Teaching Lessons of the Holocaust through Service-Learning

This chapter chronicles the tensions inherent in addressing the profound events of the Holocaust and the development of an interdisciplinary understanding of it. The chapter describes a course and service-learning component which have evolved over a period of nine years. During that time, there have been changes in the college and middle school faculty involved, as well as changes in course content and interdisciplinary approaches. The authors describe the evolution of an approach to teaching that moves from the transmission of information to, in Freire's conceptualization, a "co-intentional" model, based on common reflection and action (Freire, 1972). Finally, the authors discuss the development of a service-learning component of the course which promotes active experimentation, using our students' learning about the Holocaust to educate middle school students about prejudice, hate speech, and hate crimes.