Modern World Studies

Concluding a survey of World History from prehistoric to modern times, K¹² online lessons and assessments complement the third and final volume of The Human Odyssey, a textbook series developed and published by K¹².

Modern World Studies investigates the history of the world from about 1870 to the present, including the contemporary era: the world into which students were born and will live out their lives. As the twentieth century dawned, most people in the Western world had high hopes for human progress. A century later, science and technology had advanced beyond people’s boldest dreams in 1900, but the progress came at huge cost. In our age, much of what is admirable and much of what is horrible emerged at the same time and were often related to each other. Students will explore the cataclysmic events of the first half of the century, and the major problems, achievements, and issues—political, social, cultural, and environmental—of the second half and beyond.

Major topics of study include:

• Democratic and industrial revolutions that set the stage for the modern era.
• Imperialism and nationalism in the late nineteenth century.
• Causes and consequences of World War I.
• The Russian Revolution.
• The “Lost Generation”—art and literature after World War I.
• The Great Depression and the rise of dictators.
• World War II.
• The Holocaust.
• The Cold War: deepening divisions and nuclear tensions.
• China under Mao and Cuba under Castro.
• Scientific and technological advances of the post-war era.
• Independence movements in India, Indochina, and Egypt.
• Arab nationalism and conflicts in the Middle East.
• U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
• Latin America: Cold War tensions in the developing world.
• The fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.
• Terrorism: tactics and responses.
• The population explosion in the developing world.
• Technology leaps forward: effects of computers and the Internet.
• Globalization: trends in business, communications, and culture.
• Environmental disasters and challenges.

Standard Curriculum Items

The Human Odyssey, Volume 3: 1914 to the Present (K¹² Inc., 2007)

Total lessons: 160

Lesson time: 60 minutes