Transatlantic Perspectives on Critical Education (2023)
The following podcast formats set out to explore educational perspectives on critical history and their influence on personal experiences.
US-American Perspectives
How are difficult historical topics dealt with in US-American schools and in alternative homeschooling programs? This conversation showcases the perspectives of two Flagler College alumni: McKenna Hazel who graduated from Flagler College with a double major in Philosophy and Religion and Kaytlin Curtis who majored in History and minored in Public History at Flagler College. Kaytlin grew up in Maryland and went to public schools from elementary though high school. Florida native McKenna, in contrast, was homeschooled through middle and high school. Both emphasize the need for grappling with history and the emotional aspects of that process.
German Perspectives
How is history taught in Germany? Two JMU students share their school experiences. Judith Theißen and Amelie Stegmaier went to school in different federal states in Germany: Amelie in Bavaria and Judith in North Rhine-Westphalia. As German school curricula are set by the federal states, their schooling differed somewhat in details. However, the approaches to World War II and the Holocaust in their school lessons were similar. As future elementary school teachers, Judith and Amelie also have ideas about how to teach these topics in the future.
New Approaches
Have you ever stumbled across a short video on Instagram that explains how America was not “discovered,” but colonized? Or watched a TikTok featuring the facts about the “fall” of the Berlin Wall? That video may have been created by the project “Wege aus dem Elfenbeinturm”: “Escape Routes out of the Ivory Tower” in English or WEGis for short. This innovative project at the JMU Department of Modern History explored how social media could be used for education and scholarly communication. Katja Ruete is the featured partner in this conversation. Katja was a Research Assistant in the WEGis project from 2022 to 2023.
Please find transcripts of above podcast projects here.
