Understanding the Holocaust using Virtual Environments

Understanding the Holocaust
Begins here….
Andrew Wheelock
WNYRIC
Awheelock@e1b.org
www2.wnyric.org/awheelock

Today’s Presentation:
2 Tragedies
1 idea
1 Collaborative Project
1 Question Mark

Tragedy #1 The Holocaust
Fast facts
Roughly began in 1933 with the Nazi Party coming to power
Defined as “the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.”-US Memorial Holocaust Museum site
By 1945 nearly 2 out of 3 European Jews had been killed. 63%
Photo- Graves of 80 Victims
Library of Congress

Tragedy #2
http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=46&title=What_is_the_Holocaust_&ref=awheelock

Should Students Care?

Current Events
“They have fabricated a legend, under the name Massacre of the Jews, and they hold it higher than God himself, religion itself and the prophets themselves...If somebody in their country questions God, nobody says anything, but if somebody denies the myth of the massacre of Jews, the Zionist loudspeakers and the governments in the pay of Zionism will start to scream.”
-Ahmadinejad: Holocaust a myth, Al Jazeera

Bullying…. (Cyberbullying)
WHAT?
The scaffold was raised for none but you.
For who has served me more faithfully Then you with your coward's hope?" said he, "And where are the others who might have stood Side by your side in the common good?"
"Dead," I whispered. And amiably "Murdered," the Hangman corrected me: "First the foreigner, then the Jew... I did no more than you let me do."
Beneath the beam that blocked the sky None had stood so alone as I. The Hangman noosed me, and no voice there Cried "Stop!" for me in the empty square.
Excerpt from Hangman by Maurice Ogden

Why Virtual Worlds?
Provides a way for teachers and students to meet at the waters edge.
“History is in the minds eye of the beholder”
Worlds like Reaction Grid can be open or closed environments
Allows for creativity and play. When did those become expendable for older students or even adults?

The Project
Objectives:
Give students a “Minds-eye” view of the Anne Frank Annex using a Reaction Grid Platform (Virtual World)
Read the book “Diary of a Young Girl- The Diary of Anne Frank
Use Moodle/ Sloodle based environment for content based activities
Explore the annex to participate on content based activities based on rooms, book content.
Students create/add to a Holocaust Museum.
See Proposal
THIS IS NOT A GAME

A Room Without a View
Meet our builder.
Mary O’Brien- 3rd Grade Teacher, Maine
Take a Tour

Next Steps?

Partners in this Project
David Klevan- US Memorial Holocaust Museum
Kim Flack- PBS Eight Arizona
Mary O’Brien- Maine, Manchester Elementary
Susannah Renzi- Dutchess Co. BOCES

Resources and links
US Memorial Holocaust Museum-
http://www.ushmm.org/
Anne Frank House- Netherlands
http://www.annefrank.org/
Reaction Grid
http://reactiongrid.org
My Holocaust Links
http://delicious.com/31spiff/holocaust
My Open SimMuve links
http://delicious.com/31spiff/opensim
Project Blog
http://diaryaboutannefrank.blogspot.com/

Let’s Connect
awheelock@e1b.org
Twitter: Spiff Whitfield
Second Life: Spiff Whitfield
Facebook- Pages, Virtual Pioneers, Techie Geek
http://grou.ps/virtualpioneers

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Understanding the Holocaust using Virtual Environments

by WNYRIC on Nov 22, 2010

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Understanding the Holocaust using Virtual Environments — Presentation Transcript