- Thursday, September 28, 2017
- 3:30 PM–5:00 PM
- Van Noord 235
Taking its departure from the 17th century educational reformer John Amos Comenius, this lecture will offer a journey through educational resources from several centuries, asking what each tells us about the social imaginary within which it developed. The journey will begin with Comenius's Orbis Sensualium Pictus, one of the most successful school textbooks in history and one that pioneered the use of illustrations in school materials. We will explore some ways in which it was connected to his vision of a radically Christian reform of education. We will then take Comenius's "world in pictures" as a point of comparison to cast light on what visions might have been driving some later textbook designs, including those of our own time. The lecture draws from Smith's newly published book on Comenius.
