The Examination of Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching Controversial Public Issues: Explicitly Teaching the Holocaust and Comparative Genocide

This study reflects an examination of four teachers and their approaches to teaching the Holocaust and comparative genocide. The purpose was to address four succinct research questions that followed a conceptual framework which emerged around these teachers’ rationale, methodology, preparation, and characteristics. Analysis of the results allowed for the emergence of six themes: (a) citizenship, (b) curriculum and design, (c) teaching pedagogy, (d) influence of modeling, (e) neoteny, and (f) life-altering experiences.