About Unit 5

💭 Essential Question: How did new ways of thinking about power, faith, and reason transform societies between 1500 and 1750?

Unit 5: Power, Faith, & Reason explores how new ways of thinking transformed societies between 1500 and 1750. Students examine the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, Scientific Revolution, and Enlightenment, as well as parallel movements like the Confucian Reformation in East Asia and the philosophy of Zera Yacob in Africa. The unit emphasizes how shifts in art, religion, and science reshaped social hierarchies and challenged traditional authority. A major focus is on how global connections and cultural exchange fueled intellectual change across regions. Throughout the unit, students practice contextualization and sourcing by analyzing diverse sources to understand how ideas about power, faith, and reason redefined the relationship between individuals and institutions. The unit culminates with students building their own Curated Research Paper and rap battle presentation as a semester reflection, where students creatively synthesize the ideas and global exchanges that shaped the early modern world.