Big History from the Big Bang to Today

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

• Understand the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to the present
• Analyze mechanisms shaping cosmic and social history
• Apply the Big History approach to contextualize smaller subjects

• Basic computer and internet skills
• Ability to read course instructions in English and complete short practice activities