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Full-Text Articles in Education

“Big History At Other Institutions: “Introduction’ And ‘The Big History Project: Bill Gates’S Favorite Course.’ ”, Mojgan Behmand Dec 2015

“Big History At Other Institutions: “Introduction’ And ‘The Big History Project: Bill Gates’S Favorite Course.’ ”, Mojgan Behmand

Mojgan Behmand

"This chapter contains sections on three programs external to Dominican, with each piece discussing a specific program: its history, its structure, its challenges, and its hopes." ~ Chapter excerpt


“Assessing Big History Outcomes: Or, How To Make Assessment Inspiring.”, Mojgan Behmand Dec 2015

“Assessing Big History Outcomes: Or, How To Make Assessment Inspiring.”, Mojgan Behmand

Mojgan Behmand

"Without a doubt, a collaborative process increases commitment to a program and its assessment. In the case of Big History, the vast interplay among disciplines made working as a collective the most sensible approach." ~ Chapter excerpt


"Big History And The Goals Of Liberal Education”, Mojgan Behmand Dec 2015

"Big History And The Goals Of Liberal Education”, Mojgan Behmand

Mojgan Behmand

"...This vision of education as a laying a moral obligation the educated and serving to advance the good of the larger community has always resonated with Dominican educators, whose traditional ideals are study, reflection,, community, and service. Notably, the course components of liberal education have been subject to reevaluation and revision over the years, but the desired outcomes of such an education have remained the same. Accordingly, Dominican embraced it history of liberal education." ~ chapter excerpt


Slimmer, Brighter, And Nearly Perfect: The New Big History Textbook Is Here, Mojgan Behmand Oct 2015

Slimmer, Brighter, And Nearly Perfect: The New Big History Textbook Is Here, Mojgan Behmand

Mojgan Behmand

Rarely has the appearance of a new textbook been the cause of such delight as broke out amongst the First Year Experience faculty at Dominican University of California in August 2013. The book that triggered such reaction is a seemingly unassuming volume, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything (2013), written by historians David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, and published by McGraw-Hill. Why was the book greeted with such enthusiasm, you might ask? Was it that the world needed another textbook on history? That the Dominican faculty felt a special bond with one of the authors, Dominican professor …


Teaching Big History, Richard B. Simon, Mojgan Behmand, Thomas Burke, Esther Quaedackers, Seohyung Kim, Kiowa Bower, Neal Wolfe, James B. Cunningham, Cynthia Taylor, Martin Anderson, J. Daniel May, Philip Novak, Debbie Daunt, Jaime Castner, Ethan Annis, Amy E. Gilbert, Anne Reid, Suzanne Roybal, Alan Schut, Cynthia Brown, Harlan Stelmach Dec 2014

Teaching Big History, Richard B. Simon, Mojgan Behmand, Thomas Burke, Esther Quaedackers, Seohyung Kim, Kiowa Bower, Neal Wolfe, James B. Cunningham, Cynthia Taylor, Martin Anderson, J. Daniel May, Philip Novak, Debbie Daunt, Jaime Castner, Ethan Annis, Amy E. Gilbert, Anne Reid, Suzanne Roybal, Alan Schut, Cynthia Brown, Harlan Stelmach

Mojgan Behmand

Big History is a new field on a grand scale: it tells the story of the universe over time through a diverse range of disciplines that spans cosmology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and archaeology, thereby reconciling traditional human history with environmental geography and natural history.Weaving the myriad threads of evidence-based human knowledge into a master narrative that stretches from the beginning of the universe to the present, the Big History framework helps students make sense of their studies in all disciplines by illuminating the structures that underlie the universe and the connections among them.Teaching Big History is …


Sin Boldly! Or, First-Year Experience ‘Big History’ In 21st Century Liberal Education, Mojgan Behmand Oct 2014

Sin Boldly! Or, First-Year Experience ‘Big History’ In 21st Century Liberal Education, Mojgan Behmand

Mojgan Behmand

Big History is rapidly emerging as a new global discipline! whose adoption into diverse educational models is advocated by a rich array of voices, from those of educators and artists to industrialists" and spiritualists. Of those voices, some concern themselves primarily with higher education and, in turn, almost unanimously advocate for the inclusion of Big History into general education programs or core curricula. Unfortunately, the unanimity ends there. Bemoaning the politics and territoriality of higher education, many of these advocates feel forced to bow to institutional realities and the ever-continuous competition for turf and resources; and thus aspirations and hopes …


Big History, Big Lesson, Mojgan Behmand, Jaime Castner Apr 2012

Big History, Big Lesson, Mojgan Behmand, Jaime Castner

Mojgan Behmand

What should students learn in their first year of college? Should freshman seminars be foundational—and how do we interpret the term “foundational” in the context of liberal education? Does it denote rudimentary, basic, fundamental, or even highly specialized? While a strong education is built on a mastery of vital skills, educators must also interpret “foundational” to mean preparing students with the knowledge they need to lead fulfilling and productive lives. Students require a program that introduces them to vast bodies of interconnected ideas, meets the needs of our time, invites them to explore their own role in the unfolding story …