In their new study, Benji Davis and Hanan Alexander propose a conceptual taxonomy of six types of Israel education. But it is not at all clear that the different types of Israel education are associated with different pedagogies, or indeed, whether they are significantly distinct from each other. Davis and Alexander also propose their own version…

In this essay, we explore ways in which cultural and museum spaces can be opened up to meaningful discussions about difficult topics and how this can be done through specific educational formats. We attempt to look critically at some of the assumptions that are around in critical museum education theory and practices, e.g. influences coming from…

Solidarity between the citizens of a country is both good and desirable, and public educational institutions are the clear site of education for such civil solidarity and its natural place is in Civics lessons. Nevertheless, this paper argues that it is impossible to educate for solidarity for all citizens in a liberal-democratic state when civic…

Jesus' appearance is not recorded in the New Testament, apart from some incidental mentions of his clothing. Nevertheless, his appearance is the most recorded feature in the history of world art. None of these images is based on primary sources; most, especially the most popular and influential images, tend to portray Jesus in the guise of a…

Early childhood Jewish education provides an opportune moment to teach about race and Black-Jewish relations as young children grapple with concepts like justice. This article argues that picture books containing interactions between Black and Jewish characters or a Black Jewish character are a powerful pedagogical tool for this purpose. We…

This article demonstrates how stories serve as effective methodology when scrutinizing the meaning of social and political conflicts in diverse classrooms. I base my argument on a story about a distressing conflict among students from different ethnic, and national backgrounds occurring in an academic course at an Israeli college. A detailed…

Over the past decade, scholars from a variety of epistemological and theoretical backgrounds have begun to engage more deeply with history as a form of difficult knowledge. It is difficult to comprehend and can be traumatic for different groups for different reasons. History as a school subject has largely been used as a tool of hegemony by…

At the Jewish History Museum and Holocaust History Center in Tucson, Arizona, photographs, text, and audio displays present Jewish histories alongside local histories of African-American, Latinx, and Native peoples -- among others -- in Southern Arizona, where Jews comprise only 2-3% of the population. In documenting our pedagogical tools for…

This timely book examines how fascist ideology has taken hold among certain segments of American society and how this can be addressed in curriculum and instruction. Vavrus presents middle, secondary, and college educators and their students with a conceptual framework for enacting a critical multicultural pedagogy by analyzing discriminatory…

Film depictions of the Holocaust have become a ubiquitous part of social studies education, as many states have mandated Holocaust or genocide curricula in recent years; however, the quality of such curricula varies greatly, as does the level of teacher preparation for Holocaust-based instruction. Given the increase in mandates and the lack of…

Sacred teaching takes many forms across religious traditions, focusing on creation and sacramentality in Christianity, God's nature and creation of human beings in Judaism, and spiritual and social practices in both. At the heart of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions are accents on the sacredness of life, creation in the image of God, and…

When Jewish Sensibilities were formulated (2003) as a framework, it was not for the purpose of teaching Jews how or why to be Jewish. Rather, Jewish Sensibilities were a way for Jews to reflect on the Jewish content already in their lives; they also allowed practitioners in the field of health care to think about the Jewish patients and families…

"Fairy Tales and the Transmission of Prejudice" is a unit in a lecture course on fairy tales that draws on research on anti-Semitism in 18th- and 19th-century German literature and culture, mapping questions raised in 18th- and 19th-century tales onto contemporary issues: The unit traces a trajectory from the Enlightenment to the…

Convinced of the value of a good textbook as a teaching and learning resource, Alex Diamond set out to understand teachers' thinking about Holocaust textbooks and what it would be for a textbook to represent Holocaust history adequately. As Diamond's discussion shows, this is a multi-faceted issue. Evaluating textbook representation involves…

It is generally agreed that learning about the Holocaust has some impact on students. However, discussions about the nature and magnitude of impact tend to be intuition-based rather than evidence-based. This is exacerbated by studies giving insight into how Holocaust education is related to salient variables rather than studies which demonstrate…