Educational materials on «Displacement»
The topic of displacement affects us all, especially young people. Our engaging course module is designed to help schoolchildren understand this complex issue. What does it mean to have to leave behind your home, work, family and country? The digital installation ‹Displacement› lets you follow in the footsteps of affected persons and get a sense of what it means to be displaced.
«Displacement» was exhibited in several Swiss museums from October 2016 to January 2020. The exhibition attracted about 100,000 visitors and over 1,800 school classes. It is now available as a digital installation and can be used as a virtual classroom resource on the topic of displacement.
The teaching/learning materials (TLM) include teacher handouts, module plans, worksheets, gamified learning units and an interactive Pageflow for pupils to work with independently.
Programme for lower and upper-level secondary schools
Links to the curriculum:
- Lower secondary level – the topic can be linked with subjects like geography and history, democracy and human rights education as well as ethics, religion, community.
- Upper secondary level – the learning outcomes at the upper secondary level include aspects of ethics (moral behaviour, conflict of values, moral decisions) as well as identity and socialisation (autonomy and identification with social groups, acknowledging other cultural realities, openness and tolerance).
The four modules include a broad introductory setting on the topic of displacement, a variety of assignments on selected displacement stories, information and assignments on the Swiss asylum process and a concluding unit on integration. The modules were developed with a working group at the Pedagogical University of St Gallen. The assignments have been didactically designed to get pupils to engage with the digital platform and simultaneously write down their observations. Most assignments are dealt with in collaborative learning environments. They encourage discussion and reflection to deepen understanding of the subject.
Programme for secondary schools
Links to curriculum: Nature, human, society, and education for sustainable development, for years 3-6
The unit is based on the layout used and materials designed for the exhibition ‹Displacement›. These were then developed into a self-contained lesson unit together with Mrs Gaby Fierz, curator, cultural mediator and ethnologist at the firm Fierz-Kulturprojekte.
Pupils explore displacement in four lessons. Their entry point to the topic is through a personal object. «If I had to flee, which object from home would I not leave behind at any cost?» The pupils are already familiar with the reasons for having to flee, the context and the objects, which are based on the five protagonists in the digital installation. The programme allows them to examine the situation of people who are forced to flee and relate it to their own world.
Displacement is an emotional topic. The film by Mano Khalil is very moving. As a teacher you are in the best position to assess whether it is suitable for all pupils.
Links
Contact
Eichenweg 5
3003 Bern