Holocaust Education and the Student Perspective

Too often students perceive history as uninteresting with no relevance to their lives. Although students describe history as boring, this is not the case with one aspect of social studies education - Holocaust studies. Focusing on the question "What factors influence students' choices to learn more about the Holocaust?," this study of one high school history classroom in the United States examines the factors which influence student' choices to learn about the Holocaust, in particular, and social studies, in general. Four themes emerged as factors that influenced students' choices to learn. Findings from this study suggest implications for social studies education. An understanding of the influences on students' choices to learn could provide direction in the continued development of instructional strategies for social studies classrooms. Instructional strategies which could, perhaps, lead to changes in student perceptions of social studies as a dull and boring subject to one that is interesting and exciting.