Reducing Hatred and Strengthening Communities
The Morris and Judy Sarna Breaking Bias and Creating Community Program is housed within the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education. In partnership with local secondary schools, the educational program uses cutting-edge technology to reduce racism, antisemitism, and other hatred through helping students to understand other people’s perspectives, to strengthen their community, and to explore connections between past events and today’s society.
The program will collaborate with multiple school districts in Connecticut over the next several years, reaching thousands of students and hundreds of teachers and administrators, as well as enhance the education of up to 350 future educators per year at the Neag School.
Program Features
Virtual Reality Experience
Using The Journey Back from the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, students hear survivor stories and tour key Holocaust sites, including Auschwitz Death Camp.
Interactive Testimony
IWitness from the USC Shoah Foundation allows students to learn from the testimony of Holocaust survivors and ask them questions. Teachers receive training to facilitate the testimony, so the program is sustainable in the school in future.
School
Partnerships
Each school gets a customized experience, in which the program is modified for each school and community to meet their goals. All aspects of the program are interdisciplinary, involving multiple departments and subject areas.
Community Photo Display
Focused on members of the school and larger community, the photographs not only integrate community members into the experience but also promote community building and sustainability of the program.
What Teachers and Students Are Saying
"Both [the IWitness and virtual reality] experiences are meaningful so I think it helps students to understand the human side of the Holocaust and better understand the people that were affected and that were victims."
— High school teacher
"It really made me think about our past history as humans. It feels like it’s one thing to read about the war and its horrors, but it’s different to hear about it from someone who was there."
— High school student
"This was a great experience for our students. I love the interdisciplinary nature of the work. I love that students are linking what they were learning in English classes and social studies classes."
— High school teacher
"It was cool listening to [the IWitness survivor] and it was more engaging… when you hear people’s individual experiences, it sort of like, makes it real."
— High school student