A textbook author reflects on the ethical and ideological choices she made in her quest to create a history book that would be relevant to demographically diverse high school students.

This "think-aloud" study examines how a group of American Jewish teenagers read historical documents that addressed what it has meant over time to be American and/or Jewish. It demonstrates that students use a variety of sense-making strategies as they read about the past, many of which fall beyond the boundaries of critical historical…

This paper explores the relationship between the teaching of history (the academic study of the past) and the teaching of heritage (meaningful stories tying people to a collective past). The research was conducted in a Jewish high school whose explicit mission involves teaching history through a US history course and heritage through an Israeli…

The experience of 9/11 prompted a transformation in one secondary teacher's approach to teaching controversial subjects based on the relevance to today's students. Soon after that fateful day, this teacher found a purpose and rationale for developing a very demanding curriculum on 9/11, and relates how his teaching unit has evolved by expanding…

A fundamental problem faced by anyone who wishes to teach the Holocaust, or any other mass slaughter, is the tension between the desire " to allow the dead their voices to make the silence heard," and a historical narrative that often deals almost exclusively on perpetrator actions. This bias in the narrative derives from the tendency in history,…

In this article, the author focuses on these questions: why is American Jewish history worthy of being "taught"? And what purpose should such teaching serve? Philosophical questions such as these are important because topics of study are not self-justifying, and asking the questions--questions that must be pursued through conceptual inquiry,…

Presents a classroom lesson that utilizes primary sources about Auschwitz, the World War II Nazi concentration camp. Two letters confronting the issue of whether or not U.S. planes should bomb the camps are included. Recommends seven teaching strategies for the lesson and identifies additional resources. (CFR)

Presents an interview with historian Gerhard Weinberg by Sheldon Hackney of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Asserts that the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II also marks the end of the postwar world. Discusses post-World War II diplomacy and international relations. (CFR)

The document contains the narrative portion of a multimedia project tracing the history of Jews in Michigan from the mid 17th to the mid 20th century. The developers intended that the materials be used as the basis of a one-month course of study. Overall objectives of the project were to increase understanding among students from junior high…

The theme or story of the pageant is Youth's search for a school in which his threefold being--body, mind, and soul--may find release and fulfillment. This fulfillment has been the purpose of education "down through the ages," however unconsciously or gropingly it has moved toward its goal. In the "school of to-day," however,…

Discusses key concerns regarding issues of rationale, methodology, and resources when teaching about the Holocaust. Identifies 12 objectives and 5 content criteria for the topic. Includes five frequently asked questions about the Holocaust and their answers from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (CFR)

Presents a map indicating the path of the "Einsatzgruppen" (mobile killing units of the German SS) military assault through Poland into the Soviet Union in 1941. Provides a map of the six extermination camps in Poland. Offers two maps illustrating the Jewish population of Europe before and after World War II. (CFR)

Presents a Holocaust chronology timeline of the years 1933-1948. Includes political, military, and social events of the time period. Identifies anti-Semitic laws and information about German death. (CFR)

Presents a high school lesson on Hitler's death camps and the widespread policy of brutality and oppression against European Jews. Includes student objectives, instructional procedures, and a chart listing the value of used clothing taken from the Jews. (CFR)

Presents a high school lesson plan illustrating the breadth and scope of German anti-Semitism before and during World War II. Includes four lists describing anti-Semitic and German Jewry laws. Includes student objectives, instructional procedures, and instructions for students. (CFR)