What Grade 8 Concordia Students Learned in Humanities Class
As part of the Grade 8 humanities curriculum, students take part in a unit called The Traits that Transcend, a lesson that has them examining the rescue activities that took place during the Holocaust. They were asked to contemplate the questions: who took righteous action, and why? By examining the moral actions of individuals and groups during the Holocaust, students also reflected on their own moral actions and ensuing effects of those actions on others.
In considering these questions, students are discerning seeds of conflict and articulating their own opinions regarding the causes and effects of extreme dissension. Using a list of emotionally charged words, such as inequality, bullying, terrorism, anger, discrimination, racism, hatred, arrogance, etc., students were asked to map out the seed and end-result of conflict.
As indicated in the following photos, many students discovered that 'ignorance, fear or anger' were often the point at which conflict is germinated, leading inevitably to either genocide, war or acts of terrorism.
Lessons such as this, which allow them to reflect on the 'journey of conflict', are meant to inspire students to reflect on their own behaviors and how they can change the course of human conflict.
