Contextualization

Nothing in history happens in isolation—no matter how unexpected it may seem. Contextualization teaches students to look at what else was happening around an event to help them make sense of it. These classroom-ready resources help students place events to the bigger picture of history.

How to Teach Contextualization: Tools for Teachers

Contextualization One-Pager

Tips for teaching students to situate historical events and developments in the context of time, space, and sociocultural setting.

Teacher Chat: Contextualization

World History Lesson Guide: Dar al-Islam

Help students examine how Mansa Musa both shaped and was shaped by historical circumstances as they determine how geography, trade, and religion helped him become the wealthiest person in the world.

Blog: Heists and Heritage: The Louvre Robbery: Establishing Context

The high-profile Louvre heist is a powerful hook for exploring who owns the past and for understanding the importance of historical context.

Blog: What the Road to World War II Can Teach Us (It’s Not What You Think)

The world seems more dangerous today than it did a decade ago. With authoritarianism on the rise and the number of democracies falling, how can we use historical context to understand this trend?

Contextualization Through Pictures

Educators share ideas for using famous photographs to help students practice contextualizing information and applying it.

Contextualization: Agrarian Societies

Dive into this engaging teacher conversation with ideas to gamify contextualization.

Teach Tomorrow: Lessons on Contextualization

Muslim rulers controlled vast territories from West Africa to Indonesia, spreading a faith that united many very different cultures. Studying the Islamic world in this period outlines the historical context students need to study this era of empires.

Impacts of the Industrial Revolution

Why did industrialization start in England and not somewhere else? Dig into the evidence to uncover how geography, law, and power helped launch a global transformation.

View Lesson