Visual Literacy

This post is from my COETAIL blog.

Currently in my 8th grade social studies class we are examining the time period when Europeans and Native Americans first came into contact.  The emphasis of the unit is “Constructing the Past.”  Student look at a variety of sources and historical perspectives regarding a particular event, and using skills to evaluate sources for credibility, they piece together the event.

When students first learned of the massive Native American death toll due to European diseases, I was a bit underwhelmed with their reaction.  Maybe because it was the first block of the day and they were still waking up, but I had expected a bit more shock when they heard up to 90% of the Native population was killed by disease.  I realized of course that my students are not heartless, but they needed a more visual way to understand these figures.  I knew that they had studied the Black Plague the year before, and they knew it was a devastating disease.  I decided that a side by side comparison may help them understand just how volatile European diseases were to Native Americans.  I wanted students to first see the number of deaths compared, and then the percentage of the population killed.  These two figures tell very different stories.  Seeing only the numbers of dead would lead one to believe both epidemics were on the same level.  It isn't until you look at the proportion of the population killed that you can see the massive difference.  These figures are of course estimates since there are no accurate records of either epidemic.

After showing this image the next day there was a notable difference in their attitude.  Students began asking a lot of questions about why the Native Americans died, but not the Europeans, and if the remaining Native Americans were able to rebuild.  This began a good discussion about immunities, the spread of disease, and historical perspective.  It made it very clear to students that Europeans and Native Americans probably see the colonization of America in a very different light.