R E M E M B E R I N G T H E H O L O C A U S T : T E A C H E R S ' N A R R A T I V E C H O I C E S A N D S T U D E N T S ' H I S T O R I C A L THINKING by Michae l Perry-Whitt ingham B.A., S imon Fraser University, 1989 B.Ed . , U .B .C . , 1991 A T H E S I S S U B M I T T E D IN P A R T I A L F U L F I L L M E N T O F T H E R E Q U I R E M E N T S F O R T H E D E G R E E O F M A S T E R O F A R T S in T H E F A C U L T Y O F G R A D U A T E S T U D I E S (Curriculum Studies) T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F BRIT ISH C O L U M B I A August 2007 © Michae l Perry-Whit t ingham, 2007 ABSTRACT This study investigated teachers ' narrative choice and students' historical thinking. The research examined the influence of varying curriculum materials, including a graphic novel, feature film and d iscovery trunk, on student thinking about the Holocaust. The study was conducted in three socia l studies 11 c l asses , taught by the researcher, in an urban public secondary schoo l . Data used in the study consis ted of student essay samp les and informal c lassroom observat ions. The study's f indings revealed that students' thinking about the Holocaust was mult i-dimensional and fairly complex. Students ' thinking, at the end of the unit, was categor ized into themes: preservation of Holocaust artifacts and relics, the use of museums as sites of memory, learning lessons from the Holocaust about humanity, and the intrinsic moral weight of the Holocaust as a historical event. The use of varied resources did not provide substantial ev idence of differentiated historical understanding, but there was s o m e ev idence to suggest that the varied resources impacted student understanding on a general level. In light of these findings the thesis conc ludes that studying the Holocaust is a valuable topic for students because they will find the narratives compel l ing, confront personal moral f rames and benefit from thinking through the historical complexity of the Holocaust. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract •. ••• Tab le of Contents List of Tab les Acknowledgments Chapte r 1 Introduction = 1.1 Introduction 1.2 R e s e a r c h Quest ion 1.3 Assumpt ions 1.4 Definit ions 1 1.4.1 Narrative cho ice 1 1.4.2 Historical understanding 1 1.4.3 Moral reasoning 1 Chap te r 2 Perspect ives on History Educat ion 2 2.1 What History Shou ld W e T e a c h ? 2 2.2 Historical Understanding 2 2.3 Nation Bui lding Narratives 3 2.4 Ci t izenship Educat ion 3 2.5 Holocaust Educat ion 3 Chapter 3 Teache r a s Researche r 4 3.1 T h e C a s e Study 4 3.2 The Three C l a s s e s 4 3.3 The Teach ing Unit 5 Chapter 4 Textual Ana lys is of The Pianist, Maus and V H E C Discovery Kit 6 4.1 Maus : A Graph ic Novel 6 4.2 The Pianist 6 4 .3 Vancouve r Holocaust Educat ion Centre Discovery Kit 7 i i i Chapte r 5 In the C lass room: Students ' Thinking About the Holocaust 81 5.1 Introduction 81 5.2 Data Col lect ion: Sort ing, Categor iz ing and Analyz ing Student E s s a y s . . . . . 82 5.3 T h e m e 1: The Moral Weight of the Holocaust 88 5.4 T h e m e 2: The L e s s o n s of History 91 5.5 T h e m e 3: Preservat ion, Memory and Educat ion 97 5.6 T h e m e 4: The Res idua of the Pas t 99 5.7 Teach ing Resources : Three Approaches 102 Chapte r 6 Conc lus ions , Implications for Schoo ls and Further research 107 6.1 Students ' Thinking About the Holocaust 108 6.2 Teachers ' Narrative Cho i ce 111 6.3 The Three Teach ing Resou rces 114 6.4 Implications for Further Resea rch 117 6.5 Teache r as Researcher 120 Re fe rences 122 Append i ces 131 Append ix 1 Introductory Ass ignment 132 Append ix 2 The Pianist Ass ignment 133 Append ix 3 Maus : Student Quest ions 134 Append ix 4 V H E C Discovery Kit: Artifact Ana lys is 135 Append ix 5 Students ' Categor ized R e s p o n s e s 136 Append ix 6 Document Ana lys is Framework 137 Append ix 7 Source Documents and Ana lys is Quest ions 138 IV List of Tables Tab le 3.1 Distribution of G r a d e s . . , . . 51 Tab le 5.1 Consen t Forms 83 Tab le 5.2 Student R e s p o n s e T h e m e s 86 Tab le 5.3 Student R e s p o n s e Frequency Chart 87 v Acknowledgments Many thanks to all those that made this study possib le and supported me during the research and writing process. The encouragement and support provided by my advisor, Peter Se ixas , al lowed me to push through the most difficult t imes. He has helped me to grow as a scholar, teacher and most importantly, a person. Through his teaching and advice I have learned so much and developed an appreciat ion and greater understanding of the complexit ies of teaching history to adolescent age students. Thanks a lso to my committee members Walt Werner and Penney Clark for their invaluable input, direction and support. I would a lso like to extend my gratitude to my students, whose thoughtful responses, insights and commitment energ ized me throughout the research phase. I have also enjoyed the valuable advice, support and encouragement of my teaching co l leagues and to them I extend my deep appreciat ion. vi 1 Introduct ion 1.1 Introduction Teach ing history must have a purpose beyond the t ransmission of culturally relevant accounts of the past or the ideological inculcation of cit izenship va lues. From my earl iest c lassroom exper iences as a socia l studies teacher it was clear to me that history provided a platform to a c c e s s and nourish the moral and affective domains of my students. History teaching should be more than reciting names, dates and facts or creating t imelines. Early encounters with high school texts left me unimpressed with their lack of depth, poor treatment of ethnic narratives and superficial treatment of the many controversial moments in C a n a d a ' s past (Paxton, 1999). A n effective history program should lead students to make connect ions between the past and their lived exper ience, evoking powerful memor ies and chal lenging current perspect ives (Aoki, 1993). C a n a d a , as a multiethnic society, must live up to the promises of fa i rness, inclusion, acceptance, equality, and opportunity heralded by politicians. The history c lassroom can use studies of the past to prepare youth for full and active participation in society. However, it is necessary to open the past to intense scrutiny, to quest ion convent ional narratives and engage doing history with a critical lens. In opening the past to questioning we can use history to heal old wounds, undo past injustices and work to prevent recurrences of wrongful acts. Teaching history provides opportunities for students to explore important concepts like injustice, to learn from the missteps of our past, and to create understanding and purpose in our students through a careful 1 examinat ion of those past wrongs. W e can harness the moral power of history to prepare our students for the chal lenge of living in a multiethnic society. During my pre-service teaching I began to explore issues of injustice in C a n a d a ' s past and to teach history for its moral d i lemmas and ethical issues. O n e particular moment entrenched my commitment to socia l justice teaching and choosing compel l ing narratives that engaged the lived exper ience of my students. In my third year of teaching I came upon an editorial in Mehfil Magazine, a magaz ine marketed at second and third generat ion Indo-Canadians, where the author crit icized the public schoo l sys tem for neglecting to teach about the Komagata Maru incident and the institutional rac ism evident in B C during the early 1900's. I had been teaching my students about the Komagata Maru, the Ch inese Head Tax and the J a p a n e s e Internment in my soc ia l studies 11 c lass for three years and could not d isagree more with the conc lus ions drawn by the editorial. I naively bel ieved that the majority of socia l studies teachers across the province were doing as I was , by engaging the lived exper iences of my students and teaching narratives from'a range of ethnocultural, soc ioeconomic and gender perspect ives. Further reflection and d iscuss ion with co l leagues helped me to understand that the educat ional exper ience of the author was not isolated and likely to reflect the exper ience found in many socia l studies c lassrooms around the province. The encounter renewed my commitment to teach for social justice and to use every opportunity the curriculum al lowed to explore morally chal lenging terrain. I wanted to engage them in a thorough examinat ion of Canada ' s history, warts and all, but a lso to stretch their moral reasoning and intellectual capaci t ies in the belief that this would prepare them to deal with the complexity of living in C a n a d a ' s multiethnic society. The 2 commitment led me to co-author curriculum units on the J a p a n e s e Internment, institutionalized racism and human rights. After ten years of teaching history to high school students I became curious about the impact my choice of narratives was having on student moral reasoning and historical understanding. T h e s e self-reflections motivated me to complete a M A degree as an avenue to examine my teaching practice and reconceptual ize it, grounding it in theory and knowledge rather than intuition and percept ion. The coursework enabled me to explore the concepts of racial ization, identity formation, agency, socia l justice, and historical consc iousness . Moreover I gained a more sophist icated understanding of how these concepts impact curriculum development and lesson des ign. The coursework and reading provided me with the language to conceptual ize and refine my approach to teaching history and to chart new directions for my research and c lassroom teaching. In quest ioning my commitment to socia l justice teaching it became clear that what I had wanted all along was that my students would take away powerful moral lessons from my c lassroom that could influence their conduct and behaviour in the future. It consol idated my belief that in order to have my students learn powerful moral lessons from history the select ion of narratives was important. I had never been restricted in my curriculum cho ices by administrators, parents, co l leagues or the school board. It was clear to me that the Holocaust is suited to the development of students' historical understanding and moral reasoning in a way that would not be true if they were to study the life of a pioneer family. Histories filled with complex moral and ethical i ssues must be taught in our socia l studies c lasses and they should form a significant portion of the curr iculum. 3 Curr iculum in B C ' s secondary schoo ls is developed and implemented by the Ministry of Educat ion. Historically the socia l studies curriculum has promoted teaching traditional nation building narratives in secondary socia l studies c l asses . E v e n the most recent iteration of the curriculum continued support for teaching the national myths. Spec i f i c references to controversial topics like the Indian residential schoo ls , institutional rac ism and gender discrimination continue to receive minimal reference in the curr iculum documents and prescr ibed textbooks. The socia l studies/history curr iculum has wi tnessed several iterations s ince the first comprehens ive document re leased in 1927 ( B C Department of Educat ion, 1927). With each revision, the curr iculum deve lopers built the socia l studies program around content that taught C a n a d a ' s nation building story including exploration, conquest, sett lement, and colonizat ion. The first signif icant revision occurred in 1956 with a few changes to instructional topic a reas but signif icant changes to methodologies ( B C Department of Educat ion, 1956). The new curr iculum organized the socia l studies around in the following four broad themes, "Knowledge, Love of Truth, Humanitar ian Sent iments, and A n Understanding of the Ru le of Law" (Department of Educat ion, 1956, pp. 9-10). The curriculum guides in 1927 and 1936 devoted entire units to C a n a d a ' s French and Engl ish colonial roots, Eng l ish parl iamentary traditions, C a n a d a ' s political sys tem, and the historical evolution of C a n a d a and this was carried over in the 1956 curriculum in greater detail ( B C Department of Educat ion, 1927, 1936, 1956). In 1960, after two years of evaluat ion and review, the province of British Co lumb ia publ ished the f indings of the Roya l C o m m i s s i o n on Educat ion (the Chant Commiss ion) and directed socia l studies teachers to move away from rel iance on the socia l sc iences toward more st ress on "mastery of factual 4 knowledge", emphas iz ing the traditional discipl ines of history and geography, but still drawing upon all of the socia l sc iences (Royal Commiss ion , 1960, pp. 308-310). T h e Report did not recommend a complete shift from the previous curr iculum but a change in focus with an increased emphas is "upon the subject-matter courses" (p. 308). In 1968 a new curr iculum based upon the recommendat ions of the Chant Report w a s implemented throughout the province. The structure of the program shifted with more attention to teaching inductive thinking ski l ls, va lues educat ion and teaching the traditional discipl ines of history and geography ( B C Department of Educat ion, 1968, pp. 21-35). However, the scope and sequence maintained a commitment to teaching the nation building narratives common to earlier iterations of the document. In 1985 (Ministry of Educat ion, 1985) the provincial government implemented another ser ies of revisions loosely based upon the recommendat ions written in The Provincial Assessment of Socials Studies (Aoki, Langford, Wi l l iams, Wi l son , 1977). Notwithstanding changes in the content and framework of the new curr iculum guide the document cont inued to support the split coverage of Canad ian history between the grades and maintained a commitment to nation building. In 1996 the province embarked on its fourth revision of socia l studies and teachers remain under its guidel ines today, al though streamlined learning outcomes and achievement indicators were introduced recently (Integrated Resource P a c k a g e , Ministry of Educat ion, 1997, 2005). A l s o in 2006 socia l studies teachers wi tnessed the introduction of s tandardized e x a m s for Soc ia l S tud ies 11 and Civ ic Stud ies 11. The recent addit ion of a provincial exam created addit ional pressure on socia l studies teachers to prepare students for the e x a m , making it more difficult to teach detai led studies of socia l justice narratives. In spite of 5 the changes the socia l studies curriculum maintains the tradition of teaching the nation building narratives indirectly support ing a cit izenship building approach to teaching history. In developing my teaching unit on the Holocaust I drew upon the design and methodology of three human rights topics that I had taught in my c lassroom: C a n a d a ' s role in the Holocaust , the internment of J a p a n e s e Canad ians , and the rape of Nank ing and Japan ' s invasion of Ch ina . Al l three units were publ ished by the Ministry of Educat ion between 1999 and 2005 as part of a commitment to support minority vo ices in the socia l studies curriculum (Canada and The Holocaust: Social Responsibility and Global Citizenship, 1999, Human Rights in the Asia Pacific 1931-1945, 2001, Internment and Redress: The Japanese Canadian Experience, 2005). The units examine issues of fairness, equality, human rights, international and domest ic laws, redress, reconcil iation, and compensat ion. The units compel students to think critically and use a variety of evidentiary sources in defending an argument on behalf of the victims and t ransgressors. E a c h resource presents students with the tools, p rocesses , concepts , and framework to work through complex moral quest ions, enhancing historical understanding. The Holocaust is a particularly compel l ing topic for students because of its symbol ism, moral weight, volume of documented ev idence, graphic nature of the ev idence, and wealth of powerful narratives. Recent scholarship on the perpetrators quest ions the role that average Ge rmans played in acts of cruelty, indifference and murder. The Holocaust al lows an opportunity to locate the conversat ion in the present, to ask quest ions about the condit ions under which such cr imes could occur today and have students quest ion personal va lues and beliefs. 6 Recent research into the teaching, learning and knowing of history has helped identify a number of critical quest ions for history educators in C a n a d a . Particularly the quest ion of what history we teach and why. Scholarship on the issue offers a wide range of answers to these quest ions and recent research has brought into quest ion traditional approaches to teaching, learning and knowing history. Historical narratives taught at the secondary level frequently contain moral themes with the potential to instruct and develop the moral d imension of teaching history for our students. T h e complexity of history offers many examples of explicit moral m e s s a g e s and there are numerous opportunities to teach these moral d imensions and develop historical thinking in our students. The complex composit ion of modern c lassrooms demands that history educators bring the curriculum to life, drawing connect ions between an increasingly unfamiliar past and the complex present while maintaining the integrity of the prescr ibed curr iculum. This diversity within the c lassroom creates chal lenges for educators sifting through the cho ices in the prescr ibed curriculum in search of meaningful and powerful narratives that will create nexus points for student growth. One way for history educators to negotiate this chal lenge is to choose narratives that focus on moral reasoning, develop historical thinking and enhance historical understanding. The complexi t ies of teaching moral history lessons remain chal lenging but can provide invaluable opportunities for our students to critically engage in making connect ions with the past. Teachers must have the freedom and the commitment to make narrative cho ices within the prescribed curriculum that allow students to examine complex, uncomfortable, contestable issues that stretch their thinking and understanding. 7 1.2 The Research Question The investigation examined a teacher 's narrative cho ice and students ' historical thinking and the use of var ied resources in teaching a unit on the Holocaust . The quest ion I examined was : How is student thinking, about remembering the Holocaust, influenced by the teacher's use of varied instructional resources? The quest ion focuses on the connect ion between the teacher 's narrative cho ices in the c lass room and the opportunit ies students have to engage in historical thinking. The research quest ion a lso cal led for an examinat ion of how students understand the obligation to remember historical tragedy like the Holocaust . The research quest ion opened a d iscuss ion of the difference between learning about the Holocaust and learning from the Holocaust . In learning about the Holocaust students are required to do more than know dates, people and mere facts, but to reason through complex moral quest ions and draw s o m e level of understanding of the context in which the tragedy occurred. In learning from the Holocaust the students consider what, if any, lessons can be drawn from human suffering on an unprecedented level. It is central to the investigation that student act ion and civic identity are shaped by encounters with history, specif ical ly with historical narratives that require students to engage their moral s tance and wrestle with the role of history in the present. 1.3 Assumptions Signif icant assumpt ions are imbedded in the research quest ion. Firstly, an underlying function of teaching history is in providing opportunit ies for students to wrest le with complex moral and ethical i ssues. History is inherently a moral enterprise because we constantly judge the past from the lens of the present. Studying history is 8 about making judgments and students must be taught how to engage historical study, avoiding simplistic or unfounded interpretations of the past. Students and teachers must be wary of the implicit and explicit moral messages transmitted from the curriculum. Secondly, studies of complex, multilayered historical events allow students to draw upon those events when confronted with moral/ethical dilemmas in the present. Students can learn about the dangers of remaining silent or displaying apathy as others are facing institutional discrimination and oppression. Thirdly, notwithstanding the value of all history curricula, not all are well suited to the development of moral reasoning in adolescents. Such curricula must offer specific opportunities to engage the moral frameworks of our students and in ways that will impact their reasoning. Finally, teachers' narrative choices matter if the objective is to develop historical thinking, understanding and empathy in our students. Curriculum instruments guide and direct study, but within the curricula teachers can make choices and select narratives that have relevance to the lived experiences of their students. Current research and scholarship illustrate a number of points important to teaching history for its moral dimensions while demonstrating awareness of implicit and explicit moral messages. The complexity of the moral messages in narratives like the Holocaust means teachers must confront a number of problems. For example, in attempting to relive the past in the present we may oversimplify and transpose the messages and meaning of tragic historic events (Boix-Mansilla, 2000). Messages about the heroism of those who tried to save Jews may cause students to believe that large numbers of non-Jews risked their lives to do so when this is not true. Furthermore, the methodologies used to teach such events cannot be true to both the experiential and 9 knowledge objectives creating chal lenges for students in understanding moral lessons . Attempting to teach the experiential d imensions of the Holocaust or other historical t ragedies cannot truly recreate the horror, emotional and psychological t rauma of such events and therefore appear disrespectful in their intent to recreate the emot ional and psychological exper iences of the vict ims. Students come to understand and to demonstrate historical empathy with the victims but cannot relive the exper ience or fully grasp the psychological and emotional condit ions. Addit ionally one encounters the problem of t ransposing the facts of the Holocaust in a comparat ive manner to modern genoc ide causing students to oversimplify the events and their limited connect ions (Boix-Mansi l la , 2000). The genoc ides in Cambod ia in 1975, Yugos lav ia in 1992, or Rwanda in 1994 are not the same as the Holocaust in Europe, yet students may want to draw such compar isons to aid understanding. Students may confuse the unique soc ia l , political and economic factors in one event with those in all other similar events losing the signi f icance and moral complexity of each event. If done poorly such lessons do little to probe the complex factors that contributed to the genoc ide and serve only to bring a level of empathy to the victims and survivors (Boix-Mansi l la , 2000, Schweber , 2004). Thus , teaching about and learning from the Holocaust present numerous moral chal lenges if teachers are to reduce the complexity of m e s s a g e s brought to the students. A second assumpt ion underpinning the study is that in studying the past teachers can impact current and future student conduct. The use of socia l studies c l asses to develop moral f rameworks or impose value sys tems is well documented in the literature (Peters, 1973, 1979, L ikona, 1976, Nucc i , 1989, 2001 , Puka , 1998) In most moral 10 educat ion models the objective is to change student conduct or behaviour in the present through the examinat ion of cases , ethical d i lemmas or in learning the tools of dispute resolution. Much of the literature emphas izes school conduct, the resolution of hypothetical moral and ethical d i lemmas and attainment of a moral virtue through consistent application of moral exemplars (Likona, 1976; Nucc i , 1989; P u k a , 1998). Th is is typically done teaching the tools to deal with moral conflict, advocat ing a moral framework, and providing gener ic issues to resolve. Such strategies do not depend upon teaching a particular kind of historical narrative because the lesson is not centred on learning, knowing or understanding the narrative, rather it c o m e s from applying the tools. Historical understanding is not a prerequisite in this kind of moral educat ion because the issues are not contextual ized for the student. However, there is a distinction between history taught to promote the t ransmiss ion of knowledge and instruction given to instill va lues, moral attributes and critical judgment (Todorov, 1995). Instruction for the purpose of transmitting knowledge of dates, names and facts does not involve an exploration of bias, critical pedagogy or questioning the purpose and objectives of such instruction. Whereas , teaching to instill moral qualit ies, va lues and a critical mind have a different purpose and more importantly a different set of curr iculum cho ices (Todorov, 1995). If teachers wish to engage the hearts and minds of our students narrative choice is important because it can dictate student interest and investment in the subject matter Aok i , 1993). This is the third assumpt ion. Narratives rich with complexity, moral d i lemmas or multiple interpretations engage the minds and moral f rameworks of students in ways different from the conventional recitation of facts and dates (Becker, 11 1932; Holt, 1990; Se ixas , 1999; Wright, 2000). Not all historical narratives serve the goal of educating for moral reasoning because they do not offer opportunities to engage in a critical dialogue that engages the moral f rameworks of students. Events or people linked with issues of injustice, discrimination, inequality, fairness, or virtue open up possibil i t ies for critical analys is allowing students to test establ ished perspect ives, beliefs and s tances on chal lenging topics. Cons iderab le research supports the belief that students will be engaged in history if there is re levance to their own lives (Becker, 1932; Holt, 1990; Aok i , 1993; Se i xas 1996; Roman and Stanley, 1997). A n examinat ion of the B C high school socia l studies curriculum indicates only a moderate shift in the breadth and depth of study on topics outside the traditional nation-building story. From socia l studies 9 through socia l studies 11 the bulk of the curriculum is founded upon a retelling of C a n a d a ' s historical evolution from the perspect ive of the dominant Ang lo -Saxon culture. A brief survey will find units on discovery, exploration, conquest, sett lement, territorial evolution, and economic expans ion (Ministry of Educat ion, 2005). Little is found in the curriculum with respect to the many narratives and perspect ives of aboriginal peoples, minority cultures, colonial and post-colonial exploitation, or the victimization of ethnic minorities. Students will not easi ly embrace history that neither meets their own exper ience or their understanding thus we miss many opportunit ies to engage the hearts and minds of our students (Wertsch, 2000, Wright, 2000, Par is , 2000). Students should be engaged in critical examinat ions of the past to fulfill the potential of the narratives we teach. It is my final assumpt ion that a correlation exists between narrative cho ice and student understanding of the past. If one is engaged in teaching for the purpose of 12 nation building or cit izenship t ransmission this will inform the curriculum cho ices made and influence the impact those cho ices have on student understanding. There is a large body of research on the use of history and social sc iences to promote ci t izenship. T h e s e approaches often focus on teaching history chronological ly and primarily as part of a nation building narrative (Osborne, 1975, 1987, 1995, 1996, 1999). The underlying objective in teaching for ci t izenship is the inculcation of democrat ic va lues, rights c la ims and civic duties within the context of national identity (Osborne, 1999; Kyml icka, 1999). S u c h models often prescribe a particular kind of history, frequently including narratives that support nation building and elaborate on national mythology to build ties to the nation (Decarie, 1989; Fowler, 1995; Francis, 1997). Students cannot often identify with the narratives common to nation building curriculum as the past is far removed from their lived exper ience. Such narratives are not des igned to chal lenge dominant tropes, ideologies, va lues, or percept ions of race, identity or nationhood but to support existing institutional structures and systems. The models emphas ize issues analysis, teaching common understandings of the political structures and acceptance of the core institutions of society. They do not emphas ize minority narratives, labour studies, c lass struggle, colonial ism, or socia l justice narratives because the function of cit izenship educat ion is to transmit a particular body of beliefs not to chal lenge them, though they may examine such narratives as part of an issues approach. 1.4 Definitions This research study focuses on the connect ions between a teachers narrative cho ices and students' thinking about the Holocaust. In the previous sect ion I laid out the assumpt ions that underpin my research goals, particularly the need to find ways to use 13 history in the serv ice of moral reasoning and developing historical thinking in our students. The research quest ion enab les an examinat ion of a number of key concepts including narrative choice, historical understanding and moral reasoning. In this sect ion I will unpack each of these terms and put them in context with respect to the research study. 1.4.1 Nar ra t ive c h o i c e Teachers make curriculum choices daily in lesson and unit planning. Notwithstanding the prescribed curricula, teachers have latitude to make cho ices independent of the influence of administrators, curriculum guides, schoo l board directives and departmental objectives. However, the various Instructional Resource P a c k a g e s (I.R.P.s) des igned and implemented by the Ministry of Educat ion inf luence the boundar ies within which narrative cho ices can be made. Recent changes to these I.R.Ps and the implementation of provincial standardized exams for Soc ia l Studies 11 and Civ ic Studies 11 further limited the freedom and flexibility c lassroom teachers have when select ing specif ic curricula for lesson and unit p lans. However, regardless of the speci f ic guidel ines given by ministerial curriculum documents and exam pressures, c lassroom teachers can make cho ices that impact learning, knowing and understanding history, breaching the temporal gap that al ienates students from integrating the past with their lived exper ience. Cho i ces in units of study, teaching strategies, resources, textbooks, and historical source documents can impact the study of history and influence student understanding. The thematic structure of the various IRPs from grades eight through e leven provides space to enrich students' exper ience with narratives that probe, quest ion and 14 analyze the traditional stories of C a n a d a . For example, under the theme Autonomy and International Involvement in Soc ia l Studies 11, there is a learning outcome stating that students will " a s s e s s C a n a d a ' s role in Wor ld War II and the war 's impact on C a n a d a " ( B C Ministry of Educat ion, S S 11 IRP, 2005, p. 33). Within the learning outcome the achievement indicator recommends that this may be met by "describing C a n a d a ' s military participation in the Al l ied war effort" and lists a number of significant battles in which C a n a d a played a role (IRP, 2005, p. 33). Nowhere does it mention the speci f ic role C a n a d a played in liberating Naz i death camps or with any other aspect of the Holocaust. Yet , in any study of the Second World War many c lassroom teachers find it va luable to teach about the Holocaust independent of any connect ion to C a n a d a ' s historical involvement. Connect ions do exist in aiding liberation of the death camps , supporting refugee placement and supporting the prosecut ion of war criminals at Nuremberg. The Holocaust is one of the most compel l ing and historically tragic events of human history rich with narratives rooted in survival, personal courage, brutality, human cruelty, institutional rac ism, and numerous other themes. The prescr ibed curriculum does not make it explicit that teachers should go outside the parameters of the document to teach the Holocaust, but it does not prevent them from doing so in the serv ice of other learning objectives. There is a tension here between the prescr ibed curr iculum, standardized exam and broad learning outcomes and the need to engage students in deeper, thoughtful analys is of issues and events not explicitly stated in the document. C lass room teachers feel this tension and are empowered to make curriculum cho ices that service more than the base learning outcomes and examinat ion 15 specif icat ions descr ibed here and it is an important aspect of this research to il luminate this tension and its impact on student understanding and moral reasoning. 1.4.2 Histor ical unders tand ing For many high schoo l history teachers one of the first chal lenges they encounter is the acquisit ion of knowledge about the content they will teach. I graduated a history major, but with an emphas is on U.S. labour history and Middle Eastern studies, not an ideal background for teaching the B C socia l studies curriculum loaded with Canad ian and European themes. My ability to teach history was compromised, in these first years , because of a rel iance on textbook accounts and superficial investigations of C a n a d a ' s past. There is a loose parallel here with our students in that they frequently come into our c lassrooms without the detailed knowledge required to engage in analys is of the historical c la ims made in the c lassroom. Thus, the first step toward developing historical understanding in our students is to provide a depth of knowledge so they can critique c la ims made in textbooks, source documents, film, or the other accounts of the past. Historical understanding is the process of gaining knowledge, advancing one 's understanding and having the capacity to question accounts and traces of the past to validate c la ims and contrast them with complementary, contrasting and contradictory narratives (Lee and Ashby , 2000, p. 200). Students do not bring the advanced set of skil ls found with professional historians and their understanding of the past is compromised by their inability to a c c e s s prior knowledge, interpret documents, look for bias, and synthesize counter narratives. C o m m o n approaches descr ibed in the literature indicate two apparently contradictory directions found in most history c lasses ; teaching the discipl ine of history, 16 somet ime cal led the "skil ls" approach and teaching historical content, frequently cal led the "knowledge" approach (Lee and Ashby , 2000; Se ixas , 2000). E a c h approach, or emphas is , has a bearing on the ability of students to understand the past. In practice both approaches are at work all of the time in history c lassrooms, but the emphas is might lean toward one direction. This is because teaching the discipl ine of history is dependant on the ability of the teacher to know the historical method and teach it to the students. The "knowledge" approach is frequently argued to be less effective in imparting historical understanding in students because the goal is acquisit ion of knowledge not synthesis, appropriation or integration. However, it is not possib le to understand any narrative, to examine it or call it into question without a base of knowledge. Knowledge, in turn, is acquired through the process of 'doing' history and is not separate from acquiring the tools of the historian (Seixas, 2000). In the end historical understanding is not about which approach is appl ied but the sophist icat ion with which both approaches are used to enhance student thinking about history. 1.4.3 M o r a l r e a s o n i n g Few fields of study in education are more complex, incomplete or difficult to negotiate than examining the moral d imensions of teaching. Moral development, reasoning, literacy, virtues, plural ism, and conduct represent a smal l sample of the concepts , related to the moral d imensions of the curr iculum, that have taken up considerable space in research literature (Likona, 1976; Peters, 1973, 1979; G reen , 1999; P u k a , 2000; Nucc i , 2001). Whi le there is considerable agreement that schoo ls play a significant role in the moral development of our youth, there are vast disparit ies and gaps in the literature with respect to how this should be done. However, one key 17 aspect of moral development does find agreement in the scholarly research and that is with respect to providing opportunities for students to reason through difficult moral issues. There is some correlation between increased opportunities to explore moral issues and changes in student moral reasoning (Likona, 1976; Peters, 1979; Nucc i , 2001). In working through several analytical steps and choosing case studies that are rigorous, students' moral reasoning is chal lenged and they are required to integrate new levels of thinking while building a more comprehens ive moral framework. Not all historical narratives or exemplars are equal in their capacity to al low students to attain more sophist icated levels of moral reasoning because they do not all al low for the opposit ion of complex posit ions, the opportunity to chal lenge entrenched value sys tems, or the ability of students to avoid moral relativism. In al lowing students to wrestle with complex moral issues, historically based , they have an opportunity to refine personal moral f rameworks by integrating new modes of thinking about right/wrong conduct as it relates to human in/action. The remainder of this study is contained in the following chapters. Chapter Two presents a review of the literature relevant to historical understanding, Holocaust educat ion, cit izenship education and nation building narratives. In Chapter Three I will lay out the design and methodology of the research study including a descript ion of the three c lasses in the study, the Holocaust teaching unit, and the research model . In Chapter Four I provide an analys is of the three different resources used in teaching the unit on the Holocaust, the graphic novel Maus, The Pianist and the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre Discovery Kit. In Chapter F ive I report on my findings from 18 the student responses. Finally in Chapter Six I present my conclusions and future directions for research on narrative choice and student thinking about the Holocaust. 19 2 Perspectives on History Education Schoo ls have a unique and privileged role in educat ing young Canad ians for their participation in our liberal democrat ic and ethnically d iverse society. History educat ion is well situated to meet the responsibil i ty of educating young Canad ians about the people, events, narratives, and controversies that have shaped the nation. The c lassroom history curriculum is drawn from several sources including provincial curriculum guides, exam specif icat ions, teacher knowledge, textbook select ion, and a wide range of in-c lass resources. Fi lms, journal articles, source documents, learning kits, and other supplemental resources fill in the curriculum and enrich student opportunities to engage the past in meaningful ways . T h e s e descript ions of p rocesses , instruments of teaching and curriculum guidel ines do not explain why we teach history or what history should be taught in our c lassrooms. Curr iculum guides provide direction and offer parameters to orient what is taught, but leave considerable room for independent narrative choice by teachers. For some, the fear of c lassroom teachers running amok and making autonomous decis ions about curriculum and historical interpretation is the antithesis of what should occur in schools . Recent ly, Governor Bush and the Florida legislature outlawed historical interpretation in public schools (Jensen, 2007, p. 5). In pass ing the legislation the governor stated that "Amer ican history shal l be v iewed as factual, not as constructed" (Jensen, p. 5). It is ironic that Bush would construct history in the schoo ls of Flor ida by not allowing the construction of history in his c lassrooms. The point to note is that teachers in the province of British Co lumbia , unlike those in the state of F lor ida, are given the autonomy to choose curriculum and make speci f ic select ions about which narratives to teach. Narrative choice is important because it empowers teachers to 20 educate for purposes beyond cit izenship t ransmission or the blind indoctrination of nation building mythology. In this chapter I d iscuss two approaches in history educat ion that inf luence teachers ' narrative cho ices and impact students' historical thinking. The approaches are not meant as prescriptive guidel ines for teaching history, but concept ions that inf luence what history we teach and how it can be done to improve historical thinking. Pr ior to d iscuss ing current research on historical understanding I will contextual ize the Canad ian conversat ion about narrative choice and why it has become increasingly content ious in socia l studies/history c lassrooms. From there I will review the literature on historical understanding. Then I will review the literature pertaining to ci t izenship educat ion and nation building approaches as alternate modes through which narratives are chosen . Finally, I will review the literature on Holocaust educat ion a s it has a unique p lace in the field of history educat ion and it pertains directly to my research quest ion. 2.1 What History Should We Teach? In the past ten years there has been an examinat ion of what, why and how history is taught in schoo ls across C a n a d a . In June 1999 British Co lumb ia secondary soc ia l studies teachers received a report on the state of socia l studies educat ion from the Ministry of Educat ion Soc ia l Studies Task Force ( B C Ministry of Educat ion , 1999). The report, three years in the making and based on the B C A s s e s s m e n t of Soc ia l S tud ies 1996 Technica l Report ( B C Ministry of Educat ion, Ski l ls and Training, 1997), s ingled out severa l speci f ic a reas of concern with the teaching of socia l s tudies: inadequate background knowledge of teachers, limited and uninspiring mater ials and methods, superficial assessmen t strategies, avo idance of controversial i ssues , limited 21 professional identity, and inadequate professional development opportunities (Task Force Report, 1999, pp. 3-5). Addit ionally, the report identified the principal purpose of teaching socia l studies as imparting cit izenship va lues and developing socia l responsibil i ty in our youth (p. 6). The report did not single out the provincial soc ia l studies curriculum as a central factor in the decl ine of the social studies in B C , but suggested that teachers were not exercis ing opportunities to engage students in critical reflection on controversial or topical i ssues embedded within the existing curriculum (p. 4). The report recommended a re-conceptual izat ion of the socia l studies focused on four e lements of the discipl ine: "developing understanding, making connect ions between historical and contemporary events and issues, applying knowledge, and practicing active cit izenship" (p. 7). The report cal led upon history educators in the province to bring compel l ing, controversial narratives back in to the c lassroom to support the development of social ly responsible young ci t izens. Not long after the Task Force began its research, a new think tank for the reconceptual izat ion and promotion of Canad ian history took root in Toronto. The Dominion Institute was establ ished in 1997 by a group of conservat ive Canad ians "concerned about the erosion of a common memory in C a n a d a " (Dominion Institute, 2003, p. 2). The institute used national surveys, popular media agenc ies and the academic press to condemn the present state of history educat ion in C a n a d a , specif ical ly the lamentable state of Canad ian history courses and curriculum ac ross the nation (Dominion Institute, 2003). A national survey conducted with 1,104 young Canad ians aged 18 to 24 indicated that even the most rudimentary facts of C a n a d a ' s nation-building history were not being learned (Dominion Institute, 2003, p. 2). A 22 C a n a d a Day survey in 2001 indicated that only "54% of Canad ians could identify [our] first Pr ime Minister, as opposed to 9 0 % of Amer icans who could name their first president" (Dominion Institute, 2003, p. 2). The m e s s a g e was that young Canad ians did not know their history. The developments have much in common but the most tangible link was the distress over the state of history educat ion in B .C . and across C a n a d a . The Dominion Institute advocated for changes to curriculum, the development of new teaching resources and the promotion of Canad ian history in print and film to broaden Canad ian ' s knowledge and appreciat ion for their history (The Dominion Institute, 2003). However, the Institute and its supporters promote a narrow, pan-Canad ian approach to history educat ion, one that highlights war, mythic heroes, French-Engl ish relations, and civic identity. In both c a s e s connect ions were being drawn, explicitly or not, that the kinds of narratives we teach our students have a direct bearing on their development as active and social ly responsible ci t izens. A s early as the 1970s educators and scholars in C a n a d a were critical of the direction taken in the social studies that seemed to be diluting the quantity and quality of history being taught in Canad ian c lassrooms and this criticism has continued to the present (Osborne, 1987; Bennett, 1990; Fowler, 1995). Noted Canad ian historian Jack Granatstein (1998) added fuel to the history educat ion debate with his seminal work titled Who Killed Canadian History? In the monograph he suggested that col lege and high schoo l history courses were now hostage to political correctness, victimization stories and poor c lassroom pedagogy and that these recent trends were undermining the purpose of teaching Canad ian history (Granatstein, 1998). Feminist, soc ia l , anti-racist, and multicultural narratives had replaced the tradition of instructing young 23 Canad ians about their political, military and diplomatic history (Granatstein, 1998, p.23). S o m e have argued that knowledge of a pan-Canad ian narrative is important because it impacts our development as a nation state and that through history educat ion young Canad ians are taught the va lues, morals, traditions, and responsibi l i t ies they will undertake as cit izens (Osborne, 1995; Granatstein, 1998). Others contend that a pan-Canad ian narrative diminishes local, regional and provincial narratives and marginal izes the stories of ethnic minorities. Regard less of one 's s tance it is c lear that the issue of whose history we teach is central to our identity and understanding of who we are and who we will become as a nation. The debate on history standards has energ ized scholarship, research and teaching history across C a n a d a . In 1999 we saw the first national conference bringing history educators from all levels and locations to Montreal , then Winn ipeg, Halifax, and Vancouver in years following in a national d iscourse on history educat ion (Seixas, 2002). The first few years of the new mil lennium wi tnessed significant developments in the dialogue on history teaching in C a n a d a . The developments d iscussed here shed some light on the importance of narrative choice and students' historical thinking, but more importantly they frame the investigation and provide a context for new directions in history educat ion. 2.2 Historical Understanding History is the reconstruction of the traces and accounts of the past, or more particularly, selected moments in the past. History in schools is more than the recitation or rote memorizat ion of names, dates and facts. It is the construction of knowledge c la ims founded upon subjective dec is ions made by teachers. Narrative cho ice is a reflection of consc ious dec is ions made by teachers, in part, to develop cognit ive 24 capaci t ies, moral s tances, or critical habits of the mind but a lso in furtherance of larger cit izenship objectives. Curr iculum choices are not random, inadvertent or unbiased and are used to serv ice any number of competing and complementary objectives including identity formation, common memory projects, moral reasoning, socia l justice issues, and nation building. However, the best intentions will not succeed if teachers fail to recognize the interdependence of narrative choice, student understanding and pedagogy. Student understanding of the past and historical thinking are directly impacted by each link. The findings coming out of research on historical understanding help shed light on its complexity. F indings from the scholarly community shed light on a number of perspect ives within the research into historical understanding. O n e perspect ive is about the quest ion of substantive vs. procedural cho ices in teaching history, somet imes referred to as the knowledge vs. process debate. Teach ing for content knowledge through rote memorizat ion and factual recall without chal lenging the facts or interpretations of the facts is one common thread, while the other is in doing the discipl ine of history through document analys is and an application of the historical method (Holt, 1990; Se ixas , 1999; Se ixas , Stearns and Wineburg, 2000). However, in doing history content becomes part of the pedagogy because one cannot teach how to do history without narratives, source documents or traces from which to apply the historical method (Seixas, 1999). The debate then, is not about content and process but which content to teach and by what process will students engage the content. Holt (1990) argues that student misconcept ions about the past are corrected by applying the historical method to document studies because in learning how to do history students see they are part of 25 the past-present-future cont inuum. He means that in doing history they will come to understand that they are creating history, interpreting data and making meaning of the past. Student understanding of the past can be enr iched by teachers model ing this critical approach to studying history. Students commonly view history as the memorizat ion of names and dates with little or no understanding of what historical understanding entails or of the important steps historians go through prior to constructing a narrative. Ultimately students cannot be historians because they do not have the tools, analytical skil ls or background knowledge requisite for deep historical interpretation (Wineburg, 1991). However, in each student lies a narrative, a personal history to connect past and present and to organize the "residua of the past into a form meaningful in the present" (Seixas, 1996, p. 777). In doing history students have an opportunity to learn the attributes of the discipl ine and make connect ions between past and present, creating deep understanding (Holt, 1990; Osborne, 1995; Se ixas , 1999). Dec is ions about how to teach the discipl ine of history represent one part of the d i lemma facing secondary teachers looking to make thoughtful cho ices about the narratives they will teach. Resea rch on adolescent historical understanding has generated a number of important quest ions about how they learn, know and understand history. These have significant implications for c lassroom teachers in the select ion of resources, teaching methods and narrative choice. For example, Lee and A s h b y (2000) found, in their study of students aged seven to fourteen, that the progression in students' ideas about accounts of the past varied widely among the age groups with s o m e "eight-year-olds [having] more sophist icated ideas than most twelve or even fourteen-year-olds" (p. 212). The study, using different accounts of the s a m e event, 26 conc luded that students have a variety of ideas about how to understand the differing accounts (Lee and Ashby , 2000). S o m e students suggested that the past w a s " inaccessib le" , others that the different accounts were the result of "select ions" made by the authors, and some stated that the accounts were a result of dif ferences in the availability of information (p. 212). W h e n confronting the issue of narrative cho ice the study by Lee and Ashby highlights the problem of student understanding and the select ion of sources and accounts to study. Student understanding is inf luenced by age. Narrative select ions made with older adolescents can represent themes and concepts that are more complex. Resea rch into adolescent historical understanding informs educators that teen age students are less prepared to absorb the complexit ies of history than older learners (Osborne, 1975; Wineburg, 1991; Se ixas , 1999; Bo ix-Mans i l la , 2000) and their ability to understand the past is compounded by quest ions of epistemology, agency and the development of historical empathy (Seixas, 1996). Students do not come to the table with an understanding of how knowledge is formed or knowledge c la ims can be disputed. Moreover, they are not equipped with the cognitive and analytical tools to deconstruct narratives and hold them to account for their truth claims. Even when they are able to master the facts research suggests that they will not appropriate the narrative if it does not fit existing socio-cultural f rames of reference (Wertsch, 2000). How do mastery and appropriation impact historical understanding? Wertsch (2000) identifies knowing as mastery of the past and believing as appropriation of the past. Appropriat ion of knowledge is significant for it implies s o m e level of acceptance of the c la ims made about a given narrative and the integration of those c la ims into an existing 27 b a s e of k n o w l e d g e . T h e m o v e m e n t f r om k n o w l e d g e to a p p r o p r i a t i o n is not b a s e d o n p r o g r e s s i o n , a s s o m e s t u d e n t s wi l l n e v e r fu l ly t a k e o w n e r s h i p of ce r ta i n n a r r a t i v e s . H o w e v e r , o n e c a n n o t a p p r o p r i a t e s o m e t h i n g o n e k n o w s no th ing a b o u t ; t h u s t h e r e is a d i rec t l ink b e t w e e n k n o w l e d g e of t he p a s t a n d a p p r o p r i a t i o n . H o w e v e r , a s W e r t s c h (2000 ) n o t e s , m a s t e r y of the f a c t s d o e s not a l w a y s l e a d to a p p r o p r i a t i o n b e c a u s e t he p r o c e s s of in te rna l i z ing a nar ra t i ve is e m b e d d e d in s o c i o c u l t u r a l f a c t o r s b e y o n d the con t ro l o f t he c l a s s r o o m t e a c h e r (pp. 3 9 - 4 0 ) . T h e q u e s t i o n of a p p r o p r i a t i o n , o r o w n e r s h i p of k n o w l e d g e c l a i m s g o e s b e y o n d the s c o p e of th is p a p e r . H o w e v e r , t he r e s e a r c h of W e r t s c h s h o u l d in fo rm t e a c h e r s ' na r ra t i ve c h o i c e m a k i n g t h e m a w a r e of the c o n n e c t i o n s a m o n g m a s t e r y , a p p r o p r i a t i o n a n d bel ie f . S c h o o l s p l ay a n impor tan t ro le in c r e a t i n g the c o l l e c t i v e ident i ty o f s o c i e t y , a n d the n a r r a t i v e s c o m m o n l y t augh t in s c h o o l s ref lect th is ob jec t i ve by g i v i ng s u b s t a n c e to t he m y t h s of n a t i o n h o o d ( F r a n c i s , 1 9 9 7 ; P a r i s , 2 0 0 0 ) . In the B C s o c i a l s t u d i e s p r o g r a m th is is e v i d e n c e d in the tex ts p r e s c r i b e d du r i ng t he p a s t t en y e a r s : Our Land: Building the West ( B o w e r s a n d G a r r o d , 1987 ) , Horizons: Canada Moves West ( C r a n n y , J a r v i s , M o l e s a n d S e n e y , 1999 ) a n d Counterpoints: Exploring Canadian Issues ( C r a n n y a n d M o l e s , 200'\). T h e t e x t b o o k s h a v e b e e n a u t h o r i z e d by the M in i s t r y of E d u c a t i o n for u s e in s c h o o l s to t e a c h the s o c i a l s t u d i e s c u r r i c u l u m (Our Land is n o l o n g e r p r e s c r i b e d b y the M in i s t r y but r e m a i n s in u s e ) . In e a c h e x a m p l e t he c o n t e n t o f t he tex tbook , at l e a s t in par t , e s t a b l i s h e s the m y t h o l o g y of the na t i on . F o r e x a m p l e in Our Land w e f ind c h a p t e r h e a d i n g s l ike " D e v e l o p m e n t o f t he W e s t " , " R i e l a n d R e b e l l i o n " a n d t h r e e c h a p t e r s d e v o t e d to t he evo lu t i on of C o n f e d e r a t i o n ( B o w e r s a n d G a r r o d , 1987 ) . In Counterpoints s e v e r a l c h a p t e r s a r e d e v o t e d to C a n a d a ' s ro le in t he w a r s of t he twen t ie th c e n t u r y , fo r 28 e x a m p l e : " C a n a d a a n d W o r l d W a r I", " C a n a d a a n d W o r l d W a r II" a n d " T h e C o l d W a r B e g i n s " ( C r a n n y a n d M o l e s , 2001). T h e m o s t cu r ren t text for g r a d e 11, Counterpoints, w e a v e s na r ra t i ves f r om m a r g i n a l i z e d g r o u p s a n d d e a l s wi th s o c i a l j u s t i ce i s s u e s . H o w e v e r , it a l s o p r o v i d e s m a n y of the m y t h s f o u n d in p r e v i o u s tex ts . I i l lust rate t h e s e e x a m p l e s to c lar i fy the c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n a c q u i s i t i o n a n d a p p r o p r i a t i o n of k n o w l e d g e , to u s e W e r t s c h ' s t e r m i n o l o g y , a n d nar ra t i ve s e l e c t i o n . T h e c h o i c e s m a d e by t e a c h e r s a r e , in part , d e p e n d e n t u p o n t he t e x t b o o k s u s e d in t he c l a s s r o o m . T h e a p p r o p r i a t i o n of t he na t ion bu i l d ing m y t h s of C a n a d a ' s p a s t r e q u i r e s fami l ia r i ty w i th the n a r r a t i v e s , k n o w l e d g e of t he de ta i l s , a n u n d e r s t a n d i n g of the i r p l a c e in a l a rge r s to ry of C a n a d a . A c c e p t a n c e of t h e s e na r ra t i ves a s va l i d a c c o u n t s of ou r d e v e l o p m e n t w o u l d i nd i ca te a k ind of a p p r o p r i a t i o n in that it f o r m s taci t a c k n o w l e d g m e n t that th is is h o w w e b e c a m e a na t i on . In th is l ight, nar ra t i ve c h o i c e t a k e s o n c o n s i d e r a b l e s i g n i f i c a n c e w i th r e s p e c t to h o w it wi l l i n f l u e n c e s t u d e n t k n o w l e d g e , o w n e r s h i p a n d u n d e r s t a n d i n g of the pas t . A p p r o p r i a t i o n m a y b e l e s s of a n i s s u e of truth v s . c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d m o r e of a re f lec t ion of t he na r ra t i ves c h o s e n by t he t e a c h e r to tell a g i v e n s tory . S t u d e n t s , in g e n e r a l , b e l i e v e that w h a t is taugh t to t h e m is a truthful a c c o u n t of the p a s t b e c a u s e it c o m e s f r o m a n author i ty f i gu re that s e e m s to k n o w w h a t rea l ly h a p p e n e d . S t u d e n t s m igh t q u e s t i o n the k n o w l e d g e c l a i m s of a text or t e a c h e r if t h e y h a d s ign i f i can t pr ior k n o w l e d g e that c o n t r a d i c t s the c l a i m s t h e y a r e b e i n g p r o v i d e d . O n e of the m o r e c o m m o n r e a s o n s g i v e n for t e a c h i n g h is to ry is in its v a l u e to p r o v i d e l e s s o n s f r om the p a s t to h e l p u s nego t i a te c r i s e s in the p r e s e n t . H o w e v e r , the abi l i ty o f a d o l e s c e n t s to a b s o r b t he l e s s o n s of h is to ry a n d a p p l y t h e m to t he p r e s e n t is i m p a i r e d by a n u m b e r of p r o b l e m s . T h e s e i n c l u d e a n inabi l i ty to u n d e r s t a n d t he t i m e -29 space continuum of history, an absence of tools for transferring knowledge of past events into present act ion, falling to "historicize" the past, and incorrectly using the past in the serv ice of present political, moral or social agendas (Boix-Mansi l la , 2000, pp. 390-392). Boix-Mansi l la 's study of eighth and ninth graders in Boston examined students' comparat ive analys is of the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide. The study explored the relationship between "past and present in history educat ion" because it is largely unexplained but an important function of the study of history (p. 390). Of particular importance for the research in this paper are the connect ions between narrative cho ices, student understanding and the selection of resources and teaching methods. Broadly speaking Boix-Mansi l la (2000) provides two solutions to the problem of helping students make sense of the past. First, provide multiple, superv ised opportunities for engagement with the past in rich, contextual ized settings (Boix-Mansi l la , 2000). S e c o n d , teach the past carefully, with forethought about the connect ions students can draw and provide them with analytical tools to understand the complex nature of the past and its relationship with the present (Boix-Mansi l la , 2000). The study highlights the complexity in understanding how students make sense of the past, but it a lso urges history teachers to make thoughtful cho ices in the narratives they teach and the tools through which these narratives are taught and a s s e s s e d . 2.3 Nation Building Narratives The most commonly offered response to the question of why history is taught in school is that in learning about the past young Canad ians embrace the values, traditions and institutions of civic democracy. In learning C a n a d a ' s nation building narrative students are prepared for participation in our democrat ic institutions and 30 political p rocesses (Osborne, 1987, 1995; Granatste in, 1998; Sears , 2003). In knowing where we came from, our heritage, traditions, leaders, and systems young Canad ians are best prepared for full participation in civic life (Granatstein, p. 17). Teach ing history creates a nexus point between understanding the past and preparation for future action, socia l agency and participation in legitimate political p rocesses . However, embedded in each nation building narrative, or "master narrative" (Francis, 1997, p. 10), are myths used to tie C a n a d a ' s history to current traditions, institutions and values. Franc is uses the example of the Canad ian Paci f ic Rai lway to explain how myth differs from reality, or at least how historical interpretation can put a different spin on the same event (Francis, 1997). He explains the myth of the C . P . R . being that it was central to the creation of C a n a d a by uniting the country from s e a to s e a , economical ly , politically, social ly, and militarily. In realty the railway w a s used to oppress C a n a d a ' s aboriginal people, settle their land with immigrants, and exploit the resources appropriated by the Crown after treaties were s igned (Francis, 1997). The validity of each myth is less important than its function in expressing truths about who we are, where we have come from and where we are going. Perpetuating the myths of C a n a d a ' s nat ionhood fails to serve the vo ices of those that are marginal ized in our texts and school curr iculum. The nation building narratives commonly found in schoo l textbooks support the v iew that memory, particularly collective memory is used to forge common identity through shared values, knowledge and understanding of the past (Anderson, 1983; Hamilton, 1994; Francis, 1997; Granatste in, 1998; Hutton, 2000). Historians manage memory in the production of historical narratives and in part define who and what we are as a community. These narratives are selectively chosen by curriculum des igners to 31 inculcate specif ic values, beliefs and support for the institutional structures of our society. The memor ies, or narratives, that are left out of the curriculum can be as revealing as those that are included as they tell us much about the bias entrenched in schoo l curr iculum. The hidden curriculum is one example of how history can be manipulated in the production of common memory; that is what is left untaught is as important as the content express ly outlined in the core curriculum. If one accepts the postmodernist argument that all history is a construction then the role of memory in shaping collective or national identity is a significant issue for history educators struggling to juggle collective memory projects and postmodern skept ic ism in our c lass rooms (Seixas, 2000). The creation of collective memory demands that some narratives be told while others are left out. Awareness of the select ive nature of schoo l curr iculum and the mythology of nationhood offers teachers an opportunity to chal lenge, alter or reinterpret these narratives to fit the lived exper ience of their students and to quest ion the veracity of textbook accounts of our past. The construction of national memory and collective memory projects infused most modern nation states, through educat ion sys tems in the 2 0 t h century. The power of collective memory, state mythology and educat ion is well documented. In her semina l work Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History, Erna Par is writes about the power of memory and history in history educat ion (Paris, 2000). The book is multi- layered and examines issues of identity, race, nat ionhood, and justice from the perspect ive of memory and how it is preserved, reconstructed, mythologized, and manipulated. A nation that hides from the injustices of its past will not address the wrongs of the present or safeguard the future (Kyml icka, 1999; Par is, 2000). The crux of the history debate, 32 where fact and myth are reconstructed to tell narratives that will be held in collective memory, is in the question of how to be true to the past without fragmenting it into meaningless pieces. Paris presents the example of Maurice Papon, a senior bureaucrat in charge of deportations during the Vichy government that reigned in southeastern France from 1940-1945. He was directly responsible for the organization and relocation of thousands of French Jews ultimately sent to their deaths in Auschwitz. In the 1990's he was put on trial as a Nazi collaborator. The trial question of Papon's guilt or innocence became less important than the emerging story of how France's post-war history had been manipulated and forged to hide the truth of collaboration and hence the responsibility for war crimes and other state sanctioned injustices (Paris, 2000). The truth had been suppressed by the regime of Charles de Gaulle in an effort to rebuild the psyche of the French people in the aftermath of defeat by Nazi Germany. The French even had a phrase for their false history, la boue (the mud) indicating the complexity of terrain they did not want to negotiate or reopen to close scrutiny (Paris, 2000, pp. 80). Collective identity had been forged through the schools, monuments, memorials, museums, and media, but the trials of Klaus Barbie and Maurice Papon forced the French to open a window to the past and examine the truth of what they had come to believe. In the end Papon was convicted (sentenced to ten years imprisonment) for his collaboration with the Nazis and the collective memory of the resistance and collaboration forced a reconsideration of the national memory. The postmodernist movement opened the door to questioning what is the truth and in history education the truth is viewed as a construction of the traces and accounts from the past (Seixas, 1999). Historical accounts are not mere fabrications, although 33 they are constructions. The fact that one cannot claim a given interpretation as the truth does not mean that history is mere fiction or that any historical account can be made val id. If this were the case then Holocaust deniers like David Irving would have the s a m e support in the scholarly community as academics like Pr imo Levi . R e s e a r c h on the connect ions between history, memory and relics builds on the position that all historical narratives are negotiations between the actual lived past and our memor ies of that past (Lowenthal, 1985; Holt, 1990; Se ixas , 1996; Nora, 1989). Much of the thinking is built on the premise that we can never truly know the past, it will a lways be removed from our own exper ience and understanding; therefore all history is constructed for a purpose other than mere knowledge (Lowenthal, 1985). There exists an interrelationship between memory, history and the relics of our past; as time passes memor ies of the past fade and only reconstructions of the past, aided by relics, can provide a sense of those exper iences (Lowenthal, 1985; Holt, 1990; Nora, 1996). Secondary school curricula present fragments of a lived past, largely through textbook sources and often fail to illuminate students to other fragments or narratives. Teache rs should consistently apply critical pedagogy to chal lenge the embedded and hidden m e s s a g e s of such curricula and search for narratives that chal lenge dominant cultural myths, enlighten new perspect ives and question the foundations of society. The trial of Papon opened connect ions among memory, history, truth, and reconcil iation of the past. Recent events in South Afr ica with the Truth and Reconci l iat ion Commiss ion are forcing that nation to reexamine its past (Moodley, 1993). In July 2007 the Congress of the United States passed a resolution demanding that Japan apologize to Ch ina , Korea and the Phi l ippines over its military's sexua l 34 ens lavement of young women during the S e c o n d World War (Associated P ress , 2007). National narratives, whether they are from France, the United States, Japan , or C a n a d a are important because they aid the formation of collective identity and reinforce cher ished ideals, va lues and institutions (Francis, 1997). They a lso serve as a base of compar ison for counter narratives that chal lenge the commonly held va lues, ideals and common memory of the past. However, an ongoing tension exists between these master narratives and counter narratives put forward by feminists, labour historians, First Nations, and others looking to chal lenge the veracity of the national story. Recogni t ion of this tension is a first step for c lassroom teachers with respect to making narrative cho ices. Schoo l textbooks and provincial curriculum guides reinforce national myths, however, through careful select ion of alternate resources, appropriate assessmen t tools, critical inquiry, and creative approaches to engage these myths c lassroom history teachers can expand student understanding of our links to the past. 2.4 Citizenship Education Schoo ls and more specif ical ly socia l studies c lass rooms have been cons idered ideal p laces to prepare young Canad ians for participation in democrat ic life and to develop democrat ic cit izenship values like fairness, f reedom and equality (Barr, Barth and Shermis , 1977; Longstreet, 1989; G w y n , 1995; Osborne , 1987, 1995, 1996, 1999; Sea rs , 2003). The evolution of the nation-state in the 2 0 t h century necessi tated the entrenchment of common values and civic identity and this was most easi ly accompl ished through mandatory school ing. Ci t izenship is more than legal status or a particular political identity but a set of va lues and commitments commonly held by the majority. In educat ional terms it is the t ransmission of common values and civic identity 35 to our students. In C a n a d a , as e lsewhere, cit izenship in this context usually contains four elements: national consc iousness or identity, political literacy, the observance of rights and duties, and the indoctrination of values, particularly those assoc ia ted with liberal democracy (Osborne, 1999, Evans and Hundy, 2000). Osborne (1999) clearly articulates the role of history in the making of ci t izens, he writes: History was the major vehicle for the creation of national identity and patriotism. Anything that could be shown to contribute to the building of the nation was duly commemorated and descr ibed as good. Anything that did not was either condemned or ignored as irrelevant (p. 31). In the context of teaching history for cit izenship t ransmission in C a n a d a , one could emphas ize colonial conquest, European exploration, confederat ion, mythic heroes, and the pioneer settlers. In this construct of national history the narratives of women , aboriginal peoples, the working c lass and ethnic minorities are often exc luded (Osborne, 1999, p. 31). Whi le other approaches to teaching history for ci t izenship exist, they are less likely to be found in current social studies c lassrooms. Clark and C a s e articulate a rationale for cit izenship educat ion as fitting in one or more of four categor ies including socia l initiation, socia l reformation, personal development, and academic understanding (Clark and C a s e , 1999, p. 18). Content and rationale in ci t izenship education are similar from model to model , however a review of scholarship on the topic suggests a wide range of uses of history within ci t izenship educat ion models and methods. In an attempt to illustrate the differences Clark and C a s e use the example of John A . Macdona ld , descr ib ing four approaches to teaching about our first prime minister, each loosely fitting a rationale for cit izenship educat ion. A study of Sir John A Macdona ld could be done to debunk the mythology about his life (social reformation), support his status as a national hero (social initiation), provide 36 ev idence of both cases and give students the tools to decide for themselves (academic understanding), and allow the students to choose whether to study the issue of Macdona ld as a national hero (personal development) (pp.24-25). The framework is useful to illustrate how different approaches to the cit izenship quest ion can impact narrative choice and teaching methodology. The approaches are not discreet or to be taught independently of one another, but they do not lend themselves easi ly to s imul taneous application in the c lassroom (p. 24). Soc ia l initiation, akin to Barr, Barth and Shermis ' (1977) concept of cit izenship t ransmission, is likely to be constructed around a mononarrat ive and single authoritative text source for the t ransmission of national mythology (p. 25). Whereas , a program built upon a socia l reformation approach would advocate the use of counter narratives, alternative interpretations and multiple accounts and sources (Clark and C a s e , 1999). The use of history to indoctrinate cit izens with propaganda is well estab l ished, one need look to any of the fascist or totalitarian regimes of the 2 0 t h century for ev idence. How then can an argument be made to support teaching Canad ian history without being excess ive ly nativist, patriotic or ideological? Converse ly , is it poss ib le to teach history without it becoming a collection of moral narratives, unstructured and tied together only by a humanist construct? In a modern multiethnic state like C a n a d a the chal lenge is significant. There are too many narratives, perspect ives and va lues to teach; therefore, choices must be made (Osborne, 1995). This brings the conversat ion back to the issue of narrative choice. History provides lessons to help identify what Fenton termed "a good man", "a good life" and "a good society" (Fenton, 1971). Fenton did not express that history a lone could instill, in our students, the requisite knowledge 37 necessary to answer these humanist ic concepts, but he articulated the underlying goals , a conceptual pathway with which cho ices in subject matter could be made (Fenton, 1971). Research in history educat ion, developments in other social sc ience discipl ines and changes in historiography, s ince Fenton, offer other concept ions of what should direct curriculum choice. What we can take from his framework, among many others, is the need to make careful cho ices in curr iculum that are clearly t ied to speci f ic goa ls and pedagogy that will aid student understanding and meet the overarching objectives. Narrative choice is critical, but so are the methods and teaching strategies that must help students learn, know and understand the lessons embedded in the curriculum. Shared political principles like justice, equality, tolerance, and civility are helpful in meeting the goal , but without a larger framework, a narrative structure to forge a common identity, these ideals serve no purpose. Narrative fills the gaps between the ideals, va lues and principles we want to teach and a way of connect ing these constructs to real l ives, lived exper iences and future action. 2.5 Holocaust Education Teach ing about the Holocaust brings significant chal lenges to history educators, but it a lso provide some of the most fertile ground for engaging our students' in lessons about apathy, indifference, abuse of power, identity, peer pressure, justice, fa i rness, and obedience. Study of the Holocaust speaks to students interests because it ra ises quest ions about things they confront in their daily l ives, making connect ions with their lived exper ience. "The history of the Holocaust provides one of the most effective, and most extensively documented, subjects for a pedagogica l examinat ion of human behaviour." (United States Holocaust Memoria l M u s e u m , 2001,p. 1). Crit ics argue that 38 there is little that can be learned from an event so inaccess ib le and so far removed from our lived exper ience (Novick, 1999). How do students learn from watching a mother torn from her child, then buried al ive? Feinberg and Totten (2001) suggest that one must start by understanding the difference between learning about the Holocaust and learning from the Holocaust (p. 11). In the resource guide provided by the museum the U S H M M provides fourteen methodological considerat ions for teachers want ing to teach the Holocaust. The list is comprehens ive but focuses on being speci f ic with language, avoiding simplistic cause-effect explanat ions, using the historical method, contextual izing the events, and demonstrat ing sensitivity in cho ice of narratives and resources ( U S H M M , 2001, pp. 3-8). R e s e a r c h on teaching about the Holocaust moves the conversat ion in a large number of directions about select ion of materials and topics, methodological approaches, caut ions, the lessons, and of its p lace in common memory. This sect ion will review these f indings and relate them to issues of historical understanding, students' historical thinking and narrative cho ice. Findings from research suggest that rationale, methodology, resource select ion, and content choice have a significant impact on student learning when studying the Holocaust (Feinberg, Fernekes and Totten, 2001, Schweber , 2004). How do teachers commonly instruct their students about the Holocaust? S imone Schweber examined the c lassroom practice of four master teachers, each teaching the Holocaust using different methodological approaches (Schweber, 2004). One fol lowed the curriculum and guidel ines of the Facing History, Facing Ourselves organizat ion; the second relied on lecture and moral aphor isms; the third used a simulat ion game; and the last relied on film and drama mixed with historical accounts (Schweber, 2004). Her analys is of the 39 four c lassroom exper iences led her to conclude that the students learned more about themselves, the nature of others and humanity than the speci f ic subject matter of the Holocaust (Schweber, 2004). Moreover , she suggests that the moral impact of the Holocaust may have come from the way in which the units were taught and not so much the topic (Schweber, 2004). Moral educat ion, not Holocaust educat ion s e e m s to be the winner in the four c lassrooms she examined in the study. Novick (1999) has suggested that the overpowering moral weight of the Holocaust precludes any kind of independent historical lessons to be drawn. Feinberg and Totten (2001) counter that argument and state that an effective Holocaust curriculum encourages active engagement of the students, critical thought and reflection, multiple narratives, and historical complexity. A re there inherently moral m e s s a g e s in the Ho locaust? Is it possib le to look beyond the overwhelming weight of historical empathy when studying the Ho locaust? Novick suggests that the dichotomy of universal moral m e s s a g e s and the un iqueness of the event may cause students to trivialize other cr imes, rather than developing awareness (Novick, 1999). Students would falsely compare the Holocaust with other genoc ides and reduce their tragedy in an effort to comprehend more recent examples . Furthermore, the moral m e s s a g e s we seek may only come about by "pre-empting" the Holocaust to use its grim details to fortify commitments to moral lessons (Feinberg and Totten, 2001). The Holocaust is reduced to a tragic ser ies of barbaric acts, used to serv ice a moral agenda and reinforce the value of liberal democrat ic institutions deemed incapable of setting in motion violations of human rights on an epic sca le. Schwebe r (2004) argues that moral m e s s a g e s are transmitted when teaching about the Holocaust and are implicit in the select ion of materials and explicit in the humanist object ives of 40 teaching about human tragedy and injustice. They are implicit because a history curriculum built around the Holocaust must confront the students' sense of right, wrong, just, and unjust regardless of how the lessons taught. The m e s s a g e s are explicit in the specif ic manner in which the tragedy is taught, d i scussed , portrayed, or descr ibed. Lessons structured on experiential, value laden or fact-based approaches contain moral m e s s a g e s and meanings intended or not (Schweber, 2004, p. 151). Unl ike learning tennis or playing music students cannot decl ine the moral m e s s a g e s in the curr iculum. It is an inheritance, though they may choose how to employ this inheritance for good or ill (Carr, 2000). If the Holocaust is to become one of many historical lessons fit to teach or habituate a set of moral principles then it loses much weight in the battle over narrative cho ice in the c lassroom. A distinction can be made between the function of history for its ability to instill va lues or provide moral lessons, and history instruction that promotes the t ransmission of knowledge (Todorov, 1995). It is the difference between teaching lessons about the Holocaust as opposed to teaching lessons from the Holocaust. Both occur in socia l studies c lassrooms across the province and are not mutually exclusive goals. In teaching about the Holocaust one would focus on factual details, chronology, context, and its evolution. In learning from the Holocaust one would focus on lessons about humanity, good and evil, respect for human life, and the determination to change the world. However, as Schweber notes, the orientation, rationale and methodology will dictate what the students learn regardless of what a teacher might intend (Schweber , 2004). C o m m o n knowledge of the facts of the Holocaust does not indicate accurate knowledge. Lessons must be structured to provide the necessary depth, detail, context, 41 and understanding needed to al low students to traverse the "inaccessibi l i ty" of the Holocaust (Feinberg and Totten, 2001). In using historical tragedy to redeem the past and educate we tap into a humanist approach, one that lies in the "universality of humanity" (Todorov, 1995). Yet, in the case of the Holocaust, we are confronted with Novick 's (1999) dichotomy; how can it be unique and universal? Totten (1998) responds to the question of its unique status and the value of the event to leverage future act ion: The Holocaust is not simply another event in the history of the world; it has immense ramifications. It colours who we are as human beings and what it means to live in a world in which genoc ide has become rather commonp lace . For these reasons, it is vitally significant to dev ise powerful and pedagogical ly sound lessons that enable students to g lean unique insights into the history of the Holocaust and leave them with something of importance to ponder far past the conclusion of the lesson itself (p. 30). Notwithstanding the chal lenge in teaching the Holocaust the research suggests that there is considerable value for teachers and students in the study of the event. The select ive and purposeful use of film, text, photographs, artifacts, first hand test imonies and art can allow educators to support student learning about and from the Holocaust . Its un iqueness in world history can be harnessed effectively if done with a clear s e n s e of purpose, sound pedagogy and thoughtful select ion of resources. T rauma histories, like the Holocaust, internment of J a p a n e s e Canad ians , or rape of Nanking require history educators to choose methods, materials and intended outcomes thoughtfully. T rauma history is different from other kinds of history because the c la ims of the victims and the suffering they endured compel educators and students to find the truth, to find someone to b lame for such inhumanity. W e want to know how and why it happened, and who to b lame. It is part of the human condition to want answers in the face of terrible physical , emotional and psychological suffering. Internal 42 posit ions on identity, prejudice, discrimination, and morality are brought by our students to t rauma studies and must be confronted, accepted and considered prior to teaching. W e are conflicted by the desire to accurately promote and support the claims of the vict ims of terrible atrocities while keeping an open eye to being critical of the traces and accounts for bias, error, inaccuracy, or distortion (La Cap ra , 2001). The testimony of survivors, a critical link in the evidentiary base for such histories, is compl icated by the fail ings of oral histories limited by time, space and perspect ive (La Cap ra , 2001). The issue of historical empathy is c louded by "objectified approaches, cruel judgments, and the feel ings of being emotionally burned by the ev idence" with events like the Holocaust (La Cap ra , 2001). The sight of one crematorium, death camp or naked corpse will profoundly influence the objectivity of any student. Yet , historical study asks us to cast a critical eye, to be skept ics. It is difficult for students to rationalize both posit ions. W e cannot adequately display historical empathy because we cannot a s s u m e the vo ice of the victim no matter what methodology is employed (La Cap ra , 2001). Yet, a study of the Holocaust inevitably leads to the desire to do right by the vict ims and survivors. It is ethically desirable to come to terms with such t rauma to serve memory both individually and collectively, but how we come to terms with it and for what purpose remains difficult for teachers and students (Habermas, 1989). 43 3 Teacher as Researcher 3.1 The Case Study The research design for this investigation fol lowed a case-study methodology, in that it defined a research quest ion, selected appropriate cases , determined data gathering and analys is techniques, col lected data in the field, and ana lyzed the data (Soy, 1997; Pa lys , 1997). It is one of several traditions in the field of qualitative research, widely used in educat ion research (Borg, Gal l and Ga l l , 1996). C a s e study research is commonly used to investigate groups, communit ies and organizat ions, and is an effective means of doing comparat ive studies, thus it is well suited for use in c lass room investigations (Best and Kahn , 1998). The case study method is employed to accompl ish one of three things: "produce descript ions of a phenomena, to develop possib le explanat ions of it or to evaluate the phenomena" (Borg, Ga l l , Ga l l , 1996, p. 549). This research study adopted a case study approach to help explain the relationship between teachers ' narrative choice and students' historical thinking. A c a s e study approach must, of course, identify discreet c a s e s for research. In this study three c lasses of Soc ia l Studies 11, studying the Holocaust, formed the base c a s e for comparat ive analys is. However, this investigation a lso incorporated a within-case analys is of the three teaching resources used in teaching the unit. A s a within-case comparat ive analys is I examined the impact of narrative choice on each c lass by investigating the outcome of using three different teaching resources. The study examined the effects of teaching Soc ia l Studies 11 students using different Holocaust narratives and resources in each c lass , looking for causa l or relational patterns. 44 In the study I played the dual role of teacher and researcher. There are d isadvantages inherent in playing both roles while conduct ing an investigation. The relationship between teacher and student is one of the most trusted, yet, imbalanced relat ionships because power is not equally distributed or appl ied. Students feel compel led to give specif ic types of answers to avoid controversy and display a tendency to provide answers the teacher would like, as opposed to giving authentic responses (Palys, 1997). Subjectivity is a concern when conduct ing research as a participant and observer to the process, particularly with respect to the impact of internal bias on the f indings (Borg, Ga l l , Ga l l , 1996). The "power of the text" is in the hands of the researcher, therefore, the students cannot influence how their words and ideas will be interpreted or used after the data are col lected (Palys, 1997, p. 206). For some students this can impact how they approach the unit of study, inf luence participation in ass igned tasks and potentially alter the kinds of responses given. In acknowledging the influence of bias and preconcept ions on the research setting I reduced internal bias by confronting how these impacted the findings. However, it is certain that the research was affected regardless of precautionary steps on my part. In this investigation bias was evident in my select ion of Holocaust narratives, resources and learning outcomes. E a c h formed an integral part of the research setting reflecting bias toward socia l justice teaching, moral educat ion and an emphas is on critical inquiry. Whi le the students were free to draw independent conclus ions the unit was shaped in such a way as to make them confront the moral d imensions of the Holocaust, thus, they were not free to write on topics that did not relate to my research question. The impact of this bias on the c lassroom setting will be d iscussed in further detail in Chapter 6. 45 Notwithstanding the limitations of playing both teacher and researcher roles in an investigation there are some advantages. For example, it a l lowed me to make informed dec is ions in the select ion of resources and to account for the different student dynamics in each block. The teaching resources and lesson plans were well supported by my knowledge of the students' academic and behavioural characterist ics. The familiarity with individual students, c lassroom setting and curriculum made the transition to this unit of study seamless , reducing the disruption to routines and expectat ions that would occur if I were to conduct my research in a new setting. Addit ionally, there is support in qualitative research literature for playing both roles effectively with minimal impairment to the validity of the findings (Borg, Ga l l , Ga l l , 1996; Pa lys 1997). The findings are comparat ive in nature and do not rely excess ive ly on individual student responses , again minimizing the impact of my playing both roles. Logistically the investigation would have assumed a more complex structure and chal lenging implementation if I were to investigate in a different c lassroom. It would have been equally difficult to get a col league to teach the lessons I des igned, while I observed. Both changes could offer different insights and findings. However, in this case they were not plausible g iven constraints of t ime, location and support. The data-collection process is an important aspect of c a s e study research. Count ing, categorizing and summariz ing data are common to the qualitative research process (Borg, Ga l l , Ga l l , 1996; Pa lys , 1997; Best and Kahn , 1998). Data collection requires careful considerat ion of techniques, analysis and interpretation. Common ly used forms of data include observat ion notes, interviews, document review, and quest ionnaires (Best and Kahn , 1998). For this investigation the data c a m e from student 46 e s s a y responses collected at the end of the teaching unit, and secondar i ly from very informal c lassroom observat ions (these were not supported by a journal/notebook). The data were used to support or refute causa l links between teachers ' narrative choice, resource select ion and students' historical thinking. Student interviews were not conducted as part of this study because of time constraints, although there would have been considerable value in doing post-unit interviews. The use of pre-test and post-test data would also have supported the study. They were not considered valuable at the time of the investigation because I was not specif ical ly looking to measure changes in knowledge about the Holocaust. However, in hindsight this would have added a valuable d imension to the analysis and interpretation of data. The limitations of the data sample used here will be d iscussed in greater detail in Chapters 5 and 6. The data pool consis ted of student writing and was ana lyzed to develop categories for sorting and grouping. None of the categories or subcategor ies had been developed prior to the investigation, each coming solely out of the data. In the first run through the data twenty-eight categor ies were created (see Appendix 5). The categories were then revised and simplif ied by finding concepts common to one or more of the initial categor ies, forming subcategor ies and reducing the total to four (see Tab le 5.2 in Chapter 5). T h e s e "threads" and "themes" as they are termed were used to ana lyze and interpret the data. A more detailed analysis of the data, threads and themes can be found in Chapter 5. The investigation was structured around teaching a unit on the Holocaust to three c lasses of Soc ia l Studies 11 students, then examining their responses to an e s s a y quest ion on remembering the Holocaust. My interest was to find causa l links between 47 student writing and the narrative cho ices made in the teaching unit. I was also looking for links between differences in student responses and the three varied teaching resources. The essay cal led upon the students to reflect upon their understanding of the Holocaust and assert or refute an obligation to remember the event. The study evolved in four distinct phases . In phase one student's were provided with a primer on the Holocaust using text readings, a s l ideshow (powerpoint) presentation and primary source materials. In phase two each c lass was provided with a learning resource that w a s different in structure, format and narrative. T h e s e included a feature film, graphic novel (comic book style) and a discovery kit filled with artifacts. In phase three the student 's wrote an essay about memory, obligation to remember and forms of remembrance. In the last phase the essay samples were col lected, sorted, categor ized, ana lyzed and interpreted. E a c h c lass was provided with one resource distinct from the others to open opportunit ies for dif ferences in experiential learning. O n e c lass v iewed R o m a n Polansk i 's feature film, The Pianist, to further explore and enrich their study of the Holocaust . The film engaged student auditory and visual senses , drawing them in to the tragedy emotionally, and with a sense of immediacy. The second c lass read Art Sp iege lman 's two part graphic novel Maus, engaging tactile and imaginary capaci t ies of the students in a manner distinctly different from the film. The third c lass examined and interpreted artifact resources from the Vancouver Holocaust Educat ion Centre 's d iscovery kit, titled Outside the Attic Walls. The kit, contained in a sui tcase, has artifacts including photographs, clothing, toys, documents, and other physical representat ions of the Holocaust . The items engaged the sensory and tactile senses , but in a manner 48 different from the graphic novel. A more detailed descript ion of the three resources can be found in Chapter 4. 3.2 The Three Classes The c lasses chosen for this investigation were composed of students enrol led in Soc ia l Studies 11 at an urban secondary school . Al l of the c lasses were under my care for the 2006-2007 school year. The school is an 8-12 high school in a neighbourhood with mixed residential, light industrial, agricultural, and smal l bus iness land use. The schoo l is entering its eleventh year of serv ice, replacing the old junior high when the schoo l district changed from a junior high/senior high system to an 8-12 system in 1996. The school is situated in a socio-economical ly and ethnically d iverse sect ion of the city with a large percentage of Engl ish as a second language students and a large number of famil ies that have immigrated to C a n a d a in the past ten years. A n informal survey of languages indicates over fifty different home languages common to the students enrol led in the school with most speaking a language other than Engl ish at home. Ethnically the school has significant representation from South A s i a including Indian, Ch inese (Hong Kong, Ta iwan and China), Fil ipino, V ie tnamese, as well as Centra l Amer i ca groups (Honduras, El Sa lvador and Nicaragua) and an increasing number of students from the Middle Eas t (Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Pak is tan , and U.A.E. ) . The students come from a wide range of religious affiliations and there are temples, mosques , synagogues, churches, and a gurdwara geographical ly central to the schoo l and community. Never ranked in the top fifty of the Fraser Institute's Annua l Report on Schoo ls the schoo l has a lways had a broad mix academical ly with many high achieving 49 students graduating with scholarships, but also a large number pursuing an interest in t rades and a significant number of students with learning chal lenges. The students chosen for the research investigation were enrol led in three Soc ia l Studies 11 blocks taught by me during 2006-2007. A total of six blocks of Soc ia l Studies 11 were run in that year, thus, my c lasses represent half of the total enrol led in Soc ia l Studies 11. The blocks were not on the same day with blocks B and C on day two and block A on day one of a rotating t imetable (these are not the actual block designat ions). C l a s s e s repeat the same time slot and day once every two weeks because the t imetable rotates between days (one and two) and time slots (four periods of 75 minutes). This is significant because the energy level of students and teachers can be impacted by the time in which a c lass operates. The composit ion of the c l asses w a s very similar in the range of ethnocultural backgrounds, income levels, c lass s ize (27, 28 and 27), and gender balance (45%-55%). The high schoo l does not offer honours or enr iched social studies programs separate from the standard course options in grades 8-11. Thus the counselors attempt to balance all c l asses with regard to academic ability and need, gender, Engl ish language proficiency, and c lass s ize. Notwithstanding changes to c lass s ize, composit ion and language proficiency under the provincial Liberal government the c lasses would not represent a deviation from that found in many urban public schoo ls across the province. In the course of teaching the c lasses it became evident that block C was not as academica l ly capable or committed as my two other c lasses . It had more students repeating Soc ia l Studies 11, two students that had not passed Soc ia l Studies 10 but were promoted into the c lass , severa l had second language issues, and many 50 demonstrated poor attendance or tardiness. Addit ionally, the block had a number of students with identifiable learning issues requiring modification or adaptation of the learning outcomes and expectat ions. Modification and adaptation impacts the des ign of lessons, assessmen t practices, teaching strategies, and c lass d iscuss ion . Over the course of the first and second semesters the median grades ach ieved in the three c lasses show that block C had lower rates of academic success ; this was linked to poor at tendance, tardiness issues, and disinterest in c lass wide d iscuss ions on topical or historic issues. The opposite can be stated for block A , with block B very similar to A . S e e table 3.1 for the grade distribution for all three c lasses . Table 3.1 Distribution of Grades Block Mean Median Standard Deviation High Score Low Score Number of students below 60% A 66% 68% 19% 93% 15% 9 B 66% 74% 18% 87% 28% 9 C 61% 62% 17% 89% 25% 14 The composit ion of the c lasses had an impact on student achievement and overal l tone Block A had two grade 12 students repeating the course, one student with an identified learning issue, four E S L students, but consistently productive and vibrant i ssues -based d iscuss ions. In contrast, block C had five students repeating the course, four with identified learning issues, two transferred from the district alternative schoo l , eight Engl ish as Second Language students, and seven grade 12's. The mean grades for the three c lasses indicate a significant difference between block C and the other c lasses . B locks A and B have a similar mean grade at 6 6 % whi le 51 the mean in block C is 6 1 % . However, the mean grade only tells a part of the story because the average does not reflect the apathy or indifference toward the study of history. At the beginning of third term blocks A and B had nine students below 6 0 % , whereas block C had fourteen. Students between 4 0 % - 4 9 % in socia l studies 11 receive the option to take remedial summer school , while those below 4 0 % receive a failing grade and must repeat the course. In contrast block C had eight students below 5 0 % and five of those would receive failing grades. Thus , block C had more than twice as many students failing and a third more earning a minimal pass . B locks A and B had a higher percentage of students above 6 0 % grades, with 18 and 19 students respect ively while, block C had only 13 students above that standard at the start of third term. The gender ba lance between the c l asses w a s similar with each c lass falling within a range of 4 5 % - 5 5 % male/ female students. T h e s e issues informed both my choice of learning resources and my interpretation of the data col lected from the c lasses at the end of the teaching unit. This will be d iscussed in greater detail in the next sect ion. 3.3 T h e T e a c h i n g Unit A study of the Holocaust opens significant opportunities to explore issues relevant to living in contemporary society, such as ant i -Semit ism, the denial of civil, political and economic rights, imprisonment, torture and extermination, conf iscat ion and sa le of property, and state sanct ioned systemic discrimination. A study of the Holocaust demands that the students confront their moral f rameworks, va lues and belief sys tems. The event is well situated for study in Soc ia l Studies 11 as the B .C . curriculum dedicates a section to the study of World War II as well as C a n a d a ' s Jewish refugee pol icies, liberation of death camps , and participation in the Nuremberg trials. The varied 52 narratives of the Holocaust offer numerous opportunities for students to engage with morally complex themes and to approach them through a range of media. Many students are familiar with the stories of A n n e Frank, O s c a r Schindler, El ie We ise l , and of the death camps at Auschwi tz , Trebl inka, Sobibor and Bergen-Be lsen . Within each narrative and many others lie opportunities to explore the history of the Holocaust in all of its complexity and trauma. The unit chal lenged the student's belief systems, understandings of the Holocaust and connect ions between past injustice and present moral d i lemmas. In recognition of the complexity of the unit I attempted to use vibrant, d iverse and academical ly chal lenging resources in the c lasses . The curriculum materials used in teaching the Holocaust included: a student backgrounder (a power point sl ide show), textbook Counterpoints: Exploring Canadian issues (Cranny and Mo les , 2001), primary source documents on the Nuremberg Laws and Kristalnacht, and the individualized teaching resources built around The Pianist, Maus or the VHEC Discovery Kit. On the first day of the unit the topic was introduced and the students were asked to reflect on two quest ions provided in a handout, prior to engaging textbooks, documents or other sources of information about the Holocaust. It cal led upon them to use only their prior knowledge. The first question asked , why did the Holocaust happen, while the second was , what lessons can be drawn from a study of the Ho locaust? This gave students an opportunity to evaluate their present understandings and prior knowledge of the Holocaust before entering into the substance of the teaching unit. It a lso al lowed me to form some preliminary thoughts about the base of knowledge held by each c lass and their general interest in the topic. Addit ionally, we were able to clarify 5 3 s o m e of the misconcept ions about the Holocaust prior to engaging in the study. For example, the c lasses d iscussed the idea of single cause explanat ions, oversimplif ication of factors and misdirected compar isons to other genoc ides. No writing was col lected and all of the d iscuss ions were done without specif ic reference to text resources or other sources of information. The depth of knowledge and understanding was largely superficial and each of the c lasses identified a number of important quest ions that were unclear at that point, particularly with respect to the perpetrators and their motivations (an introduction to the unit and the quest ions can be found in Appendix 1). It should be noted at this point that about seven to ten students in each c lass had completed research and writing on the Holocaust as part of a human rights unit in which they had studied C a n a d a ' s role in accept ing Jewish refugees in the late 1930's and after the end of World War II (see Canada and The Holocaust: Social Responsibility and Global Citizenship, B C Ministry of Educat ion, 1999). The second c lass began with a review of our informal d iscuss ions from day one and an explanation of our next steps largely constructed around the sl ide show. The sl ide show was presented over a ser ies of blocks in t imes ranging from 20-45 minutes totaling six c lasses over a ten day period, and was repeated for each of the three c lasses . Students were tasked with completing a set of web-notes loosely following the topics presented in the sl ide show and were told to review their Counterpoints (Cranny and Moles , 2001, pp. 92-98, 119-122) text, to fill in addit ional details. The c l asses were informed that the web notes would be graded and were to be used in support of the summat ive writing ass ignment coming at the end of the study. The slide show, des igned and prepared by me for this set of lessons, contained an overview of the Holocaust , a 54 primer of sorts, organized on the following headings: Historical Background, Eugenics and Race, Evolution 1933-1945, The Perpetrators of The Holocaust. Within the segment titled Evolution 1933-1945, subheadings included Concentration and Labour Camps, Persecution, Euthanasia, Ghettos, Death Squads, Extermination Camps and Death Marches. The sect ion titled The Perpetrators of The Holocaust presented the key points in Daniel Go ldhagen 's controversial work Hitler's Willing Executioners (Go ldhagen, 1996). In it he proposed a non-convent ional view of what motivated average men and women to carry out horrible acts of barbarity during the Holocaust . It should be noted that his work came under intense criticism in academic circles (Hilberg, 1997). However, his framework was used to give s o m e direction to c lass conversat ions about the perpetrators and open quest ions into the complexity of causa l links. The presentation conc luded with a ser ies of six quest ions asking students to reflect on connect ions between the past, present and future with respect to remembering the Holocaust . The s l ideshow not only provided a base of facts, dates, p lace names, people, and events about the Holocaust, it illustrated the complexity of its evolution and progression. It was particularly important that the students understood that the severe ant i -Semit ism shown by many of the Ge rman people was a product of many layers of racial, economic, soc ia l , religious, political, and historic developments. I was very concerned with avoiding simple explanat ions for the barbarity of the perpetrators and that the students would want to find one neat and tidy explanat ion for how such an event could have transpired. Thus, s l ides that focused on race, racial ization, eugen ics , Naz i ideology, and economics were d iscussed in some detail to help contextual ize the evolution of the event without demeaning the cruelty d isplayed by the perpetrators. It 55 was not intended to explain or justify the acts but as an opportunity to see the complexity of what transpired in the years leading into the Holocaust. In addition to the s l ideshow and text readings students were provided with two primary source documents. One was a translated copy of the Law for the Protection of German Blood commonly referred to as the Nuremberg Laws and the second a translation of Re ichsmarscha l l , Herman Goer ing 's diatribe on Kristalnacht, with accompany ing summar ies to assist students in contextualizing the event within the Holocaust history. These two documents were selected to provide students with an opportunity to work with actual t races of the past as sources, and because each spoke to the race-based ideological s tance of the Nazi Party. The documents were edited translations and were d iscussed in c lass as examples of how the racist ideology of the Naz i Party was embedded in the broader German public by force of law and the imposition of severe state sanct ions. Here the students engaged in 'doing' history and were provided with a document analysis rubric and set of guiding quest ions (see Append ices 6 and 7). Lastly, students were given copies of a Social Studies Eleven: Student Workbook (Falk, 2005, pp. 91-93, 110-112) to round out the web notes and complete the background knowledge component of the unit. The notebook def ines common terms, outl ines key events and presents information in chronological order supporting student learning. A total of seven c lasses , each seventy-f ive minutes long, were needed to complete the introduction, backgrounder, notes, document analys is , and preliminary d iscuss ions about the Holocaust. The c lasses that followed were structured around the use of three different resources to complete the unit and prepare the students for their summat ive writing 56 assignment. R o m a n Polanski 's film The Pianist, Art Sp iege lman 's graphic novel Maus, and a Discovery Kit of artifacts from the Vancouver Holocaust Educat ion Centre. E a c h of the resources will be descr ibed and d iscussed in further detail in Chapter 4, however a brief overview of the resources is provided here to contextual ize their p lacement in the teaching unit. The three were selected because they provide a variety of interactive entry points in the study of the Holocaust and for the dif ferences in how they would impact the different senses of the students. The film The Pianist conveys cinematic directness and emotional candor in a manner quite different than found in the other commonly used film on the Holocaust , Schindler's List. Its power rests with the film's absence of a c lear explanation for why Szp i lman survives while others die, thus avoiding neat or tidy simplif ications for the variety of exper ience we encounter when studying the Holocaust. Cartoonist Art Sp iege lman 's graphic novel Maus tells the story of the Holocaust through the test imony of a survivor, Art 's father V ladek, but in a form and format that def ies the ser iousness and humility with which one expects with depict ions of the event. However, it is the juxtaposit ion of the comic form and the horror of the Holocaust that reaches out to the reader 's and engages them in the story. The Discovery Kit brings a kind of exper ience to the students different in emotional attachment and sensory involvement. In using artifacts or traces of past l ives, the students were invited to touch and to feel the Holocaust exper ience, if in a very select ive and restrictive manner. The artifacts do not inherently have the emotional draw of The Pianist or Maus but invite the students to cross temporal boundaries and feel items that actually came from the time and event in quest ion (some but not all of the artifacts were repl icas), and they engage the 57 imagination of students in a manner unique to the three resources. The p lacement of the resources after providing students with background knowledge about the Holocaust was intentional. Each resource required prior knowledge to draw out the depth and complexity they offer and to ground the different narratives in context, al lowing the students to orient their historical thinking. Each of the three resources was chosen for the speci f ic kind of exper ience it would bring to the students and the impact the resources might have on student understanding. This is d iscussed in more detail in Chapters 4 and 5. The choice of which resource to pair with each c lass w a s done with considerable forethought. The block C c lass consistently demonstrated disinterest in c lass -based d iscuss ion , thoughtful reflection of meaningful issues, and an inability to empath ize with historic events. For these reasons they were ass igned the VHEC Discovery Kit as I thought it would compel the students to engage their imaginations and bring them directly in contact with artifacts from the Holocaust. The trunk held numerous artifacts, analys is templates and directions for a stations teaching strategy. The students would move from station to station handling, interpreting and reflecting on these traces of the past. At each station they were asked to complete a standardized rubric in which they interpreted the substance and meaning of each artifact in relation to the Holocaust . Block A was ass igned the feature film The Pianist, an A c a d e m y Award winning film from 2002 directed by Holocaust survivor R o m a n Polansk i , while block B w a s provided with the graphic novel Maus. The forethought for each of these blocks w a s not as significant as with block C because the comparat ive dif ferences in academic ach ievement and c lass participation are not as evident in these two c lasses . 58 Notwithstanding the similarities I bel ieved that the block A was more capable of engaging in the v isual and emotional exper iences provided in The Pianist because of my perception that this c lass was more thoughtful and deliberate in their approach to ass ignments that required reflection or analys is. A review of the data col lected from the c lass provides support for my perception because the students in block A had the highest percentage of completed response journals (this is d i scussed in Chapter 5). I a lso bel ieved that the block B c lass would be more engaged by the graphic novel and its unique way of telling a very complex narrative. This group was highly engaged in the novel study and completed the various question sets and analys is quest ions from which we based a number of c lassroom conversat ions on the complexity of the Holocaust and its impact on Art and his father. In the final phase of the unit, after the c lasses had f inished with The Pianist, Maus and the VHEC Discovery Kit, the students were directed back to the Holocaust sl ide show with a section on the perpetrators. A brief d iscuss ion was held with e a c h c lass about what motivated the perpetrators of the Holocaust. Using a framework outlined by Go ldhagen (1996) five perspect ives about the motivation of the perpetrators were introduced (pp. 10-12). The perspect ives, taken from the research literature, included theories about external compuls ion, willful b l indness, socia l pressure, and fragmentation. The c lass was then presented with Go ldhagen 's concept ion of motivation or cause that moves away from traditional theories about the perpetrators to bring culpability to a much larger swath of German society. The view was and remains controversial but was an important step to help the students move away from simplist ic explanat ions or understandings about why and how people could commit such barbaric 59 and inhumane acts. The quest ions and d iscuss ion also aided me in pulling together one of the core concepts d iscussed with the c lass during the background phase of the lesson sequence with the themes in Go ldhagen 's book. I specif ical ly wanted to link the involvement of ordinary people in the Holocaust and the race theories in my sl ide show. I hoped that by illustrating the connect ion between identity, race and persecut ion my students could make relevant connect ions to the present. It w a s important for me to help the students in each c lass see that a number of complex intersecting e lements created the environment in which the Holocaust occurred and not a man, an ideology or the military. In preparation for the final writing phase students were provided with a focus quest ion and six prompts relating to memory, t rauma, history, and preservation of the past. The question cal led upon the students to consider sites of memory, physical t races of the Holocaust, legislating teaching the Holocaust , the prosecution of Holocaust deniers, and the construction of museums. The d iscuss ion started with some reflection on how we are connected to the past. The students had d iscussed the topic earl ier in the semester but it seemed appropriate to reintroduce it here to frame the e s s a y topic. The essay quest ion was framed as : To what extent do we owe an obligation to remember the Holocaust? The prompts offered s o m e idea of how such an obligation could be met, but did not direct them to any one concept ion. The prompts included statements about memorials, museums, school curr icula, and preservation of the relics of the Holocaust as means through which an obligation could be settled. The only guidel ines were that they address the question directly and they give s o m e reference to the prompts. The students were not directed to d iscuss the varied instructional 60 r e s o u r c e , but it w a s e x p e c t e d that t h e y w o u l d m a k e u s e of t he v a r i o u s s o u r c e s o f i n fo rma t ion f r om the unit. T h e e s s a y s w e r e c o l l e c t e d , g r a d e d a n d re tu rned pr ior to the i r u s e in th is s tudy . A s u m m a r y a n d a n a l y s i s of the s t u d e n t s ' e s s a y s is f o u n d in C h a p t e r 5. 61 4 Textual Analysis of The Pianist, Maus and VHEC Discovery Kit How does one begin to consider what resources, medium or genre to use when teaching the Holocaust? Phi losopher Berel Lang (1990) in Act and Idea in the Nazi Genocide noted that in the years following the Holocaust those that faced the attempted annihilation, those that perpetrated or were indifferent to it, and those with good intentions "found themselves at a moment when there was little to be sa id , when nothing that might give a shape to the future seemed likely or even possib le beside the actuality that had occurred" (Lang, 1990, p. 228). The act of genoc ide on the sca le perpetrated in the Holocaust confounds any measure of interpretation, descr ipt ion, depict ion, or rendition, then or now (Lang, 1990). Yet , he acknowledged that in the years soon after, d iscourse began with hypotheses, narratives, denials, and works of judgment. Th is w a s fol lowed by the institutionalization of the event in memoria ls , museums, film, literature, schoo ls , and libraries (Lang, 1990, p.229). For educators Lang relays an important m e s s a g e about the limitations of any text that attempts to convey meaning about the Holocaust . S o m e critics have noted that the Holocaust "requires an elevated genre, that it is the stuff of high literature and should not be desecrated by allowing low genres to communicate the destruction of the European J e w s " (Leventhal, 1995, p.1). In the six decades s ince 1945 representat ions of the Holocaust have taken all of these forms, as well as feature film, documentary, photo col lect ions, and many others. Narrative cho ices made when teaching the Holocaust require greater sensitivity than in other historical events, because of the graphic and brutal nature of the cr imes committed. 62 This chapter will review and put into context the three resources chosen to teach about the Holocaust in my c lassroom: the graphic novel Maus, the film The Pianist and the d iscovery kit Outside the Attic Walls. Robert Leventhal (1995) exposes the complexity of texts and representat ions of the Holocaust, but does so by support ing the use of the graphic novel Maus as an appropriate and compel l ing narrative rendition of the event. He suggests that in the d iscourse about the Holocaust critics have elevated the event making it "the stuff of 'high' literature" (p.2). C laude Lanzmann 's film, Shoah (1985), and El ie Wiese l ' s Holocaust memoire, Night (1958), would represent the 'high' genre. Art Sp iege lman in his use of the comic book as the textual medium s u c c e e d s in breaking the "taboo or ritualized fixity of confronting the Holocaust" in a form considered non-traditional for a representation of the Holocaust (Leventhal , 1995, p. 2). However , Maus: A Survivor's Tale al lows an accessibi l i ty to the event and the complex trauma suffered by his family in a medium that speaks to a large and d iverse aud ience, both young and old, but it is of particular value to adolescent age students because of the fusion of graphic art, caricature, story telling, and human suffering. In the dramatic film The Pianist, director R o m a n Polansk i succeeds in telling his story of Holocaust survival through the eyes of noted pianist Wladys law Szp i lman. Fi lm has the capacity to engage the emotional and affective domains of students through the use of powerful imagery, dramatic narration and the emotive force of music. The power of images as text cannot be understated when studying historical tragedy because implicit and explicit m e s s a g e s require careful deconstruct ion to aid student understanding (Werner, 2002). The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre Discovery Kit uses genuine and replica artifacts to teach about the Holocaust. The kit represents a different educat ional medium than 6 3 that of film or graphic novel in that the artifacts require the direct engagement of the student to bring the tragedy into the present. 4.1 M a u s : A G r a p h i c Novel Art Sp iege lman 's Maus was first publ ished in R a w magaz ine between 1980-1991 a s a ser ies ep isodes periodically mixed in with the standard storyl ines. The complete work, Maus: A Survivor's Tale, was written in two vo lumes, the first re leased in 1986. "Maus is the use of a traditionally low genre - the comic strip or book - f o r ser ious, grave material. It is a consc ious, intentional inversion of a norm, a hierarchy of a cultural order" (Leventhal , 1995, p. 2). The work confronts the ser iousness of the Holocaust , in an art form used for satire, parody or humour to depict a grave historical event. It is the representat ion of one survivor's tale and the oral, recorded t ransmission of exper ience to the son , cartoonist Sp ieg leman who uses a non-traditional literary form to tell the story. The narrative is both a chronicle of his father's life and his own recounting of growing up in a traumatized household. The power of the work rests in how it conveys the emotional legacy of the Holocaust , played out in the uneasy relationship between father and son . At first g lance the novel appears simplist ic in des ign and structure,, but upon deeper analys is it is complex in theme, t imeframe and des ign. "The intentional reduction of the characters as cats (the Nazis) , mice (the Jews) , pigs (the Po les) and other national stereotypes is a consc ious, intentional miniaturization, reduction and simplif ication of the Holocaust" and shows the sophist icat ion with which Sp iege lman has tackled the subject matter (Leventhal, 1995, p. 2). The use of animals to represent Naz i s tereotypes of ' races ' is powerful and invaluable in teaching students the complexi ty of 64 race and identity formation. The use of animal f igures draws students in and alerts them to the reality that this is a different way of looking at history. The book offers educators multiple entry points into a study of the Holocaust because the narrative is layered, but deceptively s imple. The book contains multiple narratives and texts that will engage readers: ...in addition to images, dialogue boxes, and commentary, we find maps of Poland and the C a m p s , d iagrams of hideouts, photographs from the family archive, detailed plans of the crematoria, an exchange table for goods in Auschwi tz , and a manual for shoe-repair (Leventhal, 1995, p.2). The two vo lumes move the reader through the life of Art 's father, V ladek, in Po land before the outbreak of war, while he was in hiding with his wife Anja , her suic ide, his exper iences at Auschwi tz , and his life in Rego Park after the war. Sp iege lman expla ins his motivation for including the personal and private details of his father's life, he writes, "But Pop-It 's great material. It makes everything more real-more human" (Sp iege lman, 1986, p. 23). Leventhal (1995) explains, the "reader moves through severa l different historical subject-posit ions and narrated events; there are the pre-Holocaust, the Holocaust, and the post-holocaust, but a lso, within one time frame, there can be other t imes and p laces co-present as wel l" (p. 2). The reader at one point is viewing events through V ladek 's eyes , then through V ladek in the present, then Artie in the present and a lways with intent and purpose forcing the reader to confront the t ime-space cont inuum of history and trauma. The reader moves between a variety of temporal and geographic sett ings, past and present, in Rego Park, Germany and Po land lending depth to the story and a lways reminding the reader that the past has not left Artie or his father. 65 In document ing, then narrating, the exper iences of his mother and father during the Holocaust, Sp iege lman (1986) exc la ims that his father "bleeds history". His reference is a powerful reminder of the fact that those who live through trauma cannot help but be shaped and forever changed by such exper iences. T h e s e memor ies are an important source of ev idence in our interpretation, reconstruction and understanding of the past (Kavanagh, 2000; Hutton, 2000; Lowenthal , 1985; Nora, 1995). Sp iege lman creatively tells the story of how his father's life was forever changed by the Holocaust exper ience, but also how his relationship with his father is impacted by horrific exper iences long s ince past. Whi le authoring the work Sp iege lman was confronted with the imprint the Holocaust left on his father's physical , psychological and emotional being. More akin to historical remembrances, the comic book story Maus is certainly one of the most powerful and effective historical narratives of the Holocaust. Students are engaged by such narratives not simply because of the comic book format but because they accept these accounts of the Holocaust as truths as told through the eyes of a survivor. Here there is opportunity to instruct about the chal lenge of writing the past and of why competing narratives can exist for the s a m e moment in the past. Oral histories when presented as historical remembrances are powerful tools for history educators but cautions abound as they are interwoven with the bias of the victims and the authors of their stories (Dougherty, 1999; Hutton, 2000). The bias evident in any historical remembrance will largely go unchal lenged by high school students, but this al lows an entry point to expand students' understanding of the past and how it is al ive in the present. 66 Spiege lman 's use of animal imagery is particularly powerful and opens a number of entry points for teachers including race and identity, misrepresentat ion and stereotyping, Naz i ideology and race politics, and the paradoxical characterist ics of the animal f igures. The suggest ion has been made that this form creates an obvious al legory, in which the different ' races ' are character ized in a s imple, one-to-one manner with the characterist ics of the animals (Leventhal , 1995). Depict ing J e w s as mice, for example , summons up a host of contradictory associat ions which, in fact, convey different attitudes towards Jews : "smal l , loveable (like Mickey Mouse) , harmless, on the one hand, and yet verminous, repellent and ugly on the other" (Leventhal, 1995, p.3). It has been well documented that the Naz i propaganda machine intentionally chose to depict J e w s as rats, mice or vermin in film. In the ongoing oratory presented to the G e r m a n people, upon Hitler's ascendancy to power in 1933, we find ev idence of the dehumanizat ion of the Jewish people. Portraying the Ge rmans as cats brings out the evil intent of the Holocaust exper ience, "the point being that cats do not simply kill and consume mice; they capture them, play with them, and then kill them" (Leventhal , 1995, p. 3). Sp iege lman does not use these stereotypes because they are his own creat ions but because they were chosen by the Naz i s to separate and segregate the races and dehumanize the Jewish people. This portrayal can be of educat ional value when teaching students about the complex race theories that fed the hatred toward J e w s and general prejudice towards many ethnic groups throughout Europe. For students quest ions of identity, race, stereotype, and history are particularly compel l ing because of the general tumult that adolescent students have in their own identity formation. It 67 al lows the reader another layer of complexity to the Holocaust issue and the use of race as a tool of oppress ion, exploitation and genocide. The comic book style is uniquely equipped to ach ieve the layering of subject-reader posit ions because it can keep past and present alive before us in a way different from other texts: In deal ing with a comic book, the readers a lways exper ience a particular boxed image in relation to those around it and to the entire layout of the two pages. The shape of the boxes, their s i ze relative to each other, and the visual patterning of images and the cal l igraphy of the script all help to shape our response to the text, but a lways in the context of other images on the page. A n d , most important, the reader controls the pace of the exper ience—he/she can linger on a particular image, shift their attention back to a previous one, move on quickly to a dominant image further ahead on the page, and so on (Johnston, 2001, p. 1). The use of facing pages permits Sp iege lman to " juxtapose present and past in a way that keeps alive the central thrust of the text", the relationship between father and son , past and present (Johnston, 2001, p.4). The style does not encourage a s imple reading as we are being moved through his father's memor ies, not in a neat chronology, but back and forth in a variety of locations and situations. For example on pages 12-13 of Maus Volume / we find contrasting panels depicting V ladek in Sosnowiec , Po land , before the war and in Rego Park, New York riding his stationary cyc le . Other pane ls depict Artie sitting at his desk illustrating the novel and on the s a m e page he is spending time with his father in Rego Park (Sp iege lman, 1991, p. 63). The complexity of the text means students must given the tools to " read" the images and interpret their meaning. Werner (2002) outlines three instructional condit ions for teaching students to read visual texts; authority, opportunity and capacity, and community. In brief he argues that students must be posit ioned to interpret texts, provided multiple opportunit ies to 68 engage different readings and to do so in a communal space where students are empowered to explore different interpretations (Werner, 2002). A rushed or superf icial reading will loose much of what M a u s has to offer in a study of the Holocaust. The novel is filled with subtle and sophist icated m e s s a g e s about power, identity and trauma. Another stylistic tool employed by Sp ieg leman to considerable effect is in the use of masks to identify the various ways in which he v iews his position in the life story of his father. Throughout both vo lumes there are numerous moments when Artie, V ladek or any other characters in the novel are shown wearing mouse masks , as opposed to being drawn a s a mouse with a human body. Here Sp iege lman is playing with the metaphor of the mask; he wears the mask to explode the metaphor establ ished by Naz i propaganda, yet cont inues to a s s u m e the metaphor as if uneasy with its meaning and uncertain of whether to depict himself as a mouse , a man, or a man masquerad ing as a mouse. Sp iege lman uses the comic book genre to great effect by keeping the reader detached from the story through the use of masks and animal car icatures, while drawing the reader in with the power of the metaphor. The issues of identity presented here are complex and chal lenge students' understanding of how identity is shaped and infused by the past, but this is precisely why Maus is an excel lent resource for students and teachers studying the Holocaust. 4.2 T h e Pianist In the award winning film, The Pianist, director R o m a n Polansk i depicts the brutalities and dehumaniz ing exper iences that Pol ish concert pianist Wladys law Szp i lman endured during the Holocaust. Unlike the "low" genre of comic book art, c inema is general ly viewed as a "high" genre for its capacity to narrate on a more 69 sophist icated plane. This, of course, is dependent upon the quality of script, story, direction, c inematography, character development, and music score. The film is based on his memoirs titled The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945 (1999) and was re leased as a feature film in 2002. In The Pianist (2002) we follow his life as an eyewi tness, victim and survivor who exper ienced the atrocities of the Holocaust first hand. W e observe the exper ience largely through his eyes , hidden behind curtains, doorways and closets in the various hideouts that he inhabits. There is no movement through the past-present-future cont inuum, no working-through the trauma of the Holocaust as we have in Sp iege lman 's Maus. What the aud ience wi tnesses in The Pianist is R o m a n Polansk i 's interpretation of Szp i lman 's and his own Holocaust exper iences. In an interview found on the D V D version of the film, Po lansk i expla ins that a number of the events portrayed in the film were either fictional recreations from his remembered exper ience or reenactments taken from the historical record. Thus , the film is more than the retelling of Szp i lman 's memoi rs because Polansk i 's over lays Szp i lman 's story with his own moments of s igni f icance and an assortment of well documented moments from the historical record. In this sense the aud ience is wi tness to Polansk i 's moment of working-through the trauma on film whi le retelling the story of the memoir that a ided Szp i lman work through his Holocaust exper iences. In comparing Maus and The Pianist we meet with two different presentat ions of trauma, yet both speak to the aud ience and provide powerful m e s s a g e s about humanity. Focus ing on the journey of pianist Wladys law Szp i lman and his immediate family, events begin to unfold in 1939 as bombs drop on W a r s a w during his piano recital for the 70 national radio station. A s the Naz i occupat ion begins to take hold, Szp i lman and his family endure humiliation and count less violations of their rights. Restr ict ions begin gradual ly with rules about park benches, restaurants, work permits, living accommodat ions, and restrictions on identification (Star of David). Things esca la te quickly as over 300,000 J e w s are wal led into a ghetto and must struggle to find work, food and basic living condit ions. The infamous W a r s a w Ghetto, a holding tank for the distribution of Pol ish J e w s to extermination centres, is the central locale for the telling of Szp i lman 's story. A chance escape separates Szp i lman from his family and, as the ghetto's occupants are forced onto trains bound for the extermination camps , he becomes a fugitive hiding in a variety of apartments, a Ge rman hospital and finally in a bombed out res idence on the Po l ish s ide of Warsaw. Living in terror and isolation, he evades capture and tries to stay al ive during the destruction of the ghetto and elimination of all inhabitants. W e witness the intrigues of var ious Jew ish resistance groups, Pol ish resistance fighters and common cit izens risking their l ives to save J e w s during the Naz i occupat ion. At each point when Szp i lman appears dest ined for death or injury, he manages an escape , occasional ly aided by a friend, but frequently through luck and the will to survive. Throughout the film the aud ience is reminded of what dr ives his inner sprit, his will to live and the dream of performing once again. The most poignant moment, coming at the end of the film, involves Szp i lman playing for a G e r m a n army officer. Szp i lman himself spent many years after the war search ing out the Ge rman officer, Wi lem Hosenfe ld , because he helped save his life. The Pianist recreates the horrors of the W a r s a w ghetto, and yet there is no milking them for effect and the film's protagonist, a concert pianist who finds himself 71 alone in the ghetto, is pass ive and un-heroic, surviving more by luck than des ign. The aud ience v iews the horrors of the Holocaust from a distance, with few except ions, because Szp i lman 's story is not told from the atrocities of the death camp exper ience but as a survivor in the ghetto of Warsaw. The power of the film is in its first hour as we witness the transformation of a vibrant Jewish community into the d i sease p lagued, economical ly oppressed and often violated victims of Naz i policy. The fine detail g iven to the changes to daily life, wearing the Star of David, hiding money, sell ing books to make ends meet, watching the daily suffering of the streets, and the brutality of the Jewish Pol ice present a different Holocaust story than depicted in previous fi lms. Po lansk i uses the Naz i brutalities to fuel his tale and the first hour of the film is filled with one horrible act after another, as J e w s are first humiliated and beaten, then later hanged and shot. One scene shows Naz is throwing a wheelchair -bound man out of his apartment window to his death, while another shows J e w s being hunted in the street like dogs. There are so many sequences of victims being lined up against wal ls and executed that one loses count. This has the impact of shock and compels the aud ience to confront the brutality but it cannot be understood because we are far removed from the exper ience. For a long time, the fact of mass extermination on an industrial sca le was cons idered so morally daunting, the horror visited on European Jewry so unimaginable, as to p lace the Holocaust beyond the reach of popular film. After Auschwi tz , said Frankfurt Schoo l social phi losopher, Theodor Adorno, "to write a poem is barbaric" (Adorno, 1973, p.365). The Holocaust had scarred human kind so deeply and on such an unimaginable level that to sit and write creatively, for the purpose of reflection w a s 72 no longer purposeful. Par is ian f i lmmaker C laude Lanzmann found the idea of making a narrative film about the genoc ide similarly reprehensible. On the re lease of S tephen Spie lberg 's Schindler's List, Lanzmann (1994) commented that the Holocaust "erects a ring of fire around itself that cannot be c rossed, because there is a certain degree of horror that cannot be transmitted. Fiction is a t ransgression." (p. 5). He had already resolved this moral d i lemma by deliberately avoiding the use of archival footage or dramatic reconstruction in favour of filming witness interviews to create the nine hour documentary Shoah (1985) considered by many to be the foremost film on the Holocaust (Applebaum, 2003). In capturing the authentic testimony of survivors he sought to avoid t ransgressing, trivializing, misinterpreting, or deforming the true horror and meaning of the event. The problem of telling the story through film is that one cannot adequately transmit the pure horror, the lived exper ience of the vict ims yet it needs to be told, remembered and embedded in common culture. A feature film must be a recreation, an interpretation of moments, events and exper iences. The commerc ia l s u c c e s s of Schindler's List (1993) indicates the support given the film and the extent of its coverage across the globe. Detractors criticized his use of sentiment and melodrama to convey the life and exper iences of Schindler and his workers, but these are the convent ions of Hol lywood c inema. T h e story of redemption and heroism does not reflect the exper iences of most victims of the Holocaust, but it is a powerful retelling of genuine accounts . The Pianist provides teachers with an excel lent platform to teach the Holocaust and students to learn about stereotyping, racism and institutional discrimination. Fi lm brings an emotional and immediate effect on students in its capacity to engage visual ly, 73 graphical ly and musical ly. Students are media junkies and the use of a feature film to tell a very ser ious and traumatic narrative heightens anticipation and interest. T h e story of Wladys law Szp i lman and its retelling in the film offers a very different perspect ive on the Holocaust, historical remembrance and the depict ion of t rauma than we find in Maus or the V H E C ' S Discovery Kit. The complex historical subject posit ions we find in Maus are not present in The Pianist because the film does not explore the cha l lenges faced by Szp i lman in his years after the Holocaust. W e do not meet family members , chi ldren or grandchi ldren, n ieces or nephews, wife or others that would have had to understand how the trauma affected his spirit and psyche. The film only offers a few moments at the end when we find Szp i lman giving a concert recital and the aud ience is left to ponder his life after the Holocaust. The graphic brutality of the Naz is and Pol ish ant i -Semites is portrayed with convincing realism in the film, but is a lso evident in Maus in more subtle ways . The power of film is in its ability to t ranscend time and take the aud ience to the moment, to live the moment with the character on screen and this has an innate power to impact the emot ions of students, even those sanit ized to violent acts in media , and to confront their moral reaction to such dehumaniz ing and cruel behaviour. 4.3 Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre Discovery Kit The Vancouver Holocaust Educat ion Centre is a teaching museum that del ivers Ho locaust -based anti-racism programming through the use of exhibits, school programs, teacher conferences, outreach programs, and the production of teaching materials. S ince 1994 its prime mandate has been to support the remembrance of the Holocaust and to combat intolerance ( V H E C , 2007). The V H E C has v ideotaped the test imonies of more than 200 local Holocaust survivors and built an archive of materials 74 including photographs, documents, artifacts, and exhibits to promote knowledge and understanding and remembrance of the Holocaust. Exhibits have included Vancouver's Schindler Jews, Shoes of Memory: Holocaust Ceramic Work, Open Hearts-Closed Doors, and Canada Responds to The Holocaust 1944-1945. The Centre has a lso been actively publishing and promoting resource books for high schoo l and elementary teachers including: Canada and The Holocaust: Social Responsibility and Global Citizenship, Janusz Korczak and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto, and Open Hearts-Closed Doors. From its inception the V H E C has dedicated itself to the teaching, learning and understanding of the Holocaust for young adults but it is a lso a centre for research and dialogue. In February of 2007 the Centre sponsored the 5 t h Biennial Shafran Teacher 's Conference on teaching the Holocaust with a keynote by Dr. S imone Schweber , workshops featuring lessons and courses dedicated to studying the Holocaust and a sess ion on critical thinking. The conference exempli f ies the commitment to Holocaust educat ion shown by the Centre and offers invaluable c lassroom support and multiple opportunities to bring the t rauma of this event into c lassrooms. E a c h year, s ince 1995, the Centre has provided the Kron Award to a teacher that demonstrates a commitment to teaching the Holocaust . T h e support of the V H E C has been instrumental in helping local teachers ' incorporate powerful lessons in their c lassrooms. The V H E C has des igned, produced or promoted many resources for c lass room use in support of teaching the Holocaust. One of the more popular and effective learning resources is the Discovery Kits, putting artifacts, documents and images together to create opportunities for hands-on learning. The Centre offers three d iscovery 75 kits built around the following themes, war orphans, child survivors, hiding and resistance, Jewish refugees to C a n a d a , and the stories of survivors that settled in C a n a d a following the end of World War II. The kits Journey to Canada: The War Orphans Project 1947 and Holocaust War Orphans: A Scrapbook Set deal with the select ion, journey, arrival, and sett lement of Jewish war orphans in C a n a d a . C a n a d a took in 1,123 Jew ish war orphans and p laced them in Jew ish foster homes ac ross thirty-eight communit ies. E a c h kit contains artifacts such as diaries, news articles, photographs, v isas, identification papers, and a resource guide providing lesson structure and guidel ines for teachers. Discovery kits are des igned to put primary documents and artifacts into the hands of students. Students are encouraged to examine, descr ibe and analyze the artifacts as a way to investigate issues of discrimination, segregat ion, hiding and resistance, a s wel l a s the aftermath of war and immigration ( V H E C , 2007). For the teaching unit I chose the discovery kit titled Outside the Attic Walls which complements the study of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, and features artifacts such as a Jew ish star sewn onto a coat, a child's toy, identity cards, ration coupons, and photographs belonging to child survivors. The artifacts are des igned to engage the sensory facult ies of the students by touch, smel l and visual perception. The artifact collection is based on the items taken into hiding by Jew ish famil ies and chi ldren, like A n n e Frank, in the Nether lands. T h e s e kits promote a view of history teaching that encourages students to engage in doing the discipl ine by making connect ions between these traces of the past and the present (Seixas, 1996). The kits offer an opportunity to teach the historical method and to understand the complexity of examining fragments of 76 the past in the present, while trying to avoid oversimplif ied explanat ions, failure to historicize the past and misinterpretation. However, they are chal lenging because the use of replica artifacts requires that students bring meaning to the objects, imagining their p lace in t ime and drawing inferences that chal lenge student understanding. For example , imagine the chal lenge of appreciat ing the value of the wooden toy dog to a Jewish child in hiding when the students live in a world filled with high-tech media toys like the iPod , X B o x 360 and portable video conso les . The importance of contextual izing the artifacts and preparing students with a sense of historical empathy is an essent ia l component to teaching with the artifact kits. The discovery kit brings a different exper ience to the students than that found with the graphic novel or feature film. W h e r e Maus and The Pianist are interpretations of Holocaust exper iences the discovery kit is more of an exploration of the Shoah . The kit does not tell a story without the engagement of the imagination of the students and their ability to interpret the meaning of each item. The artifacts are t races of a larger story and the interpretation of the traces is significantly more chal lenging to students where there is no accompany ing narrative to spel l out the meaning and purpose. The artifacts do not speak to us or transmit information, apart from the meaning brought to them by each student. This is different from encounters with a graphic novel or film because these forms inherently provide an interpretation of the past and present a particular kind of truth c la im. T h e absence of a guiding external narrative or script pushes students to be creative and analytical when working with artifacts. The value for teachers is in the f reedom the students have from preconceived meanings and interpretations. They come to each item with bias, but no preconcept ion of how each fits into a larger 77 narrative. The artifact kit cha l lenges the imaginative and intellectual abilities of students because they may only be able to bring a s imple interpretation or meaning to the artifact without knowledge of its broader context. There is a s e n s e of d istance created by items that come from a time period far removed from students' lived exper ience. The motivation of each student is chal lenged because an artifact collection does not provide neat, conc ise or simple knowledge c la ims and meanings; these must be adduced by the students through rigorous reflection on their meaning, context and relationship to the broader events. The discovery kit does not lend itself easi ly to complex historical subject posit ions we find in Maus, but it does demand that students at least consider the time cont inuum because they are examining and interpreting the artifacts from the past in the present. Unl ike The Pianist, the discovery kit al lows the students to feely interpret or negotiate meaning within a present context. W e are not confined to one moment in time, a narrow geographic location or limitations on imagination that we encounter with film. The i tems allow, through imagination and meaning making, the students to p lace themse lves in the past and to consider the Holocaust in human terms and impact it had on the daily l ives of the victims. Where the graphic novel Maus cha l lenges Naz i stereotypes and creates opportunity for students to quest ion and broaden their understanding of stereotype, scapegoats , race ideology, and institutionalized persecution the d iscovery kit does not directly open opportunities for such d iscuss ions. The artifacts can be used to open opportunities for these d iscuss ions , but the artifacts do not allow for an e a s y reading of the larger narrative in which these t races are an important legacy. T h e depth of knowledge and understanding students bring to the process limits the possibil i ty of 78 sophist icated readings of the objects, unless they are coached through more detai led ana lyses . They are most effectively used in conjunction with c lear f rameworks for analys is, background reading, and supporting documents that give context to their s igni f icance. Al l three of the resources share the power of historical remembrance in that they represent fragments, t races and accounts of past exper ience. E a c h resource has a foundation rooted in accounts of the past but in very different formats. The format or medium of the m e s s a g e has a direct impact on the pace at which students can engage the narrative and work through the time continuum to grasp the meaning of the Holocaust a s a historical event and recognize its importance in their l ives today. In reading the graphic novel students may engage the narrative at their own pace reading quickly through sect ions or taking more time with the panels with more detail or depth. They can move forward and backward through the story to grasp its literal and figurative mean ings and to develop an internal orientation to the story. They can pause on speci f ic images, dialogue boxes or exper iences to grasp a deeper understanding of the narrative. The Discovery Kit a lso offers students the opportunity to encounter the t races of the past at a controlled rate but not like that of the graphic novel. With an artifact kit one is compel led by tasks, c l ass t ime limits and teacher expectat ions to move through each artifact with some degree of efficiency and pace. Whi le students had time to study, reflect and reorient their understandings it was not possib le to link the items together as a whole or to look back at previous artifacts without disrupting the process. T h e s e condit ions could have been altered depending on the manner in which the l essons were taught, but even in an alternate platform, such kits do not offer the same temporal 79 f lex ib i l i ty a n d p a c i n g that is f o u n d wi th t he n o v e l s tudy . In f i lm w e a r e e v e n m o r e res t r i c ted , not jus t b e c a u s e of o b v i o u s c l a s s r o o m t i m e res t ra in ts but b e c a u s e t h e d i r ec to r h a s a par t i cu la r p a c e at w h i c h h e w a n t s t he a u d i e n c e to e x p e r i e n c e t he f i lm. E v e n wi th in t he f i lm t h e r e a r e m o m e n t s at w h i c h t h i n g s d e v e l o p rap id ly a n d o the r m o m e n t s w h e r e t i m e s e e m s to d r a g . M u c h of th is is d u e to t he c h a l l e n g e of c o m p r e s s i n g s ix , e igh t or ten y e a r s of h is to r ica l t ime into a n ine ty to o n e h u n d r e d e igh t y m i n u t e f o r m a t c o m m o n l y f o u n d in f e a t u r e f i lm. T h e m u s i c , c a m e r a a n g l e s , s o u n d s , s c e n e s , a n d c i n e m a t o g r a p h y c o n s p i r e to p u s h t he a u d i e n c e a l o n g at a pa r t i cu la r p a c e e x p e r i e n c i n g t he e v e n t a s the d i rec to r c h o o s e s . S t u d e n t s a r e not f r ee (wi thout a c c e s s to a c o p y of the D V D ) to rev is i t s c e n e s , to l ook for t he n u a n c e s a n d s u b t l e t i e s f o u n d in a th i rd o r four th v i e w i n g . M o r e o v e r , s t u d e n t s c a n n o t fix o n a pa r t i cu la r i m a g e , m o m e n t o r e v e n t w i thou t d i s rup t i ng the i n t e n d e d f i lm e x p e r i e n c e a n d d is to r t ing the m e a n i n g a n d p u r p o s e . 80 5 In the Classroom: Students' Thinking About the Holocaust 5.1 Introduction Teach ing historical t rauma chal lenges history educators to be thoughtful in select ion of resources, purposeful in the orientation of lesson topics and mindful of the implicit and explicit moral m e s s a g e s embedded in such histories. T rauma histories may be taught to impart historical knowledge, understanding or empathy. However , they are not exc lus ive goals but interdependent directions through which connect ion with the past may be deve loped in our students. Teach ing about the Holocaust can offer students rich opportunities to chal lenge their moral f rameworks and develop more sophist icated levels of moral reasoning but this requires knowledge, understanding and s o m e level of historical empathy. I was particularly interested in examin ing the student writing samp les to gain insight into their interaction with the teaching unit and to uncover historical thinking. Furthermore, I was interested to see if the e s s a y s revealed any f indings with respect to the different narratives provided by the varied resources. I w a s a lso cur ious to observe how the students dealt with quest ions of memory, t rauma and moral obligation with respect to preserving, teaching and remember ing the Holocaust . In studying narratives from the Holocaust students must confront present moral s tances while reflecting on the socia l value of remembering, learning and preserving traumatic historical events. In this chapter I descr ibe the analys is of student work on remember ing the Holocaust . The chapter will review sorting, col lect ing, and analyz ing the data, present the four themes identified by sorting the process, and d iscuss the three resources. 81 5.2 Data Collection: Sorting, Categorizing and Analyzing Student Essays The data on student thinking came from informal observat ions and the response e s s a y s written at the conclus ion of the teaching unit. Other ass ignments were col lected, graded and reviewed by each c lass , but they do not form any portion of the ev idence for the analys is provided here. Students did not provide pre-unit data for comparat ive analys is, and they were not interviewed at any time to supplement the research conc lus ions. Th is was a miscalculat ion on my part a s I was confident the written responses would provide the required data. It presented me with a cons iderab le chal lenge, knowing that the primary source of data would be student writing s a m p l e s and that col lection of this data was contingent upon two factors, 1) student/parent consent and 2) complet ion of the summative writing ass ignment . A s a result the study was affected by a large number of incomplete e s s a y s and low return rate for consent forms (50%). I could not draw from a larger sample of student work because the study w a s reduced by 40 e s s a y samp les out of a possible base of 82 students ac ross the three c l asses . Table 5.1 provides a breakdown of the c l asses including the number of students enrol led in each block, the number of consent forms returned in e a c h block and the number of affirmative consent forms. Addit ionally, in the last three co lumns I have provided a breakdown of the e s s a y s completed, incomplete e s s a y s by block and the total number of e s s a y s used by block. Out of eighty-two e s s a y s only eighteen were not completed or turned in for grading. S o m e correlation between the lack of consent and incomplete written work can be made . In each of the eighteen examples of incomplete work the student a lso fai led to turn in a consent form. I suggest that this is an indication of student apathy or 82 indifference to the ass ignment and consent process and not a consc ious protest of the ass ignment or my research. Al l of the students were told before the teaching unit began that their complet ion of all ass ignments w a s to cont inue irrespective of consent and my use of their work in this research. A review of Table 5.1 indicates that twenty-two of the sixty-four essays , completed and graded, could not be used because consent w a s not provided. Therefore, the data ana lyzed here represents 42 of 64 ass ignments completed, but only 42 of 82 possib le. Block A had the highest rate of complet ion for the e s s a y ass ignment at 89%, while block the C the lowest at 66%. Fully one-third of the students in block C did not complete the essay and this had a significant impact on my ability to draw connect ions between the varied teaching resources used and learning outcomes. Al though block A had the highest rate of e s s a y complet ion, block B provided the largest number of writing samples for the study based upon student consent at 18 of 22 samp les . Table 5.1 Consent Forms 1 2 3 4 5 6 SS11 Class Students Enrolled Forms Returned Consent Provided Essay Completion Missing Essays Essays Used in Analysis Block A 27 15/27 14/27 24/27 3 14/24 Block B 28 18/28 18/28 22/28 6 18/22 Block C 27 10/27 10/27 18/27 9 10/18 At the end of the teaching unit students were asked to complete an e s s a y on the following quest ion: To what extent do we owe an obligation to remember the Holocaust? The question was presented to each c lass within the context of a larger d iscuss ion , one 83 that had been d iscussed previously and was reintroduced here: How are we connected to the past? The two quest ions were des igned to encourage students to reflect on the relationship between past and present, including our obligation to remember the past by preserving it, teaching about it, and understanding its relationship to our world. W h e n presenting the question about our obligation to remember the Holocaust students were provided with examples of how societ ies have chosen to honour and remember the past and they were asked to consider these examples prior to drafting the essay . Examp les included building monuments and constructing memoria ls, preserving physical remains, and collecting ev idence to be archived in museums. T h e s e prompts were used to aid student understanding about the many ways in which societ ies preserve, memoria l ize, educate, and use history in the service of present and future objectives. I am certain the writing samp les would have been less focused without the six examples used to trigger student thinking about the Holocaust. The prompts were used to inform the written responses and provide a framework for students to approach the larger quest ion of obligation to preserving the memory of the Holocaust. The examples were d i scussed with the students and the quest ion and answer sess ion aided student understanding prior to engaging the writing process. The examples a lso aided me with categorizat ion of the data. The examples proved useful for organizing and categorizing student responses as the themes in the student e s s a y s frequently correlated with the examples provided in my prompts. However, it should be noted that the order of presentat ion, variety of cho ices and inferences drawn from the examples were entirely independent of my direction and demonstrate independent thinking and understanding about the larger 84 quest ion of obligation and remembrance. Student responses were ana lyzed and categor ized into twenty-eight preliminary "threads". They came out of my first read through all of the papers and were selected for the connect ion to the quest ion of obligation or because it indicated some degree of historical thinking. The most common responses emphas ized the use of memoria ls and museums to preserve the past, the moral weight of the Holocaust as an event, and supporting teaching moral and ethical principles via Holocaust case studies. The papers made consistent reference to the need to preserve the physical t races of the Holocaust including the death camps , personal articles and documents. Examp les of common threads include, we "must remember the past or be doomed to repeat it", "physical remains provide ev idence to val idate history", "history provides us with moral and ethical lessons" , "museums educate, share knowledge and develop understanding", and "the lessons of the Holocaust provide examples of moral courage for all to follow" (for a complete list of my initial ' threads' see Appendix 5). I then used a f requency table to tally the total number of t imes each thread appeared in the essays . In some c a s e s threads appeared severa l t imes and in other instances threads appear in one paper but not the next. The purpose of tallying the threads was to help organize them around a smal ler number of more comprehens ib le themes and to create some sense of coherence that could support my inferences and conclus ions. In keeping with the qualitative nature of the research the student responses were examined for consistency and breadth. Al though these trends evident in my first run through the data had value for me in understanding students' historical thinking, they were too unrefined for detailed analys is and many seemed to run parallel to one or more other threads. Thus , it was necessary 85 to refine the threads into manageab le themes; the threads were sorted into four themes for analys is and conclus ions (see Table 5.2). The four themes or organizers were not predetermined in advance of the research but do have a clear connect ion to the prompts provided to the students prior to writing the summat ive essay . E a c h theme is rooted in the threads and the student prompts (the correlation between the threads and themes is presented in Table 5.3. Student responses were varied but trends within the four themes can be derived from an examinat ion of the f requency chart provided in Table 5.3). The two themes most frequently raised by the students relate to the importance of preservation of physical t races and the role of museums in educat ing Canad ians about the Holocaust. The student papers also put emphas is on the need to teach, understand and remember the Holocaust for its tragic impact on world history. L e s s frequent but evident in the student responses were those deal ing with the moral implications of history and our moral obligation to preserve compel l ing stories like the Holocaust . Table 5.2 Student Response Themes 1. The Holocaust is significant for its size, scale and severity in human history (moral weight of an event is important). Forgetting is not acceptable for an event of such magnitude and human suffering. 2. The Holocaust offers specific kinds of lessons for students/mankind. These lessons are necessary to learn from past wrongs, avoid repeating horrors of our tragic past, and offer lessons on compassion, fairness and social responsibility. 3. Museums preserve evidence, educate, transmit knowledge, bring past to present and validate history. Museums are central to the preservation of memory through education and collections of artifacts. 4. Physical remains (sites, artifacts, structures) shape memory, bring past to life, create historical empathy, invoke painful memories, are graphic reminders, carry embedded messages and bear witness to the human spirit. 86 Table 5.3 provides the categorization of threads into themes organized by number, f requency, c lass , and percent of student responses. Co lumn one links the speci f ic threads to a theme, while co lumns two through four provide the f requency of those threads by c lass . In co lumns five through seven the total number of responses by theme are presented as a percentage and category total. Table 5.3 Student Response Frequency Chart 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Themes Correlation to 28 Threads Block A Frequency Block B Frequency Block C Frequency Total Responses By Class Total Responses All Themes Theme as % all responses 1 1,12,21,25,28 9 16 10 35 35/194 1 8 % 2 3,4,8,15,16, 17,18,23,26,27 18 23 19 60 60/194 3 1 % 3 5,6,11,14,19 15 12 14 41 41/194 2 1 % 4 2,7,9,10,13, 20,22,24 23 21 14 58 58/194 3 0 % For the purpose of d iscuss ion and analys is I have simplif ied the thematic categor ies in Table 5.2. The themes are d iscussed in the following four sect ions of this chapter and are titled as fol lows: the moral weight of the Holocaust, the lessons of history, preservat ion, memory and educat ion, and the residua of the past. E a c h theme is descr ibed in detail using student quotations wherever possib le. 87 5.3 Theme 1: The Moral Weight of the Holocaust Many of the students' papers described the Holocaust as an event unparalleled in human history and deserving of remembrance for the magnitude of tragedy and impact on humanity. By moral weight I am referring to the serious and grave manner in which teachers' and students' approach the Holocaust because of its severity. Moral judgment is inevitable and it was evident that many of the students viewed this event as having moral overtones about good and evil, just and unjust. Eighteen percent of responses acknowledged the moral weight of the Holocaust and supported the view that it must not be forgotten in our schools or as part of the consciousness of all Canadians. Most supported this position by suggesting that the education system had an obligation to develop knowledge and understanding about the Holocaust. They saw something in the human tragedy, the scale of human suffering and cruelty, suggesting a different kind of treatment in our schools. One student thoughtfully noted, "forgetting [the Holocaust], would be like saying the event was not worth remembering" and that to forget would imply that it was an insignificant event in human history (Anne). Her desire for, preservation of the history of the Holocaust is supported by a conscious connection between the power of memory and the construction of collective moral character. We owe an obligation to remember because of the scale of human suffering and n victimization of the Jewish people. The students' responses align with the criticism of Novick (1999) who commented that "extremity" of the Holocaust overwhelms us and it is not possible to look past the weight of injustice evident in its retelling (p. 14). A few did not share this opinion. Donna emphasized the tremendous number of existing memorials, museums, courses, books, and movies that maintain our collective 88 awareness of the Holocaust. S h e noted that by "just maintaining the remaining museums" the Holocaust is remembered. Tina moved the conversat ion in a different direction by arguing that C a n a d a does not have an obligation to build museums or memor ia ls because "they [the victims and perpetrators] are not from" C a n a d a . T ina identified with the victim's suffering, but does not s e e the Holocaust as part of C a n a d a ' s history. Her statement indicates that history is something that nations p o s s e s s and possess ion is linked to an obligation to remember. Harold carried this line of thinking a little further when he wrote that the "specif ic countr ies linked to the Holocaust though, owe so much more then, now, and in the future". One student brought the Holocaust down to a regional level in suggest ing that there is no need to build memoria ls, monuments or museums because "we don't have a very big Jew ish community" and that the obligation to do so is on those European nations that wi tnessed the atrocities first hand. In each of these examples there is a distinction being drawn between teaching about the Holocaust (all of the students quoted agreed that it must be part of our school curriculum) and the speci f ic preservation, construction and proliferation of memory sites. S o m e went so far as to state that what is taught in our schoo ls is sufficient and that other topics are important. Ajit suggests that other histories are important and if we spend too much time learning about the Holocaust "we will miss something e lse which could be equal ly important." Ajit did not follow up with any examples so it is unclear what event might parallel the Holocaust from the perspect ive of a student. The point illustrates the chal lenge of choosing compell ing topics that meet the lived exper iences of our students and have meaning to their l ives. For Ajit the Holocaust is one of any 89 number of historical events that have relevance, but not more so . Another student, A l ice , made a different compar ison relating the Holocaust to a natural disaster. Whi le acknowledging the Holocaust as a human tragedy she argues, "it wasn' t a natural d isaster or anything which gives it even more importance." A l ice focused on degrees of human suffering, but ignored the moral implications of man-made tragedy like the Holocaust . Whi le some of the student papers wrestled with the quest ion of building museums , memoria ls or monuments to preserve the memory of the Holocaust, all were resolute in the affirmation about the obligation our schools have in teaching new generat ions about the Holocaust. O n e student, Nickey, clearly articulated that the obligation has been paid in full because we have built museums, maintained memor ia ls , preserved physical t races of the event, and continue to teach about this tragic event. T h e perspect ive, supported by Donna , suggests that knowledge, awareness and understanding should be the focus of our educat ional approach to teaching about the Holocaust . In the end, it really does not matter how many memoria ls or museums are built for any epic event. What matters is that the people are aware and understand why these tragedies occurred and what we must learn in order not to repeat these atrocities. (Donna) 90 5.4 Theme 2: The Lessons of History In the eyes of some students to forget the Holocaust is to deny humanity an opportunity to learn from its tragic past. Here the students' thinking has dist inguished learning about the Holocaust with learning from the Holocaust . The shift in thinking is del iberate, but it is unlikely that they are express ing a speci f ic educat ional s tance and more likely they have recognized on a superficial level the value of learning from the past. In understanding the Holocaust the possibility of redeeming ourse lves by teaching our young to stand up against oppress ion and discrimination at every turn and to encourage our civic leaders to lead by example will prevent such great tragedy in the future. S o m e saw, in the examples of personal courage, bravery or hero ism committed during the Holocaust models of virtuous conduct to be upheld a s examp les for students to follow. C a r m e n noted that we could all "benefit from learning what courage people had even from the roughest torment they had to face." Others v iewed the physical remains of the Holocaust , specif ical ly the buildings, as holding particular mean ing for people. The buildings and homes should be preserved "to remind us of what the vict ims had to live through and endure" (Chad). S o m e acknowledged that the survivors of the Holocaust need specia l considerat ion and the preservation of their history is a way to honour the sacri f ice, suffering and horror they exper ienced. Mike stated that memor ia ls must be built so "at least the survivors will know that we care." O n e insightful student added that the preservation of Holocaust history must a lso honour the many "Dutch fami l ies that r isked their l ives and some even sacri f iced their l ives to hide and help the Jew ish people". The recognition of personal courage and sacri f ice extended beyond the 91 Jewish victims of the genoc ide to the Po les , F rench, Dutch, G e r m a n s and other nationalities who risked personal safety to aid the vict ims. The most common thread in the student writing reflected on the lessons that can be drawn from the Holocaust and history in general to support human progress, link past to present, il luminate examples of human frailty, courage and barbarity, and educate our youth for a better future. This theme generated a response in 3 1 % of the writing samples . Students identified a number of threads within the theme, including the value of history in teaching moral lessons, the use of historical knowledge to aid human progress, the Holocaust as a specif ic case study for schools , and the use of historical understanding to direct future action. History curriculum aids in remembering and preserving the past and it has the power to t ranscend generat ions in its institutional permanence through our educat ion sys tem. A number of the students v iewed history as a cure-all through which mankind can avoid repetition of past wrongs and injustices. "If we do not learn the history of great tragedy we will repeat our tragedies of the past" wrote Robyn . The s a m e student went so far as to quote the Amer ican phi losopher Geo rge San tayana who reminded us that those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it. History in this line of thought serves to correct the human condit ion by reminding us of our propensity for v io lence and hatred. John noted, "people can learn from the mistakes that occurred during the Holocaust", while V e r a moved the d iscuss ion to a more precise level when she stated that in a "multicultural society [like] C a n a d a it is crucial to know what happens when racism and prejudice towards one group of people goes loose." V e r a and John articulated a common position taken by the students' with respect to the value of learning history to avoid repetition of wrongs. Yet , 92 h is to ry is rife wi th e x a m p l e s of ou r fa i lu re to l e a r n f r om the pas t . S t u d e n t s la tch o n to th is c o n c e p t i o n of h i s to r i ca l u n d e r s t a n d i n g b e c a u s e it f i ts in w i th v i e w s a b o u t t he p a s s a g e of t i m e a n d h u m a n p r o g r e s s , that is , a s t ime p a s s e s h u m a n k i n d b e c o m e s m o r e s o p h i s t i c a t e d a n d l e a r n s f r o m p a s t m i s t a k e s . S o m e of t h e s t u d e n t s e m p h a s i z e d t h e c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n h i s to r i ca l t r a g e d y a n d p r e s e n t ac t i on or c o n d u c t . O n e o f the o b j e c t i v e s of the t e a c h i n g unit w a s to c h a l l e n g e t he m o r a l r e a s o n i n g of t he s t u d e n t s a n d con f ron t t h e m wi th t he c o m p l e x i t y of m o r a l i s s u e s e m b e d d e d in s t u d y i n g the H o l o c a u s t , t hus a l l o w i n g oppo r tun i t i es to c h a l l e n g e t he m o r a l f r a m e s of m y s t u d e n t s . A s t u d y of the H o l o c a u s t p r o v i d e s n u m e r o u s c a s e e x a m p l e s of i m m o r a l , un just , i n h u m a n e a n d c rue l c o n d u c t but it a l s o a l l o w s u s to f ind p o w e r f u l e x a m p l e s of r e d e m p t i o n , h e a l i n g a n d s u r v i v a l o f the m i n d , b o d y a n d spir i t . T h e s e c a s e e x a m p l e s c r e a t e l ea rn i ng oppo r tun i t i es in t he c u r r i c u l u m to c h a l l e n g e s t u d e n t th ink ing a b o u t i s s u e s of r a c e , p o w e r , e t h i c s , a n d mora l i t y . A s o n e s t u d e n t n o t e d , i t " c a n t e a c h t he y o u n g p e o p l e the d a n g e r s of ha t r ed a n d p r e j u d i c e in s o c i e t y s o that t h e y w o u l d l ea rn h o w not to o b e y i m m o r a l o r d e r s a n d l ea rn h o w to res i s t [unjust] a c t i o n s " ( J e a n ) . T h e p r o b l e m for h is tory e d u c a t o r s is that in t ry ing to r e d e e m the t r ag i c p a s t w e m a y inadver ten t l y t r a n s p o s e m e s s a g e s a n d m e a n i n g , o v e r s i m p l i f y c o m p l e x p h e n o m e n a or m i n i m i z e the hor ror w i t n e s s e d by s o m a n y v i c t i m s ( B o i x - M a n s i l l a , 2 0 0 0 , S c h w e b e r , 2 0 0 4 ) . F o r the m o s t par t t he s t u d e n t wr i t ten r e s p o n s e s a v o i d e d s imp l i s t i c f i nge r -po in t i ng a s s e s s m e n t s a n d f o c u s e d o n the n e e d to r e m e m b e r the e v e n t for its e d u c a t i o n a l , s o c i a l a n d h u m a n i t a r i a n v a l u e in add i t i on to d e m o n s t r a t i n g h i s to r i ca l e m p a t h y for t he v i c t i m s a n d s u r v i v o r s . H o w e v e r , s o m e l ike S m i t h o v e r s i m p l i f i e d t he e v e n t a n d fel l v i c t im to 93 reducing the Holocaust to the responsibil i ty on one man, Ado lph Hitler. Smith w a s not a lone, as a smal l number of students ass igned blame for the entire event to the Naz is , Ge rmans , or Hitler. Others fell into the trap of compar ing the Holocaust with other genoc ides , particularly the example in Rwanda . John suggested that the R w a n d a n genoc ide and the Holocaust were "similar" and that we have not learned from previous examples of human brutality. Sylvester suggested a far greater peril if we did not teach students about the Holocaust when he wrote, "if we are not careful we might see another Holocaust or a World War." O n e student drew a compar ison between Naz i G e r m a n y and the United State 's invasion and occupat ion of Iraq as paral lel c a s e s of oppress ion and injustice. Ajit, tying in the idea that we must learn from the past, c la imed that the United States had targeted Iraq in the s a m e way that Naz i Ge rmany targeted J e w s . They are repeating the mistakes of the G e r m a n s in committing atrocities against the Iraqi people. Ajit failed to explain in any detail how the cases are analogous, but asser ted that they U.S . did not learn from the lessons of the Holocaust . T h e s e oversimpli f icat ions and misdirected compar isons were few but illustrate the concerns highlighted by Schweber (2004), Boix-Mansi l la (2000) and Novick (1999). The student e s s a y s did offer a number of examples of moral reasoning and of thoughtful considerat ion of the moral d imensions that come from the study of historical injustices like the Holocaust . Numerous student responses tied the obligation of remembrance to the moral lessons that can be g leaned from a study of the Holocaust . Moral educat ion theory has supported the use of case studies to develop the moral f rames of students (Peters, 1973, 1979; L ikona, 1976; Nucc i , 2001). 94 Caro l tied the concept ion of morality to the development of student understanding of ethical principles like fairness, justice and equality when she wrote: It is our fundamental obligation to all those who were put through the terror of the Holocaust to remember those who per ished. . . Learning about the history of the Holocaust engages humans to reflect upon moral and ethical quest ions; where studying the Holocaust can help [us to] understand the effects of prejudice, rac ism, and stereotyping...whi le raising quest ions of fa i rness, justice, identity, conformity, indifference and obedience. The passage is rich with insights and Caro l has articulated a number of key points with respect to the moral d imensions of history. Her orientation toward present and future action with regard to teaching and learning about the impact of state sanct ioned discrimination indicates an understanding of the value of history in locating moral conversat ions in the present. Such conversat ions, rooted in knowledge of where we come from, aid the articulation of social ly just acts in the present and future. Caro l ' s articulation of how the lessons of the Holocaust may serve present and future generat ions reminds us that morality is ultimately about act ion, and the pursuit of a better world. The ethical s tance taken with respect to honouring those who were vict ims demonstrates a strong sense of historical empathy rooted firmly in her moral s tance; it would be wrong not to honour the vict ims of these cr imes and continue to al low humankind to fall prey to such tragedy. Jean argued that the lessons of the Holocaust must be used to teach our youth to have "the moral courage" to d isobey directives that are immoral or harmful to others. Her s tance suggests a strong ideological commitment to free choice, but within the limits of common decency and utilitarian va lues. S h e has taken the historical truths of the Holocaust, its hate, rac ism, state-sanct ioned extermination, and indifference to others, and brought it into the present to formulate a strong personal moral s tance. 95 The moral positioning of the students was evident in other passages directed toward understanding the role of government in disseminat ing and propagating hatred or discrimination towards identifiable groups. Both Robyn and Caro l noted that the lessons of the Holocaust could be used to educate our youth to speak out against state sanct ioned hatred or discrimination and to reinforce the need for vigi lance on the part of the cit izenry to stop oppression and speak out when necessary . Concern with how to act in ana logous future c i rcumstances indicates a sophist icated moral framework; looking beyond the self, peer group or nation to mankind as a whole (Higgins, Kohlberg, Power, 1989). Caro l astutely writes that "the Holocaust might not have occurred if government leaders had spoken out" and the common cit izens had stood against the racist ideology of the Naz i government. Robyn reminds us of how our "morals can easi ly be corrupted" in furtherance of state sanct ioned objectives. They speak of a kind of moral courage and implicitly recognize that it is something to be nurtured and deve loped, in part through educat ion, with an eye to future abuses of power. Both drew upon the lessons of the Holocaust, yet both a lso noted that the events in R w a n d a and Darfur remind us that state sanct ioned v io lence and oppress ion are a part of the human condit ion. Whi le not a lways explicitly stated, many of the student papers offered ev idence of the moral lessons implicit in studying the Holocaust. This frequently ran as an undercurrent to the posit ions taken on memorials, museums and monuments and other forms of remembrance and honouring the memory of the vict ims. The f requency and pass ion with which many of the students argued for a commitment to remember ing the Holocaust indicates a strong moral position that to fail to do so would be wrong, an 96 injustice to the mill ions that d ied. Many of the student papers d i scussed and reflected upon the issue of remembrance and the need to honour the memory of this particular event in schoo ls , museums, artifact preservation and scholar ly writing. A second trend in the writing addressed the moral d imensions of teaching the Holocaust by stating that Canad ians have a moral obligation to honour and remember the event, use our knowledge of past injustices like the Holocaust to direct future civic act ion, and to teach youth about ethics, va lues and principles using c a s e studies from the Holocaust . 5.5 Theme 3: Preservation, Memory and Education A third theme that clearly emerged from the student writing focused on the need to preserve the past and educate current and future generat ions with museums . Many of the students suggested that museums act as a conduit through which knowledge of the past is preserved, transmitted and archived to val idate, share and research historical events. They a lso recognized that the museum is a location at which we make meaning of the past as people interact with photographs, artifacts, d isp lays, and exhibits. S o m e linked the idea of preservation with a developing s e n s e of human progress and the interaction between humans of different t ime per iods. Naively , many of the students equate the passage of time with progress and progress with civi l ization. By implication they bel ieve that humanity is in a better state today than sixty years ago during the period of the Holocaust and link the idea of preservation and remembrance with mankind 's capaci ty for progress in ethics, morality, fa i rness, just ice, and equality. O n e can draw the inference from their responses that the students bel ieve preservat ion of the past can al low us to progress, building upon the lessons of history. S o m e noted that in preserving accounts and traces of the past, building monuments and support ing 97 museums we can store the memory of what transpired, then we can a lways look to these traces and accounts to support our present course of act ion. The reality is far more complex and the distinction between and interdependence of memory, history, the past, and sites of memory is hotly contested ground (Lowenthal, 1985; Nora, 1996; Par is , 2000). However, the writing samples make it c lear that for students there are connect ions between what we teach, preserve and memorial ize and the lessons that humanity can draw from these many forms of remembrance. However, students are not often concerned with truth, authenticity or validity in the traces and accounts of the past found in museums or texts. S o m e of the responses linked the need for preservat ion, remembrance and educat ion with a desire to honour the sacrif ice and suffering of the mill ions of vict ims. "We should a lso remember all of the J e w s that d ied, s o that their l ives are not forgotten and considered worthless", wrote S a m . Caro l argued that the value of remembrance is in its power to demonstrate the terrible evil that humans can inflict upon one another when our socia l and political leaders stand aside in utter s i lence. Schoo ls and educat ional institutions have a particular responsibil ity to transmit knowledge and preserve our memory of the past. Many students noted that schoo l curricula had an important role in shaping our memory of past events and of maintaining continuity between past and present. For some students the draw of the museum was in its capaci ty to preserve a sensory exper ience, to touch, smel l and 'feel ' the past. Gordon expla ins that "museums are a way of actually feel ing, c lose up and personal ly, what actually happened to these people." The museum was v iewed generical ly as a repository of things and knowledge to be preserved and shared. Others like Nina were 98 concerned that without museums we would lose the physical ev idence of the Holocaust and eventual ly the event "will be gone from the history books . . . " S o m e were cognizant of the fact that museums organize the traces and accounts of the past s o that they can be learned and understood. M u s e u m s "put everything together and educate people through text, photographs, [and] artifacts which is very effective" (Lynn). M u s e u m s a lso al low those who cannot travel or live near the actual sites of memory to exper ience s o m e aspect of the tragedy. They provide a common entry point into the memory of a speci f ic event and al low students to feel they are coming in contact with the past, physical ly and emotionally. The preservation of physical t races, in museums , was part of a larger theme about the value of physical remains to educate and val idate the past. 5.6 Theme 4: The Residua of the Past The physical remains of the Holocaust, including sites, artifacts, and relics preoccupied many of the students in thinking about remembrance. The f requency chart in 7ao/e 5.4 indicates that three in ten papers made some mention of the s igni f icance of physical remains, t races and accounts of the past. Students ' conceptual izat ion of the theme is evident in references to sites of memory like the death camps , memor ia ls to the vict ims or war structures. Their interpretation of these things a s p laces where memory of the Holocaust is preserved to validate the past, honour the many survivors, convey m e s s a g e s about the fail ings of man, or simply to help us remember. S o m e students noted that the physical t races of the past, specif ical ly the death c a m p s , are much more powerful learning tools than mere texts or photos. Beth wrote that the "physical remains of the Holocaust should be preserved s ince it can take people back to these t imes in a way which no other thing could ever do." Bob noted that the "physical 99 r e m a i n s of d e a t h c a m p s a r e m o r e p o w e r f u l t h a n a n y t e x t b o o k p ic tu re or t e x t b o o k wr i t i ng" O t h e r s no ted that t h e s e s i t e s of m e m o r y w e r e p o w e r f u l a i d e s in d e v e l o p i n g h i s to r i ca l e m p a t h y for t he v i c t i m s a n d t he s u r v i v o r s . V e r a w r o t e that t he " p e o p l e w h o h a v e not b e e n t h r o u g h the ho r ro r s of t he H o l o c a u s t n e e d to b e a b l e to s e e w h a t it w a s l ike l iv ing in a d e a t h c a m p " V e r a ' s c o m m i t m e n t to h i s to r i ca l e m p a t h y a n d to p r e s e r v i n g t he re l i cs of t he H o l o c a u s t is c o m p e l l i n g . C a r m e n wr i t es that a " p h y s i c a l r e m i n d e r , l ike a m o n u m e n t , w o u l d let u s r e a l i z e that w e h a v e c o m e a l o n g w a y f r o m the pa in fu l m e m o r i e s of y e s t e r d a y to t he n o w h o p e f u l w i s h e s of t o m o r r o w . " C a r m e n ' s s t a t e m e n t i n d i c a t e s a n u n d e r s t a n d i n g of t he s y m b o l i c v a l u e m o n u m e n t s a s s t r u c t u r e s that e n g a g e a n d s h a p e m e m o r y , but s h e h a s f a l s e l y ident i f ied m o n u m e n t s a s p h y s i c a l t r a c e s of t he pas t . W h i l e t h e s t u d e n t s r e c o g n i z e d t he ro le r e l i c s a n d m o n u m e n t s p l a y in s h a p i n g p r e s e n t m e m o r y , t h e y h i s to r i c i ze t h e m by r e c o n s t r u c t i n g the i r m e a n i n g to s e r v e p r e s e n t m i n d e d g o a l s l ike equa l i t y a n d t o l e r a n c e for e t h n i c g r o u p s . M o n u m e n t s a n d re l i c s a r e l ike r e m i n d e r s , t a n g i b l e c o n n e c t i o n s w i th the p a s t that c a n b e s e e n , felt o r e v e n s m e l l e d , but al l s e r v e t he ro le of p r e s e r v i n g ou r m e m o r y of s o m e t h i n g pas t . In teres t ing ly s o m e s t u d e n t s d i s t i n g u i s h e d b e t w e e n m o n u m e n t s built to r e m i n d u s of m o m e n t s of c o u r a g e , su f f e r i ng , h e r o i s m or t r a g e d y a n d m o n u m e n t a l s t r u c t u r e s , p r e s e r v e d a s e v i d e n c e to v a l i d a t e pa r t i cu la r v e r s i o n s of t h e pas t . T h e m is in te rp re ta t i on of w h a t a m o n u m e n t is a c c o u n t s for s o m e of the m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g a b o u t t he ro le of m o n u m e n t s in c o l l e c t i v e m e m o r y a n d h is tory . M e m o r y , h is tory a n d re l i cs a r e t he s o u r c e s of the p a s t w i th w h i c h w e c a n c o n s t r u c t m e a n i n g in t he p r e s e n t ( L o w e n t h a l , 1995 ) . T h e s e t h i n g s a id o u r r e c o n s t r u c t i o n of t he pas t , but c a n n o t d e l i v e r the p a s t a s it h a p p e n e d b e c a u s e t he 100 passage of t ime infuses bias and misinterpretation in these reconstructions (Lowenthal , 1995). The students are inadvertently attempting to deal with the complexity of history, memory and the past by investing different capaci t ies to relics, monuments and t races of the past in serv ice of the present. S o m e noted that the extermination camps of Auschwi tz , Hitler's bunker and relics of the war are different kinds of reminders than memoria ls, cemeter ies or statuary dedicated to survivors or events like the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Robyn wrote that viewing "Hitler's bunker would be enriching, as it would show people the levels political and military leaders went in order to ensure their personal safety." The interest here is not judgmental , not condemnat ion or support for Hitler's act ions, but of preserving p ieces of ev idence that shed light on the lives of prominent f igures, heroic or barbaric. Other students like T ina v iewed the preservation of these t races a s critical tools in the validation of the events. T ina noted that in preserving the physical remains, death camps , buildings, and artifacts a body of ev idence is preserved to combat Holocaust denial and aid remembrance of the event. Many other student papers noted the need to preserve physical remains as a form of validating the past. It is an indication of the belief that history can and will be manipulated, altered or denied to serve specif ic interests. More importantly, some of the students bel ieve that it is possib le to find a true account of the past if the ev idence is adequately preserved. Converse ly , they are suggest ing that destroying relics will destroy memory of the past and increases the l ikel ihood of forgetting. Fa lse accounts and counter narratives will replace more truthful accounts . Neither is correct, there is no true account ing of the past and preservat ion of relics does not guarantee remembrance in schools or collective consc iousness . 101 5.7 Teaching Resources: Three Approaches One of my research goals was to assess the use of varied instructional resources in teaching the unit on the Holocaust. Each of the classes was provided with the same base information, text sources, document studies, and historical backgrounder, but each was also provided with one different resource to complete the study. Block A viewed the feature film The Pianist, block B read Art Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus, and the block C class worked with the artifacts from the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre's Discovery Kit. Each selected resource had unique qualities, attributes and narratives thus presenting different perspectives on the Holocaust experience. The amount of class time allocated to each resource was roughly equal and the types of assignments given were proportioned so that none of the classes would be at a disadvantage. The kinds of assignments provided with each of the resources were similar, each largely comprised of question sets designed to have the students digest the substance of the resource. However, each class was also given tasks that required them to think analytically about the issues raised by the resource. With the VHEC Discovery Kit the students were required to interpret the relevance and meaning of each artifact within the context of the Holocaust and to build their own narrative out of the artifacts. The students reading the comic novel Maus were assigned a series of questions probing the technical and creative design of the story and to uncover the symbolism in the art. Additionally, they were asked to probe the relationship between the author and his father, a survivor of the Holocaust, and comment on the significance of healing or working-through trauma. The students that viewed the film The Pianist were asked to do character sketches of the principal actors in the narrative and to 102 extrapolate a broader understanding of the Holocaust experience from the example of Vladek Szpilman. This group was then given a 'free write' in which they had to choose three of five topics from the film which demanded that they reflect more deeply on the life of Szpilman and the examples of survival found in the Warsaw Ghetto (see Appendices 2, 3 and 4 for the individual assignments). The block C group provided me with the greatest challenge and some interesting results from their encounter with the V H E C Discovery Kit. The class had underperformed throughout the year, although there were a fair number of solid academics in the class, and I was concerned about finding a way to motivate them in this unit of study. I did not want to reward them with watching the film because I did not believe they would use the opportunity to enrich their study of the Holocaust; rather they might see it as a break from the monotony of social studies class. I considered having the class read Maus but was not certain that they would engage with the book to the depth of either of my other blocks. Thus, they were assigned the Discovery Kit. The kit included a suitcase, photographs, a wooden toy dog, identity papers (actual and forged), ration coupons, and a jacket with the Star of David sewn on the lapel. With some reflection I came to believe this would be ideal as it would demand that they become more engaged in the process while examining the artifacts but also because the sensory and personal connection with the artifacts might stimulate more interest. More specifically I believed the stations approach, used to examine the artifacts, might engage the less dynamic boys of the class in keeping with some of the current research about the corpus callosum and its stimulation (Macdonald, 2006). 103 The students initially approached the stations with s o m e enthus iasm and asked pertinent quest ions indicating thoughtful reflection as they shifted from object to object. However, this was not borne out in the written ass ignments or the informal presentat ions done in the c lassroom. Many of the students were d isengaged and confused by the analysis rubric that directed them to examine e a c h artifact and ana lyze its form, substance, function, and connect ion to the Holocaust. Brief and informal conversat ions with some of the table groups al lowed me to conclude that they were not making connect ions with the individual objects. There w a s no re levance or context with which they could draw upon personal exper ience to bring meaning to the objects. I altered my lesson and asked each student to bring in one object that w a s meaningful to them for next c lass and to be prepared to d iscuss its importance and meaning to the c lass . Approximately two thirds of the c lass brought artifacts to d iscuss including a wristwatch, photographs, bracelets, currency, and a passport. The d iscuss ion w a s lively and the students enjoyed telling their stories to the c lass and sharing a smal l p iece of their own histories. Tying the object to their lived exper ience contextual ized the history and linked memory, identity and the past in a manageab le way. This seemed to spark more engagement with the remaining artifacts, but in the end it was apparent in the writing and our summat ive d iscuss ions that the students did not bring much imagination, thoughtfulness or depth to their understanding of the artifacts. The block B c lass v iewed The Pianist, a powerful film about the exper ience of V ladek Szp i lman a famous concert pianist from Po land. The film is filled with powerful v isual e lements, shocking scenes , poignant moments, and graphic footage of N a z i brutality. However, it a lso depicts the complexity of the t imes with Ge rmans , J e w s , 104 Po les , and Russ ians taking turns at villainy and inhumane conduct. I felt that the c inemat ic power of the film, its compel l ing story line and the complexity of the characters would offer fertile ground for the c lass to explore the context of the Holocaust hoping to move them away from simplist ic interpretations. Whi le the film and others like it have been crit icized (Lanzmann, 1994) it was a better alternative than the critically acc la imed Shoah (1985). Paradoxical ly I chose not to use Shoah with my students for the very reasons it was acc la imed in that it was too real, too dark in its mood, and does not contextual ize the story of the Holocaust in the manner we find with feature film. Documentary film has its p lace in the c lassroom but it is chal lenging to have students draw out so much from survivor testimony; in feature film the imagination works freely and the story fits with the tidy image adolescent students tend have of the world. Th is is not to say that Lanzmann 's Shoah should not be shown to high schoo l students, but it would require teaching the students the critical tools necessary to explore the documentary and a s s e s s the oral testimony it relies on. Students were provided with some guiding quest ions for the film and a "free write" to complete on three topics at the end of the movie (see Appendix 2). The film impacted their view of the Holocaust severa l ways. Firstly, few if any of the students fell into common stereotypes of the G e r m a n soldiers or officers portrayed in the film. However, they maintained a clear sense of responsibil ity for the Naz i regime and its leadership for the Holocaust. Second ly , they expressed a greater understanding of the complex context through which many Jews , and non-Jews, exper ienced the Holocaust . Thirdly, the students began to grasp the horrors and suffering of the vict ims while acknowledging that what separated the survivors from the dead was often little more 105 than luck. Finally, it helped bring an understanding of the many subtle ways in which the lives of European J e w s were affected by the Nuremberg Laws and other pol icies long before the horror of the Final Solut ion began. The film embedded a greater understanding of the Holocaust even if in a narrow context of one survivor's story. 106 6 Conclusions, Implications for Schools and Further Research This research study examined the connect ion between students' historical thinking and a teacher 's use of narrative choice. It began with my desire to understand the connect ion between teaching and learning about and from the past. It ended with many quest ions about the lessons of the history, the moral and redemptive power of narratives and the capacity of the Holocaust to sensi t ize my students about oppress ion and atrocity. In looking to the Holocaust one must consider significant layers of complexity because it is both an event like no other and an event not dissimilar from others in history. "If there is . . . any w isdom to be acquired from contemplating an historical event", Novick (1999) wrote, "I would think it would derive from confronting it in all its complexity and its contradictions; the ways in which it resembles other events to which it might be compared as well as the ways it differs from them" (p. 18). Notwithstanding the complexity of the Holocaust and the many caut ions supported in the literature (Novick, 1999; Boix-Mansi l la , 2000; Schweber , 2004), teaching about the Holocaust offers numerous opportunities to engage students in thoughtful reflection. The emotional power, moral d imensions, and historical complexity of the event al low for reflection on issues like the human propensity for v io lence, t rauma and heal ing, confrontation of one 's beliefs and prejudices, moral and legal responsibi l i t ies, ethics; the event a lso compels students to wrestle with historical quest ions that have no c lear answer. This chapter reviews my findings with respect to the research into a teacher 's narrative choice and students' historical thinking. The chapter has been organized to follow the research question with a sect ion on students' historical thinking and teacher 's 107 narrative choice, but a lso includes my f indings on the three teaching resources. It will then explore the implications of this study for me, for other teachers, and for further research highlighting both the chal lenges and opportunities facing the teacher-researcher. 6.1 Students' Thinking About the Holocaust The students' writing focused to a large extent on the connect ions between memory and history. Most presented memory as neutral, like the hard drive on a computer it merely stores a clear record of the past. For them the relics, monuments, physical t races, and other residua of the past aid memory and val idate history. The truth, however, is more compl icated because memory is select ive, temporary and infused with bias (Kavanagh, 2000). The students did not recognize this difference and this is likely a reflection of an undeveloped understanding of memory, particularly as it relates to our knowledge of the past. M u c h of the student writing emphatical ly argued for preservation of the traces and accounts of the Holocaust for three reasons. Firstly, they were arguing for preservation as a way to validate the narratives of the Holocaust and to refute counter-narratives that chal lenged shared understandings in our common consc iousness . Secondly , they saw these physical remains as the medium through which memory is triggered and the truth perpetuated for succeed ing generat ions. Finally, s o m e of the students argued that relics and accounts of the Holocaust have the capacity to enrich our connect ion with the past in a way that textbooks, film or webs i tes cannot. T h e students recognized that memory a ids the reconstruct ion of history and its p lacement in our collective consc iousness , but they did not articulate clear connect ions 108 between memory and history. S o m e demonstrated a clear understanding of the power of memory and linked the idea of forgetting the Holocaust with a failure to honour the sacri f ice made by victims and survivors. I would contend that demonstrat ing s o m e understanding of the power of col lect ive memory and its symbiot ic relationship with history is a significant step toward a deeper level of historical understanding. S o m e of the students acknowledged in their writing that society 's understanding of the Holocaust must change when the survivors of the Holocaust are gone. They see in the survivors a direct link between the event and the lived exper ience that will be forever severed when they die. None of the students commented on the possibil ity that the link can be preserved by the children of survivors, as wi tnessed by the example of Art Sp iege lman . They argued that it is the responsibil i ty of schools , museums and societ ies to preserve the memory of these wi tnesses to human tragedy and pass it to the next generat ion. With each generation being further removed from the event and its w i tnesses, the preservat ion, educat ion and documentat ion becomes more important in their eyes , as a means to know about the Holocaust. This indicates a kind of thinking we should encourage in our students when studying history. Much of the student writing centred on the lessons of history, particularly the redemptive moral power of the past. Scholarsh ip on the issue of learning from history suggests that lessons can be learned but that they are limited by knowledge, lesson structure and narrative cho ice (Novick, 1999; Bo ix-Mansi l la , 2000; Feinberg and Totten, 2001). However, the danger of directing history lessons toward the development of a moral response is that the lessons may become simplistic, and propagandist ic in orientation and purpose (Barton and Levstik, 2001). History is frequently interpreted and 109 accepted by students as truthful replications of past events (Lee and Ashby , 2000). The inherent danger in using history in the service of a moral agenda is that students simplify, misunderstand, misappropriate or confuse the meaning of events in the past (Barton and Levstik, 2001). Students studying a topic like the Holocaust could be manipulated, or merely misled into a number of erroneous or oversimpli f ied posit ions (Novick, 1999; Boix-Mansi l la , 2000; Barton and Levstik, 2001; Schweber , 2004). With these caut ions in mind I took care in scaffolding the students' understanding of the Holocaust , paying particular time and attention to the context in which the events transpired. This included considerable d iscuss ion and information on Darwinist racial theories, the history of ant i -Semit ism in Europe and the complex intersection of race theory, eugenics , post-war economics , and political and socia l developments during the inter-war years . Notwithstanding my preparation there is ev idence in the student writing of oversimplif ication and erroneous transposit ion of historic events. Reca l l the student, noted in Chapter 5, who linked the Rwandan genoc ide with the Holocaust as similar historic events, and the one who blamed the entire Holocaust on one man, Adol f Hitler. However, in teaching the Holocaust for its moral d imens ions careful attention to detail and thoughtful planning can reduce the impact of simplist ic responses. The recommendat ion of Boix-Mansi l la (2000) to offer multiple opportunities for students to engage in the study of historical tragedy can offset s o m e of the cha l lenges posed by this form of history. Research ' in moral educat ion, character educat ion and va lues educat ion suggests that students need numerous opportunities to confront their own moral f rameworks, examine conflicting posit ions, and advance their personal moral 110 growth (Likona, 1976; Lockwood, 1976; Turiel, 1989; Nucc i , 2001). Arguably the Holocaust is no more suited to the development of moral reasoning than other compel l ing tragedies in history, but it is certainly no less valuable and a much more access ib le event for teachers and students interested in rich and detailed studies (Novick, 1999; Feinberg and Totten, 2001). O n e of the f indings from this research w a s the overwhelming degree of historical empathy ev idenced by the student's writing. Most of their responses made some reference to the trauma and tragedy visited upon the vict ims of the Holocaust and a compass ionate , and legitimate, desi re to honour them through remembrance and educat ion. The transference of historical empathy to the daily behaviour of the students is too much to hope from a single study of the Holocaust , but with time and other opportunities to engage in similar l essons such transference can develop. The connect ions between knowing, understanding and applying or acting on the lessons of history are yet to be clearly linked through research and offer intriguing possibil i t ies for future research. 6.2 Teachers' Narrative Choice I bel ieve that the narratives we choose must be compel l ing, meaningful to the lives of our students, and support moral reasoning in our learners. The ways in which we understand the acquisit ion of knowledge and historical understanding is undergoing extensive research within the field of history educat ion. If history is but a fragment of the lived past and the construction of our narratives are necessar i ly select ive, then the cho ices we make about teaching and understanding history take on importance. The call in C a n a d a for greater emphas is on teaching the grand narrative, our nation-building history (Granatstein, 1998, Dominion Institute, 2003), rings hollow in the face of the 111 quest ions raised by recent research. Students will appropriate narratives that have meaning to them and ones in which the connect ions between past and present are clear and substantiated by exper ience and not because they came from history books (Wertsch, 2000). Moreover, research suggests that a greater focus on teaching the tools of the discipl ine in conjunction with relevant narratives can increase student understanding of the past (Seixas, 1998, 2000, 2006). Curr iculum developers and history educators in B C should take these considerat ions into account and not simply adhere to traditional, ideologically b iased, narrow accounts of founding fathers, war heroes and French-Engl ish relations. Curr iculum choice is effectively in the hands of the c lassroom teacher, given the broad parameters of the British Co lumb ia curriculum guides (see a more detai led assessmen t in Chapters 1 and 2). Within the prescr ibed curriculum teachers may choose narratives that are compel l ing and rich with opportunit ies. However, there are c lassroom factors that limit narrative choice, for example, the c lass composi t ion, student skill sets and a c c e s s to quality resources. C lass composi t ion is an important factor in teaching. The range of academic abilities in many c lassrooms is from the low end to the high. S o m e schools have el iminated honours, enr iched or incentive c lasses , resulting in a broad mix of students, from those needing scribing, learning support or E S L support, to those who are high achieving and intrinsically motivated students. The analyt ical abilities needed for rich and substantial investigations into the past are simply not deve loped in some of our students. This compounds the complexity of choice and the sophist icat ion at which one can instruct the c lass and design lessons. The skill set and knowledge base of the c lassroom teacher also dictates narrative choice. Reca l l the 112 criticism of the Task Force Report in B C (BC Ministry of Educat ion, 1999) that s ingled out inadequate background knowledge, limited and uninspiring teaching methods and superf icial assessmen t strategies as reasons for a decl ine in student interest in history. Narrative cho ices will not impact student thinking if not fol lowed up by sound knowledge of the topic, appropriate and effective teaching methods and assessmen t strategies that support learning. In spite of these chal lenges the student writing samp les offer numerous examples of complex moral reasoning, substantial historical understanding and thoughtful reflection on the connect ions between the past and present. Their responses lend credibility to the argument that the history we teach must have the power to engage the minds and hearts of our students and offer them meaningful opportunities to develop critical minds. This is best done through the select ion of narratives that are rich in moral complexity and have real connect ion to the lived exper ience of our youth. The quality and quantity of work coming out of block's A and B support a general conc lus ion that the film and graphic novel contributed to their interest and learning. The narratives presented in The Pianist and Maus engaged the affective domain of the students, lifting their connect ion to the lives being played out on paper and film. In spite of the appearance of interest and success at inviting deeper thinking through the use of rich narratives I cannot conclude that the elevated interest was not more a reflection of the Holocaust in general , as opposed to my specif ic narrative select ions. A s noted by Novick (1999) and Totten (1998) the Holocaust casts a large shadow making it difficult to understand students' thinking about the event. I bel ieve students are intrinsically motivated to learn about human tragedy, to remedy past injustice and to learn about the 113 fail ings of humankind. However, the research leaves me uncertain as to whether narrative cho ices in my c lassroom will harness such narratives effectively. 6.3 The Three Teaching Resources Did the varied instructional resources impact student learning and understanding about the Holocaust? In the e s s a y responses substant ive differences from block to block are minimal and cannot be directly linked to the use of the differentiated resources as opposed to student ability, personal interest or prior knowledge. One of the complexi t ies of drawing compar ison between the c lasses is that there were signif icant di f ferences in the academic abilities of the students, particularly with block C . A s noted in Chapter 3, block C had a substantial number of students who were repeating the course, had poor attendance patterns and were weak academical ly . Addit ionally, this block returned the fewest number of consent forms and completed the lowest number of student papers. To draw compar isons on the impact of the resources would require similar control groups and this w a s not possible with the c l asses I taught. The student writing samp les offer modest examples of different perspect ives being taken but I cannot account for these as being attributable to the varied resources as opposed to the intrinsic motivation and ability of the students. Yet, in my initial planning I was aware that the c lasses were not similar in general aptitude, ability, consc ient iousness, or commitment and I used this knowledge to direct the organizat ion of the three different resources. Paradoxical ly as I oriented the lessons around the dif ferences among the c l asses I did not consider that this would later interfere with my ability to draw conc lus ions rooted in sound ev idence col lected from the c lasses . 114 Notwithstanding the chal lenge of drawing out the impact of the varied resources I bel ieve differences are evident in the student writing. A s s e s s m e n t of written ass ignments col lected from the c lasses during the lessons demonstrated much richer responses from the Maus and Pianist c l asses than from the c lass using the Discovery Kit. The most consistently detai led and thoughtful responses in written work came from the c lass (block A) that read Maus and they were highly engaged in reading the story and d iscuss ing the guiding quest ions. The question sets provided with the comic novel opened opportunities for thoughtful d iscuss ion on matters of race, stereotyping, power, historical empathy, and the impact of tragedy on family. The father and son focus of the story and the exploration of the psychology of their relationship gripped the students, perhaps because it had a re levance to their own family relat ionships. However, both The Pianist and the Discovery Kit had a family focus and I expected the connect ions to be strong but the level of on task focus and the depth of our d iscuss ions did not live up to expectat ion in blocks B or C . The graphic novel is an appeal ing medium for students used to reading manga ( Japanese cartoon novels) and may account for increased interest evident in block A . The only significant difference in the writing samp les I col lected is reflected in the depth and thoroughness of the block A samp les in compar ison with block B or C . The consistency with which block A reflected upon the quest ion suggests a more thoughtful approach to the assignment. This may be attributed to the use of the graphic novel but it could a lso be reflective of the academic depth of the students and their internal motivation to complete ass ignments thoroughly as this was the general trend for the c lass all schoo l year. 115 The strongest link that can be made between the differentiated teaching units and student understanding is that in each case the resource contributed another p iece to help contextual ize the Holocaust and prove its re levance to the present. The student writing samp les are thick with references to the need to preserve, remember and teach about the Holocaust in all high school c lassrooms and the community at large. A n underlying current of respect for the sacr i f ices of the victims and the suffering of famil ies then and now is tangible in their writing. A n n e notes in her passage that everyone "has a connect ion to the Holocaust, either by family relation or just by being part of the country. Even as Canad ians we are not completely free from the horrors of the Holocaust." S o m e students supported preservation and educat ion, not as a moral obligation to the past, but to validate and prove what happened so that no one can deny its occurrence. Yet, even this sentiment is powerful because it illustrates the belief that only by confronting the demons of our human past can we strive to improve the human condit ion and fight oppress ion and persecution as it ar ises. A s V e r a writes "[the] people who have not been through the horrors of the Holocaust need to be able to see what it was like" and we must preserve the physical t races of the event because it may be used against those who wish to deny the Holocaust and refute its real horror. Perhaps the student perspect ive is best summar ized in this passage by Donna who wrote that in the end "it really does not matter how many memorials or museums we build [what] matters is that the people are aware and understand why these tragedies occurred and what we must learn in order not to repeat these atrocities." 116 6 . 4 Implicat ions for Further R e s e a r c h This study's findings support some of the existing research on historical understanding in adolescents and with the Holocaust 's value in teaching lessons for contemporary society. However, it opens the door to a number of new directions for research. I would like to highlight four areas of concern : student understanding, impact of differentiated teaching resources, teaching moral lessons from the Holocaust , and the impact of narrative choice on student learning. S o m e students did not demonstrate a c lear understanding of the causes of the Holocaust and others fell prey to oversimplif ication or single cause explanat ions. Further investigations could target student understanding by doing more formal and summat ive assessmen ts throughout the research phase. Formative data could be used to adjust lessons and target specif ic a reas of concern. At the end of the study it was not c lear if the differentiated teaching resources enhanced students' understanding of the Holocaust. Even if di f ferences were evident it would have been chal lenging to claim they were the result of the differentiated resources, as opposed to academic ability and c lass composi t ion. Future investigations would require a c leaner model with control groups to limit the var iables. The students' writing indicated that moral lessons could be drawn from a study of the Holocaust. However , the study cannot draw speci f ic links among the teaching unit, var ied resources and students' moral f rames. Here it could be fruitful to engage in a more complex analys is using a model like Rusen ' s (1989) four point typology to ana lyze the moral s tance and potential moral growth of students in a study of the Holocaust . The study did not clearly show a connect ion between my narrative cho ices and student 117 understanding. Future research could target each narrative with specific sets of questions, pre and post-testing and interviews to draw out more data. The student samples, while showing evidence of moral reasoning, do not show clear connections between understanding the Holocaust and using the moral lessons it provides to orient personal action. One of the initial goals I had for the study was to assess the application of moral reasoning, developed in a study of the Holocaust, to a contemporary moral issue. Further research could find connections between the kinds of narratives we teach and the capacity of these narratives to affect student moral frames. The historical empathy demonstrated in much of the writing needs further exploration as it cannot be determined if this is a product of deep historical understanding or a response to a tragic event in history. Student agency is receiving considerable attention in research and this study demonstrates the need for more research on the connections between curriculum and agency. Another area of concern was the poor participation rates of the students with respect to providing consent for the use of their writing samples. As noted earlier the analysis and conclusions drawn from my research were impacted by a drop in the total number of writing samples available for analysis. Column two of Table 5.1 (Chapter 5 ) provides the total number of consent forms returned in each class, showing that a total of 3 9 forms were not returned thus limiting the available pool of essays. This was not necessarily because consent was refused, but that the forms were not turned in. It is not possible to determine if the incomplete consent forms were a product of the preference of parents/students or mere disinterest, apathy, forgetfulness, language barriers, or other explanations. Column three of Table 5.1 provides the number of affirmative forms 118 with only one student not providing consent (compare co lumns two and three). The returned forms indicate strong support for participation in the study from those students and parents who completed and returned forms. Whi le the process limited the number of papers for my analys is, the final sample of 42 e s s a y s al lowed significant insights. S teps that might improve the rate of return could include direct communicat ion with parents about the study, more frequent reminders and added pressure from the form administrator. My absence from the distribution and collection process directly impacted the number of returned consent forms. In hindsight an important misstep on my part was in not having a clearly focused objective while designing the research methodology. In spite of having a clear research quest ion and an understanding of what I wanted to examine, the research p rocess was not thought through carefully enough to avoid the problems descr ibed here. M y awareness and understanding in the field of Holocaust educat ion and c a s e study research has been refined, but was limited at the inception of the study. G a p s in knowledge and technique created problems in the data sample and limited my ability to make concrete claims. Having completed this research exerc ise, I now see how the study might be refined and deepened including, pair ings of students that are ba lanced academical ly and have similar ethnic backgrounds, perhaps even similar immigration profiles; pairs would be high achievers, in the mid range and a lower level. Addi t ional sources of data could enrich the research conclus ions. For example, student ass ignments during the unit and not just at the end and student interviews throughout. Reco rds of c lassroom d iscuss ions and observation notes would aid the interpretation and analys is of the data. Furthermore, pre and post unit tests could offer s o m e measure 119 of student s u c c e s s at retaining knowledge of the material. This would add an interesting layer to the study, opening opportunities to draw correlat ions between the var ious e lements of the study and the students' level of factual recall . Finally, I would revise and extend the final written exerc ise. Whi le I was p leased with the quality of responses received on the question of obligation, it fell short in allowing me to a s s e s s their understanding of the Holocaust and to probe s o m e of the other moral quest ions. Many of the students fell back on the idea that the Holocaust must offer lessons for humanity without indicating what the lessons were, how we could apply them and why humanity has not learned from the exper ience of the Holocaust . 6.5 Teacher as Researcher Secondary school teachers work in isolation much of their careers with few genuine opportunities to engage in purposeful self-reflection that leads to changes in c lassroom practice. These opportunities are important to reflection for testing new ideas or strategies in our c lasses , and for reenergizing c lassroom practice. For me this study has been invaluable because it forced me to chal lenge my concept ions of history and reflect on the fundamental goals that I have for teaching history. The difficulty of teaching and researching at the s a m e time is considerable and the ethical i ssues are well establ ished in research. I bel ieve my students benefited from my presence during the investigation by keeping the transition to this unit of study seamless . They a lso benefited from my knowledge and understanding of their academic capabil i t ies and behavioural tendencies. However, as noted earlier, my familiarity a lso inf luenced my choice of curricula for each c lass and this did not work out well for the block C group. The most difficult chal lenge was to find the time for reflection and analys is of student 120 work while teaching and juggling extracurricular commitments. It is much more difficult to be introspective of one 's own teaching practice and to maintain objectivity. Yet, insights into teaching about the Holocaust that I have gathered from my research are substantial and will direct my lessons and curriculum planning in new directions. 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Boston: B e a c o n P ress . 130 Appendices A p p e n d i x 1 Introductory Ass ignment A p p e n d i x 2 The Pianist: Student Ass ignment A p p e n d i x 3 Maus : Graph ic Novel Study Quest ions A p p e n d i x 4 V H E C Discovery Kit: Artifact Ana lys is Rubr ic A p p e n d i x 5 Student 's Writ ing: Categor ized R e s p o n s e s A p p e n d i x 6 Document Ana lys is Framework A p p e n d i x 7 Source Documents and Ana lys is Quest ions 131 A p p e n d i x 1 H o l o c a u s t Unit Student Backgrounder: Holocaust Slide Show Counterpoints pp.93-94-Hitler comes to power pp. 97-98-Canada's refugee policy pp. 115-map with death camps pp. 119-122-Holocaust discovered Student Reading Guide PP PP 92-93-Hitler and the Nazi Party 110-112-The Holocaust Documents: Nuremberg Laws (1935) Kristalnacht (1938) Maus A graphic novel based on the life of a Holocaust survivor, it explores the relationship with his son , and working through the trauma of the Holocaust . The Pianist A feature film based on the real life of Pol ish composer V ladek Szp i lman, document ing his Holocaust exper ience in the W a r s a w Ghetto. Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre: Discovery Kit A sui tcase with repl ica artifacts from the period of the Holocaust and documents/photos des igned to assist with our understanding of the t rauma. Student Thinking About the Holocaust: • Why did the Holocaust happen? • Why did no one stand up and stop the Holocaust? • Why did average German's participate in the Holocaust? How did the Nazi Party generate support for its anti-Semitic policies? • Describe the process through which Jews were denied their civil, economic and political rights. • What lessons can be learned from a study of the Holocaust? • What obligation does the German government and its citizens have to preserve and educate its youth about the Holocaust? 132 A p p e n d i x 2 The Pianist Roman Polanski's THE PIANIST (2002) is based on the memoirs of the talented pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrian Brody), a Polish Jew, who miraculously survived World War II. The first half of the film transports viewers to 1939 Poland, and brings it to life clearly and believably. Bombings have begun to torment the citizens of Warsaw, and step-by-step, the Nazis infiltrate, the Jews are branded and set apart from their neighbors, imprisoned in a ghetto, and slowly exterminated. The story is told through Szpilman's eyes, and thus carries as much confusion and fear as disgust and torment. Polanski paints Warsaw in bleak shades of gray and black, expressing the helplessness of the Jewish people and the cruelty of the Nazis with captivating photography. Points of observation: • How did the treatment of J e w s change after the invasion of Po land in 1939? • Why did the G e r m a n s force J e w s into the W a r s a w Ghet to? • How did Szp i lman manage to escape the Death C a m p s ; the Ghet to? • Descr ibe the W a r s a w Ghetto Uprising. How does the resistance speak to the courage of the Jewish peop le? • Do you think Szp i lman 's exper ience would be typical of the many Holocaust vict ims or an except ion? Explain using specif ic examples from the film. Free Writing Y o u are to write on three of the five topics listed below. In a Free Write your objective is to write in any direction you choose without the concern for structure in traditional paragraph writing. 1. The barbarity and utter cruelty of the Ge rman soldiers and Pol ish ci t izens. 2. The powerful examples of courage and humanity shown by Pol ish ci t izens, res is tance fighters and the G e r m a n Capta in . 3. His survival is attributed to his will to live, hi music, or good fortune? 4. Contrast examples of his fear and torment with s c e n e s when he displayed anger or disgust. 5. The separat ion of his family and their extermination. 133 A p p e n d i x 3 M a u s : A G r a p h i c Nove l A b o u t the H o l o c a u s t Study Quest ions for Art Sp iege lman 's M a u s Vo l . I-II 1. In general, how does Art portray his father? Do you think this is a fair representation? Why do you think he portrays him in the way he does? 2. To what extent do you think Art accurately represents his father's story? Do you think he has embellished it any way? What might have been added or left out? 3. How does Art portray himself? Why does he include himself in his father's story of the Holocaust? 4. What is the importance, throughout the text, of Art's reflections on the process of putting together this book? 5. What is the relationship between history and the present in the book? Why are many episodes from the present included? 6. To what extent are the characters caught in the past? Are all Holocaust survivors and their children prisoners of history? 7. What are some of the features that characterize Spiegelman's graphic style? How do these contribute to his memoir? How do they shape our understanding of his father's story? 8. In general, how is the Holocaust represented in Spiegelman's text? 9. How does the comic book format affect this representation? Read ing quest ions for Maus : 1. What animals did Art Spiegelman choose to represent different nationalities? Why? Do you agree with those choices? What other animals might he have chosen? Is this comic strip format a good way to tell about the Holocaust? 2. How accurate is the information in this story, as far as the "historical facts" of the Holocaust go? 3. Do Art or Vladek offer any explanations for W H Y the Holocaust happened? If so, what are they? 4. What do you learn about Auschwitz? How does it compare to Dachau? 5. Is Vladek's story a typical one? Is this what many or most victims of the Holocaust experienced? Is there anything in Vladek's personality that made it more likely for him to survive? 6. What problems do historians who were not there face in "telling the story" of the Holocaust? 7. What legacies do his parents' experiences have for Art? What "lessons" has Vladek learned from his odyssey through the Holocaust? Questions adapted from: Spiegelman, A. (1994). The Complete Maus CD-ROM. New York: Voyager. 134 A p p e n d i x 4 V H E C D i s c o v e r y Kit: Ou ts ide the Att ic Wal ls Task 1: Read ing the Object For each item proceed through the following ser ies of steps. Prepare to share the f indings of your group with the c lass . 1. Hold and Examine. a. What are your first thoughts? b. Examine the construction and detail. 2. Descr ibe. a. Write words or phrases to descr ibe the object. 3. Think and Write. a. Wha t would you like to know about the object? b. Write down any quest ions you have. 4 . Predict. a. M a k e an educated c a s e about the function of the object. b. What do you think it was used for? W h o used it? 5. R e a d . a . R e a d the testimony of the survivor that owned this object (this will be provided by the teacher). b. What did you learn from their test imony? c. C o m p a r e your prediction with the test imony. 6. Compare . a. C o m p a r e your object with items from the present. b. C a n you compare it with something you own or something you have seen that is s imi lar? Expla in. 7. Quest ion. a. What quest ions remain? b. Where can you get more information about the object? 135 A p p e n d i x 5 Student Writ ing S a m p l e s : Categor izat ion of R e s p o n s e s 1. The scale of the Holocaust matters and this affirms its significance for study in our schools. 2. Memorials aid in the preservation of the past/history. 3. We must remember the past or be doomed to repeat it. 4. Historical knowledge is a prerequisite to human progress. 5. Museums preserve representations and artifacts from the past. 6. Museums bring history alive and make it available to all people. 7. Museums, relics, physical traces and accounts of the past form 'evidence' to validate historic truths. 8. History provides an endless source of lessons for humanity. 9. Visual sources, physical traces and accounts of the past shape memory in the present. 10. Physical remains induce and provoke painful memories for survivors and families. 11. Museums serve to educate, share knowledge, and create understanding of historic events. 12. To forget is to fail memory and ignore the sacrifices of the many victims of the Holocaust. 13. Physical remains, the traces of the past, validate the truth of events like the Holocaust. They must exist to combat those who deny the truth (specifically Holocaust denial). 14. New and succeeding generations require museums, memorials, relics and monuments to learn the lessons of the past (those with lived experiences will not live on to share their narratives). 15. Events like the Holocaust provide specific lessons for Canadians (and other multi-ethnic nations) about the dangers of systemic discrimination, racism, prejudice and stereotyping. 16. The Holocaust demonstrates the human potential for evil. It is an ideal case study for lessons in universal values. 17. History serves to validate the present and future actions of society (we cannot go forward without understanding where we came from). 18. The Holocaust is only one example of many historic events that serve to educate us. 19. Museums, memorials, relics and monuments are locations where past and present are linked and we can make meaning of the present via our understanding of the past. 20. The preservation of sites and artifacts of the Holocaust allow a sensory experience (we can 'feel', 'smell' and 'view' the past). 21. We will forget more than we remember, so it is important to choose what we will remember carefully and with a purpose. 22. Physical remains, relics and artifacts are graphic and powerful reminders to learn about the past, in ways that cannot be accomplished by reading history texts alone. 23. We have a moral obligation to take action against oppression (this can be learned by studying events like the Holocaust). 24. The 'messages' of the Holocaust are embedded in the physical traces of the event. 25. We are obligated to remember all events in which Canadians played some role. 26. The Holocaust bears witness to the power of the human spirit. 27. The Holocaust offers rich examples of moral courage (examples to model our conduct in the present). 28. The 'moral weight' of some events dictate that they be taught and remembered. 136 A p p e n d i x 6 D o c u m e n t A n a l y s i s G u i d e 1. Is this document a primary or secondary source? How do you know? 2. Is the author recording his/her own observat ions or quoting somebody e l s e ? W a s the author present at the event descr ibed? How do you know? 3. Number all of the sentences in the document. 4. R e a d each sentence and write either the sentence or its number under one of the following headings: fact statements, opinions, can't tell statements, inferences. 5. R e a d the statements again and carefully look for adject ives, adverbs or descript ive phrases and decide whether these are neutral or intended to convey judgment. 6 . Answer the following quest ions: a . Is the document an objective account of events or is it intended to be an objective account? Expla in. b. Is the document des igned to persuade the reader to a particular point of v iew? W h y ? c. Does the author succeed in his/her purpose? Expla in. 7. Examine the information you have gathered about the document and answer the following quest ions: a. Why did the author write this document? b. Is the document a reliable source of information? Expla in. 137 A p p e n d i x 7 T h e Nuremberg L a w s (1935) Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor (September 15, 1935) Entirely convinced that the purity of German blood is essential to the further existence of the German people, and inspired by the uncompromising determination to safeguard the future of the German nation, the Reichstag has unanimously resolved upon the following law, which is promulgated herewith: Section 1 1. Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad. What was the purpose of this section? How would you feel knowing that you were not free to marry whom you chose? 2. Proceedings for annulment may be initiated only by the Public Prosecutor. Section 2 Sexual relations outside marriage between Jews and nationals of German or kindred blood are forbidden. If Jews were forbidden to marry Germans of pure blood why would this restriction be necessary? Section 3 Jews will not be permitted to employ female citizens of German or kindred blood as domestic servants. What is the significance of this section? Section 4 1. Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national colors. Why would the government prohibit Jews from displaying their loyalty and patriotism to the Reich (many Jews had fought for Germany in W.W. I)? 2. On the other hand they are permitted to display the Jewish colors. The exercise of this right is protected by the State. Why would the state encourage Jews in the display of the Star of David or other symbols of the Jewish faith? 138 Section 5 1. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition of Sect ion 1 will be punished with hard labour. 2. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition of Sect ion 2 will be punished with impr isonment or with hard labour. 3. A person who acts contrary to the provis ions of Sec t ions 3 or 4 will be punished with impr isonment up to a year and with a fine, or with one of these penal t ies. Evaluate the proportionality and severity of these punishments. Are they reasonable? Explain. Section 6 The Re ich Minister of the Interior in agreement with the Deputy Fuhrer and the Re ich Minister of Just ice will i ssue the legal and administrat ive regulat ions required for the enforcement and supplement ing of this law. Section 7 The law will b e c o m e effective on the day after its promulgat ion; Sec t ion 3, however, not until 1 January 1936. The Reich Citizenship Law (September 15, 1935) The Re ich Ci t izensh ip Law str ipped J e w s of their G e r m a n ci t izenship and introduced a new distinction between "Re ich c i t izens " and "nationals." Cert i f icates of Re i ch c i t izenship were in fact never introduced and all G e r m a n s other than J e w s were until 1945 provisional ly c l a s s e d as Re ich c i t izens. Article I 1. A subject of the State is a person who belongs to the protective union of the G e r m a n Re i ch , and who therefore has particular obl igat ions towards the Re i ch . What "obligations" to the Reich might a German citizen have had at this time? 2. The status of subject is acqui red in acco rdance with the provis ions of the Re ich and State Law of Ci t izensh ip . Article 2 1. A cit izen of the Re ich is that subject only who is of G e r m a n or kindred blood and who, through his conduct, shows that he is both des i rous and fit to serve the G e r m a n peop le and Re ich faithfully. Outline the criteria for being a citizen of the Reich. What "conduct" might be necessary to demonstrate ones loyalty to the state? 139 I 2. The right to c i t izenship is acqui red by the granting of Re ich c i t izenship papers. Why would it be necessary to grant all German's citizenship papers? Is it necessary for Canadian citizens to carry such papers? Explain. 3. Only the cit izen of the Re ich enjoys full polit ical rights in acco rdance with the provis ion of the laws. What political rights, freedoms and privileges did German citizens hold in this period? How would this law impact the Jewish population of Germany? Article 3 The Re ich Minister of the Interior in conjunct ion with the Deputy of the Fuhrer will i ssue the necessary legal and administrat ive dec rees for carrying out and supplement ing this law. How was the Reich's Minister accountable to the people of Germany (was Germany a democracy during this period)? Trans la ted vers ion from: The Jewish Virtual Library (January 2007) 140 https://rise.ubc.ca/rise/Doc/0/2RQ5DSGOHGPKTAD3MBBS13GO.. UBC The University of British Columbia Office of Research Services Behavioural Research Ethics Board Suite 102, 6190 Agronomy Road, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z3 CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL - FULL BOARD PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Peter C. Seixas NSTITUTION / DEPARTMENT: JBC/Education/Curriculum Studies UBC BREB NUMBER: H06-03945 INSTITUTION(S) WHERE RESEARCH WILL BE CARRIED OUT: Institution I Site N/A N/A Other locations where the research will be conducted: HJ Cambie Secondary School 4151 Jacombs Road, Richmond, BC V6V 1N7 CO-INVESTIGATOR(S): Michael Perry-Whittingham SPONSORING AGENCIES: N/A PROJECT TITLE: Teaching history, teaching morality: Narrative choices, historical consciousness and moral development REB MEETING DATE: January 11, 2007 CERTIFICATE EXPIRY DATE: January 11, 2008 DOCUMENTS INCLUDED IN THIS APPROVAL: DATE APPROVED: February 5, 2007 Document Name | Version | Date Consent Forms: Parent consent/student assent form Parent consent/student assent form Questionnaire, Questionnaire Cover Letter. Tests: 1 December 19, 2006 2 January 24, 2007 Demographic questionnaire Other Documents: Letter to Richmond including research description Richmond School District Approval 1 December 20, 2006 N/A December 12, 2006 N/A December 14, 2006 The application for ethical review and the document(s) listed above have been reviewed and the procedures were found to be acceptable on ethical grounds for research involving human subjects. Approval is issued on behalf of the Behavioural Research Ethics Board and signed electronically by one of the following: Dr. Peter Suedfeld, Chair Dr. Jim Rupert, Associate Chair Dr. Arminee Kazanjian, Associate Chair Dr. M. Judith Lynam, Associate Chair m i 8/25/07 of 1