Big History, a online series created by Macquarie University’s Professor David Christian for primary school students, seeks to address student enquiry in relation to the big questions about the history and development of our universe. Presented by Christian in bite-size episodes of seven minutes, topics range from stars and galaxies, life, humans, and our connected world. The final episode presents a provocative consideration of what and how the future might look. The series is presented in high definition with quality images, graphics and presentation. From a teaching and learning perspective, each episode draws students into various phases of history, the presentation complemented by pictures and graphics. Students are then also able to check their understanding of each section by answering three or four multiple choice questions before being able to move to the next episode. This is an innovative, well-researched and presented series highly appropriate for Australian school students. From a collaborative point of view, the course also models the co-operation possible among students, teachers, scholars and scientists. Big History is a well-conceived and delivered series. It places human history in the broader context of the universe’s history.

David Christian’s Big History series catalyzers students’ imagination and curiosity about mankind’s power to explore, create, and shape the world. These lessons weave a powerful tale that connects history, science, and the humanities into a cohesive narrative. Big History helps students gain a provocative understanding on how peoples and individuals provoked many revolutionary advances through insight and imagination. Christian’s approach fosters critical thinking about large-scale patterns, causality, and interconnections of events through time and space. He makes learning history lively and enjoyable by linking together events and subjects that are often taught in isolation. Ultimately, Big History imparts a way for students to think systematically and holistically, and to apply historical approaches to the global challenges of today.

I did Big History in school holidays.
It was really cool to learn about civilisations.
I liked the answering the questions.

In my 50 years as an educator, I’ve seen the world speed up - so much focus on the present and future, often shaped by politics and media. But to understand where we’re going we must first understand where we’ve been. Big History connects the vast stories of time - from the birth of the universe and the formation of life to the footsteps of the First Peoples and the world we all live in today. Developed over thousands of years Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge - for example - offer us a deep understanding of human connection and continuity throughout the ages. These existing perspectives remind us that the past isn’t separate from the present….. it shapes our character and our future. By bringing Big History into our classrooms, we can offer more than facts. We give students a way to see, to think, to question, and to grow. Cultivating curiosity drives the love of learning, broadens perspectives, and offers us a greater understanding of the world we live in. I believe Professor David Christian’s Big History series is an engaging and inspiring teaching tool – one that invites students and educators alike to see history in its fullest, most connected form.

As an Exercise & Mindset Coach, I recognise the connection between healthy mind and healthy body. I'm confident the BIG HISTORY course will engage school children and encourage them to be curious about the world around them. This curiosity will ensure ongoing attention to their own mental & physical well-being.

This history might rival the origin stories of the big religions in its breadth. And indeed for me, it is way superior to religious origin stories with respect to the explanation of how and why. It is not just a metaphor for our origins, it is also believable. There is none of the intellectual dissonance that arises when one tells the origin story by invoking the dreamtime or the worldwasmadein7days, or the 'word of God’ of the Bible, or of the Qu'ran. Rather the Big History tells our story in scientific discourse commencing with the time of the Big Bang and then travelling through to lessons on the evolution of atoms, molecules, rocks, protean life to cells, organisms, animals, the hominid animals, and human history. It is a modern origin story delightfully told. It is also a humbling story. Its timescale is immense. The whole story is told in a little over 2 hours in bite-size lessons for young people. It starts at ~13 billion years ago, and then with each lesson focuses with increasing granularity on the successive epochs and, finally the last 200 years. The story is told by using simple explanations based on uptodate physics, chemistry, geology, botany, molecular biology and big data. It is a wondrous story from the ‘beginnings’ to human history today. This is an origin story for modern times, which still contains unknowns and questions that, in my opinion, are correctly neither posed nor answered. For example questions about what was happening before the Big Bang? Or is there a ‘God', and if there is, then is the ‘God' inside or outside of the Universe as we know it from the Earth through physics and mathematics? It is a deeply religious story without the fairy tales. The target audience of the Big History is appropriately students/ pupils at primary and secondary school stage. This is a time when appreciation of context is important in order to motivate learning and continuing education, and to have purpoise and meaning and richness in life. Actually context is always important. With respect to context in education, there is ongoing debate about the value of teaching the so-called big picture versus in-depth studying and teaching of focused topics. Nearly all secondary schools teach geography or history, or even more narrow topics, for example, the history of human settlement in Sahul. At university, topics may become more narrow still, for example, the agricultural methods of humans in Sahul, etc. Study of narrow more defined topics teaches us how to research widely and deeply, and assess specific learnings in context. This is needed for everyday adult living in our society. The methodologies required for detailed investigation are useful for assessment of any proposition or ‘fact’. It is fundamental for citizens to know how to judge, how to validate or invalidate stories and learnings. The ability to investigate deeply one topic can be applied to many topics. Being taught only a big picture will of necessity lack detail. This may promote dabbling and unwarranted credulity if the tools for research are missing to interrogate a particular big picture story or for that matter a view of any discipline of science or narrower topic. On the other hand, focused learning without context leads to narrow thinking, and to silo learnings and opinions whose significance is usually misinterpreted. It is a question of balance. David Christian’s dialogue is succinct and easy to comprehend. It had to be thus in order to cover the huge territory of a story of everything and provide context for life and further learning. Clearly, a lot of his thought and research has gone into the staging of each epoch starting from the earliest beginning that can be known through to the 20th-21st centuries and even consideration of the next steps: the future . The visual images, which are of extremely high quality, do a first-rate job in complementing the presentation. In fact, they are amazing. David Christian’s Big History, while of course embodying his interpretations, is a multimedia story brilliantly researched and told. I thoroughly recommend it to school children and indeed to adults, who are always in need of a refresher course.

This is an outstanding educational program focused on our universe and the world in which we live. The series of twenty units of study provide carefully crafted and expertly presented information by Professor David Christian, an internationally recognised expert in this area, on both where we have come from and where we are going. Suitable as both a stand-alone course or a mini-course within a broader program of study, it will greatly appeal to all those school students with a keen interest in a range of Sciences including History, Astronomy and Geography and Environment, or in fact anyone interested in exploring this amazing body of integrated knowledge about the origins of the universe through to the development of life on Earth and possible scenarios for the future of the human race. I cannot do more than highly recommend this excellent program to all school teachers and students. The Big History program is also a NSW Department of Education 200-hour approved elective course for Stage 5 students in NSW public schools. It is supported by significant teacher resources, both on the NSW Department of Education website and the Big History website. If I had my time as a teacher again, it would definitely be on my high priority list for introduction into my school.

Big History was a really fun course! The pictures helped me imagine things I couldn’t picture in my head, like how space looked when the universe began or the different layers of planet Earth. I also loved the online quiz after each lesson - it was a great way to test what I’d learned and make sure I understood the big ideas. It made the whole experience more interactive and kept me interested. It’s a cool way to learn about everything from the start of time to where we are now!

I loved the Big History course! It was like going on an adventure through time, starting from the Big Bang and learning about everything that led to humans today. The way it explained how the universe and life evolved made it all feel real and super interesting. I really enjoyed how it used cool video and easy-to-understand language. It made me think about the world in a whole new way, and I felt like I learned way more than just history - I got to understand how everything fits together. It was awesome!