Unit Pack: The 21st Century

Equip Your Students to Decode the World They're Inheriting.

History is happening now. How do you teach it without bias, fear, or a sense of being overwhelmed?

This Unit Pack: The 21st Century (History in the Making), provides a complete, 8-lesson plan with all teaching and learning resources to turn recent global events (from 2000 to the present) into "living history". Stop spending countless hours curating resources for fast-moving topics and start teaching the essential skills students need to thrive in the modern, interconnected world.

Purchase once, and you are licensed to use this comprehensive, user-friendly digital package with all of your students, year after year.

Why Choose This Unit Pack?

This unit is built to address the shared global challenges and rapid technology changes shaping the 21st century. It moves beyond simple facts to teach students how historians work with incomplete information, competing narratives, and fast-moving evidence.

• Cultivate Essential 21st-Century Skills: The unit is deeply focused on skills such as:
  • Source Literacy for the Digital Age: Students learn to judge source reliability, recognize bias, and use multiple sources (triangulation) to check claims, which is vital for surviving misinformation.
  • Analyzing Cause & Effect: Students analyze short-term triggers, long-term causes, and the consequences for different groups.
  • Perspective-Taking: Students compare different perspectives (local vs. global, civilian vs. government) and connect recent events to ongoing challenges like climate, conflict, and technology.
• Deepen Historical Understanding:Students will analyze and understand the ripple effects of major global events like 9/11, the Arab Spring, the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the climate crisis and Paris Agreement, and the rise of Generative AI.
• Inquiry-Based Learning: Features engaging, ready-to-go activities that promote critical thinking, collaboration, and argument building, including:
  • Headline vs History (Source Comparison): Compares how an event looks in breaking news versus a later explainer
  • Turning Point Trial: Students argue which event from 2008–2014 was the biggest turning point
  • Skills Lab (Evidence Ladder): Teaches students to separate facts, claims, interpretations, and uncertainties for current events

What's Included in Your Instant Download?

You get everything you need for a skills-focused, 8-lesson unit:

• Teaching Slides
• Lesson Plans (8 classes/45-60 mins each)
• Unit Project Guide (Comprehensive instructions, research questions, and required sources for a student presentation)
• Unit Revision Guide
• Unit Assessment (Multiple choice and analysis questions)
• Ready-to-Use Worksheets for Core Skills

Ready to empower your students to analyze the forces shaping their future? Click "Add to Cart" and start teaching history in the making today!