How Students Use Visual Imagery to Support Historical Understanding

• In Event: Roundtable Session 44
  In Roundtable Session: Supporting Student Contexualization and Historical Understanding: Narrative, Visual Imagery, and Connections to the Present

Abstract

Abstract
This qualitative study is the second part of a larger set of studies that examines the effect embedding visual codes, based on reliable cues for establishing historical period, has on novice history students’ contextualization of historical accounts. The previous study’s results indicate using embedded images per time period significantly improves participants’ contextualization of historical sources by helping them build mental models necessary for interpreting historical data. This is a qualitative examination of the think-aloud protocols of 48 randomly-assigned undergraduates to understand the ways in which participants use the visual coding to support historical understanding. Implications for instruction are discussed.

Author

• Christine Baron, Teachers College, Columbia University