How should we deal with a difficult past? This is the question young people will try to answer in a short documentary they will create guided by this interactive education kit.

introduction

In 1995, the Dayton Agreement brought the wars in the former Yugoslavia to an end. There were no winners, as the result was a redrawing of the ethnic map that led to states that were more ethnically homogenous but tainted by guilt and silence. Many parents did not share their past with their children out of anger, or guilt, but some youngsters did not sit still and are digging into their own recent history. Will the silence be broken?

This case is an example of a difficult past. Some people are trying to “silence history”, while others are trying to investigate the past and discuss it in public. So, how should we deal with a difficult past? This is the question that young people will try to answer in this project.

We start all projects with a starter clip from the documentary series (10 minutes) introducing the topic in a vivid way. There is room for discussion on different levels. After 2 lessons with historical context and background information students will start making their own short documentary (5 – 10 minutes) in small groups. 5 Tutorials will help students with researching, interviewing, filming and editing. The teacher will upload the videos to our In Europe playlist where you can find all video’ s made by students from all over Europe. The tutorial upload will help teachers to do so.

learning outcomes

Students will: 

  • Become aware of global and local cases of difficult histories, analysing their causes and consequences and the changes/continuity between past and present. 
  • Tell different stories connected to their own difficult histories from different perspectives, based on the enquiry question. 

To assess the students’ documentaries, there is an assessment grid which can also be shared with the students in the beginning of the project. 

timing

Step 1: Introducing the project and topic (50 minutes)
Step 2: Learning more about the context and topic (100 minutes) 
Step 3: Research and creation of the documentary (200 minutes, mostly homework)
Step 4: Sharing the videos and reflection (90 minutes)