Selecting and Using Course Materials

Using a wide array of historical source material helps students become proficient with the practices and skills and develop a conceptual understanding of world history. In addition to using a textbook that will provide required course content, students should have regular opportunities to examine primary source material in different and varied forms as well as other types of historical scholarship. Rich, diverse source material provides more flexibility in designing learning activities that develop the habits of historical thinking that are essential for student success in the course.

Textbooks

The AP World History: Modern course requires the use of a college-level textbook that includes discussion of historical developments and processes from c. 1200 into the 21st century in a way that encourages conceptual understanding.

While nearly all college-level world history textbooks address the six themes of the AP World History: Modern course, they often do not do so in a balanced fashion. As such, it is important to identify other types of secondary sources and supplement the textbook accordingly to ensure that each of the six thematic approaches receives adequate attention. Many college level world history textbooks organize content by civilization or region within a specified periodization. These periodization models vary across textbooks and may be different than the AP World History: Modern course periodization. Teachers can use curricular materials and strategies that ensure that students can make connections across civilizations, regions, and time periods.

While College Board provides an example textbook list that teachers may consult to help determine whether a text is considered appropriate in meeting the AP World History: Modern Course Audit curricular requirement, teachers select textbooks locally. Additionally, the AP World History Teacher Community on AP Central provides reviews of recently published texts to help teachers determine their appropriateness for the AP course.

Primary Sources

Students will find it useful to analyze primary source material regularly to deepen their understanding of the learning objectives and develop the required processes and skills. While publishers are increasingly including primary source material within the textbook, students should be introduced to a wide variety of source material so that they can analyze evidence from the past from diverse sources. These sources should include written documents as well as images, such as photographs, cartoons, and works of art. Teachers may use the ancillary materials and website sources that accompany most of the recently published textbooks to find high-quality primary source documents, artwork, charts, and other sources of data that are linked to the topics and themes addressed in the textbook. If a textbook does not provide ample primary sources, or the sources are too brief, teachers can supplement the course with primary source anthologies that provide lengthier selections or online compilations of primary sources related to particular topic areas.

Secondary Sources

Student success in the course also depends on exposure to and analysis of multiple secondary sources. These include noncontemporary accounts of the past written by historians or scholars of other related disciplines, such as economists, sociologists, political commentators, or art historians as well as data sets, charts, and maps. Secondary sources of all types can provide a broader and more substantive perspective on topics addressed by the textbook. Additionally, secondary sources can be helpful in supplementing textbooks with older publication dates. It is especially important that students practice analyzing and comparing historians’ interpretations of events; they should have opportunities to compare a primary source with a secondary source or to compare the views represented by two different secondary sources. This need can often be met by source collections that provide both primary and secondary source material or through ancillary resource materials offered by textbook publishers. When finding resources to use with students, consider a variety of sources that vary in complexity, building toward publications by practicing historians, university presses, or scholarly journals.

A school library media specialist can help identify databases that contain a variety of useful source material, both primary and secondary. Many schools already subscribe to databases such as ABC-CLIO, JSTOR, EBSCO, or Gale that may augment the materials found in texts or source collections. World History Connected is an important e-journal that is dedicated to teaching and learning in world history. Current as well as all past issues are free and available online. Library media specialists can assist in developing LibGuides specific to individual courses that give students easy access to source material teachers identify to be used at home or in the classroom.

Instructional Strategies

The AP World History: Modern course framework outlines the concepts and skills students should master to be successful on the AP Exam. To address those concepts and skills effectively, it helps to incorporate a variety of instructional approaches into daily lessons and activities. The following table presents strategies that can help students master the historical thinking skills and reasoning process and apply their understanding of course concepts.

Refer to the booklet Course and Exam Description pages 175-179 for specific instructional strategies.

Refer to the booklet Course and Exam Description for 'Developing Historical Thinking Skills' (pages 180-189) and 'Developing the Reasoning Processes' (pages 190-191).