‘In Touch’ has been a consistent theme for the education team over the past month. The team has finally got back in touch with students at our temporary home in Malvern East. Melbourne Holocaust Museum survivors have also been getting in touch with students using the new technology of Zoom. We have also launched our new school program, In Touch with Memory.
This new two-hour school program has three main components: an introduction, a handling collection and a Q&A with a Holocaust survivor.
During interaction with the handling collection, students work in groups to investigate various artefacts from our collection to discover what that object is, its purpose and, perhaps, to whom it might have belonged.
Students are assisted in this discovery process by our educators and education facilitators who ask targeted questions to encourage student thinking.
Following the discovery of the answers to these questions, students go on to explore the deeper layers of meaning behind an artefact by connecting it to one of 10 themes:
· Propaganda
· Discrimination
· Deception
· Starvation
· Dehumanisation
· Acts of courage
· Survival against the odds
· Resistance
· Loss
· Return to Life
Students report their findings to the rest of the group and engage in a process of peer-to-peer learning.
Learning about the Holocaust through this inquiry-based model greatly improves the retention of information while also ensuring that students connect deeply with the stories of Holocaust victims and survivors.
Our Virtual Workshops have changed slightly for 2021 in response to feedback from teachers and students. They now include a guided tour of our virtual museum and an activity that has students actively engage with the artefacts in our museum. Ten of our survivors are also now equipped with the required technology and support from various volunteers to connect and speak with students and deliver their powerful messages.
The education team will continue to adapt to deliver meaningful Holocaust education to reach as many students as we can.
For more information about the In Touch with Memory program, click here.
Tracey Collie, Education Programs Officer
