In AP World History: Modern, students will study world history using the SPICE-T themes. The themes serve as the connective tissue of the course and enable students to create meaningful connections across time periods. They are often broader ideas that become threads that run throughout the course. Revisiting them and applying them in a variety of contexts helps students to develop deeper conceptual understanding.
Below are the themes of the course and a brief description of each.
Below are the themes of the course and a brief description of each.
Theme 1: Social Interactions & Organization
The process by which societies group their members and the norms that govern the interactions between these groups and between individuals influence political, economic, and cultural institutions and organization. KEY TERMS: family, kinship, filial piety, class, gender, ethnicity, racism |
Theme 2: Politics & Governance
A variety of internal and external factors contribute to state formation, expansion, and decline. Governments maintain order through a variety of administrative institutions, policies, and procedures, and governments obtain, retain, and exercise power in different ways and for different purposes. KEY TERMS: state building, empire, monarchy, democracy, bureaucracy, war, revolution, independence, totalitarianism, dictatorship |
Theme 3: Interaction Between Humans & the Environment
The environment shapes human societies, and as populations grow and change, these populations in turn shape their environments. KEY TERMS: agriculture, surplus, climate, flora, fauna, natural resources, natural barriers, demography, pollution, deforestation, desertification, the Anthropocene. |
Theme 4: Cultural Developments & Interactions
The development of ideas, beliefs, and religions illustrates how groups in society view themselves, and the interactions of societies and their beliefs often have political, social, and cultural implications KEY TERMS: religions, belief systems, ideology, philosophy, art, architecture, language, writing, clothing, food, music, education |
Theme 5: Economic Systems
This theme describes the process or system by which goods and services are produced, sold, and bought in a country or region. As societies develop, they affect and are affected by the ways that they produce, exchange, and consume goods and services. KEY TERMS: subsistence, production, consumption, currency, labor systems, banking, trade, commerce, mercantilism, capitalism, socialism, communism |
Theme 6: Technology & Innovation Human adaptation and innovation have resulted in increased efficiency, comfort, and security, and technological advances have shaped human development and interactions with both intended and unintended consequences. KEY TERMS: tools, invention, science, medicine, mathematics, weapons, industrialization |