Holocaust Historical Thinking Concepts

Abstract

This unit is designed to teach grade 10 Canadian history students about the Holocaust during World War II through a variety of activities. The unit is comprised of 8 lessons that are based around the big six historical thinking concepts developed by Peter Seixas. Students will start the unit by looking at an introduction to primary and secondary sources as a preliminary assessment of their previous knowledge of source types. They will go on to use these skills throughout the rest of the unit. Students will work through a variety of different genres of writing and presenting, including a panel discussion, debate, reflection, and a letter to a Holocaust survivor. The letter will be their culminating assignment, while their formative assessments will be a series of worksheets, reflections and presentations to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. These assessments will be based on the content that is presented in class through lecture style class discussions, videos, books and internet sources. The content will be based on the following curriculum expectations.