The Holocaust: A Human Tapestry of Voices in History
School: Kelvin Grove State College
Grade(s): 12
Format(s): Research Paper, Journal
Subject(s): Social Studies
Project Overview
THE HOLOCAUST: A Human Tapestry of Voices in History is inspired by and follows the pedagogical philosophy of Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Jerusalem, Israel, and is a product of my experiences during the Gandel Holocaust Studies Program for Australian Educators at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel, 2019-2020. I am a Senior Modern History teacher and Humanities coordinator at Kelvin Grove State College, a large metropolitan P-12 state school in Brisbane, Queensland, Austrailia.
Myself and a colleague are building a project based learning (PBL) professional learning community within our college, based on our training with PBL Works in 2019 (PBL 101 at PBL World at Napa) and 2020 (PBL201 online PBL Sydney) and inspiration from attending ionthefuture professional development at Banora Point. This unit is the first PBL project I have created and taught in Year 12, following the framework of PBL Works, with the design pedagogy of John Spencer’s The LAUNCH Cycle to structure the unit and engaging students with 21st century skills This was a 12 week long unit of work, as I taught one class of 20 students (mixed gender and mixed ability) in Year 12 Modern History (following the Queensland Senior Syllabus for the first year of this new curriculum).
The project was inspired by a quote by Eli Wiesel (Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor, 2005): “You read and you read, and you say to yourself: Where did they have the strength to write, to use words, destined to whom?… There are no words… All we know is that it happened. And now the question is: What does one do with memories?…We must become the messengers.” Our driving question was: What can we learn about humanity by examining the experiences of life, terror and resistance during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany?
How This Project Can Be Useful
- Devise historical questions and conduct research linked to a topic focused on national experiences in the Modern World (the Holocaust in Nazi Germany).
- Analyze evidence from historical sources to show understanding that is linked to a topic focused on national experiences in the Modern World (the Holocaust in Nazi Germany).
- Evaluate evidence from historical sources to make judgments linked to a topic focused on national experiences in the Modern World (the Holocaust in Nazi Germany).
- Create an independent source investigation that communicates meaning to suit purpose that is linked to a topic focused on national experiences in the Modern World (the Holocaust in Nazi Germany).