Learning about and from the Holocaust: The development and implementation of a Complex Instruction Unit in Latvia

Abstract

What and how to teach about the Holocaust in a specific country or region depends on both the political-historical context in which the Holocaust took place and on the specific educational context. It also depends on the motivations of teachers and developers. In many circumstances, Complex Instruction (CI) provides opportunities for students to learn actively about the events that took place in their respective countries and to express their feelings and opinions. This paper describes the development and implementation of the first CI-based unit on the Holocaust, which was designed within the Latvian context by a small international and intergenerational project group.