ABSTRACT
Big history is a modern scientific origin story, exploring 13.8 billion years of shared knowledge and challenging intellectual boundaries by proffering a framework to connect that knowledge. A by-product of integrating big history into a traditional secondary classroom is an amplification of this process, challenging the boundaries of traditional curriculum structures, the role of discipline trained teachers and approaches to knowledge in the classroom. One response to these challenges is to ask, ‘why is this necessary?’ To answer this question, we can look to the philosopher and educator John Dewey, who outlined his philosophy of education as, “the reconstruction of experience to add meaning and contribute to subsequent experience” (Dewey 1916:82). Based on Dewey’s philosophy, challenging the abovementioned boundaries is necessary to add meaning to students’ educational experiences in a way that contributes to their subsequent experience of the world they live in. For twenty-first century students, this means being able to function successfully as part of a globally connected society.
