This game would be particularly effective when, for example, teaching a lesson on the Dutch Revolt. Following the same format as today's activity, I thought of one of the many painting from the Dutch artist Adriaen van de Venne: Fishing for Souls (Zielenvisserij), 1614, a satirical allegory of Protestant-Catholic struggles for souls during the Dutch Revolt (Rijksmuseum).
That the Dutch Revolt was a religious one is illustrated here by this contemporary painting from a Dutch artist. Protestants (left) and Catholics (right) are fishing in the river for followers. That the conflict between Catholics and Protestants was also political is indicated by the presence of leading political figures on both sides. Left: Stadholder Prince Maurice and his brother Frederick Henry with their allies. Among those on the right: the Archdukes Albert & Isabella, who ruled the southern Netherlands.
Any suggestions on some other resources, including those outside of the ever-expanding field of history?
I really appreciate the your use of primary documents. It always add something interesting for me to check out.
ReplyDeleteEven though this is a picture students might be more accustomed to seeing in a history class, we could still use the same picture and the same task in a math class. It is just that we would talk about coordinate planes and translations.
It seems like visual imagery is a huge part of history. There are numerous sources like the one posted above that can be used in history to learn about a particular moment in time. I got to thinking about the possibility of using photos or imagery that are completely unrelated to history and try to draw parallels between them and themes or concepts that are related to the history being learned. It would also be really interested to have the students try to create their own photograph of a historical scene, theme or concept, but put into our current time.
ReplyDeleteCory,
ReplyDeleteBuilding off of Megan's thoughts about visualizing history, it is striking to me the powerful ability of an image, such as van de Venne's, to convey so much depth of meaning to the observer. I like that you chose a painting that acts a cultural, social, religious and political commentary on the day. It seems that you could you it as the foundation for a discussion with your students about what they perceive to be the message conveyed by this painting and how they think it would have been received in the context of the Dutch Revolution. I have been having a difficult time translating this activity into a chemistry classroom while preserving the idea of using an image. Maybe a historical painting of science as it was conceived/understood over the ages could help students understand the development of scientific thoughts through the ages and give them a greater appreciation of the theories and equations that are part and parcel for a typical chemistry lesson.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas!
Laura
Cory, you've chosen a wonderful image, with lots going on inside of it....I like the idea of choosing an image where the content is relevant to the subject of the class. Given this, if you were to use this image as the basis for an iteration of the activity that we did in class, how would you situate the activity? Would you, for example, so a mini-lecture on the social setting of the historical moment captured in this image? I like the potential that lies *both* in using primary source documents in general and images in particular. Want some more ideas? Have a look at the Library of Congress' "American Memory" collection of images and primary sources documents, and this
ReplyDeletepage for teachers with specific ideas for working with texts, images, videos and more.