History Through Art - timeline display

Arts & Activities, Jan, 2003 by Barbara Herberholz

Timeline with Teacher's Guide/ $69.95 (with optional slide set, $105). Level: Middle School through Adult. Davis Publications, Inc., 50 Portland St., Worcester, MA 01608, (508) 754-7201.

With a refreshing emphasis on integrating art in the curriculum, this beautiful and thorough time line should fill the ticket. All 43 illustrations are in color, beginning with a Paleolithic spear-thrower, for the period 15,000-9000 B.C.E., and continuing up to present times. An illustration is shown for each time link, along with information and a description about the era. At the bottom of each column are found parallel events that occurred during that time period. For instance, concurrent with the years when Stonehenge was built, c. 1700 B.C.E., the Great Pyramid of Cheops was constructed, the use of the wheel reached people on the North Sea, and the religion of Judaism was established.

The 30 vertical panels take us up to the decade of the 1990s. The Teacher's Guide is interdisciplinary and contains sections that feature works of art (questions to ask), key words, the history and culture of the time, what else was happening in Europe and around the world, learning more about the work and the artist, exploring related ideas, and finally, a page of comprehension questions for the student.--B.H. For information about this program, circle No. 393 on the Reader Service Card.