About this course: Welcome to this Big History course! In this course, renowned scientists and scholars from the University of Amsterdam and beyond will take you on a journey from the Big Bang until today while addressing key questions in their fields. After completing this journey you will have developed a better understanding of how you and everything around you became the way they are today. You will also have gained an understanding of the underlying mechanisms that have helped shape the history of everything and how they wil help shape the future. Last but not least, you will have developed the skill to use this knowledge to put smaller subjects into a bigger perspective with the aid of the little big history approach, which can help you develop some new ideas on these smaller subjects.
Who is this class for: This course is aimed at anyone who would like to learn more about how the universe, Earth, life and human societies emerged and developed, and how this knowledge can help us gain a better understanding of the present and the future.
Taught by: Esther Quaedackers, Lecturer in Big History
Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies - Faculty of Science
| Level | Beginner |
| Commitment | 4 weeks of study, 3-5 hours/week |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.
Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.
Earn official recognition for your work, and share your success with friends, colleagues, and employers.
Fantastic diversity of top teachers from so many disciplines all tied together to show the Big Picture! Thank you all!
I followed the lessons of the course with great interest. I like to make a compliment to the professors and to the editors of the course material. The resulting insight into Big History has already helped me to better understand environmental problems and reports of newly discovered planets.
Thoroughly enjoyed this course. The assignment was also very appropriate, I enjoyed the challenge of complet
Coursera provides universal access to the world’s best education, partnering with top universities and organizations to offer courses online.
YF
Enganging and empowering! The little big history assignments seemed rather intimidating at first, but it greatly helped to engage with big history more deeply. Don’t hesitate to switch sessions and take more time to think and write the assignments.