World History Thematic Units

One of the best decisions I have made as a teacher was to ditch teaching my textbook in chronological order and teaching thematically instead. I started with my 6th grade curriculum, which covers ancient civilizations, the Middle Ages, and the early modern era.  When I taught the chapters in the textbook one at a time, I noticed students often forgot what they had learned after taking the test and they weren’t making connections about the things that all of the civilizations had in common. 

Now that I teach my world history units thematically, students are thinking critically about what makes civilizations rise, thrive, and fall.  They are understanding more about how geography impacts the lives of people, and how different types of government benefit different types of people.  They are understanding what happens when different cultures meet and how it can lead both to war, but also the exchange of ideas (not to mention the exchange of humans and diseases).

Students in my class do not learn about ancient civilizations one at a time in chronological order.  Instead, they learn about different regions in the world that all existed during similar time periods.  Then, they compare and contrast those civilizations using the different themes of social studies such as geography, government, war, and culture.  Students learn about their topic in expert groups, research and create projects, and then share what they learned with their classmates.

Unit 1: River Valley Civilizations

Regions Covered: Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China

Essential Question: What makes a civilization thrive?

Unit 2: Classical Civilizations

Regions Covered: Greece, Rome

Essential Question: How do the achievements of Classical Civilizations impact modern life?

Unit 3: Middle Ages Around the World

Regions Covered: Middle East, Africa, Japan, China, Europe, Americas

Essential Question: Were the Middle Ages truly the Dark Ages?

Unit 4: Early Modern World

Eras Covered: Renaissance, Reformation, Scientific Revolution, Colonization

Essential Question: How did changes in Europe impact the colonization of the Americas?

Unit 5: World Religions

Religions Covered: Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam

Essential Question: What impact did the spread of religion have on world history?

When I taught chronologically, with one region at a time, it was harder for students to grasp some of the big themes in history. The reasons that civilizations rise and fall and fight with one another become clearer when civilizations are taught simultaneously with a focus on big themes. Students notice patterns in how humans move and share ideas, religions, goods, and diseases. 

Teaching thematically also helps students understand what was going on in the world at the same time.  It can also help you break out of a Eurocentric lens when teaching.  Showing students the achievements of many groups of people helps them understand how much people learn from one another over time.

If you’d like to think about teaching your world history class thematically, but aren’t sure where to start, my River Valley Civilizations Unit and Classical Civilizations Unit are available for purchase on TpT.  

 I also have another blog post explains how I teach my ancient civilizations unit in much more detail.

Follow me on Instagram, where I share more about how I teach thematically all year long.