Interpreting and Reinterpreting Images

Overview

The detailed activities that follow help students examine drawings that depict historical scenes. The examples in these lessons are based on drawings that depict early contact between First Nations peoples and Europeans in North and South America, but the activities could be adapted for use with other historical images. Students use the W5 questions (i.e., who, what, where, when, why) to decipher explicit messages in one of the drawings. They then learn about and look for implied messages in drawings. Next, students offer a revised interpretation of the historical scene that considers alternative perspectives. As a possible culminating task, students present a balanced perspective.