Hello from the other side: museum educators’ perspectives on teaching the Holocaust

ABSTRACT

Museums often cite supporting teachers and schools as a goal, and museum educators frequently create resources or provide professional development for this audience, though the two entities have little contact. This qualitative study sought to examine the perspectives of museum educators at a regional Holocaust museum as they planned and presented two-week-long professional development workshops for educators. Pre-workshop and post-workshop interviews were conducted with three museum educators responsible for the workshops, which were also observed in their entirety. Findings indicate that all three museum educators believed the Holocaust to be difficult knowledge. However, each approached the topic in a different manner based on their personal experience and understanding of Holocaust education, resulting in three vastly different presentation styles. These varied presentations resulted in an uneven focus on content, with few concrete classroom connections. The article concludes by discussing implications for museum-initiated professional development and avenues for further research.

KEYWORDS:

• Museum education
• Holocaust education workshop
• museum-initiated professional development
• adult learners
• professional development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lisa K. Pennington

Lisa K. Pennington is an assistant professor in the College of Education at Governors State University in University Park, Illinois. She holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Tech and an MA and a BA in History from Old Dominion University. Dr. Pennington’s research interests include professional development, museum education, and genocide education, particularly as they relate to Social Studies. Prior to earning her doctorate, she taught middle and high school Social Studies in Portsmouth, Virginia, and Floyd County, Virginia. She also served as a Social Studies curriculum specialist in Portsmouth.