We have been in touch before with Matt Baker -- Ph.D, expat Brit, former school teacher in Sri Lanka, designer, and entrepreneur of the Vancouver-based chart and poster business Useful Charts.
I have found that in early grades, visual materials tend to be incorporated often. However, once a person reaches the higher grades, learning becomes almost exclusively based on reading texts and listening to lectures. There is often very little visually-based material available on more advanced subjects, particularly in the humanities.Happily, Useful Charts now has its Timeline of Canadian History published and on sale. And he's sent along a review copy:
Too often, the story of Canada is told in a strictly linear fashion: First Nations, followed by New France, then British control, and finally confederation. But for a country as large as Canada, this presents a skewed version of reality. What I aimed to do in creating this timeline was to show what was happening in various regions separately but simultaneously.Having seen the real thing, I'd say a smallish reproduction, as above, doesn't do justice. The real thing, 24x36 with bright eco-friendly colours on card stock, is appealingly browseable and gets a lot of info down -- from "The Iroquois Confederacy can likely be dated to...." to "2014: Parliament Hill shooting" -- without seeming cluttered. $19.95 (cheaper when bundled.) .
