Convinced of the value of a good textbook as a teaching and learning resource, Alex Diamond set out to understand teachers' thinking about Holocaust textbooks and what it would be for a textbook to represent Holocaust history adequately. As Diamond's discussion shows, this is a multi-faceted issue. Evaluating textbook representation involves…

This case study reports on a history teacher in a multicultural classroom in the Netherlands who is confronted with students' conflicting perspectives on a sensitive topic, namely the Holocaust. We have used Dialogical Self Theory in combination with the historical multiperspectivity framework to make sense of the teacher's considerations and…

While virtual reality (VR) technology can provide students with first-hand and situational learning experiences, limited studies have integrated VR in a K-12 classroom, resulting in the lack of understanding of the benefits and challenges of VR use in classroom settings. To examine the impact of VR on student learning, this study employed a…

In this case study, we explore pedagogical practices that could promote powerful knowledge in school history. We analyse teaching sessions conducted by two teachers. The cases were selected from an observation study that focused on historical literacy in Finnish schools. While Michael Young's ideas of powerful knowledge have gained considerable…

In this article, the authors describe how integrating music with reading and writing practices stimulated transmediation to (1) honor musical students' identities, (2) deepen readers' meaning making with literature, and (3) invite writers' memories to generate emotional grist for composing poetry. The authors share examples to inspire teachers to…

This study reports five Dutch expert history teachers' approaches to multiperspectivity in lessons on three topics varying in moral sensitivity (i.e., the Dutch Revolt, Slavery, and the Holocaust) and their underlying considerations for addressing subjects' perspectives in different temporal layers. The lessons were observed and videorecorded, and…

Building on sociocultural theories of teaching and learning, rooted in constructivist traditions, this study examined the teaching of civics in relation to contextual sociocultural factors in the Israeli educational system. The study focused on ways in which three civics teachers conceptualized and framed notions of "good citizenship" in…

This article considers the pedagogical nature of an intra-action involving the author, his high school student's final project in an English class (a golem), and his school administrators. The author relies on narrative scholarship to both tell and interpret a story of his experience as a high school English and drama teacher, to illustrate the…

In this longitudinal study, carried out over a period of 6 years, the curriculum approach of student-teachers in the fields of Jewish Studies was examined, from their 1st year of studies until their 6th year when they took their places as full-fledged teachers in schools. This article focuses on the student-teachers' approaches to curriculum and…

This paper presents a study focusing on differences in Israeli Jewish and Arab chemistry teachers' beliefs regarding teaching and learning of chemistry in the upper secondary schools. Israel is a country experiencing the problems of diverse cultural orientation of its inhabitants but applying the same educational system to its diverse cultural…

The concentration of this study was the documentation and analysis of ways in which competing conceptions of citizenship play out in actual classroom settings. Examining three cases in the context of the Israeli education system, its findings show that civics teachers' views and beliefs influenced ways in which they interpreted the curriculum…

The aim of this study was to investigate attitudes of teachers towards a pedagogy of inclusion in their classroom, focusing on differences between teachers in schools with lower socioeconomic status (SES) populations and those in schools with more affluent students, and between homeroom as opposed to subject teachers. Our study population…

This article presents findings from a longitudinal qualitative study that examined teaching approaches of neophyte teachers in Israel during their 4-year exclusive teachers' training program for teaching Jewish subjects and first two years of teaching. The program wanted to promote change in secular pupils' attitudes toward Jewish subjects. We…

Globalisation and technological advances in the twenty-first century have caused a blurring of national lines, which in the past were the basis of a nearly indisputable model of civic identity. This process has led to a noticeable trend of the globally oriented pressures within the national curricula, on top of the existing locally oriented…

Teaching about the Holocaust is mandatory in many societies. This prescription is justified by authorities with many reasons: educating pupils for a better understanding of human rights, peace, war, genocide, critical thinking, historical thinking, racism, etc. The Holocaust can carry a very strong moral and emotional charge. But why do teachers…