Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum Introduces Virtual Field Trips for Schools
Museum offers live opportunities for schools to engage with educational programming
DALLAS (November 30, 2020) — The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum (DHHRM) is dedicated to teaching the history of the Holocaust and advancing human rights to combat prejudice, hatred, and indifference. During the pandemic, the Museum shifted to virtual programming, most recently introducing virtual field trips and education programs.
While the Museum is now open at 25 percent visitor capacity, DHHRM continues to provide opportunities for students to learn from home or in the classroom. DHHRM has partnered with multiple local independent school districts including Dallas ISD, which requested virtual field trips for 10,000 students, along with Arlington, Duncanville, Grand Prairie, Irving, and Fort Worth ISDs. The Museum provides scholarships to cover the cost of the virtual programs for Title I qualified and East Texas schools.
The Museum’s virtual field trips and education programs provide opportunities for students to connect with its mission, allowing youth to encounter the history of the Holocaust and human rights in the U.S. while thinking through fundamental questions about human nature. The Museum challenges students to think critically and become Upstanders.
“We believe that field trips are a fundamental element of education,” said Mary Pat Higgins, CEO and president of DHHRM. “By offering live virtual field trips we are able to create tailored mission-based programming for student groups, allowing them to receive engaging education outside of the classroom.”
“By attending a virtual field trip to the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, our students get an opportunity to make their learning relevant and deepen their understanding of events in the past that have a lingering impact today,” said Shalon Bond, Dallas ISD Director of Social Studies. “Understanding the past gives students the knowledge needed to become informed productive citizens.”
For the virtual field trips, Museum Educators or docents lead students on a live virtual tour of the Museum’s permanent exhibition while students connect individually or as a class group. This allows for students to analyze artifacts and ask questions in real-time. Educators can choose the focus of the tour, deciding between the Holocaust/Shoah Wing, Human Rights Wing, or the Pivot to America Wing for a specialized 1-hour tour or do all three for a full 1.5-hour highlight tour.
“The opportunity to learn about the Holocaust and the Ten Stages of Genocide from Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum Educators and exhibits is essential to encouraging my students to thinking critically about this history,” said Cathleen Cadigan, Educator at Thomas Jefferson High School. “I hope the students gain greater insight into the history we have studied in class and that this encourages them to be a little more thoughtful about the world around them and the people who live in their community.”
For virtual education programs, students connect individually or as a group from the classroom with a Museum Educator and explore social emotional learning and historical topics through interactive lessons, history talks, or book talks. These programs are also available for elementary schools giving them a friendly and inviting opportunity to learn about Upstander behavior, human and civil rights.
The Museum’s virtual public programs include book clubs, a tour of its current special exhibition The Fight for Civil Rights in the South, Crucial Conversations, as well as its signature series, including the Movie Monday Film Discussion, Summer Survivor Speakers, Funk Family Upstander Speaker, Civil Discourse, Permanent Exhibition Highlights and History Highlights.
For more information on DHHRM’s past virtual programs visit its YouTube and Facebook pages.
Learn how to book a Virtual Field Trip and read about scholarship opportunities through our Museum Experience Fund at https://www.dhhrm.org/educators/plan-your-virtual-field-trips-and-education-programs/.
About the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum
The mission of the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum is to teach the history of the Holocaust and advance human rights to combat prejudice, hatred, and indifference. Initially conceived in 1977 by local Holocaust survivors, the institution now resides in a brand-new facility in Dallas’ Historic West End where visitors experience a deeper immersion into human and civil rights, their centrality to our democracy, and their vital importance in preventing events like those of the Holocaust from happening again. The 55,000-square-foot permanent home covers three floors, and the main exhibition includes four wings: Orientation Wing, Holocaust / Shoah Wing, Human Rights Wing, and Pivot to America Wing. Please visit DHHRM.org or call (214) 741-7500 for more details.
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