LEARNING EXPERIENCES AND INSTRUCTION

A. QUICK AND DIRTY LESSON

1 .Introduction to the topic. Using a web-linked computer linked to an overhead monitor (or projector), go to AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ILUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE GENOCIDE http://www.amnesty-usa.org/country/rwanda/genocide/index.html. This can be used as a "slide show" overview of the Rwanda genocide. It is divided into the following sections:

The website is set up so that the teacher can choose which portions to show.

2. Hand out the form "Understanding the Problem" (reproduced below). Take students step-by-step through the form, using the essential question, "How many genocides were there in the Twentieth Century?"

When students ask, "what is genocide," the teacher can either give the UN Convention definition, or present several definitions and open the subject for discussion. n the section, "What we know now," students should relate some of the information form the Rwanda slide show, as well as their own knowledge about the Holocaust. [Students should be reminded that it is premature to label either of those events "genocide," for it is only after they have made a full inquiry that a judgment should be formed]. The teacherØs answer to the question, "where can we fid the information we need" depends on the length of the lesson (see below).

3. Give students the source of their information.

For a brief lesson, ask students to go to THE HISTORY PLACEßGENOCIDE IN THE 20^TH CENTURY. http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/. This site has approximately 2-pages of factual backgrounds on the following: Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Holocaust, the Ukraine famine, Armenia, and the Rape of Nanking.

4. Divide students into groups, and have them research each of the events listed above.

5. Have students report their group findings to class.

6. OPTIONAL: Have students write an essay which addresses the essential question.