minutes. The pre-test study assignment, one multiple choice question per study term, is due by email no later than Midnight, the 8th of December, before the review session on Friday the 9th.

Book list for World Since 1500

(Hist 102 sections 02, 03; Spring 2012)

History is the study of humanity and change over time. In this class we’ll have lots of both: the whole world over the last five hundred years (that’s about one year per four minutes of class time), from our pre-industrial heritage to our hypertext present, from five hundred million people to over seven billion. We will recreate the present from the past, and see how our current situation is in many ways the legacy of earlier cultures and processes. Who we are and where we are in the world is very much a historical question, as we will discover.

This class will examine this history through many lenses: political, economic, social, cultural, personal. The textbook will provide the basic survey of the history, supplemented by readings that will give greater depth and texture to subjects we will be discussing. The lectures and discussions will cover some of the same ground, but from different perspectives, including an introduction to the challenges and pleasures of Doing History.

Required Texts:

  • Peter N. Stearns, Michael B. Adas, Stuart B. Schwartz, Marc Jason Gilbert, World Civilizations: The Global Experience, Volume 2 (6th Edition). 978-0205659593
  • Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, Schocken Books, Rev. and Expanded Ed., 1997. 978-0805210606
  • Andrew F. Smith’s Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine (Columbia University Press, 2009) 978-0231140935