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Holocaust Education: Analysis of Curricula and Frameworks: A Case Study of Illinois This article addresses how far educational institutions have come in designing authentic and meaningful curricula for teaching the Holocaust at the secondary level. Examined in this article are the historical development of Holocaust education in the United States, with a focus on the state of Illinois as a case study, what contributes to the development of a full curriculum, and what constitutes the boundary between a curriculum and a framework, based on examination of the work of scholars and institutions in the field. Analysis of existing frameworks according to criteria developed by the authors has yielded the finding that a framework can only guide teachers to an extent because of its looser structure. A full curriculum, however, is structured with greater detail and more direct ways of determining evidence that demonstrates understanding of the content and mastery of essential skills. Recommendations are provided for Holocaust Education curriculum development, underscoring the significance of an engaging design that makes learning more lasting and meaningful. (By the author)
Understanding Matters: Holocaust Curricula and the Social Studies Classroom Over the past two decades, interest in Holocaust education has grown substantially as individual states, starting in the 1980s, began to mandate and/or recommend Holocaust studies as part of the social studies curriculum. As a result, these mandates and/or interest in the Holocaust have spawned any number of curriculum products, some of which seek less to help the student of history acquire an understanding of this historical event, and more in terms of dictating to the social studies student what he or she should understand. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to critique Holocaust curricula that have been developed under the auspices of a state department of education (SDE) or endorsed by a SDE, as we believe that teachers unfamiliar with the Holocaust will turn to these products as sources of authority. We base this critique on what we refer to as three approaches or considerations to understanding history—the body of work on historical thinking which we view as the underpinning of historical empathy and positionality, historical empathy as articulated by Elizabeth Yeager, O.L. Davis, Jr., and Stuart Foster, and the guidelines on teaching the Holocaust developed for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum by William Parsons and Samuel Totten. These three elements, each in their own way, help us to understand the challenge for teachers and students whose foundation for understanding the Holocaust may solely rest upon curriculum products whose curricular aims and/or design often obstruct the quest to “understand,” e.g., lack of historical accuracy, lack of depth, and historical gaps. (By the author)
Holocaust & Human rights education center This curriculum guide was developed by a group of master teachers who have studied and taught the Holocaust in the context of history and the language arts. The New York State Core Curriculum and Learning Standards in English Language Arts and Social Studies have guided our selection of activities, historical documents and assessment tools. All materials and activities have been field-tested; they are challenging, age-appropriate and well suited to the needs of a diverse student population.
"Nobody Told Us about What Happened": The Current State of Holocaust Education in Romania This research study sought to understand the current state of Holocaust education in Romanian classrooms and how sociocultural and institutional forces influence its treatment. By identifying the obstacles, challenges, and successes of Holocaust education in Romania, this study can both disseminate the techniques and conditions that bring about meaningful Holocaust education and provide a generative knowledge base for curriculum proposals, symposia and other initiatives that seek to disrupt reticence on this topic. Given their recent accession to the European Union, this is a timely study that also examines Romania's educational efforts concerning the development of democratic skills and dispositions, many of which often result from addressing controversial topics and closed areas, including the Holocaust in Romania. Holocaust education is a relatively new phenomenon in Romania and studying its inception can offer insights for other societies and cultures that are working to introduce Holocaust or controversial issues into their middle and high school curricula. As more post-Soviet and post-communist states attempt to build pluralistic, tolerant, and open-minded societies their treatment of historical silences and the renegotiation of their past become critical features for the development of democratic citizens. Holocaust education is well-qualified to meet the demands of citizenship education as it helps to promote tolerant societies free from prejudice, racism and bigotry, while simultaneously promoting the inclusivity of others, justice-oriented dispositions and commitments to peace (Salmons, 2003). (By the author)
“What Happened to Their Pets?”: Third Graders Encounter the Holocaust Though widely believed to contain moral lessons of import for audiences of all ages, the Holocaust is often considered too complex, too appalling, too impenetrable, or too emotionally disturbing a subject to be taught to young children, even if taught only in its most “preparatory version,” to use Jerome Bruner’s famous phrasing. The subject matter, after all, deals at its core with human brutality, barbarous indifference, and industrialized mass murder. Nonetheless, a burgeoning market in materials designed to expose young children to the Holocaust implies that students are learning about the topic in earlier and earlier grades, a phenomenon that may be referred to as “curricular creep.” Such a trend raises the question of whether students should be exposed, purposefully and formally, to the horrors of the Holocaust, or, conversely, whether curricular creep should be somehow corralled. Although authors have weighed in on the ethics of Holocaust education, its history, practices, and materials, few have discussed its rightful place in the elementary school curriculum. Fewer still have empirically examined what the Holocaust looks like when taught to a young audience. (By the author)
Teaching the Shoah in History Classes in Israeli High Schools The Shoah is the only subject in the school curriculum that is anchored in the 1980 Compulsory State Educational Law, and is therefore an important integral part in the school history curriculum. Since the Shoah is part of the Israeli collective memory and has a substantial presence in its public discourse, it has been a didactic challenge for the composers of the curricula. This article examines the teaching of a curriculum set in 2000 to implement a new educational policy that emphasizes acquiring knowledge, disciplinary skills, and historical concepts rather than values and sentiments. It looks into teaching itself by studying official and unofficial textbooks, exams, and summaries in four subjects: central themes in former curricula (armed resistance, steadfastness, ghettos, and the participants), new themes in historical research (work, regional studies, the "other"), integration of Jewish and general history, and academic skills (processes, documents). (By the author) 