CONCEPTUALIZING HOLOCAUST EDUCATION ACROSS CONTENT AREAS: A CASE STUDY AND CONTENT ANALYSIS OF TEACHERS’ APPROACHES

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore how teachers across content areas conceptualize planning and teaching of the Holocaust. Although there are numerous studies on Holocaust education, particularly on teachers’ approaches and practices, there is little research regarding teachers’ use of secondary sources and the impact these sources have on their approaches to planning and teaching about the Holocaust. This study will examine New Jersey state standards and curricula, as well as educational practitioner journals, in order to highlight relationships between resources provided to teachers and their approaches to planning and teaching about the Holocaust. Further, it will provide researchers with an empirical analysis, contributing to the increasing scholarly literature on Holocaust education. This study addresses the following research questions: How do teachers and policy makers in Language Arts and Social Studies conceptualize teaching of the Holocaust? What approaches do Language Arts and Social Studies teachers use when planning for teaching about the Holocaust? In what ways do state standards and mandated curricula guide teachers’ decision-making when teaching about the Holocaust? What recommendations do content area specific practitioner journals make for teaching about the Holocaust? This intrinsic collective case study will triangulate data from multiple sectors of the educational system to provide a broad and detailed view of the approaches to teaching about the Holocaust across different content areas. This study will additionally serve as a tool for school districts and policy makers to inform their future decisions regarding the selection and use of secondary sources and curriculum content, allowing teachers to make better pedagogical decisions with regards to their students’ learning.