Image-Driven Scholarship and the Study of Japan’s Meiji Era

Participants will learn how to build students’ appreciation for how the features of a source (e.g. content, authorship, format, purpose, audience and point of view) contribute to the appropriate use of historical sources as historical evidence in the study and practice of world history.  Specifically, the facilitator will model the analysis of a selection from Fukuzawa Yukichi’s essay, “Good-bye Asia” and a series of Meiji-Restoration era woodblock prints drawn from MIT’s Visualizing Culture archive.  After discussing the source materials in small groups, teachers will critique two formative assessments designed to test students’ ability to use historical sources as evidence: a stimulus-based MCQ set and DBQ-style exercise based on the revised Course and Exam Description for AP World History.  During the session, the facilitator will draw clear connections to the AP World History Curriculum Framework and close with a summary discussion about how materials can be aligned with best practices in teachers’ own schools and classrooms.