Looking at history

In an era dominated by visual communication, learning how to interpret iconographic sources from the past helps us to better understand history and, at the same time, to decode with greater awareness the reality around us. This volume is designed to help lower secondary school teachers integrate the study of history with the critical reading of images. It offers an innovative, interdisciplinary and engaging approach that makes history a living, relevant subject, capable of connecting with the present and fostering in students historical, visual and critical skills.

The volume presents ten historical images, selected for the variety of themes, subjects, periods and geographical contexts. For each image, the following materials are provided:

• a teacher’s resource offering context and interpretative tools;
• a student activity sheet with questions and tasks to be carried out individually, in groups, or guided by the teacher.

Among the sources analysed: ancient coins as a means of communication, the Bayeux Tapestry, propaganda through images, women in power, representations of the Crusades, the Benin Bronzes, danse macabre and more.