Broadwater is a state school for young people of all abilities between the ages of eleven and sixteen. Our fourteen year-old students study the Holocaust in mixed ability teaching groups. Broadwater is a Maths and Computing Specialist School, so classes had eight consecutive lessons in a computer suite, where they were able to utilise the Internet and word-processing and DTP software.
The intention was to make a closely structured use of chosen sites on the Internet in order to allow students to experience a journey of self-discovery about the Holocaust. The aim was to engage them in a style of investigative journalism that would engage them in piecing together the shocking reality for themselves. The method was immensely successful, with a high level of student interest and participation.
My intention was also to try to let the details unfold themselves in much the same manner as they had to members of the British public during 1945. The investigation leads students from the generalised to the particular, from Lublin to Warsaw and finally to a human-interest stories. The contact with a real people enabled many students to personalise the experience.
Question students about what they know about the Holocaust. Most will know about it in broad terms. Set the scene for the investigation and instruct them to only visit the links provided. Most of the initial information can be drawn from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s website.
(see document 1)
This lesson makes use of the ARC website in order for students to discover for themselves what happened in Lublin and to discover the significance of these events.
(see document 2)
This lesson takes students to the Warsaw Ghetto and asks them to piece together what happened. Once again, they are asked to adopt photo-journalism, collecting pictures and information in order to piece together aproduce a precise, informative and concise account of their own.
(see document 3)
The intention of this section is to personalise the experience of the Holocaust for students, by asking them to investigate the experiences of individuals. They will also learn something of the experience of the Romany peoples inside Nazi Germany.
(see document 4)