Film Education -

The nominated resource

Thinking Film, Thinking History: the Holocaust helps improve students' engagement and attainment in History by using the medium of film to generate knowledge and understanding about the Holocaust. The resource, available free of charge to UK schools, is designed for the history classroom and is suitable for students from Year 9 upwards. It comprises a DVD of sensitively chosen film extracts from a wide range of films focusing on the Holocaust, accompanied by a disc of curriculum-focused activities for the classroom. These resources enable students to develop transferrable skills in approaching, analysing and evaluating moving image texts as historical sources. Activities extend students’ skills of historical enquiry and develop their understanding of key concepts such as representation, significance and interpretation.

The Holocaust has immense historical significance and considerable contemporary relevance, but it is not an easy subject to teach or to learn about. It raises crucial and timeless questions which resist simple answers, but this characteristic of complicating our thinking makes it educationally invaluable. Feature films can be an absorbing and imaginative way of exploring the evidence we have of the past. By encouraging students to consider why directors and producers choose to portray an historical event or person in the way they do, it is possible to teach about different historical interpretations and how the purpose of a piece of film, be it a documentary, newsreel or feature film, can affect its view of the past.

To find our more about the resource, or to order a copy for your school visit the Thinking Film website.