Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ How best do we teach kids about Holocaust horrors? Show them what it was like

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

The time to have these conversations is now, before the technology is widely distributed. In this article we read about the lessons being learned by teams working on virtual reality (VR) representations of the Holocaust. "Historical accuracy is essential," they write, because "end users will assume that the experience is historically accurate." At the same time, sensitivity is required, they say. "Learning experiences must ensure that users aren't thrust into a 'gotcha' scenario, made to feel unsafe or asked to play the role of a perpetrator or victim of the Holocaust." While these seem like reasonable suggestions, I think there will need to be much more fine tuning to ensure the impact of what students are witnessing isn't minimized without at the same time traumatizing them or overwhelming them. And this will vary from viewer to viewer, place to place.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 1:07 p.m.

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